INTERVIEW – MIKE GONZALEZ – Senior Fellow for International Studies at The Heritage Foundation and the author of “A Race for the Future: How Conservatives Can Break the Liberal Monopoly on Hispanic Americans.”

• A native of Cuba, Mike Gonzalez escaped the Castro regime at age 12.  He is a senior fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Davis Institute for International Studies and the author of “A Race for the Future” How Conservatives Can Break the Liberal Monopoly on Hispanic Americans.”
• TOPIC:The end of the Castro era in Cuba:  For the first time in 60 years, a Castro will not be the leader of Cuba and what it really means for Cuba
• Castro rule in Cuba nears end as Miguel Diaz-Canel named sole candidate for leadership change (Washington Post) — Miguel Díaz-Canel, 57, is poised to take over what may be this island’s toughest job — being the first Cuban leader in nearly 60 years who is not a Castro. Raúl Castro, 86, who took over from his late brother Fidel in 2008, is expected to step down Thursday, completing a transition he set in motion years ago. Cuba’s National Assembly on Wednesday named Díaz-Canel as the sole candidate for head of state, virtually ensuring that the engineer long groomed for leadership will replace Castro.
• Miguel Díaz-Canel: Cuba selects first non-Castro president since Fidel. Díaz-Canel’s transition aims to ensure the country’s single-party system outlasts the ageing men who created it. (The Guardian) — The Cuban government has selected the country’s 57-year-old first vice-president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, as the sole candidate to succeed President Raúl Castro in a transition aimed at ensuring the country’s single-party system outlasts the ageing revolutionaries who created it.