Raul Castro

Written by Smithsonian traveler and last year’s Smithsonian Magazine’s photo contest grand prize winner photographer, Jia Han Dong. Photographed by Jia Han Dong Photographed by Jia Han Dong Cuba is truly a dream destination for every photographer. I am glad to have had the chance to participate in the program: “Discover Cuba: It’s People and Culture” People-To-People Exchange Journey. The very day I received the invitation from Smithsonian, I just knew I had to be a part of it. It didn’t...Read Full Story

Cuban leader Raul Castro says he will retire in 2018 HAVANA: Cuban President Raul Castro announced on Sunday he will step down from power after his second term ends in 2018, and the new parliament named a 52-year-old rising star to become his first vice president and most visible successor. “This will be my last term,” Castro, 81, said shortly after the National Assembly elected him to a second five-year tenure.In a surprise move, the new parliament also named Miguel Diaz-Canel as first vice...Read Full Story

Cuban dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez said here Monday that while the heir apparent to President Raul Castro appears to be a “continuer,” she wouldn’t dismiss the possibility that once in power he might become a reformer like Mikhail Gorbachev. The writer of the renowned Generacion Y blog described Miguel Diaz-Canel, 52, who was recently designated as Cuba’s senior vice president, as a “grey man” who will be unable to govern like Fidel or Raul Castro” because he lacks “that historical status...Read Full Story

“Repression has worsened” in Cuba and the regime is acting “with impunity in the streets, is beating us, is dragging us away, is taking us to jail,” said the spokeswoman for the Cuban dissident group Ladies in White in Madrid on Monday. In an interview with Efe, Berta Soler said that she supports the maintenance of the U.S. embargo on Cuba and is even asking that greater international pressure be brought to bear on the Communist regime. She attributes to international “pressure” the fact that...Read Full Story

Fidel and Raul Castro (Photo courtesy of AP) Rare is the tyrant that manages a graceful exit. In Cuba, the second tyrant in a row is attempting just that. At the announcement of his re-election as Cuba’s president, Raul Castro, who took over from his brother, former president Fidel Castro, announced that he will step down as leader when his new term ends in 2018.  It is part of the slow process of handing over power over Cuba’s socialist system to a generation of leaders with no connection...Read Full Story