the objective is to destroy the communist party for its political activities. it is successful in doing that and it effectively destroys what remains of the communist party. from 1956 to '71, there are 1,388 different cohen and telco actions conducted against the communist party. its membership roughly around 80,000 at the end of the second world war drops to a thousand active members in the '60s. a large part of that is due to the legal measures that are used against the party. they also take a huge hit when khrushchev comes to power and reveals that in pack, all of the rumors about stalin's behavior are totally true. he was a tyrannical monster who murdered millions, who conducted show trials of its political enemies and people he thought might be his political enemy, right? that had a huge effect in turning people over from the communist party. >> it keeps us going long past the point where cpa is relevant and there's substantial dissent in the ranks of the fbi in the late '60s, and hoover will not let this go even though the party is well past the point whe

castrato will still remain the leader of the communist party for now but cuba's do have expectations from their new president. a region change it is not the era of fiedel and ralph castro may be coming to an end but the cuba they built remains launch of the unchanged cubans expect the new president to continue his predecessor's legacy of slowly modernizing the communist country. that will mean more of it still the same for me honestly as long as things keep improving and then all is well i'll tell you. make al diaz can now will now be the first leader of communist cuba who was not a member of the revolutionary generation he is expected to carry on reforms introduced by now ex president raul castro such as allowing citizens to run small businesses and reducing restrictions on foreign travel cuba's new generation is optimistic that would like to travel i'd like to travel and see the world. while many cubans dream of change the social programs of the castros communist party remain popular dance canal a party loyalist is a cautious choice for a cautious country in cuba the revolution wil

as the communist party secretary of his home province of viet latta the earned a reputation for being open minded. here is a hangout for young people including gays lesbians transsexuals and punks d.s. was by their side in the one nine hundred ninety s. when alternative lifestyles was severely frowned on. even after he rose to the top every time he came to santa clara one of the first things they do is come see us of them in he's the same i'm assuming humble person. maybe so but in most of cuba people know very little about the first man in six decades who will rule the silent whose name is not castro in fact he was the only candidate in the vote by the national assembly on wednesday. we asked this man what he thought of the selection process. let my silence speak for itself it's the silence of many cubans . those who may be expecting a major shift will clearly be disappointed. we're encouraging reaffirming and consolidating continuity which is very important for the defense of the revolution which today is being threatened and attacked by relationship with the us that deteriorated th

the outgoing president will remain head of the communist party for another three years consolidating his own power but the eighty six year old told the party faithful that he sees d.s. canal as his eventual successor so he's two years younger than you want his ten year presidential term is over and the three years remaining until the congress he will become the first secretary of the communist party. watching the presidential handover at their home in havana these cubans believe the fifty seven year old dears can now is what the country needs. it was a good choice he's young and innovative with a different perspective but on the streets of cuba not everyone is convinced much will change. all the same to me who have as good for the country in the people. me gandy dance canalis aponte no a list a cautious choice for a cautious country and that's a piece to be exactly what the old guard wants. well joining me tonight from havana cuba is freelance journalist jose who's on nieves jose welcome to the show i want to ask you what are people in havana what are they saying this hour about the

kathy novak now joins us live from salter understand the communist party has been meeting in the north how is momentum building over there. well the south korean government for its part is pressing ahead finalizing plans for the upcoming intercourse summit that's to be held between the president in and kim jong un next friday at the demilitarized zone that separates the two koreas the first time there will be any into korean summit for more than a decade and only the third of its kind it seems to be cautiously optimistic going into this it says a record number of journalists have registered to cover the sonnet almost three thousand in fact and it says that at least portions of the summit are to be televised live interesting that it seems kim jong un has agreed to allow that to happen though of course we don't know how much if any will be shown inside north korea and as you mentioned there the state media in north korea has said that there will be a meeting of the south the north korean rather government on friday we don't have many details of what is to be discussed but the timing is i

