Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz, commonly known as Raúl Castro, is a Cuban Marxist-Leninist
politician and revolutionary who has been President of the Council of State of Cuba
and the President of the Council of Ministers of Cuba since 2008; he previously exercised
presidential powers in an acting capacity from 2006 to 2008. He is Commander in Chief
of the Armed Forces and has also been First Secretary of the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of Cuba since 2011. Raúl Castro was a rebel commander during
the 1950s; after his brother Fidel Castro, took power, Raúl Castro was one of the most
important figures in the party, serving as Minister of the Armed Forces from 1959 to
2008. On 31 July 2006, Raúl Castro was designated
as the President of the Council of State in a temporary transfer of power due to Fidel
Castro's illness. According to the Cuban Constitution of 1976, Article 94, the First Vice President
of the Council of State assumes presidential duties upon the illness or death of the president.
Raúl Castro was officially elected as President by the National Assembly on 24 February 2008,
after Fidel Castro, who was still ailing, announced his intention not to stand for President
again on 19 February 2008. Raúl Castro was elected as First Secretary
of the Communist Party at its Sixth Congress on 19 April 2011, having previously served
as Second Secretary under his brother for 46 years.
He was re-elected President on February 24, 2013, shortly thereafter he announced that
his second term would be his final term and that he would not seek re-election in 2018.
Pre-1960 The son of a Spanish immigrant father from
Galicia, Ángel Castro, and a Cuban mother of Spanish ancestry, Lina Ruz, Raúl is the
youngest of the three Castro brothers, Ramón, Fidel, and himself. He also has four sisters,
Angela, Juanita, Emma, and Agustina. Ángel Castro's first wife, Maria Argota, also raised
five half siblings of Raúl: Pedro Emilio, Maria Lidia, Manuel, Antonia and Georgina.
As children the Castro brothers were expelled from the first school they attended. Like
Fidel, Raúl later attended the Jesuit School of Colegio Dolores in Santiago and Colegio
Belén in Havana. Raúl, as an undergraduate, studied social sciences. Whereas Fidel excelled
as a student, Raúl turned in mostly mediocre performances. Raúl became a committed socialist
and joined the Socialist Youth, an affiliate of the Soviet-oriented Cuban Communist Party,
Partido Socialista Popular. The brothers participated actively in sometimes violent student actions.
Raul Castro's travels and contact with Soviet KGB agent Nikolai Leonov—whom he met in
1953 during a trip to the Soviet-bloc nations and again in 1955 during his exile in Mexico
City—facilitated Cuba's close ties with the Soviets after the triumph of the Cuban
Revolution. Leonov would later become the USSR's KGB man in Havana.
In 1953, Raúl served as a member of the 26th of July Movement group that attacked the Moncada
Barracks, and he spent 22 months in prison as a result of this action. During his exile
in Mexico he participated in the preparations for the expedition of the boat Granma, landing
in Cuba on 2 December 1956. A Commander in the Cuban Revolution
When the Granma landing failed and the 82 expeditionaries were detected by government
troops soon after, Raúl was one of only 21 fighters who managed to reach a safe haven
in the Sierra Maestra mountains, forming the core of the nascent rebel army. As Fidel's
brother and trusted right-hand man, and given his proven leadership abilities during and
after the Moncada attack, he was given progressively bigger commands. On February 27, 1958, Raúl
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 "Frank País Eastern
Front." As a result of Raúl's "Eastern Front" operations
he was not involved in the pivotal Operation Verano. However, Raúl's forces remained active
and grew over time. On June 26, 1958 Raúl Castro’s rebels kidnapped
ten Americans and two Canadians from the property of Moa Bay Mining Company on the north coast
of Oriente Province. The next day rebels took hostage 24 US servicemen on leave from the
United States naval base at Guantanamo Bay. This incident brought total kidnapped hostages
to 36. US Ambassador Smith and his staff determined
the kidnappings had the following objectives: Obtain worldwide publicity,regain M-26-7 prestige
lost by general strike call failure, force Batista's Air Force to stop bombing rebel
holds, and gain public recognition from the US
Two tactical objectives the kidnapping achieved for Castro forces can be discerned from contemporaneous
reporting in Time: Batista declaring a ceasefire for negotiations, forcing a reduction in Operation
Verano air raids; the rebels used the lulls to regroup and fly in arms.
