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Raúl Castro Ruz (born June 3, 1931) is the second ranking member of the Cuban Council of State. The youngest brother of Cuban President Fidel Castro, he has been appointed to the positions: Vice President of the Council of Ministers, First Vice President of the Council of State of Cuba, Vice-Secretary of the Politburo and the Central Committe of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), and Maximum General of the Armed Forces (Army, Navy, and Air Force), second to the Commander in Chief, Fidel Castro. According to the Cuban Constitution Article 94, the First Vice President of the Council of State assumes presidential duties upon the illness or death of the president.
On July 31, 2006, Raúl Castro assumed the duties of President of the Council of state in a temporary transfer of power due to Fidel Castro's illness. There are rumors circulating that Fidel is dead, and that Raúl has permanently taken over. Raúl Castro is said to be even more aggressive as a communist dictator than his potentially dead brother.
Pre-1959
Raúl is the youngest of the three Castro brothers, who as youngsters were expelled from the first school they attended. Like Fidel, Raúl later attended the Jesuit School of Colegio Dolores in Santiago and Colegio de Belén in Havana. Raúl, as an undergraduate, studied social sciences. Unlike Fidel, Raúl was a committed socialist and joined the Socialist Youth, an affiliate of the Soviet-oriented Cuban Communist Party, the Partido Socialista Popular (PSP). The brothers participated actively in sometimes violent student political actions. In 1953, Raul was a member of the 26th of July Movement which attacked the Moncada Barracks and spent 22 months in prison as a result of this action. During his exile in Mexico, he participated in the preparations of the expedition of the ship Granma, disembarking for Cuba on December 2, 1956.
It was during the period in Mexico that Raul reportedly befriended Ernesto "Ché" Guevara in Mexico City and brought him into Fidel's circle of revolutionaries. Raúl also established contact with Soviet KGB agent Nikolai Leonov, whom he had met two years earlier during a trip to the Soviet-bloc nations. That relationship would persist until the Castro brothers successfully assumed power in Cuba.
As a combatant of the Rebel Army he took part in the campaign of the Sierra Maestra mountain range and, on February 27, 1958, was made comandante and assigned the mission to cross the old province of Oriente leading a column of guerrillas to open, to the northeast of that territory, the "Eastern front Frank País".
Post-1959
Raúl Castro Ruz integrated the National Direction of the Integrated Revolutionary Organizations and the United Party of the Socialist Revolution of Cuba. He is the Second Secretary of the Party's Central Committee since its constitution in October 1965 and Second Committee to the National Assembly of the Popular Power from its creation in 1976.
He has been appointed the Second Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba since 1965 and First Vice-president of the Councils of State and Ministers, Minister and Maximum General of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, since 1959.
Role in post-Fidel Cuba
In the event Fidel Castro dies before Raúl, Raúl Castro's role in a future government is uncertain.
Article 94 of the Cuban Constitution provides that "In cases of the absence, illness or death of the president of the Council of State, the first vice president assumes the president’s duties." Raúl Castro, as the sitting first vice president, is next in line of succession and it would appear he would become President if Fidel Castro died before him. Also supporting the idea that succession will occur according to the Constitution of Cuba is the fact that Raúl, as commander of the armed forces, would be in the best position to prevent or lead a coup d'etat by the armed forces and to quell other insurrection in the transition of power from Fidel to himself.
Others dispute this notion, believing that Raúl would not become the President of Cuba. They note that Raúl is himself old and that should he outlive Fidel, his time as President would be brief. This, coupled with the presence of several younger persons in the government capable of assuming the presidency, is cited as a possible reason why Raúl would not become President.
On July 31, 2006, Fidel Castro's personal secretary Carlos Valenciaga announced on state-run television that Fidel Castro would provisionally hand over the position of President of the Council of State of Cuba to Raúl Castro while Fidel undergoes and recovers from intestinal surgery to repair gastrointestinal bleeding.
According to National Public Radio on August 1, 2006, Raúl Castro is thought to be more pragmatic than his older brother, and more willing to accept economic reform, raising hopes among many Cubans that he could ease Cuba's transition to a more open, democratic and market-oriented society. According to former counter intelligence officer Delfin Fernandez Raul is even more secretive than his brother Fidel.
See also: 2006 Cuban transfer of powerExternal links
See also
- Mariela Castro, Raúl Castro's daughter