Raúl Castro

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This article is about the Cuban politician. For the former Governor of Arizona and United States Ambassador, see Raúl Héctor Castro.

Raúl Castro
First Vice President of the Council of State and First Vice President of the Council of Ministers of Cuba
Incumbent
Assumed office  2 December 1976 Acting President since 31 July 2006
Preceded by	none; offices created 2 December 1976
Born	June 3, 1931 Birán, Holguín Province
Political party	Communist Party of Cuba
Spouse	(1) Vilma Espín Guillois, (separated)

Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz (born June 3, 1931) is the First Vice President of the Cuban Council of State and currently, Acting President of Cuba. The younger brother of Cuban President Fidel Castro, he also occupies the positions of First Vice President of the Council of Ministers, Second Secretary of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), and Maximum General of the Armed Forces (Army, Navy, and Air Force), second only to the Commander in Chief, Fidel Castro. By December, 2006 he attained de facto status of the nation's premier.^[1]

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. 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.

Contents 1 Pre-1959 2 Post-1959 3 Public persona and personal life 4 Assumption of Presidential duties 5 See also 6 Notes 7 External links

[edit] Pre-1959

Raúl is the youngest of the three Castro brothers. They also have three sisters, Angela, Juanita, Enma,and Agustina. He also has two half siblings, Lidia and Pedro Emilio who were raised by Ángel Castro's first wife. Juanita Castro, who lives in Miami and owns a small pharmacy in Little Havana (as of 2006) has been estranged from her native Cuba and her brothers since 1963. As youngsters, the brothers 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. Whereas Fidel excelled as a student, Raúl's performance was mostly mediocre.^[2] 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).^[3] The brothers participated actively in sometimes violent student political actions.

.^[4]]] In 1953, Raúl 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.[1] During his exile in Mexico, he participated in the preparations of the expedition of the ship Granma, embarking for Cuba on December 2, 1956.

It was during the period in Mexico that Raúl 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.^[3]

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." He was responsible for overseeing the summary execution of "scores" of soldiers loyal to deposed Cuban leader Fulgencio Batista.^[5]

[edit] Post-1959

Raúl Castro Ruz was a member of the National Leadership of the Integrated Revolutionary Organizations (established July 1961; dissolved March 1962) and of the United Party of the Socialist Revolution of Cuba (established March 1962; dissolved October 1965). He has been a member of the Central Committe 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 has served in that capacity ever since; he is also the nation's highest ranking general, second in power only to his brother Fidel who is the Commander-in Chief.

Castro is credited with persuading his older brother to implement agricultural market reforms in the early 1990s which increased the food supply, after the Soviet Union fell and its generous subsidies to Cuba stopped.

[edit] Public persona and personal life

A few weeks after the 1959 victory, Castro married Vilma Espín Guillois, a former MIT chemical engineering student and veteran of the revolution who in 1960 became president of the Cuban Federation of Women.^[6] They have three daughters (Déborah, Mariela and Nilsa) and one son (Alejandro).^[7] Castro's daughter Mariela currently heads the Cuban National Center for Sex Education.

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." ^[8]

[edit] Assumption of Presidential duties

See also: 2006 Cuban transfer of duties

On July 31, 2006, Fidel Castro's personal secretary Carlos Valenciaga announced on state-run television that Fidel Castro would provisionally hand over the duties of President of the Council of State of Cuba, First Secretary of the Communist Party and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to Raúl Castro while Fidel undergoes and recovers from intestinal surgery to repair gastrointestinal bleeding.^[9][10]

Raúl Castro is thought to be more pragmatic than his older brother, and would also be more willing to institute free market-oriented economic policies. However, he is also considered to be a political hardliner who will maintain the Communist Party of Cuba's political power. It is speculated that he favours a variant of the current Chinese political and economic model for Cuba.^[5]

Several commentators, including some authors of The Wall Street Journal, call Castro "uncharismatic and widely feared," with a "cold efficien[t]" style. He is accused of the persecution of dissidents and homosexuals.^[2]

Raúl, considered much less charismatic than his brother Fidel Castro, has remained largely out of public view during the transfer of duty period.^[11] His only public appearances have been to host a gathering of leaders of the Non-Aligned nations in September 2006, and to lead the national commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Granma boat landing, which also became Fidel's belated 80th birthday celebrations. ^{[12] [13] [14]}

[edit] See also

• Mariela Castro, Raúl Castro's daughter
• Delfin Fernandez, former confidant of Raúl Castro who defected to the United States

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Cuban Armed Forces Review: Raúl Castro
• "Regime readies path for Raúl Castro's rise" by Frances Robles, Miami Herald, July 14, 2006.

• (Spanish) Entrevista con Raúl Castro en Verde Olivo

Persondata
NAME	Castro, Raúl
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Raúl Castro Ruz
SHORT DESCRIPTION	second-ranking member of the Cuban Council of State
DATE OF BIRTH	June 3, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH