Sister of Cuba's Castro Brothers Dies | Fox News Sister of Cuba's Castro Brothers Dies Published February 29, 2012 Facebook 0 Twitter 0 livefyre Email Print A sister of the Castro brothers died Wednesday after a battle with Alzheimer's. Angela Castro was 88. (AP) Havana – The sister of Cuban revolutionary leaders Fidel and Raúl Castro died Wednesday following a battle with Alzheimer's disease. At 88, Angela Castro was the first of the seven Castro brothers and sisters to die, and her passing served as another reminder of the looming mortality facing the entire clan. Fidel Castro , who stepped down in 2006, is 85; brother Raúl, who took his place as president, is 80. Angela's death was confirmed by Juanita Castro from her home in Miami. She told The Associated Press that her elder sister, known to close friends and relatives as "Angelita," had suffered from Alzheimer's for many years. Though her two older brothers became the most powerful men in Cuba , Angela led a quiet life out of the public eye. She was divorced, and is survived by five children, as well as grandchildren.

Best Pix of the Week "She had been in a very delicate state for some time," Juanita Castro said, adding that her sister was cremated and her ashes taken to a farm in the eastern Cuban town of Biran where she was born. The farm has been turned into a museum. She said her sister died at a clinic in Havana where she had been staying, and that she was unconscious and surrounded by her children when she died. There was no confirmation of the death in Cuba's state-run media, and officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Both Fidel and Raúl Castro have made a point of separating their personal and public lives, and seldom reveal intimate details that would be considered routine biography in many other countries. Angela was the first of the seven children born to Angel Castro, a Spanish immigrant to Cuba and his second wife Lina Ruz. She was followed 18 months later by Ramón, who is now 87. Fidel Castro came next followed by Raúl, Juanita, Emma and Agustina. An official book about the Castros says Angela weighed a whopping 14 pounds when she was born, which locals blamed on the fact her mother had drunk wine during the pregnancy.

Doctors told Lina to stay in bed for 40 days to recover, but she ignored them and returned quickly to her old routine. Cuba's Shadow Economy Cubans interviewed in Havana on Wednesday hadn't heard about Angela's death, and most said they didn't even know who she was. "I thought the oldest one was Ramon," said Nancy Lara, a 55-year-old housewife walking through Old Havana. She said the news inevitably made one contemplate the eventual passing of Fidel and Raul. "It's hard to imagine, but I know it will be a very tough blow," she said. Juanita Castro left Cuba in the 1960s, and has been estranged from Fidel and Raúl for years. But she is said to have maintained close ties to Angela and her other siblings. Angela had a fear of flying and so never left Cuba, Juanita said. She had been unable to walk in recent years, and found it difficult to speak on the phone because of the Alzheimer's.

Many of the most important participants in the 1959 revolution have died, including Vilma Espin, Raúl's wife and a top official in her own right, and Celia Sanchez, a top rebel fighter and rumored lover of Fidel. Argentina revolutionary icon Ernesto " Che" Guevara was killed in Bolivia in 1967. The last major revolutionary giant to pass was Juan Almeida, who fought alongside Fidel and later served as a Cuban vice president, in 2009. Mexicana Flight Attendants Turned Calendar Girls Feud after Success Raúl Castro, who has been spearheading market-based reforms of Cuba's Marxist economy, has said he hopes to save the country from an economic abyss in whatever time he has left. Ann Louise Bardach, the author of several books about Cuba and the Castro family, said that even if Fidel and Raúl maintain public silence about their sister's death, it is bound to have a great emotional impact on them. "I'm sure that her passing, being the first born and the first to die, will resonate deeply with her brothers, for whom the bell tolls," she said. Based on reporting by The Associated Press.

