Miguel Díaz-Canel
First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and 17th president of Cuba / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez (Latin American Spanish: [miˈɣel ˈdi.as kaˈnel]; born 20 April 1960) is a Cuban politician and engineer who is the 8th and current First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba since 2021, and as well as the 17th President of Cuba since 2019. As First Secretary, he is the most powerful person in the Cuban government. Díaz-Canel succeeds the brothers Fidel and Raúl Castro, making him the first non-Castro leader of Cuba since the revolution, and as well as the first non-Castro head of state since 1976.
Miguel Díaz-Canel | |
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8th First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba | |
Assumed office 19 April 2021 | |
Second Secretary | Salvador Valdés Mesa |
Preceded by | Raúl Castro |
17th President of Cuba | |
Assumed office 10 October 2019 | |
Prime Minister | Manuel Marrero Cruz |
Vice President | Salvador Valdés Mesa |
Preceded by | Himself (as President of the Council of State) Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado (as President, 1976) |
President of the Council of State and Ministers of Cuba | |
In office 19 April 2018 – 10 October 2019 | |
First Vice President | Salvador Valdés Mesa |
Preceded by | Raúl Castro |
Succeeded by | Himself (as President) Manuel Marrero Cruz (as Prime Minister) |
19th Vice President of the Council of State and Ministers | |
In office 24 February 2013 – 19 April 2018 | |
President | Raúl Castro |
Preceded by | José Ramón Machado Ventura |
Succeeded by | Salvador Valdés Mesa |
Minister of Education | |
In office 8 May 2009 – 21 March 2012 | |
President | Raúl Castro |
Preceded by | Juan Vela Valdés |
Succeeded by | Rodoldo Alarcón Ortíz |
Personal details | |
Born | (1960-04-20) 20 April 1960 (age 64) Placetas, Villa Clara Province, Cuba |
Political party | Communist Party of Cuba |
Spouse | |
Children | 2 |
Alma mater | University of Las Villas |
Occupation | Politician |
Profession | Engineer |
Signature | |
Díaz-Canel has been a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party since 2003, and served as Minister of Higher Education from 2009 to 2012. He was promoted to the post of Vice President of the Council of Ministers (Deputy Prime Minister) in 2012. A year later, in 2013, he was elected as First Vice President of the Council of State. He succeeded Raúl Castro as the President of the Council of State in 2018; in December 2019 the office would evolve into President of the Republic. On 19 April 2021 Díaz-Canel assumed the reins of the Communist Party of Cuba, when he replaced Raúl Castro as First Secretary.