On Wednesday, the country’s national assembly selected the current vice-president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, as the sole candidate to replace Raúl Castro, in a nomination likely to be backed unanimously and officially announced on Thursday. “The new president will have more power in the day-to-day,” said Hal Klepak, author of a biography of Raúl Castro. And while Cubans on state salaries feel the pinch when buying meat and vegetables, essential foodstuffs are guaranteed by the state. The number of long-term political prisoners in Cuba dropped significantly under Raúl Castro, as the government shifted from long-term incarceration to short-term arrest and release, which typically lasts hours. His relative obscurity reflects the top-down way public affairs are practised on an island where there is only one legal political party, and where political campaigning is prohibited by law.

Source: The Guardian April 18, 2018 05:30 UTC