Follow us on twitter.com/foxnewslatino Fidel Castro's Family Fidel's private life with his wife and sons is so secret that even the CIA is left to wonder BY JUAN O. TAMAYO There are no streets in Cuba named after President Fidel Castro, no statues or peso bills bearing the image of the ``maximum leader,'' no mention -- ever -- in the official media of his wife of 30-plus years or their five sons. Most Cubans, in fact, know almost nothing about the personal life of one of the world's most private, even secretive rulers. Not the names of his wife and sons, not even the address of his home in Havana. Photographs of two of Castro's sons, a niece and a nephew-in-law that appear in today's Herald are, indeed, the first time their faces are published anywhere, slightly lifting the veil of secrecy that shrouds Castro's family. His wife, Dalia Soto del Valle, and their sons Angel, Antonio, Alejandro, Alexis and Alex, have never been identified in the island's media and only in a few foreign publications not subject to Cuban censorship.

Except for brothers Raúl and Ramón and his oldest son, ``Fidelito,'' Castro's close relatives hold no publicly visible jobs, wield no political power, and are unlikely to play a role in the succession to the 74-year-old ruler. While they live comfortably, compared to the grinding shortages faced by most Cubans, they are under strict orders to avoid ostentatious behavior and live austerely, far from the limelight, acquaintances say. ``They don't dress any better than anyone else,'' said Castro's daughter, Alina Fernández, now living in Spain. ``On the contrary, they are required to at least project an image of austerity for the rest of the Cubans.'' Added exile author Norberto Fuentes: ``The most avaricious cabinet minister lives no better than the average Cuban in Miami. He has one car, not two. An air conditioner in the car? No air conditioner.'' Unlike other Latin dictators, he promotes no cult of personality. Most Latin American dictators have sought to glorify themselves.

The Dominican Republic's Rafaél Trujillo renamed his nation's capital city and highest mountain after himself, and Paraguay's Alfredo Stroessner put up huge posters of himself around Asunción streets. Yet even as Castro's bearded profile has become an icon for revolutionaries around the world after 41 years in power, inside Cuba his desire for privacy has generated an odd sort of reverse cult of personality. Few public images of El Comandante are visible around Cuba, and his Aug. 13 birthday is not a holiday even though it's always noted by the government's media monopoly. His regime instead promotes dead revolutionary heroes such as Ernesto ``Che'' Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos on everything from statues to key chains and T-shirts sold to tourists. Though his power is unchallenged, and phrases from his lengthy speeches are often quickly adopted as national slogans, the Cuban media is strictly forbidden from reporting on Castro's personal life. ``His private side is a completely taboo subject,'' said Lissette Bustamante, formerly a top Cuban journalist who met several of Fidel and Raúl Castro's children before she defected in the early 1990s.

Castro has said that his penchant for privacy largely stems from his security concerns, given the more than 600 assassination attempts he says the CIA and Cuban exiles have mounted against him since 1959. ``They want to know if some day I went to bathroom or not, details on how my prostate is doing, they even want x-rays,'' Castro told reporters during a Havana news conference in April. But he has also acknowledged having a general propensity for ``permanent conspiracy,'' and made a strong argument that national leaders should never mix their public and private lives. ``In this sense, I have reserved for myself a total freedom,'' Castro said in an interview for a documentary, Fidel, 40 Years of the Cuban Revolution and its Leader, by Estela Bravo, a U.S. filmmaker who lives part time in Havana. The film provided Cubans with rare glimpses of his personal life when it was shown by Cuban television, unannounced, on Jan. 1, the anniversary of Castro's revolution, and again at two film festivals in March.

The 75-minute documentary notes that Cubans ``know very little about the personal life of Fidel,'' and discreetly adds: ``It is said that he has seven children and has been married for almost 30 years.'' Its few images of a private Castro date from pre-revolution days, including his 1948 marriage to Mirta Díaz-Balart, and their son, Fidel ``Fidelito'' Castro Díaz-Balart. They divorced two years later. ``The amount and quality of hard information on that subject is so scarce that it is unlike any other country in the world,'' said Brian Latell, the CIA's recently retired top analyst on Cuba and Castro. Castro's wife and their five sons have been briefly mentioned in books by Alina Fernández, the offspring of an affair with Natalia Revuelta in the early 1950s, and by Herald columnist Andres Oppenheimer and Castro biographer Tad Szulc, as well as in two recent U.S. magazine stories. But nothing at all about them has ever been published or broadcast inside Cuba.

