Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz (Birán, Holguín, Cuba, June 3, 1931) is a Cuban military leader 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 acting in the role since July 31, 2006. He also holds the military rank of Army General. Since April 2011, he has served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, succeeding his brother Fidel in this position as well.
Son of 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 Belén College 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, then known as the Popular Socialist Party (PSP), which had a Soviet orientation.
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 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 receiving amnesty, he exiled himself 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 Eastern Bloc countries. This relationship would continue until the Castro brothers took power in Cuba.
As a combatant of the Rebel Army, he took part in the Sierra Maestra campaign. On February 27, 1958, he was appointed commander and tasked with crossing the former province of Oriente, leading a column of guerrillas to open the Second Eastern Front "Frank País" (named in honor of a leader of the underground movement who was assassinated by Batista's forces in Santiago de Cuba) to 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 of the revolutionaries, in addition to departments for health, education, and so on.
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 responsible for the investigation, prosecution, and trial of members of the so-called "micro-fraction" within the Communist Party. From 1980 onward, he undertook 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.
Constitutional successor to Fidel Castro, on July 31, 2006, his secretary, Carlos Valenciaga, announced that Raúl would temporarily assume the presidency of the State Council, the secretaryship of the PCC, and the chief command of the Armed Forces, while his brother was recovering from an intestinal surgical procedure.
During the time Raúl temporarily led Cuba, there were notable slight increases in the economy, along with the mass debate he initiated regarding the nation's problems, which resulted in public proposals from the population starting on July 26, 2007.
In those debates, over 5 million proposals from the public 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 via 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 purpose of preventing the emergence of new inequalities at a time of widespread scarcity, even at the cost of forgoing certain income." Raúl Castro Ruz, February 24, 2008
In line with what was expressed in February 2008, Raúl Castro began to lift various legal restrictions that limited the population, such as allowing free access to hotels and car rentals, or permitting the unrestricted sale of cell phones. In its inaugural session, he requested the National Assembly of People's Power for an extension until the end of 2008 for the restructuring of the Government, a process that occurred in March 2009 with the merging 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 devastated by hurricanes Gustav, Ike, and Paloma, which resulted in economic losses exceeding ten billion. The hurricanes dealt a severe blow to the Cuban economy, regarded as the worst natural disaster in its history. This led to food shortages across the country and the implementation of strict measures to control any attempts at hoarding or speculation of goods and food
Since September 2008, the Cuban government decided to grant usufruct rights to farmers for idle lands. By December 2009, 920,000 hectares of land had been granted 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 for women and 65 for men. This year, the salary cap was also eliminated, dual employment was authorized, and performance-based pay was reinstated.
Since October 2009, the workers' cafeterias, another form of subsidy in the country, began to close, and instead, workers were given an additional 15 pesos per day for their lunch or snack.
This same year, 2009, the Castro government allowed Cubans to access the Internet at post offices across the country, although some technical issues have arisen due to the U.S. embargo, which hinders fast connections. This situation was expected to improve with the completion in 2011 of a submarine cable between Venezuela and the island
On October 10, 2009, Lázaro Barredo, director of the Granma newspaper of the Communist Party of Cuba, announced that the ration book would be abolished and food assistance would be provided only to pensioners and people with low incomes.
At the end of October 2010, the Cuban government allowed the operation of 178 private activities, with the aim of transitioning one 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 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 early moments of his provisional government, Raúl Castro began to reassess relations with countries such as Mexico and Russia, and there was also a noticeable strengthening of ties with China.
In his speech on December 2, 2006, Raúl Castro, then interim president of Cuba, announced that the Cuban government was willing to initiate discussions with the United States in order to end the diplomatic limitations between the two nations, marking a definitive 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 for starting such dialogue.
In a recent interview with American actor Sean Penn, he stated that he was open to a dialogue with President-elect Barack Obama, and that this interview could even take place on the territory of the Guantánamo Naval Base.
In December 2008, Raúl Castro undertook an important international tour that included Venezuela and Brazil. The main 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. The context of this summit served as the backdrop 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 U.S. 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 term 2018-2023. In this way, he ceased his role as President of the Council of State but remained in 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 on June 18, 2007. He has four children from this marriage: Deborah, Mariela, Nilsa, and Alejandro.
