Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz (Birán, Holguín, Cuba, June 3, 1931) is a Cuban military officer and politician, the younger brother and collaborator of Fidel Castro. He has been the president of the Council of State of Cuba and, therefore, president of Cuba, since February 24, 2008, although he had been serving in an interim capacity since July 31, 2006. He also holds the military rank of Army General. Since April 2011, he has been the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, succeeding his brother Fidel in that role as well.
Son of the Lucense citizen Ángel Castro Argiz, he is the youngest of the three Castro brothers. Like Fidel, Raúl later attended the Jesuit Colegio de Dolores in Santiago de Cuba, and the Colegio de Belén in Havana. The brothers actively participated in student demonstrations. Raúl was a convinced communist and joined the Socialist Youth, affiliated with the Cuban Communist Party, which at that time was called the Partido Socialista Popular (PSP) and had a Soviet-style ideology.
Cuban Revolution (1953-59)
Raúl Castro, on the left, with Che Guevara in 1958.
Alongside his brother, he was one of the members of the Movimiento 26 de Julio, which carried out the assault on the Moncada barracks on July 26, 1953, in the city of Santiago de Cuba. During the attack, he was tasked with supporting the actions from the rooftop of the Justice Palace in that city, a mission he successfully completed. He was later arrested following the events and sentenced to 13 years in prison. After being granted amnesty, he went into exile in Mexico, where he participated in the preparations for the Granma yacht expedition, which would land in Cuba in December 1956 after a long journey.
He met Che Guevara in Mexico City and introduced him to Fidel's revolutionary circle. Raúl also got in touch with KGB agent Nikolai Leonov, whom he had met during his travels through Eastern Bloc nations. This relationship would continue until the Castro brothers took power in Cuba.
As a fighter in the Rebel Army, he participated in the Sierra Maestra campaign. On February 27, 1958, he was appointed commander and assigned the mission of crossing the former province of Oriente, leading a column of guerrillas to open the Second Eastern Front "Frank País" (in honor of a leader of the underground who was murdered by Batista's forces in the city of Santiago de Cuba) to the northeast. In that front, Raúl organized and structured a genuine government in the liberated territories, even creating the Rebel Air Force, as well as the first intelligence and police institutions for the revolutionaries, along with health and education departments, among others.
Post-revolutionary period (1959-2006)
In 1961, he became part of the National Directorate of Integrated Revolutionary Organizations. Following the departure of Che Guevara, he became the second political figure in the government. He took part in the leadership of the United Party of Socialist Revolution (PURS) in 1963. He was responsible for the investigation, denouncement, and prosecution of the members of the so-called "microfraction" within the Communist Party. From 1980, he held supervisory roles alongside his brother in the Ministries of Defense, Interior, Culture, and Public Health.
Interim government (2006-2008)
Raúl Castro alongside former Brazilian President, Lula.
As Fidel Castro's constitutional successor, on July 31, 2006, his secretary, Carlos Valenciaga, announced that Raúl would temporarily assume the presidency of the Council of State, the secretaryship of the PCC, and the position of Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, while his brother recovered from intestinal surgery.
During the time Raúl temporarily led Cuba, slight increases in the economy were noteworthy, along with the massive debate he himself incited regarding the nation's problems, which resulted in public expressions from the population beginning on July 26, 2007.
In these debates, more than 5 million proposals from the citizens were made, serving as a foundation for addressing the issues that hinder the development of Cuban society.
Government (since 2008)
On February 24, 2008, he was elected President of the Council of State of Cuba by the Deputies of the National Assembly of People's Power, thus succeeding his brother Fidel Castro as the president of Cuba, who had resigned days earlier through an open letter.
