Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez (Latin American Spanish:[miˈɣelˈdi.askaˈnel]; born 20 April 1960) is a Cuban politician and engineer who has served as the 8thfirst secretary of theCommunist Party of Cuba since 2021 and as the 17thpresident of Cuba since 2019. In his capacity as First Secretary, he is the most powerful person in the Cuban government.
Díaz-Canel was appointed Minister of Higher Education in May 2009, a position that he held until 22 March 2012, when he became Vice President of theCouncil of Ministers (Deputy Prime Minister).[6][12] In 2013 he additionally becameFirst Vice President of theCouncil of State.[6] As First Vice President of the Council of State, Díaz-Canel acted as senior deputy to the President,Raúl Castro.
In 2018, the 86-year-old Castro stepped down from the position as president of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers, though he remainedFirst Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and thecommander-in-chief of theCuban Revolutionary Armed Forces.[13] On 18 April 2018, Díaz-Canel was announced as the only candidate to succeed Castro as president.[8] He was formally elected by theNational Assembly on 19 April[8] and sworn in on the same day.[14] He is the first president born after the 1959Cuban Revolution and the first since 1976 not to be a member of the Castro family.[9]
He received a visit from Venezuelan PresidentNicolás Maduro just two days after his inauguration. He met with Maduro again in May 2018 inCaracas, during his first official foreign visit as head of state. In his first multinational political trip since becoming president, Díaz-Canel traveled in November 2018 to visit many of Cuba's Eurasian allies. Diplomatic meetings were held in Russia, North Korea, China, Vietnam, and Laos. Brief stopovers in the United Kingdom and France also included meetings with British parliamentarians and French leaders. In March 2019, Díaz-Canel and his wife hostedCharles, Prince of Wales andCamilla, Duchess of Cornwall in Havana as the first British royals to visit the island.[15]
In October 2019, Díaz-Canel became the President of the Republic of Cuba, an office that was recreated that February after a series ofconstitutional reforms were approved in aconstitutional referendum.[16] This office replaced the one he had held since April of the previous year, which was the President of theCouncil of State, which was previously the head of state of Cuba. The position of President of the Council of State became a less important position and is now carried out byEsteban Lazo Hernández in his authority as the President of theNational Assembly of People's Power.
On 19 April 2021, he officially became theFirst Secretary of the Communist Party following the resignation ofRaúl Castro. This made him the leader of Cuba in fact as well as in name. TheBBC stated that Díaz-Canel is loyal to the Castros' ideologies.[25]
In July 2021, Díaz-Canel said that the United States embargo against Cuba andeconomic sanctions were responsible for the conditions that led to the2021 Cuban protests.[26][27] He urged government-supporting citizens to take to the streets in counter-protest to respond to the demonstrations,[28][29] saying in a special television broadcast: "The order to fight has been given — into the street, revolutionaries!"[30]
During the 2022Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Cuban government blamed the United States for the crisis in Ukraine and backed Russia's right to self-defense againstNATO expansion, but did not endorse the invasion, saying the conflict should be resolved diplomatically.[31] Díaz-Canel visitedVladimir Putin in Moscow in November 2022, and the two leaders criticized Western sanctions against Cuba and Russia. They also opened a monument to Fidel Castro in one of Moscow's districts.[32]
On 19 April 2023, he was re-elected by the National Assembly for a second term.Salvador Valdés was elected as vice president. He was reelected with a landslide: 97.66% backing Díaz-Canel's and 93.4% supporting Valdés.[33][34]
The2024–2025 Cuba blackouts were the most severe living crisis that the country has experienced since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.[38][39] Díaz-Canel blamed the blackout on theUnited States embargo against Cuba, which he said prevented much needed supplies and replacement parts from reaching Cuba.[38] He cancelled his physical attendance at the16th BRICS summit in Russia to attend to the blackout.[40] Díaz-Canel stated that any protests to the government's response would not be tolerated and that all protesters would be "processed rigorously under our revolutionary law". Shortly after protests started in October 2024, Díaz-Canel and prime ministerManuel Marrero Cruz appeared on a televised address inmilitary fatigues claiming "counter-revolutionaries from abroad" were fomenting protests in Cuba.[41] Díaz-Canel also stated that "we are not going to accept and we will not allow anyone to act by provoking vandalistic acts, much less disturbing the peace of our people, and that is a conviction and that is a principle of our revolution".[42]
The United States imposed sanctions on Díaz-Canel on 11 July 2025. Defense MinisterÁlvaro López Miera and Interior MinisterLázaro Álvarez Casas were also sanctioned for their "regime's brutality".[43]
Díaz-Canel and his wife Lis Cuesta Peraza with Russian President Putin before the2024 Victory Day Parade in Moscow, 9 May 2024
Díaz-Canel has two children from his marriage to his first wife, Marta Villanueva, which ended in divorce. He currently resides with his second wife,Lis Cuesta Peraza.[50]
On 23 March 2021, Díaz-Canel obtained a PhD in technical sciences, defending a thesis titled "Government Management System Based on Science and Innovation for Sustainable Development in Cuba."[51]
^"Nota oficial".Diario Granma. 22 March 2012.Archived from the original on 27 February 2021. Retrieved31 March 2019.
^"Raul Castro to lead Cuba's Communist Party until 2021". FRANCE 24. 19 April 2018.Archived from the original on 18 July 2018. Retrieved23 April 2018.'I confirm to this assembly that Raul Castro, as First Secretary of the Communist Party, will lead the decisions about the future of the country,' Diaz-Canel said.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
_-_ribbon_bar.gif)
.jpg)