Dalia Soto del Valle is a former schoolteacher from the south-central city of Trinidad who met Castro during the literacy campaigns of the 1960s, said Fuentes, a member of Cuba's inner circles who met her several times before he defected in 1994. Now in her late 50s, she is regarded as warm, but as austere as Castro himself, running his household affairs and almost never attending his public functions, said Fuentes, who now lives in Miami. Their sons range in age from Angel, about 25 and studying medicine, to Alex, a computer systems manager in his mid-30s. Antonio is studying to be an orthopedic surgeon, and Alejandro and Alexis are computer programmers. They use the surname Castro Soto del Valle, and their first names come from the nom de guerre that Castro adopted during the revolution in the 1950s -- Alejandro, in admiration of Alexander the Great's military feats. Almost nothing is known about a sixth Castro son, Jorge Angel Castro, identified by Alina Fernández as the child of a woman who died years ago. He is believed to be 51 years old and to have four children, including triplets.

The middle name Angel may come from Castro's Spanish-born father, Angel Castro. All but Angel and Alejandro Castro Soto del Valle are said to be married and have children of their own, making Castro a grandfather many times over. Alejandro, known as a computer and softball nut who always dresses informally, is said to be the only one still living at home with Fidel and Dalia. Alina Fernández recalled the five brothers as ``sensible, intelligent kids.'' But she felt sorry for them, she added, ``because on the one side they are tightly watched by guards, and on the other Cubans have a great curiosity about them.'' ``There is no yellow press in Cuba to report on their lives, but of course when people see a young guy with lots of bodyguards, they start guessing whose sons they are,'' she said in a telephone interview from Spain. The government takes care of their every basic need, Bustamante said, but some do not own their own cars and must call the family's central security office when they need rides around Havana. ``They have privileged positions but they don't seem to have many luxuries ...

certainly not like the `juniors' in Mexico,'' said Latell, referring to the Mexican slang for rich kids. Added Fuentes: ``They live comfortably, only comfortably. In the eyes of other Cubans they may be living in luxury, but in Cuba eating three balanced meals a day is a luxury.'' Most of Dalia's sons graduated from the Lenin High School in Havana, said Bustamante, a school reserved for Cuba's brightest and children of top government officials who require special security protection. The children of Castro and his brother, Armed Forces commander Raúl Castro, have specially tight security details under orders never to allow them to be photographed or approached by unknown persons, acquaintances said. The photographs that appear in color in today's Herald were taken by a Cuban acquaintance who said he managed to snap them during private social gatherings when the Castro offsprings' bodyguards were not around to stop him. He smuggled them out of Cuba when he defected during a trip abroad last year. The Miami Herald purchased the images and has offered them for re-sale to other publications.

So tight is the security around Castro's children that friends of ``Fidelito'' still sometimes call him José Raúl Fernández, the cover name he used when he studied nuclear physics in the Soviet Union in the 1970s. Fidelito, nephew of Florida Republican Rep. Lincoln Díaz Balart, is the only offspring who has been regularly mentioned in the Cuban media, particularly when he served as executive secretary of the Cuban Atomic Energy Commission from 1980 to 1992. He is belived to have divorced his Russian wife several years ago and remarried a Cuban. A U.S. citizen who met him recently said he is now working as a consultant for the Ministry of Basic Industries. THE CASTRO COMPOUND Fidel and his wife live in western Havana near Raul Fidel Castro and wife Dalia live in a two-house complex in western Havana. The living room of the main house is described by visitors as furnished with simple wood and leather sofas and chairs and Cuban handicrafts. The only luxury visible to visitors, said Fuentes, is a big-screen television that Castro uses to satisfy his interest in foreign news reports and videos secretly recorded by Cuba's intelligence services.