is a long time communist party cato he is regarded as loyal to the party loyal to the communist party and above all loyal to the revolution and he is not seen as a reformist as a modern man may be open minded but certainly not a person who will come to cuba to change the system on the contrary he is being trumpeted by raul castro and the communist party and all of the state run media in fact as the man or the candidate rather of continuity the one who will remain firm and loyal to the communist party and to this one party system the cuba has had for nearly six decades despite so much pressure from around the world for it to change in a surprise move turkish president says of tayyip erdogan has announced that there will be early presidential and parliamentary elections on june the twenty fourth the vote was supposed to take place in november twenty million team constitutional changes were passed last year in a referendum allowing turkey to switch from a parliamentary system to a presidential one. manages the turkey project at chatham house it's a think tank in the u.k. he says public p

he was picked because the years a younger member of the communist party he was picked because he has been trained and primed for this post over several years and he's been primed i don't mean that in any kind of sinister way but he's been trained to understand that the cuban revolution is very complex and to do that as president he needs to respect the desires aspirations memories experiences of a whole range of cubans of all kinds of generations dr park and reading university in the u.k. thank you very much. all right here in germany one of the suspects an alleged anti semitic attack in berlin has turned himself into police police say the nineteen year old is a syrian the entire incident was recorded by one of the victims he and his friend were wearing a jewish style skullcaps when they were attacked by a man with a belt he later told the news they were wearing the keep for the first time to show an israeli friend it was safe to do so in the german capital. art want to bring you know have to date with some of the other stories making news around the world. the king of swaziland has

we know he is a communist party loyalist. that is pretty much it. about this particular person? christopher: very little. what we know in part is sort of what the party and the government has let us know. he likes the beatles and rolling stones. beyond having good musical taste, i don't know what that means about him. that is the music of the era of the revolution. he used to ride his bike to work. so he is supposedly very modest. any uses an ipad. he is a modern figure. he's married. very low profile. he was the liaison between the cuban government and the government in nicaragua. he is a party loyalist. coronation.his is a this was not an election as i tried to portray it. he is a party guy. he is a raul castro guy. and one who has kept a low profile. two of his predecessors who were picked to replace the casters burned out and got too big for their britches and got marginalized. he is not one of them. lowy: it is probably that profile that helped him. thank you so much. at columbia university's school of international public affairs. coming up, s

while many cubans dream of change the social programs of the castros communist party remain popular dance canal a party loyalist is a cautious choice for a cautious country in cuba the revolution will not be jeopardized. as a surrender for about hugo of our top stories that we're following for you right now german chancellor anglo american and french president and one might call have put on a united front during meetings here in berlin but divisions have still shone through my corners called on germany to join his push for your wide economic reforms viju record meanwhile says really wants to stand with france but that her government must first assess the risks. and israel has kicked off celebrations to mark seventy years since the jewish state was founded in the middle east prime minister benjamin netanyahu has said israel won't spare those who raise a hand against it but also hinted at better relations with some arab nations. only iraq thank you so much for spread. in this part of your day with us i'll be back at the top of the hour see that. this valuable germany is a strong country. th

as the communist party so. tree of his home province of viet lauder d.s. earned a reputation for being open minded. includes here is a hangout for young people including gays lesbians transsexuals and punks d.s. was by their side in the one nine hundred ninety s. it's come see us at the minute he's the same unassuming humble person. maybe so but in most of cuba people know very little about the first man in six decades who will rule the silent whose name is not castro in fact he was the only candidate in the vote by the national assembly on wednesday. we asked this man would he vote in the selection process. let my silence speak for itself it's the silence of many cubans. those who may be expecting a major shift will clearly be disappointed with. reaffirming and consolidating continuity which is very important for the defense of the revolution which today is being threatened by a relationship with the us that deteriorated the truth is the beer scandal has been chosen not to reform but to improve cuban socialism if he can and does represent a generation you

the outgoing president will remain head of the communist party for another three years consolidating his own power but the eighty six year old told the party faithful that he sees d.f. canal as his eventual successor three years earlier wants his ten year presidential term is over and the three years remaining until the congress he will become the first secretary of the communist party. watching the presidential handover at their home in havana these cubans believe the fifty seven year old d.s. can now is what the country needs. being really it was a good choice he's young and innovative with a different perspective but on the streets of cuba not everyone is convinced much will change. all the same to me who have his good for the country in the people. me again dns canal is a ponty loyalist a cautious choice for a cautious country and that appears to be exactly what the once. you know where is cuba headed tonight to talk about that i'm joined now by jorge dewani he is director of the cuban research institute at florida international university in miami and mr dorney it's good to have

