– Liz Conde Sánchez –
(Translated by NEPH from granma.cu, April 19, 2023)
Similarly, the deputy and member of the Party’s Political Bureau, Salvador Valdés Mesa, was re-elected to the position of Vice President of the Republic of Cuba, with 439 votes in favour, representing 93.4%.
Alina Balseiro Gutierrez, President of the National Electoral Commission, after the scrutiny of the previous vote, announced the re-election of the deputy and First Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, as President of the Republic of Cuba.
The directive detailed that 462 deputies were present and voted, of which 460 cast valid ballots and two were blank. 459 votes were counted in favor of Diaz-Canel, representing 97.66%.
Similarly, the deputy and member of the Party’s Political Bureau, Salvador Valdés Mesa, was re-elected to the position of Vice President of the Republic of Cuba, with 439 votes in favour, representing 93.4%.
Esteban Lazo Hernandez, President of the National Assembly of People’s Power and the Council of State, after the results of the vote were announced, declared the ratification of Diaz-Canel and Valdés Mesa as President and Vice President of the Republic, respectively.
PRESIDENTE MIGUEL DÍAZ-CANEL BERMÚDEZ
He was born on April 20, 1960, in Santa Clara. His student career was successful in the different levels of education. He held positions in the Pioneers Organization, the Federation of High School Students (FEEM) and the Federation of University Students (FEU). As a Young Communist League (UJC) member, he held different responsibilities from the grassroots level to the National Leadership. He was the First Secretary of the UJC Committee at the Central University of Villa Clara and a member of the Provincial Bureau. He graduated as an Electronics Engineer and later obtained a Master’s Degree in Management.
He held the positions of First and Second Secretary of the Provincial UJC Committee in Villa Clara, and Second Secretary of the National Committee until 1993, when he was promoted to work for the Communist Party as a member of the Provincial Bureau in Villa Clara. In 1994, he became the First Secretary of this province, where he worked with positive and recognized results. He was elected a member of the Central Committee at the Fifth Congress. In 2003, he was transferred by the decision of the country’s leadership to become the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) in the province of Holguin, and was elected a member of the Political Bureau due to his merits and comprehensive qualities. In 2009, he was appointed Minister of Higher Education and in 2012 as Vice President of the Council of Ministers. He was promoted to First Vice President of the Councils of State and Ministers in 2013. He was ratified as a member of the Political Bureau at the 6th, 7th and 8th Congress of the PCC, and was elected as the First Secretary of the Central Committee at the last Congress.
He was an Internationalist Collaborator in Nicaragua from 1987 to 1989. He attended the “Ñico López” Higher School and completed a Postgraduate Course in World Economy and the National Defence College, where he graduated from the First Level Diploma of Preparation for Defence. In 2000, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Among other recognitions, he holds the following medals: Vanguard of the FEU, Distinguished Service of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR), Vanguard of the Cuban Revolutionary Air and Air Defence Force (DAAFAR), Internationalist Collaborator and the Félix Elmusa Order.
VICE-PRESIDENT SALVADOR ANTONIO VALDÉS MESA
He was born on June 13, 1945 in Amancio Rodríguez, province of Las Tunas, where he started his work life in 1959 as an agricultural worker. He is an Agricultural Engineer. He joined the National Revolutionary Militias in 1961, and he was a member of the Association of Rebel Youths where he held the position of Secretary General in the region of Amancio Rodríguez. In 1962, he was part of the national commission that worked on the formation of the United Party of the Socialist Revolution in several regions of the Camagüey province. In 1968, he was promoted to the leadership of the municipal Party in Santa Cruz del Sur until he held the position of Secretary General.
In 1971, he started his union work, when he was promoted to Secretary General of the Workers’ Central Union of Cuba (CTC) in the region of Santa Cruz del Sur and professional member of the provincial secretariat in Camagüey. In 1980, he held the responsibility of Head of the Department of Attention to Mass Organizations of the Provincial Committee of the Party in Camagüey. In 1983, he worked as Second Secretary of the Municipal Committee of the Party in Santa Cruz del Sur and in 1985 as First Secretary. In the 16th Congress of the CTC, he was elected as the Second Secretary, and in 1992, he was appointed General Secretary of the National Union of Agricultural and Forestry Workers, a responsibility that he held simultaneously with the position of Second Secretary of the National CTC.
He was Minister of Labour and Social Security between 1995 and 1999, the year in which he was elected First Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee in Camagüey. He was elected Secretary General of the CTC at its 19th Congress in September 2006 and held the position until 2013. He participated as a delegate to the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th Congresses of the Party and was elected a member of the Central Committee at the 4th Congress. He has been a deputy to the National Assembly of People’s Power since 1993. He has been a member of the State Council from the 1st to 5th Legislature and from the 7th to date. In the 8th Legislature, he was ratified as a member of the State Council and elected Vice President of the Council of State and Ministers. In 2018, he was promoted to First Vice President.
He has been awarded the medals: “20th Anniversary of Literacy” and “20th Anniversary of the UJC,” “Jesús Menéndez,” “Fighter of the War of All the People,” “50th Anniversary of the FAR” and the Distinctions: “September 28” and “Distinguished Services of the FAR.”