While the nature of Castro's relations with his sons is unknown, Alina Fernández and Bustamante both said Raúl Castro is much more the family man, holding regular Sunday dinners for his and Fidel's children at his home, known as La Rinconada, two blocks from Fidel's own house in western Havana. ``He has a much better sense of family than any of his brothers,'' said Fernández. It is Raúl, according to two friends of Mirta Díaz-Balart, now living in Spain, who arranges her occasional visits to Cuba to see Fidelito. Raúl and his wife of 40 years, Vilma Espín, a veteran of the revolution and longtime president of the Cuban Women's Federation, have three daughters and one son -- also never mentioned in the media. Son Alejandro was an army officer, Nilsa was studying at the University of Havana, Deborah was an engineer working at a government enterprise and Mariela studied child psychology and modern dance, said Bustamante, who knew the family well before her defection.

Mariela is considered the rebel in the family, Bustamante added, a free spirit who performed topless in one late 1980s production and favored Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika in the 1980s. Dancer Ruben Rodriguez, who lived with Mariela three years before he defected to Spain in 1991, told Bustamante during an interview that Raúl had once complained Mariela had ``brought perestroika into my home!'' Mariela is now married to an Italian and has two children with him, plus a boy from a previous union with a Chilean, according to a former Raúl Castro assistant who defected in 1993 but stays in touch with current aides. The only politically powerful member of the Fidel or Raúl families is believed to be Deborah's husband, Luis Alberto Fernández, about 40, son of an army general and himself a lieutenant colonel in the armed forces. Fernández heads the umbrella agency that administers the Cuban military's multi-million dollar businesses, from scores of tourist hotels in Cuba to trade companies in Panama, Angola, South Africa, Geneva and Cyprus.

``He isn't just Raúl's son-in-law or the son of a general. Luis Alberto earned his position because he's smart and efficient, and he'll go far in the future,'' said the former Raúl Castro aide. Luis Alberto and Deborah have two children named Raúl and Vilma after her parents, according to the former Raúl aide and two other family acquaintances. The former aide and the acquaintances asked for anonymity out of fear that Cuban security agents would go after relatives still on the island in retaliation for exposing details of the families. DOMESTIC COMFORTS The houses of Fidel and Raúl are large but simply appointed Fidel and Dalia's compound in western Havana is equipped with one outdoor tennis and basketball court. It is ringed with pine trees that block off outside views, and surrounded by electronic fences that detect intruders. All streets surrounding the compound are marked as one-way streets heading away from the house to deter sightseers, Bustamante said. Only official cars are allowed to drive the wrong way into the compound.

An acquaintance who has visited both Fidel and Raúl's homes described them as very large by Cuban standards but relatively simply appointed with Cuban-made furniture, with Raúl's home ``a bit nicer than Fidel's.'' The Castro brothers are known to have had several other houses around the island set aside for vacations or official visits to the provinces. But they handed over most of them for tourist lodgings after Soviet subsidies stopped arriving in 1991 and Cuba plunged into an economic crisis. AUSTERITY AND HYPOCRISY The elite live better, but are required to project equality Fuentes said the show of austerity by Castro and those near him is part of the hypocrisy of a system in which the elite live better than the average Cuban but are required to project an image of equality. ``You see the house of a top official all worn on the outside, badly in need of paint, the grass all a mess,'' he said. ``But inside he'll have two television sets, a VCR, a nice stereo, a new fridge.'' But there are limits. ``Of course, anything the hijos de papi [sons of daddy] want they get -- even if no other Cuban ever sees this stuff.

Computers, nice houses, vacations, you name it. But luxuries? With few exceptions, not really,'' said Fuentes. ``I think that when this [Castro's rule] ends, most people in Cuba will be outraged by the relative comforts of the leadership,'' he added, ``and most people in Miami will be surprised by their low level of life.'' Raul Castro - Biography By Christopher Minster Raul Castro: Fidel's Right Hand: Raúl Castro (1931-) is the current President of Cuba and brother of Cuban Revolution leader Fidel Castro . Unlike his brother, Raúl is quiet and reserved and spent most of his life in his older brother’s shadow. Nevertheless, Raúl played a very important role in the Cuban Revolution as well as in the government of Cuba after the revolution was over. Early Years: Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz was born one of several illegitimate children to sugar farmer Angel Castro and his maid, Lina Ruz González. Young Raúl attended the same schools as his older brother, but was neither as studious nor gregarious as Fidel. He was just as rebellious, however, and had a history of discipline problems.

