Shawdesh Desk: Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has been appointed the country’s first prime minister in more than 40 years – the tourism minister, Manuel Marrero Cruz.

The post of prime minister was scrapped in 1976 by the then revolutionary leader Fidel Castro.
It was reinstated under the rules of a new constitution for the communist-run island passed earlier this year.

Mr Marrero, 56, will take on some of the responsibilities that currently fall to the president.

“The head of government will be the administrative right hand of the president of the republic,” state-run online news outlet Cubadebate said.

However, critics say any such changes are purely cosmetic as the Cuban Communist Party and the military remain the only two real decision-making institutions on the island.

Fidel Castro led a communist revolution that toppled the Cuban government in 1959, after which he declared himself prime minister.

He held the title until 1976, when it was abolished and he became head of the Communist Party and president of the council of state and the council of ministers.
With his health failing, Castro handed power to his brother, Raúl, in 2006. He died in 2016.

Raúl Castro stood down from the presidency in 2018 but remains leader of Cuba’s Communist Party and a major force in its politics.