This was confirmed the following December when both Castro and Obama announced that they were working to normalize diplomatic relations, underlining these efforts by exchanging political prisoners. In December 2013, Raúl Castro and American president Barack Obama were photographed shaking hands following a memorial service for South African president Nelson Mandela, offering evidence that decades of political tensions between the United States and Cuba might be abating. In 2011, Raúl also instituted a two-term limit for the office of president (each term is five years), and when he was reelected in 2013, he announced his plans to leave politics at the end of his second term. These were part of an ambitious economic initiative that included 300 distinct reforms, many of which seemed to run counter to the economic policies established by Fidel Castro as part of the Cuban Revolution. Two years later, in February 2008, Fidel Castro officially resigned as Cuba's leader, and five days later Raúl was chosen by the National Assembly to be the country's new president.ĭespite his reputation as a dedicated communist, Raúl Castro went on to implement numerous social, economic and political reforms, including the lifting of restrictions on commerce and travel for its citizens, allowing for the privatization of portions of military and government infrastructure and opening the country to foreign investment. It was the first time that Fidel had officially ceded power, and it spurred speculation that Fidel's health was in decline. In 2006, Fidel placed Raúl in charge of the Cuban government while he underwent surgery for gastrointestinal bleeding. In October 1997, Fidel officially named Raúl his successor, and over the course of the decade that followed, Raúl quietly began to assume more responsibilities. It was long assumed that Raúl would eventually succeed Fidel as Cuba's leader. He also served as first vice president of the council of the state and the council of ministers, and when the collapse of the Soviet Union led to economic fallout in Cuba, Raúl implemented reforms to help the country recover. In 1962 he was appointed deputy prime minister and in 1972 he became first deputy prime minister. In addition to heading the military, Raúl served as the country's defense minister from 1959 to 2008, during which time he had a key role in the events leading to the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Raúl was soon appointed head of the armed forces and subsequently ordered the execution of 100 of Batista's military officers, among others, earning himself a reputation early on as a hard-line communist.Īs Fidel Castro's second in command, Raúl held numerous government posts and played a significant part in the shaping of Cuba's political history. Finally, in 1959, Batista fled Cuba, and Fidel assumed power. When they were eventually pardoned and released in 1955, they fled to Mexico, where they planned their return to Cuba for the following year, when they would try, once again, to overthrow the Batista regime.įor the next few years, Raúl assisted his brother in many ways, including leading a group of the movement's guerrilla fighters. In 1953, Raúl aided Fidel in an attempt to unseat the repressive Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, but the two brothers ended up in prison after a failed attack on a military base. He also joined a socialist youth group and, with Fidel, began to take part in protests and other political activities. Unlike his brother, Raúl proved to be a mediocre student, however, and after leaving school, he went to work in his father's fields. They were both eventually expelled for bad behavior.Īs a young man, Raúl attended college in Santiago and Havana and studied social sciences. The sixth of seven children born to a Spanish landowner and his Cuban wife, Raúl grew up on his father's farm and attended Catholic school with his older brother, Fidel Castro. Raúl Castro was born on June 3, 1931, near Birán, Cuba. Formally named Fidel's successor in 2008, Raúl implemented a variety of social, economic and political reforms, including the restoration of diplomatic ties with the United States, until stepping down from the presidency in 2018. In the decades that followed, he also served as Cuba’s defense minister and deputy prime minister. In the late 1950s, he participated in the revolution that brought his brother, Fidel Castro, to power, and soon thereafter was appointed head of the armed forces. As a young man, Raúl Castro became interested in politics and joined a socialist youth group.
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