When Fidel became active in student groups as a leader, Raúl quietly joined a student communist group: he would always be as ardent a communist as his brother, if not more. Raúl eventually became a leader himself of these student groups, organizing protests and demonstrations. continue reading below our video Profile of Fidel Castro Moncada: Like many socialists, Raúl was disgusted by the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista . When Fidel began planning a revolution, Raúl was included from the start. The first armed action of the rebels was the July 26, 1953 attack on the federal barracks at Moncada outside of Santiago. Raúl, barely 22 years old, was assigned to the team sent to occupy the Palace of Justice. His car got lost on the way there, so they arrived late, but did secure the building. When the operation fell apart, Raúl and his companions dropped their weapons, put on civilian clothes and walked out onto the street. He was eventually arrested. Prison and Exile: Raúl was convicted of his role in the uprising and sentenced to thirteen years in prison.

Like his brother and some of the other leaders the Moncada assault, he was sent to the Isle of Pines prison. There, they formed the 26th of July Movement (named for the date of the Moncada assault) and began plotting how to continue the revolution. In 1955 President Batista, responding to international pressure to release political prisoners, freed the men who had planned and carried out the Moncada assault. Fidel and Raúl, fearing for their lives, quickly went into exile in Mexico. Return to Cuba: During their time in exile, Raúl befriended Ernesto “Ché” Guevara , an Argentine doctor who was also a committed communist. Raúl introduced his new friend to his brother, and the two hit it right off. Raúl, by now a veteran of armed actions as well as prison, took an active role in the 26th of July Movement.

Raúl, Fidel, Guevara and new recruit Camilo Cienfuegos were among the 82 people who crowded on board the 12-person yacht Granma in November of 1956 along with food and weapons to return to Cuba and start the revolution. In the Sierra: Miraculously, the battered Granma carried all 82 passengers the 1,500 miles to Cuba. The rebels were quickly discovered and attacked by the army, however, and less than 20 made it into the Sierra Maestra Mountains. The Castro brothers soon began waging a guerrilla war against Batista, collecting recruits and weapons when they could. In 1958 Raúl was promoted to Comandante and given a force of 65 men and sent to the north coast of Oriente Province. While there, he imprisoned about 50 Americans, hoping to use them to keep the Americans from intervening on behalf of Batista. The hostages were quickly released.

Triumph of the Revolution: In the waning days of 1958, Fidel made his move, sending Cienfuegos and Guevara in command of most of the rebel army, against army installations and important cities. When Guevara decisively won the Battle of Santa Clara , Batista realized he could not win and fled the country on January 1, 1959. The rebels, including Raúl, rode triumphantly into Havana. Mopping up After Batista: In the immediate aftermath of the Revolution, Raúl and Ché were given the task of rooting out supporters of former dictator Batista. Raúl, who had already begun setting up an intelligence service, was the perfect man for the job: he was ruthless and totally loyal to his brother. Raúl and Ché oversaw hundreds of trials, many of which resulted in executions. Most of those executed had served as policemen or army officers under Batista. Personal Life: Raúl married his girlfriend and fellow revolutionary Vilma Espín not long after the triumph of the revolution. They have four children. She passed away in 2007.

Raúl leads an austere personal life, although there have been rumors that he may be an alcoholic. He is thought to despise homosexuals and reputedly influenced Fidel to jail them in the early years of their administration. Raúl has been consistently dogged by rumors that Angel Castro was not his real father. The most likely candidate, former rural guardsman Felipe Miraval, never denied nor confirmed the possibility. Role in Government and Legacy: As Fidel Castro transformed the revolution into government, he came to rely on Raúl more and more. In the fifty years since the revolution, Raúl has served as head of the Communist Party, Minister of Defense, Vice President of the Council of State and many more important positions. He has generally been most identified with the military: he has been Cuba’s top-ranking military officer since soon after the Revolution. He advised his brother during times of crisis such as the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis. As Fidel’s health faded in recent years, Raúl came to be considered as the logical (and perhaps the only possible) successor.