The hostage taking caused significant US backlash, including unfavorable public reaction, and
US consideration to re-establishing military support to Batista and deploying US forces
to free the hostages. Ultimately, the hostages were released in very small groups, extracting
the maximum press attention. By October 1958, after being reinforced by
Fidel, the two brothers had about 2,000 fighters and they were operating freely throughout
Oriente province. In December, while Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos were operating around
Santa Clara, Fidel and Raúl's army laid siege to Maffo. Their victorious army then headed
to Santiago de Cuba, the capital of Oriente province.
In response to the victory by Che Guevara at the Battle of Santa Clara, the U.S.-backed
President Fulgencio Batista fled Cuba in the early morning of 1 January 1959. The two Castro
brothers with their army arrived on the outskirts of Santiago de Cuba and said their forces
would storm the city at 6 PM January 1 if it did not first surrender. The commander
surrendered Santiago de Cuba without a fight. The war was over and Fidel was able to take
power in Havana when he arrived on 8 January 1959.
Raúl's abilities as a military leader during the revolution are hard to see clearly. Unlike
Che Guevara or Cienfuegos, Raúl had no significant victories he could claim credit for on his
own. The last operations were conducted with his older brother Fidel present.
After Batista's fall, Raúl had the task of overseeing the summary execution of scores
of soldiers loyal to deposed president Batista. Post-1959
Raúl Castro Ruz was a member of the National Leadership of the Integrated Revolutionary
PO Organizations and of the United Party of the Socialist Revolution of Cuba. He has been
a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and the Second Secretary of
its Politburo since the Party's formation in October 1965; also, the First Vice President
of the Cuban Council of State, of the National Assembly of the Popular Power and of the Council
of Ministers since these were created in 1976. He was appointed Minister of the Revolutionary
Armed Forces when the Ministry was founded in October 1959 and served in that capacity
until February 2008; he is also the nation's highest ranking general.
Temporary assumption of Presidential duties
On 31 July 2006, Fidel Castro's personal secretary Carlos Valenciaga announced on state-run television
that Fidel Castro would provisionally hand over the duties of First Secretary of the
Communist Party of Cuba, President of the Council of State of Cuba, President of the
Council of Ministers of Cuba and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to Raúl Castro while
Fidel underwent and recovered from intestinal surgery to repair gastrointestinal bleeding.
Many commentators consider Raúl Castro to be a political hardliner who will maintain
the Communist Party of Cuba's influence in the country. However, there are others who
believe that he is more pragmatic than his older brother and willing to institute some
market-oriented economic policies. It is speculated that he favours a variant of the current Chinese
political and economic model for Cuba in the hopes of preserving some elements of the socialist
system. However, none of these speculations has ever been confirmed by Raúl himself.
Raúl is considered by some to be less charismatic than his brother Fidel Castro, who remained
largely out of public view during the transfer of duty period. His few public appearances
included hosting a gathering of leaders of the Non-Aligned nations in September 2006,
and leading the national commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Granma boat landing,
which also became Fidel's belated 80th birthday celebrations.
In a speech to university students, Raúl stated that a communist system in Cuba would
remain, and that "Fidel is irreplaceable, unless we all replace him together."
On 1 May 2007, Raúl presided over the May Day celebrations in Havana. According to Granma
the crowd reached over one million participants, with delegations from over 225 organizations
and 52 countries. Raúl is known for his businesslike, unanimated
delivery of speeches. Presidency and Premiership
After assuming temporary control over the presidency, Raúl Castro was elected as the
new President of the Council of State during a legislative session held at Cuba's Palace
of Conventions in Havana. The 597 deputies unanimously elected a 31-member Council of
State for a term of five years, which in turn elected Raul as president. His administration
has since announced several economic reforms. In March 2008, the government removed restrictions
against the purchase of numerous products not available under Fidel Castro's administration
including DVD-players, computers, rice cookers and microwaves. In an effort to boost food
production, the government turned over unused state-owned land to private farmers and cooperatives
and moved much of the decision-making process regarding land use from the national level
to the municipal level. In mid-2008, the government overhauled the
salary structure of all state-run companies so that harder-working employees could be
rewarded with higher wages. In addition, the government has removed restrictions against
the use of cell phones and is investigating travel restrictions on Cubans.
In regards to relations with the U.S., Raúl Castro said in an interview:
The American people are among our closest neighbors. We should respect each other. We
have never held anything against the American people. Good relations would be mutually advantageous.
Perhaps we cannot solve all of our problems, but we can solve a good many of them.
In March 2009, Raúl Castro dismissed some officials.
In April 2011 Raúl announced a plan of 300 economic reforms similar to the Chinese economic
model, among them are the limitation of presidential mandates including himself, encouraging private
initiative, reducing state spending, encouraging foreign investment and agrarian reforms.
On 24 February 2013, Cuba's parliament named Raul Castro to a new five-year term as president
and Miguel Diaz-Canel his first vice president. He announced that day he would step down from
power after his second term as president ends in 2018.
On 10 December 2013, Castro, in a significant moment shook hands and greeted American President
Barack Obama at the Nelson Mandela memorial service in Johannesburg.
Public and personal life Castro married Vilma Espín, a former Massachusetts
Institute of Technology chemical engineering student and the daughter of a wealthy rum
distiller, on 26 January 1959. Vilma became president of the Cuban Federation of Women.
They have three daughters and one son Castro Espín. Their daughter Mariela currently heads
the Cuban National Center for Sex Education, while Déborah is married to Colonel Luis
Alberto Rodríguez, head of the Armed Forces' economic division. Vilma Espín died on 18
June 2007; a daughter and some relatives of Raúl are believed to reside in Italy.
In an interview in 2006, following his assumption of presidential duties, Raúl Castro commented
on his public profile stating: "I am not used to making frequent appearances in public,
except at times when it is required ... I have always been discreet, that is my way,
and in passing I will clarify that I am thinking of continuing in that way".
In an interview with filmmaker, actor and activist Sean Penn, Raúl Castro was described
as "warm, open, energetic and sharp of wit". Honours and awards
This article incorporates information from the equivalent article on the Italian Wikipedia.
Hero of Cuba Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th
Anniversary since the Birth of Vladimir Il'ich Lenin"
Order of the October Revolution Order of the Holy Prince Daniel of Moscow,
1st class - For the contribution to strengthening inter-religious cooperation in connection
with the consecration of the church of Our Lady of Kazan in Havana
Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 1st class (Ukraine, 26 March 2010
Order of Lenin Grand Collar of the Order of the Liberator
Gallery
Notes
References Castro, Juanita; as told to Maria Antonieta
Collins. Fidel y Raul - Mis Hermanos, La Historia Secreta. Santillana USA Publishing Company,
Inc. ISBN 978-1-60396-701-3.
External links Raul Castro Stamps His Mark, Havana Times,
4 March 2009 Who is Raul Castro, Cuba's new leader?,
Times Online, 19 February 2008. Biography by CIDOB Foundation
Speech by Raúl Castro on July 26, 2007, Escambray Digital, 27 July 2007.
Cuban Armed Forces Review: Raúl Castro "Cuba in transition" in Starbroek News, 19
April 2007 "Regime readies path for Raúl Castro's rise"
by Frances Robles, Miami Herald, 14 July 2006. Raul Castro Books
BBC Profile: Raul Castro, 24 February 2008 Time Magazine: Castro Family Values: Fidel
vs. Raul 17 April 2008 Photographs of Raul Castro, 1964 - Duke University
Libraries Digital Collections