Miguel Díaz-Canel

Miguel Díaz-Canel, 58, became the 17th President of Cuba on April 19, succeeding Raúl Castro and becoming the first non-Castro Cuban president since 1976.

Castro, 86, was president for just over 10 years and his brother, Fidel Castro, for over 31 years.

Raúl Castro’s presidency will be remembered most for his efforts to normalize relations with the United States.

Castro stated in a November 2008 interview, the year both he and U.S. President Barack Obama were elected, “The American people are among our closest neighbors. We should respect each other. We have never held anything against the American people. Good relations would be mutually advantageous. Perhaps we cannot solve all of our problems, but we can solve a good many of them.”

In March 2016, a year after resuming diplomatic relations, President Obama visited Cuba, the first visit of an American president in 88 years, even attending an exhibition baseball game together.

The Castro-Obama diplomatic normalization and economic sanctions relief were suspended in June 2017 by President Donald Trump.

Díaz-Canel was born just after the conclusion of the Cuban Revolution, the armed overthrow of the Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, led by the rebel forces of Fidel Castro. Raúl can now oversee the transition from the decades-long Castro rule while ensuring the survival of the brothers’ revolution.

In his first speech as president, Díaz-Canel declared that “the mandate given by the people to this legislature is the continuity of the revolution.”