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 consequently the president of Cuba, since February 24, 2008, although he had been serving in the role on an interim basis 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, also succeeding his brother Fidel in this position.
Son of the Lucense citizen Ángel Castro Argiz, he is the youngest of the three Castro brothers. Like Fidel, Raúl later attended the Jesuit School of Dolores in Santiago de Cuba, and the Colegio de Belén in Havana. The brothers actively participated in student protests. Raúl was a committed communist and joined the Socialist Youth, affiliated with the Cuban Communist Party, which at the time was called the Popular Socialist Party (PSP).
Cuban Revolution (1953-59)
Raúl Castro, on the left, with Che Guevara in 1958.
Along with his brother, he was one of the members of the 26th of July Movement, 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 Palace of Justice in that city, a mission he accomplished. He was subsequently arrested and sentenced to 13 years in prison. After being amnestied, he went into exile in Mexico, where he participated in the preparations for the expedition of the Granma yacht, 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 contacted KGB agent Nikolai Leonov, whom he had met during his travels through the Eastern Bloc nations. This relationship would persist until the Castro brothers took power in Cuba.
As a fighter in the Rebel Army, he took part 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 movement who was killed by Batista's forces in the city of Santiago de Cuba) toward the northeast. In that front, Raúl organized and structured a true government in the liberated territories, even creating the Rebel Air Force, as well as the first intelligence and police institutions for the revolutionaries, in addition to departments for health, education, and so forth.
Post-revolutionary period (1959-2006)
In 1961, he became part of the National Directorate of Integrated Revolutionary Organizations. After Che Guevara's departure, he became the second political figure in the government. He participated in the leadership of the United Party of the Socialist Revolution (PURS) in 1963. He was in charge of the investigation, denunciation, and prosecution of members of the so-called "micro-fraction" within the Communist Party. Starting in 1980, he took on supervisory roles alongside his brother in the Ministries of Defense, Interior, Culture, and Public Health.
Interim government (2006-2008)
Raúl Castro alongside the former president of Brazil, Lula.
Constitutional successor to Fidel Castro, on July 31, 2006, his secretary, Carlos Valenciaga, announced that Raúl would temporarily assume the presidency of the Council of State, the secretariat of the PCC, and the position of Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, while his brother was recovering from an intestinal surgical intervention.
During the time Raúl temporarily led Cuba, there were notable slight increases in the economy, as well as the massive debate he himself incited regarding the nation's problems, which resulted in public proposals from the population starting July 26, 2007.
In those debates, over 5 million proposals from the citizens were made, serving as the foundation for solving the problems 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 a few days earlier through an open letter.
New measures and changes in Cuban policy
..."In December, I spoke about the excessive prohibitions and regulations, and in the coming weeks we will begin to eliminate the simplest ones. Many of them had the sole aim of preventing the emergence of new inequalities, at a time of widespread scarcity, even at the cost of forgoing certain revenues." Raúl Castro Ruz February 24, 2008
In accordance with what was expressed in February 2008, Raúl Castro began to lift various legal barriers that restricted the people, such as free access to hotels and car rentals, or allowing the unrestricted sale of mobile phones. In its inaugural session, he requested the National Assembly of People's Power an extension until the end of 2008 for the restructuring of the Government, which occurred in March 2009 with the merger of several ministries and the replacement of nearly half of the ministers, including the well-known 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 classified as the worst natural disaster in its history. This led to a shortage of food across the country and the implementation of strict control measures against any attempts at hoarding or speculation of goods and food
Since September 2008, the Cuban government decided to grant farmers usufruct rights over idle lands. By December 2009, 920,000 hectares of land had been allocated, a process that has not been without difficulties and delays
In January 2009, the Social Security Law was reformed, raising the retirement age to 60 for women and 65 for men. Also, this year the salary cap was eliminated, multi-employment was authorized, and performance-based pay was reinstated.
Since October 2009, the worker cafeterias, one of the subsidies of the country, began to close, and in their place, workers were given an additional 15 pesos per day for their lunch or snack.
In the same year, 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, which hinders fast connections. This problem was expected to be resolved with the completion of a submarine cable between Venezuela and the island in 2011
On October 10, 2009, Lázaro Barredo, director of the Granma newspaper of the Cuban Communist Party, announced that the ration book would be eliminated and food assistance granted only to pensioners and low-income individuals.
At the end of October 2010, the Cuban government allowed 178 private activities to be carried out, with the aim of shifting 1 million workers from bureaucratic jobs to productive ones, both public and private, within a timeframe 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 new economic events 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 early moments 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 acting president of Cuba, announced that the Cuban government was willing to initiate talks with the United States in order to end the diplomatic limitations between the two nations, which would represent a significant blow to the policy of rejecting everything American. The only condition set by the Cuban government is that the U.S. does not impose any conditions to begin such dialogue.
In a recent interview with American actor Sean Penn, he expressed that he was open to dialogue with elected President Barack Obama, and that this 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 tour was his participation in the First Summit of Latin America and the Caribbean, held in the city of Salvador, Bahia. The context of this summit facilitated Cuba's entry into the Rio Group.
On February 24, 2013, the National Assembly of the 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 2018-2023 term. 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). They have four children from this marriage: Deborah, Mariela, Nilsa, and Alejandro.
