Cuba Moves to Elect Non-Castro Leader.
ANDERSON: If you just joined us, you are more than welcome. This is Connect the World. I'm Becky Anderson. It's just quarter to eight in the evening here in Abu Dhabi. This is our Middle Eastern broadcasting hub. It is hard to imagine Cuba without Castro at the helm. For nearly six decades, the island has been ruled by two revolutionary brothers so that's the late Fidel Castro, then current President Raul. Now, a new era begins, the lawmakers choosing a new president in a two-day session which is underway in Havana. The replacement for Raul Castro isn't expected to be a surprise, but are still a lot of unknowns about the direction that the new leader could steer the country. Our man in Havana, Patrick Oppmann, has more.</s>PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For a man frequently accused of being a dictator, Raul Castro has an unusual wish. He wants to retire. Raul's older brother, Fidel, ruled Cuba for nearly five decades and said he thought he would die while still in power, until a mystery illness and botched intestinal surgery forced him to step aside in 2008. Raul Castro took over as president of Cuba but said he would limit his reign to two five-year terms. Only hours remain before a new president of the communist-run island is due to be elected.</s>OPPMANN: The National Assembly reconvenes next year on April 19th, Raul Castro said in 2017, "I will conclude my second and last term in front of the state and government and Cuba will have a new president." And for the first time in nearly 60 years, Cuba's government will not be led by someone named Castro. For years, many Cubans speculated that Raul Castro's daughter, Mariela, a member of the National Assembly and advocate for gay and transgender rights, or his son, Alejandro, a colonel in Cuba's counterintelligence who represented the island in secret talks with the U.S., would be the next Castros to take power. But either is now in the running Cuban government officials say. Here's how it works. It's Cuba's National Assembly, not the Cuban people that will pick the next president of Cuba's Council of State and Ministers. And on April 19th, the anniversary of the Cuban victory at the Bay of Pigs, they will gather here at Havana's convention palace to vote in secret. The candidate that comes out with more than 50 percent of that vote will become the next president of Cuba. Many Cubans believe that will be this man, Cuban first vice-president Miguel Diaz-Canel who so far at least has promised to follow closely in the footsteps of Fidel and Raul Castro. "I believe in continuity," he says. "I think there will always be continuity." Even though he will remain as the powerful first secretary of the Cuban Communist Party, Cuban government officials say Raul Castro is expected to live in semi-retirement in Cuba's second largest city Santiago de Cuba, where residents there say he recently built this house and where Fidel Castro was buried in 2016. Castro is stepping down as the economy of Cuba's close ally, Venezuela, implodes relations with the U.S. or at the worst point in decades and thousands of Cubans are still recovering from Hurricane Irma.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It must be a very difficult thing to be the president of Cuba. They have a bureaucracy with the great people who are afraid to do it. It's a tough challenge situation so everything has to come back up to you.</s>OPPMANN: What is certain is that whoever the next president of Cuba is, they have their work cut out for them. Patrick Oppmann, CNN Havana.</s>ANDERSON: Cuba's National Assembly has begun voting for Castro's successor and the results we are told should be announced on Thursday. That is per Cuba's state run media. Live from Abu Dhabi this is Connect the World. I'm Becky Anderson with you. Coming up, he was a journalist and a gentleman, ahead, we're going to take a look at the incredible life of one of our own, the late Richard Blystone.