has gone but he is remains as the second secretary of the communist party and there is expected to be this gradual change of what some people call the dinosaurs to the younger generation and i think the most significant thing of all is that these asked for a postponement of the naming of his cabinet and till the next time that the national assembly meets that's in july and there is a sense that he may name completely different people to the cabinet that are not necessarily members of the council of state as has been the case up until now and that should give him some independence but again remember that old gosh who is of the historic generation of the cuban revolution will remain very much watching what happens for at least another three years until the next cuban communist party congress he said that if all goes well then he will really hand over then that transition the end of the castro era will really take place and that's in three years time he says that his health accompanies him he will then become quote just another soldier of the cuban revolution we will continue to watch du

is the guiding light in society but beyond being head of the communist party. role caster also has his son who oversees the intelligence apparatus handle castro who's a colonel in the intelligence service who was the point person in the negotiations between the united states and cuba during the normalization efforts back during the obama administration secondly he has his son in law general slope this guy a house who runs the economy with the conglomerate known as gaius at the controls a good eighty five percent of the cuban economy and he also has his daughter who's in a key position by the other castro within the national assembly so it remains a family enterprise so you're saying what we saw today it is not the castro giving up or ceding power at all. it is not and it's not the first time between one thousand nine hundred fifty nine and one nine hundred seventy six cuba had a president that wasn't named castro's then was to close and that did not in any way limit the absolute power of the castro brothers to do what they wanted to do in cuba yeah i mean let m

cuban economy needs attention the question is in which direction is it going to go the cuban communist party and the cuban government which are almost one in the same because they get their guidelines from the party and the party congress have made it clear that they do not want to go into the direction of vietnam or china for example that they have to strengthen on the contrary the state sector which they believe. the country's so it's going to be a major major foreign in the new government side to figure out how they're going to engineer that how rather than moving away from a totally centralized communist system how to make it work without doing that and that is really the big question but it doesn't seem like there's been any announcement or any sign so far that they plan to move in the direction as i say of these other communist countries in the world the asian ones who have had success more much more success in their economic policies major international announcements in terms of foreign policy especially when it comes to the u.s. but you've been covering cuba for many years lucy i mea

an engineer by profession but he has spent most of his life in politics working his way up the communist party from the bottom all the way up to the top he's always kept a low profile and that has certainly helped him get to where he is right now many other confidants of their all and fidel castro fell by the wayside when it is said here they thought their good they know more than the top man or they became too big for their britches while the while the colonel has kept as i say a low profile he is not considered to be particularly a reform arm but out but an open minded man who wants to bring about the reforms particularly economic reforms of this country desperately needs to really see a new and they're joining us live from. thank you. u.s. president has confirmed that his spy chief made a secret visit to north korea and met its leader kim jong un chum tweeted that the meeting with the cia had my complete all went very smoothly and a good relationship was for him it comes as the groundwork is laid for a possible summit between the two al-jazeera is diplomatic and this is james phase is in py

will remain the communist party. rebel fighters and northeast of syria's capital damascus have agreed to lay down weapons and deal brokered by russia to the north groups are holding out despite government strikes. syrian government media accusing health and emergency workers of providing aid to rebel groups but doctors insist they focus on injured civilians in areas where hospitals are regularly bombed by the government. reports. as the buses full of people forced from their homes left parts of eastern after years of siege and bombings forces and. government t.v. crews rushed to show how the enclave was run by rebel fighters they call terrorists the relentless brooke baldwin forced people in the ground into basements such as this one job or frequent attacks on hospitals meant even frequent was being provided below ground level in the ration says only fighters were allowed to billions were prohibited charities supporting health institutions like this deny those claims. but. one according to syrian media every organiza

as the communist party secretary of his home province of viet latta the earned a reputation for being open minded. the maine coon here is a hangout for young people including gays lesbians transsexuals and punks d.s. was by their side in the one nine hundred ninety s. when alternative lifestyles were severely frowned on. even after he rose to the top every time he came to santa clara one of the first things to do is come see us of the men who he's the same i'm assuming humble person. maybe so but in most of cuba people know very little about the first man in six decades who will rule the silent whose name is not castro in fact he was the only candidate in the vote by the national assembly on wednesday. we asked this man what he thought of the selection process. let my silence speak for itself it's the silence of many cubans . those who may be expecting a major shift will clearly be disappointed. that we are encouraging reaffirming and consolidating continuity which is very important. the defense of the revolution which today is being threatened and attacked by relationship with the us

