Meet Miguel Diaz-Canel, the first man to lead Cuba after the Castros
When the Soviet Union collapsed, plunging Cuba into chaos, Miguel Diaz-Canel got on his bike.
While other Communist Party cadres still commuted in their Ladas, Mr Diaz-Canel, the highest ranking politician in his hometown of Villa Clara, cycled alongside the ordinary people, who were forced through poverty to travel by foot, horse or bicycle.
It was an endearing gesture, which did his career no harm whatsoever – also meaning he could sneak up on factories unannounced, to make sure they weren’t hoarding.
Fast forward 20 years, and Cuba is yet again sailing in uncertain waters, with a stridently anti-Cuban US president and its staunchest economic supporter, Venezuela, spluttering.
But this time,…
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