An ailing Castro turned over the reins of power to Raúl in July of 2006 and in January of 2008 Raúl was elected President in his own right, Fidel having withdrawn his name from consideration. Many see Raúl as being more pragmatic than Fidel, and there was some hope that Raúl would loosen the restrictions placed on Cuban citizens. He has done so, although not to the extent that some expected. Cubans can now own cel phones and consumer electronics, but drastic fundamental changes have not come. It is highly likely that he will survive Fidel, and his grip on power is firm. It will be far more interesting to see who succeeds Raúl as President of Cuba, as the torch gets handed to the next generation. Sources: Castañeda, Jorge C. Compañero: the Life and Death of Che Guevara . New York: Vintage Books, 1997. Coltman, Leycester. The Real Fidel Castro. New Haven and London: the Yale University Press, 2003.

Fidel Castro Resigns: Brother Raul Named Cuba Communist Party Head (VIDEO) | The Huffington Post Fidel Castro Resigns: Brother Raul Named Cuba Communist Party Head (VIDEO) 04/19/2011 06:12 pm ET | Updated Jun 19, 2011 710 AP/The Huffington Post HAVANA (AP) -- Cuba's Communist Party stuck Tuesday with a slate of silver-haired icons of the revolution to spearhead a last-ditch effort to save the island's sputtering economy -- surprising those who took to heart declarations by Raul and Fidel Castro that it was time to give way to a new generation of leaders. (Scroll down for video) Delegates to a key Party Congress picked 79-year-old Raul Castro to replace his ailing brother at the helm, while weathered veterans moved up to the No. 2 and 3 positions. Three somewhat younger politicians were named to lesser roles in the leadership council, but it remained dominated by men who came of age before television, let alone the Internet.

Fidel Castro made a surprise appearance, to thunderous applause from delegates, many of whom could be seen crying as he was helped to his place on stage by a young aide, then stood at attention during Cuba's national anthem. Wearing a blue track suit over a checked shirt, the 84-year-old revolutionary leader looked unsteady on his feet as he clutched the aide's arm, and at times slumped in his chair. He became more animated as the proceedings continued, especially when Raul's name was read out by an official announcing members of the party's Central Committee. Fidel was left off the leadership slate for the first time. But Raul said his brother needed no formal title to continue being the country's guiding light. "Fidel is Fidel," he said. In a speech closing out the Congress, Raul acknowledged the lack of fresh faces, saying the country had failed to develop young leaders because of errors committed in the past, including by him and his brother. "We have kept various veterans of the historic generation, and that is logical due to the consequences of the mistakes that have been made in this area," Raul told 1,000 delegates gathered in a sprawling Havana convention center.

"These have robbed us of a back bench of mature substitutes with enough experience to take on the country's top positions." Named party second secretary was Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, an 80-year-old stalwart who set up field hospitals for the Castros when they were young rebels fighting to topple Fulgencio Batista in the 1950s. The No. 3 spot went to Ramiro Valdes, a 78-year-old vice president who was with the brothers when they launched the revolution aboard the Granma yacht in 1956. Ann Louise Bardach, a longtime Cuba expert and author of "Without Fidel" and "Cuba Confidential," said the much-anticipated leadership announcement fell flat, with Raul Castro, Machado Ventura and Valdes continuing to run things. "What part of this is a shake-up? These are the three principal 'historicos' left in the country." she said. "We're not seeing new blood -- this is the oldest blood Cuba has." A larger and less influential body, the Central Committee, was chock full of young women and Afro-Cubans, as well as grizzled armed forces generals and members of the old guard.

Three relatively young people were elected to the leadership council, including Marino Murillo, a 50-year-old former economy minister who was recently put in charge of implementing sweeping economic reforms. The current economy minister, 65-year-old Adel Izquierdo, was also named to the council, as was Lazara Mercedes Lopez Acea, 46, the Communist Party chief in Havana who became the 15-member council's only woman. Cubans reacted with a mix of support and resignation. "It's logical," said Reina Rosa, a 43-year-old Havana resident. Raul "had to put a man there (as second secretary) that he trusts completely and there's none of those among the young people." "It's the same thing with the same people," added Maria Rubio. "These old guys don't want to let go of power." The Congress also approved 300 economic proposals, though details were not released. Apparently included in the measures was a recommendation to legalize the buying and selling of private property, which has been heavily restricted since the revolution. Also on the table was a proposal to eventually eliminate the monthly ration book, which provides Cubans with a basic basket of heavily subsidized food and other goods.