talk serious a fish and and above all discreet rising up the communist party's ranks from the bottom fifty seven year old. is making history he's done it in part by never ever having tried to outshine or question fidel or raul castro as others once earmarked as their successes learned the hard way and i think he also feels it's true. that he actually genuinely from. her cuban revolution. as the communist party secretary of his home province of viet lauder the earned a reputation for being open minded. women cool here is a hangout for young people including gays lesbians transsexuals and punks d.-a scandal was by their side in the one nine hundred ninety s. when alternative lifestyles were severely frowned on. even after he rose to the top every time he came to santa clara one of the first things to do is come see us of the men who he's the same unassuming humble person. may be so but in most of cuba people know very little about the first man in six decades who will rule the silent whose name is not castro in fact he was the only candidate in the vote by the national assembly on wedn

karl marx the liberator the critic of capitalism this is how the communist party in china most likes to see him thanks and travel groups to tree house where marx was born is a hot spot of red tourism b.s. this is a very great man you know. it's well it's what we were taught in school i think he's a very famous and excellent revolutionary. or society it's very clear what his real climax comments expressed many important opinions and is very important for china also for the revolution. which is why our modern interpretation is called for a marx rap anthem commissioned by chinese state television or tools for. people listening to hip beats rather than reading dr bokes how marx can appeal to the young chinese system the masses a lot in common with a generation that was born post ninety's. this is chinese quote that translates as marx is a post nineteenth kid to the cool guy who can relate to and have stuff in common with that's what's behind this relaunch of his image of tibet our. image grooming in a country which could not be further removed from the idea of a classless society a count

economist but how the communist party of china has always officially referred to marx but not always this explicitly. basically china sees the financial crisis of two thousand and eight two thousand and nine as an opportunity to promote the chinese system or. this means if the communist party of china talks about marxism today it doesn't necessarily have a great deal to do with his works. in his anniversary year marks is also available in x x al created by an artist loyal to the party a statue was a gift from china to the city of tria. so you could. success that china is having is a validation of marxism which are. the ideology of karl marx is correct and should be protected as the heritage of all of mankind prove he is in our hearts in a huge way point. is also here five and a half meters of hero worship for the city of korea accept such a gift or does this mean the city is paying homage to a communist system there is a hefty criticism from dissidents. and she now in china millions and millions of people have been killed in the name of marxism. this regime this past instead of comin

as the head of the communist party, he is the guiding light in society but besides that, raul castrolso has his son who oversees the intelligence apparatus, a la hydro castro who is a kernel, who was the point person -- alejandro castro who is a colonel. and then he has his son-in-law who runs the economy with the conglomerate known as the controls. that is 85% of the economy. he has his daughter who is in a key position within the national assembly. it remains a family enterprise. brent: so you say it is not the castro's giving up or receiving power at all. john: it is not, and is not the first time. between 1959 and 1976 cuba had a president that wasn't named castro. that did not in any way limit the absolute power of the castro brothers to do what they wanted to do in cuba. brent: let me play devil's advocate. from where your sitting in miami , you were at the epicenter of the cuban diaspora, all the exiles, many of them are still there to this day. we know they are not a friend of the castro regime, but perhaps mr. diaz-canel, perhaps he is the trigger that is needed to take powe

two five year terms and we learned today that for now raul castro remains the boss of cuba's communist party. handing over the presidency but not complete power after almost sixty years of rule by the castro brothers cuba has a new leader mikhail diaz can now promised outgoing president raul castro and the national assembly that he would carry on the socialist revolution. i assume the responsibility for which i have been elected with the conviction that all the cuban revolutionaries from whichever position we hold we will be faithful to the legacy of the commander in chief fidel castro ruz historic leader of the revolution and also to the values and teachings of general brogden castro ruz to go rogue otto rule the outgoing president will remain head of the communist party for another three years consolidating his own power but the eighty six year old told the party faithful that he sees d.s. canal as his eventual successor so three years on. one says ten year presidential term is over and the three years remaining until the congress he will become the first secretary of the communist party.

