FILE: Who is Raul Castro? - a profile of the man stepping into his brother Fidel's shoes as president of Cuba

Record ID: 1547940

  • Title: FILE: Who is Raul Castro? - a profile of the man stepping into his brother Fidel's shoes as president of Cuba
  • Date: 25th February 2008
  • Summary: (W5) HAVANA, CUBA (FILE - OCTOBER 15, 2007) (REUTERS) RAUL CASTRO LIFTING UP THE HAND OF VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT HUGO CHAVEZ RAUL CASTRO AND HUGO CHAVEZ HUGGING
  • Embargoed: 11th March 2008 10:53
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA9ZNNOQ565VLV8N4XW59JCH6RK
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: Raul Castro, the world's longest-serving defense minister, took over as Cuba's new leader on Sunday (February 24).
    Raul Castro has commanded the Cuban armed forces ever since the 1959 revolution led by his brother. He was once known as an iron-fisted ideologue who executed Fidel Castro's orders -- and enemies -- ruthlessly.
    After the revolution, Raul Castro disposed of soldiers loyal to U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959.
    Now aged 76 and faced with a new set of problems, Raul Castro has tried to project a softer side.
    The younger Castro has been his brother Fidel's most trusted right-hand man, from their 1953 assault on the Moncada barracks and guerrilla insurgency in the Sierra Maestra hills.
    Under his leadership, Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces became one of the most formidable fighting forces in the Third World with combat experience in Africa, where they defeated South Africa's army in Angola in 1987.
    His late wife Vilma Espin, who fought as a guerrilla, headed, founded the Cuban Federation of Women and served as Cuba's unofficial First Lady.
    In speeches since taking over as acting president on July 31, 2006 when his brother delegated power after emergency intestinal surgery for an undisclosed illness, Raul Castro has vowed to continue his brother's path - while admitting to the gravity of some of the issues affecting Cuban society.
    "We work without rest to fulfil completely his pronouncements, many of which he has given since then (the Revolution in 1959) and many more that he has later imparted," Raul Castro said in 2007.
    A low-key figure without the oratorical verve of his brother, Raul has made it clear a radical deviation from Fidel's policies is not on the agenda.
    "This is the principle (referring to the idea that the Cuban people will never lower their guard against their enemies) that guarantees our place and yes, it is necessary also in the trenches. What will be heard forever on this land is "Long live the Revolution," said Raul in 2007.
    Raul is said to have become more pragmatic after the collapse of the Soviet Union pushed Cuba to the brink of economic chaos.
    The younger Castro backed reforms that allowed limited private initiative to flourish in the 1990's.
    An admirer of China's economic prowess, Raul is believed to favour loosening up state controls of the Cuban economy while maintaining one-party communist rule.
    "We agree with those who have raised the alarm over the excess of prohibitions and legal measures - that they do more to damage than to benefit.
    The majority - we could say that they were correct and fair in one moment, but some of them have been superseded by life," said Raul Castro in December last year.
    Cuba watchers have, however, long said Raul lacked the charisma, political skill, the health or even the ambition to completely fill his brother's shoes.
    Some see him serving as a brief transitional figure who would open up Cuba, a mediator for a "softer" communism or a figurehead for a younger collective leadership.
    Most analysts agree - as long as Fidel Castro is alive, Raul will not step too far out of his shadow.

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