Cuban President Raul Castro will step down from power on Thursday, bringing an end to the 60-year Castro era in the country. "We have come a long way... so that our children, those of the present and those of the future, will be happy," Castro said in one of his last speeches as leader last month. The 86-year-old has been in power since 2006, when he took over after illness sidelined his brother Fidel, who seized power in the 1959 revolution. Between them, father of the nation Fidel and younger brother Raul ruled Cuba for nearly 60 years, making the Caribbean island a key player in the Cold War and helping keep communism afloat despite the collapse of the Soviet Union. On Thursday, that chapter of history will come to a close when the National Assembly elects a new president of the Council of State, catapulting the island into the post-Castro era. The Assembly will begin gathering on Wednesday, although the vote itself will take place on Thursday. The replacement for President Raul Castro is widely expected to be First Vice-President Miguel Diaz-Canel, 57, an engineer who embraces technology and appears socially liberal, but is considered a safe pair of hands to follow the elderly leaders who fought the 1959 revolution, as they retire. The next president is likely to be cautious at first, seeking to consolidate support among conservatives despite a desire for faster development of an economy smaller than it was in 1985, when Cuba had the support of the Soviet Union. "There will be a sense of renewal, and there will be a sense of continuity," said Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez. The outgoing president will remain at the head of the Communist Party until its next congress in 2021 -- when he turns 90 -- time enough to ensure a controlled transition and to watch over his protege when, inevitably, old-guard communists challenge his reforms. Cuban political scientist Esteban Morales said the two would likely work in tandem, with Castro continuing to act as the ideological figurehead, while Diaz-Canel concentrates on the "very complex and difficult" task of running the government. But with the economy suffering from a crisis in allied Venezuela and relations with the United States strained anew under President Donald Trump, some Cubans are pessimistic about their lives improving and feel nervous about what is to come. On the island, the transition is fueling moderate debate between fervent Castro-ites and their critics, who expect few changes after the election, in which they have no direct participation. Cubans last month elected the National Assembly, whose 605 members are tasked with voting in the new president. “Right now, we don’t know what the future holds,” said Adriana Valdivia, 45, a teacher in Havana. “Raul is finished and Fidel is history.” “I can’t see a way out to help Cubans live better, salaries are the same and don’t make ends meet, and now Trump is tightening the screws with the blockade, imagine that,” said Valdivia, who earns about $24 a month. The next president should “increase the speed of change in Cuba while preserving the good things,” said blogger Harold Cardenas, 32, adding that resistance to economic reforms brought in by Raul Castro had held the country back. "They are changing the government, but its still the same kind, its always going to be influenced by the Castros. Even if its another man, its always going to be a Castro government," said Ariel Ortiz, an unemployed 24-year-old in Havana. Retiree Raul Garcia, 79, said: "They say that Raul is leaving the presidency, and that another, younger, man will come. Thats logical. But Raul is not leaving, Raul will always be with us, like Fidel." As if to underscore a sense of continuity, the authorities are not planning a special ceremony for the assembly vote. And foreign journalists, anxious for an early look at the new president, have not been invited. "We will continue... the path of the revolution. The triumphant march of the revolution will continue," said Diaz-Canel after voting in last months assembly elections. However, despite striving for a low-key transition, theres no getting away from the fact that this represents a monumental change in Cuba. It will be the first time in almost six decades that the Cuban president will not be named Castro, will not be part of the "historic" generation of 1959, will not wear a military uniform and will not be the head of the Communist Party. Diaz-Canel will be expected to build on the reforms introduced by Castro in recent years, particularly those giving greater latitude to the islands tourism industry and small business sector. The date of the historic vote is heavy with symbolism. It falls on the 57th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion, when the CIA tried to overthrow Castro in 1961, an episode Havana has long proclaimed as American imperialisms first great defeat in Latin America.