while many cubans dream of change the social programs of the castros communist party remain popular ideas can no party loyalist is a conscious choice for a cautious country. in cuba the revolution will not be jeopardized. we have melissa chan here with us at the table we've been watching this report together melissa she's been reporting on cuba for the new york times and is now associated with the nonprofit organization the global reporting center melissa who is my go d.s. can now what should we make of this math well as the report indicated we really don't know that much about him he's sort of walking on a very interesting line between an influential hard line section among the cuban elites and also people who want to reform including role castro who has pushed for reform but hasn't really managed to make as many changes as he has wanted d.s. canelo is being very careful in part because there were successors in the past that is eventually got sidelined for speaking too much too soon so. will we see a change here in his policies or are we going to continue for example to see the opening t

he may not be a castro but miguel de has come out as a loyal follower of the communist party and her own castro will continue in his position as party chairman. and as cuba ushers in a new political era many residents will be looking to see if changes could be on the way to the country's shoddy in turn that infrastructure the u.s. think tanks freedom house calls cuba one of the world's least connected and most repressive countries regarding internet access but that is not stopping people from surfing chatting connecting online with some clever workaround so let's get more on this now we are joined here in the studio by our very own carl lawson from our social media desk to tell us a little bit more about it. so. tell us a little bit more what it's like day to day for people who want to commit yeah and it's difficult in short it's just not good the access there that's because of you know lack of funding the u.s. economic embargo of course and then government restrictions as well so if you're a cuban citizen and you don't have home internet access you don't have mobile data on your phon

canal is expected to be sworn in eighty six year old raul castro will stay on as head of the communist party to catalyse and human joins us now from how vanna he's been nominated when will it become official that he's going to succeed castro. so there were all that should happen early thursday morning here the bulk of presumably being counted but the results which are also almost certain to be unanimous won't be announced until the national assembly meets again on thursday as i said and then we'll expect a speech from but i will ask for the outgoing president and also from the good vs can it which i'm sure will be listened to with a lot of attention here by cubans we haven't really heard very much from him at all so far he is a very he's not really very well known except for the fact that it was an obvious choice he is the first vice president of the sense not of the central committee rather of the council of state which is standing by raul castro side now for several years meant that he had been the selected one rob is he expected to be able to implement many changes in the island. well i t

fidel castro ousted us back to cater for him by piece that after years climbing the ranks of the communist party lawmakers consider him to be a safe bet to inherit the ideological legacy of castro he's an engineer by trade tech friendly and he's viewed as a socially liberal politician if confirmed will be the first person outside the classroom family to lead under communist rule. earlier was joined by melissa chan here in the studio she's been reporting on cuba for the new york times and is now with the nonprofit organization the global reporting center i asked her to tell us more about custer's likely successor he has come yet. we really don't know that much about him he's sort of walking on a very interesting line between an influential hardline faction among the cuban leaves and also people who want to reform including role castro who has pushed for reform but hasn't really managed to make as many changes as he has wanted dia's canel is being very careful in part because there were successors in the past that eventually got sidelined for speaking too much too soon so will we see a change here

a communist party loyalist and a former vice president is replacing role. so castro why not be at the helm of the country but he'll still leave cuba as all powerful communist party until twenty twenty one but the country's new leader has many challenges ahead of him his priority will likely be improving the economy and mending fragile ties with the united states well the outgoing cuban president raul castro is addressing the national assembly right now let's listen in. the delegate the first congress of that organization later on. he took part in the building. of the united party of the socialist revolution of cuba in several different regions of comic way. but he had the positions of at the municipal level executive positions and also in the party. where. he worked in the. areas moved through the ranks. to become second secretary. cuban workers in general the secretary general of the forestry farming workers and nine hundred ninety six. he was appointed minister of labor and sources secured him four years later. he was permitted. to become a first secretar

