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Cuba Prepares for Life After the Castros

By Harriet Alexander

AS/COA Senior Director of Policy Alana Tummino discusses the upcoming political transition in Cuba as Raúl Castro leaves office.

Cuba will cease to be ruled by a Castro this week for the first time in almost half a century, as the Caribbean island begins a new chapter in its turbulent history.
 
President Raul Castro, 86, will step down on Thursday after a decade in power, in a decision he announced in 2013. In a significant generational shift he is expected to hand over to Miguel Diaz-Canel - who was not even born when the Revolution begun.
 
A jeans-wearing former electrical engineer who bears a passing resemblance to Richard Gere, Mr Diaz-Canel, 57, is distinguished from many of the senior Communist Party officials by his youth and vigour.
 

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