Cuba's new leader breaks from past with public appearances

[Judi Lynn]

Andrea Rodriguez and Michael Weissenstein, Associated Press
Updated 1:50 pm, Tuesday, May 22, 2018

HAVANA (AP) — For half a century Fidel Castro seemed to be everywhere in Cuba — inspecting factories, farms and offices, expounding to the press and zooming to the scenes of natural disasters to direct the minutest details of the response.

His brother Raul was a military man who operated from behind the scenes, rarely making speeches and going long stretches without appearing in public, even as he attempted historic reforms of Cuba's economy and foreign policy.

A month after taking office, the Castros' successor as president of Cuba has broken from the immediate past, and made clear to Cubans that he will be operating far more like a conventional modern politician than the spotlight-shy general who selected him or the revolutionary comandante who led Cuba for 47 years before that.

Miguel Diaz-Canel, 58, has set a whirlwind pace of public appearances since his first day in office — promising improvement in trash pickup and public transportation, inspecting state cafeterias and health clinics, and now acting as the public face of the government's response to the air crash that killed 111 people when a Boeing 737 rented by Cuba's national airline slammed into a farm field shortly after takeoff from Havana's airport on Friday.

More:
https://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Cuba-s-new-leader-breaks-from-past-with-public-12934252.php

[Mike Rows His Boat]

1. Love the nonsense and propaganda in the Assoc Puke

We Cubans know that Raul Castro oversaw the near complete demilitarization of the Cuban army and transformed it into a much broader social and infrastructure building organization.
Nonetheless, Raul is a “military man”.

[EX500rider]

2. Not surprising they call him that.

Previous to being appointed acting President of Cuba in July 2006, he served as the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces from 1959 to 2008.

[Judi Lynn]

3. AP has to be read closely, with awareness they almost always have bent to the US-derived imperative.

In cases like describing Cuban hurricanes, etc. they can usually stay pretty close to the truth throughout their articles, right?