heather: the head of the communist party until the next congress in 2021.es this mean moving forward? >> the last thing the trump administration should do is the cuban government, a lifeline. i keep hearing reports that sen. jeff flake, the residual influence trying in exchange for from mike pompeo as secretary of state, trying to ease travel restrictions, that would be bad policy, a better approach. we cannot try to help this government cemented told an 11 million cuban people. we should do what we can to see the way forward for freedom, give cubans the opportunity to choose their own leaders which they haven't had in 6 decades. heather: thank you for joining us, appreciate your insight, have a great day. the time is 20 minutes until the top of the hour. sanctuary insanity, dozens of violent ms 13 members finding safe space due to liberal policies, disturbing statistics and how ice is responding. >> you are considering it. >> i'm thinking about it but i have not made any determinations, the redistricting committee will deal with gerrymandering. heather: th

now is continuity continuity continually especially in terms of maintaining the power of the communist party and more or less the policy lines that have already been established under howard castro until the next communist party congress and that isn't going to happen for another three years. well to iraq now where the government has launched strikes against eisel targets in syria prime minister office says iraqi fighter jets carried out a deadly raid against i still in a border area syrian and iraqi forces have driven eisel from nearly all of its previous territory iraq has stepped up its campaign to clear the remaining i still held areas this week meanwhile hundreds of rebels who are holed up in an area near syria's capital have agreed to lay down their arms in an evacuation deal negotiated by russia members of a rebel group known as the army of islam have already started leaving to manor but to the north opposition fighters and are still holding out despite government as strikes saying harder reports from lebanon. they surrendered without a fight rebels into mayor have agreed to leave acc

or less the policy lines that have already been established under howard castro until the next communist party congress and that isn't going to happen for another three years loren and the outgoing president has been very critical of president trump isn't he. well yes he has in fact he said that cuba has always been under the sort of the united states that is present in trump was a reversal of relations between both countries has gone back to being a neo colonialist as he described him who is imposing the one road doctrine and he said that cuba was used to having to resist and resist and would continue to do so would make no concessions whatsoever to president donald trump whom as you probably know has increased economic sanctions that have been lifted by president barack obama and of course is certainly putting increasing the political pressure on cuba as well lauren this in humans thank you very much. thank you iraq has launched air strikes against targets in syria promised to hide about his office says iraqi fighter jets carried out a deadly raid against fighters in a border area syrian and

still very much under the hands of the auspices of the only party that exists here the cuban communist party lauren and lucy i mean do people mind the fact that he's a he's a shoo in like this. it depends who you ask i asked one person who said who didn't and so he just said interpret my silence let my silence speak for itself and then he just ran off others just laugh and say well you know that's the way it is here we assume that the communist party in the national assembly knows what it's doing but others quite frankly say no we wish we could have a say in in electing and selecting our president like they do in other countries but clearly for us for the near future anyway that's not going to be the case what did it work that the us had nearly showing is what that what president raul castro wants to show and that is that there is going to be continuity that this system is not going to take a shift in any direction while after he takes over and to prove that they're all crafters going to stay as the head of the communist party at least in the forseeable future loren lucien human thank you ve

going to be a charge of the implementation because many of these guys are going to remain the communist party ok and the police little but listen to these these kind of it's going to be a member of the police the president of the council of state and the price of the council of ministers most probably he will have but certainly he's not going to have mr much i'll be as a as a vice president most probably he will not have. as a vice president so obviously he will have some leverage to do with the team both role castro and the us can tell more or less gave the impression that the us carol is going to pick his team so younger younger people maybe some technological there is money don't worry you're somewhere around there who will probably be in the council of ministers but most of the economy is mostly people who advise the government they really that something has to. most probably he will have more leeway now because he will be in charge of the two government bodies that decide what are the policies right now what about the united states there was a very strong message sent by both relic castr

serious a fish and and above all discreet rising up the communist party's ranks from the bottom fifty seven year old. is making history he's done it in part by never ever having tried to outshine or question fidel or raul castro as others once earmarked as their successes learned the hard way and i think they also first loyal . that he actually genuinely believed in her cuban revolution. as the communist party secretary of his home province of viet lauder the earned a reputation for being open minded. women cool here is a hangout for young people including gays lesbians transsexuals and punks d. a scandal was by their side in the one nine hundred ninety s. when alternative lifestyles were severely frowned on. even after he rose to the top every time he came to santa clara one of the first things they do is come see us of them in he's the same unassuming humble person. maybe so but in most of cuba people know very little about the first man in six decades who will rule the silent whose name is not castro in fact he was the only candidate in the vote by the national assembly on wednesda