Cuba foreign policy remains intact - Ambassador
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Friday April 27, 2018 13:39
Díaz-Canel, elected by Parliament last week, is the first person outside the Castro dynasty to lead Cuba in decades. Botswana and Cuba have 40 years in bilateral diplomatic relationship, especially in areas like health, education and sports.
“The new President will fulfill what former president, Raúl Castro has left or things he could not do. The new President has made a promise that foreign exchange policy won’t be changed. Both Botswana and Cuba have benefited a lot from each other,” Guerra said.
“Changes could only be made when there is need. The new President is committed on delivery and he is the person people could trust. He has been the Vice President and therefore he could only make few changes where he believes is necessary.”
She said her country holds general elections every five years, but their system is different from Botswana. However, the period can only be extended by virtue of a resolution of the Assembly itself in the event of war, or in the case of other exceptional circumstances that may impede the normal holding of elections and while such circumstances exist.
The National Assembly has power to elect the President, the vice presidents, the secretary, and the other members of the council of Ministers.
Unlike Botswana, 605 elected national legislators who represent diverse sectors of society, 338 were elected for the first time and 148 have served one term and more than half of the MPs are women (53.2%).
After he was elected Díaz-Canel said: “I do not come to promise anything, as the revolution never has in all these years. I come to fulfill the programme that we have implemented with the guidelines of socialism and the revolution”.
However, the ambassador said Cuba would never be without Castro.
“The Castros are indispensable part of Cuba’s history, present and future. Their works and ideas will always accompany the destiny of the Cuban revolution and the people. I personally have no doubt about the continuity of the revolutionary project and the defence of our principles of sovereignty, independence and social justice,” she said.
She said Díaz-Canel assumed the responsibilities with the conviction that all would-be revolutionaries would be faithful to Fidel and Raul.
Some still believe that in Cuba there is no space for a transition that ignores or destroys the work of the revolution.