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 held the position on an interim basis 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 role.
Son of the Lucense citizen Ángel Castro Argiz, he is the youngest of the three Castro brothers. Like Fidel, Raúl later attended the Jesuit College of Dolores in Santiago de Cuba, and the Belén College in Havana. The brothers were actively involved in student demonstrations. Raúl was a committed communist and joined the Socialist Youth, affiliated with the Cuban Communist Party, which at that time was known as the Popular Socialist Party (PSP).
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 July 26 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 assigned to support the actions from the rooftop of the Palace of Justice in that city, a mission he accomplished. He was later arrested following the events and sentenced to 13 years in prison. After being amnestied, he exiled to Mexico, where he took part 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 contacted KGB agent Nikolai Leonov, whom he had met during his journey 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 given the mission to cross the former province of Oriente, leading a column of guerrillas to establish the Second Eastern Front "Frank País" (named in honor of a clandestine leader who was murdered by Batista's forces in the city of Santiago de Cuba) towards the northeast. In that front, Raúl organized and structured an actual 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 health, education, and other departments.
Post-Revolutionary Period (1959-2006)
In 1961, he became part of the National Directorate of Integrated Revolutionary Organizations. After 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 the Socialist Revolution (PURS) in 1963. He was in charge of the investigation, prosecution, and trial of the members of the so-called "micro-fraction" within the Communist Party. From 1980 onwards, 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.
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 secretaryship of the PCC, and the command of the Armed Forces while his brother recovered from intestinal surgery.
During the time Raúl temporarily led Cuba, there were notable slight increases in the economy, along with the mass debate he himself incited regarding the nation's problems, which resulted in public proposals from the population starting on July 26, 2007.
In these debates, over 5 million proposals from citizens were made, serving as the foundation for addressing 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 in the presidency of Cuba, who had resigned a few 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 remove 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 forgoing certain revenues." Raúl Castro Ruz February 24, 2008
In line with what was expressed in February 2008, Raúl Castro started to lift various legal barriers that restricted the people, such as the 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 for 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 almost half of the ministers, including well-known figures Carlos Lage Dávila and Felipe Pérez Roque.
Between September and November 2008, Cuba was struck by hurricanes Gustav, Ike, and Paloma, which resulted in more than ten billion in economic losses. The hurricanes dealt a severe blow to the Cuban economy, being described as the worst natural disaster in its history. This led to a scarcity of food 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 state decided to grant usufruct rights to farmers for unused land. By December 2009, 920,000 hectares of land had been granted in 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 years for women and 65 years for men. Also, this year the salary cap has been eliminated, multiple employment has been authorized, and performance-based pay has been reinstated.
Since October 2009, the workers' cafeterias, another one of the country's subsidies, began to close, and instead, workers were given an additional 15 pesos per day for their lunch or snack.
In 2009, the Castro government allowed Cubans to access the Internet in the country's post offices, although some technical issues have arisen due to the U.S. embargo, which hampers fast connections. This situation would be resolved with the completion of a submarine cable between Venezuela and the island in 2011
On October 10, 2009, Lázaro Barredo, the director of Granma, the newspaper of the Cuban Communist Party, announced that the ration card would be abolished and food aid would only be granted 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 goal of transitioning 1 million workers from bureaucratic jobs to productive ones, both in the public and private sectors, within a timeframe of three to five years.
In April 2011, he was elected First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba at the VI 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 very beginning of his provisional government, Raúl Castro started 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 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 restrictions between the two nations, which represents a decisive blow to the policy of rejecting everything American. The only condition from the Cuban government is that, specifically, the U.S. does not impose any conditions for initiating 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 this interview could even take place on the territory of the Guantanamo Naval Base.
In December 2008, Raúl Castro embarked on an important international tour that included Venezuela and Brazil. The main highlight of his trip was his participation in the I Summit of Latin America and the Caribbean, held in the city of Salvador de Bahia. The framework of this summit facilitated Cuba's entry into the Group of Rio.
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 2018-2023 term. In this way, he ended 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.