New measures and changes in Cuban policy
..."In December, I spoke about the excess of prohibitions and regulations, and in the coming weeks we will begin to eliminate the simplest ones. Many of them had the sole objective of preventing the emergence of new inequalities, at a time of widespread scarcity, even at the cost of foregoing certain revenues." Raúl Castro Ruz February 24, 2008
In line with what was stated in February 2008, Raúl Castro began to lift various legal obstacles that restricted the population, such as the free access to hotels and the rental of cars, as well as allowing the unrestricted sale of mobile phones. In its inaugural session, he requested that the National Assembly of People's Power grant an extension until the end of 2008 for the restructuring of the Government, which took place in March 2009 with the merger of several ministries and the replacement of nearly half of the ministers, including the notable Carlos Lage Dávila and Felipe Pérez Roque.
Between September and November 2008, Cuba was struck by hurricanes Gustav, Ike, and Paloma, which caused over ten billion in economic losses. The hurricanes dealt a severe blow to the Cuban economy, being dubbed the worst natural disaster in its history. This resulted in food shortages across the country and the implementation of strict control measures over any attempt at hoarding or speculation of goods and food
Since September 2008, the Cuban government has decided to grant usufruct rights to farmers for idle lands. By December 2009, 920,000 hectares of land had been allocated in a process that is not without difficulties and delays
In January 2009, the Social Security Law was reformed, raising the retirement age to 60 years for women and 65 years for men. This year, the salary cap has also been eliminated, multiple jobholding has been authorized, and performance-based pay has been reinstated.
Since October 2009, the workers' cafeterias, one of the subsidies in the country, began to close down, and in return, workers were given an additional amount of 15 pesos per day for their lunch or snack.
In 2009, the Castro government allowed Cubans to access the Internet at the country's post offices, although there have been some technical issues due to the U.S. embargo that hinders fast connections. This would be resolved with the completion in 2011 of a submarine cable between Venezuela and the island
On October 10, 2009, Lázaro Barredo, the director of the Granma newspaper of the Cuban Communist Party, announced that the ration book would be abolished and food assistance would be granted only to pensioners and low-income individuals.
By the end of October 2010, the Cuban government has allowed the exercise of 178 private activities, with the aim of transitioning 1 million workers from bureaucratic jobs to productive roles, both public and private, within a period of three to five years.
In April 2011, he was elected as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba at the Sixth Congress, where economic reforms were established to adapt the system to the new economic developments and the global and national crisis.
On February 24, 2013, the National Assembly of People's Power re-elected Raúl Castro as President of the Council of State.
International relations
Raúl Castro and Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in 2009.
From the very beginning of his provisional government, Raúl Castro began to reassess relations with countries like Mexico and Russia, and there was also a noticeable strengthening of ties with China.
In his speech on December 2, 2006, Raúl Castro, then the provisional president of Cuba, announced that the Cuban government was willing to begin conversations with the United States in order to end the diplomatic limitations between the two nations, which represents a definitive blow to the policy of rejecting everything American. The only condition from the Cuban government is that the U.S. does not impose any conditions to initiate such dialogue.
In a recent interview with American actor Sean Penn, he expressed that he was open to a dialogue with elected President Barack Obama, and that such an interview could even take place on the territory of the Guantanamo Naval Base.
In December 2008, Raúl Castro undertook an important international tour that included Venezuela and Brazil. The highlight of his trip was his participation in the First Summit of Latin America and the Caribbean, held in the city of Salvador da Bahia. This summit provided the context for Cuba's entry into the Rio Group.
On February 24, 2013, the National Assembly of People's Power re-elected Raúl Castro as president of the Council of State
On December 17, 2014, he announced, alongside his American counterpart Barack Obama, the restoration of diplomatic relations between the United States of America and the Republic of Cuba.
On April 19, 2018, Miguel Díaz-Canel was elected president by the IX Legislature of the National Assembly of Cuba for the period 2018-2023. In this way, he ceased his role as President of the Council of State but retained his position as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba.
Family
Raúl was married to Vilma Espín from the early days of the Cuban Revolution until her passing (June 18, 2007). He has four children from this marriage: Deborah, Mariela, Nilsa, and Alejandro.
