For the first time in almost 60 years, the official leader of Cuba will no longer be called Castro
86-year-old Raúl Castro is to hand the baton to his deputy, Miguel Díaz-Canel, 57 who was born after the 1959 revolution.
Mr Díaz-Canel was not really well known to Cubans until four years ago, when he became vice-president.
Mr Castro and his deputy
Although president Castro, who officially took over from his brother, Fidel, in 2008, is relinquishing the presidency, he is not giving up power entirely. He remains first secretary of the Communist Party, the country’s only permitted political party, a position that is probably more significant than the presidency.
The new president may discover that, sooner or later, he needs to defer to the still looming presence of the Castro family.
Raúl Castro’s son, Alejandro Castro Espin, is a colonel in the interior ministry. He has considerable powers. Similarly, Colonel Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Calleja, who has been married to the president’s daughter. He runs Cuba’s vast holding company GAE.SA.
