Miguel Diaz-Canel sole candidate to succeed Cuba’s President Raul Castro

HAVANA: Miguel Diaz-Canel is the sole candidate to succeed Cuba’s President Raul Castro, officials announced on Wednesday on the eve of a vote in the National Assembly. Diaz-Canel, a 57-year-old Communist Party official and the country’s current first vice president, is due to be confirmed on Thursday as the successor to Castro, whose departure will end his family’s six-decade grip on power. The announcement came after the National Assembly began a historic two-day meeting to elect a successor to the 86-year-old Castro.