Other measures envision providing seed capital for would-be entrepreneurs and eliminating the island's unique dual-currency system. Raul promised that more leadership changes could be made at a Party Conference scheduled for January 2012. Unlike the Congress, which was designed to chart a new way forward for the country, that gathering is expected to focus exclusively on party matters. He also pledged to continue the program of deep economic reforms announced last year, but said he would do so at a pace the country could handle. "Modernizing the economic model is not a miracle that can be accomplished overnight like some believe," Raul told the delegates, adding that he would safeguard the country's socialist model. "I assume my last task with the firm conviction and commitment ... to defend, preserve and continue perfecting socialism, and never allow the return of the capitalist regime," he said. The Cuban president has championed a limited but significant shift to the free market since taking over from his brother in 2008. Changes announced last year allow Cubans to go into business for themselves in 178 approved enterprises, hire employees and rent out cars and homes.

Raul has also promised to fire half a million unnecessary state workers, and has warned the government can no longer afford the deep subsidies it gives workers in return for wages that average $20 a month. Under Cuba's Marxist system, more than four in five Cubans work for the government, and the state still controls virtually all means of production. There was no official reaction from Washington to the leadership changes, but a congressional staffer deeply involved in U.S.-Cuba relations told The Associated Press it was not surprising Raul stuck with revolutionary veterans, since he needs to protect himself from hard-liners who are less enthusiastic about the free-market changes he is making. He said the appointment of "young bucks" would have caused uncertainty at a time of economic metamorphosis that is already delicate enough. "It doesn't negate the reforms," said the staffer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the changes publicly. But he added that the Cuban leadership's advanced age does suggest that "reform will be gradual." That view was not shared by everyone. Huber Matos, a former Cuban revolutionary who later resigned and spent 20 years in prison before he was released and moved to Miami, described the Congress as a farce.

He said it was absurd to believe the old-timers would be able to right an economy "which they have spent a half century destroying." "Until they change the structure of power nothing will change," he said. The inclusion of so many well-worn names in the leadership council came despite an opinion piece by Fidel Castro in which the former leader implied they were only included on a list of candidates as a gesture toward their years of service. "There were some colleagues who, because of their years and poor health, can no longer do service to the Party, but Raul thought it would be very tough on them to exclude them from the list of candidates," Fidel wrote in a column that appeared in state-run newspapers and websites Tuesday. Fidel added that he was all for a term-limit proposal made by Raul at the Congress's opening on Saturday, despite the fact that he himself ruled the island for more than 47 years. "I like the idea," he wrote. "It is a subject on which I have long meditated." ___ Associated Press writers Laura Wides-Munoz in Miami and Andrea Rodriguez, Anne-Marie Garcia and Peter Orsi in Havana contributed to this report.

More: At Cuba Helm, Castro Brother Stays the Course - The New York Times The New York Times Americas |At Cuba Helm, Castro Brother Stays the Course Search Continue reading the main story Photo Raúl Castro, Cubas new president, at the National Assembly on Sunday, sitting next to an empty chair formerly used by his brother and predecessor, Fidel Castro. Credit Enrique De La Osa HAVANA — Raúl Castro , who has labored in the shadow of his brother Fidel since the days of their revolution, became Cuba ’s new president on Sunday, ending his brother’s 49-year rule and washing away hopes on this Communist island that a younger generation might take power. In his first words as president, Mr. Castro made it clear that he would make no radical changes and promised to consult his brother on every important decision. He said that his brother was still alive and alert, and that the time had yet to come when the leaders of the revolution in the 1950s had to pass the baton to a new generation. “Fidel is Fidel, you know that well,” he said to the National Assembly shortly after it voted him president.

“He is irreplaceable, and the people will continue his work even though he is not physically here.” Yet the moment marked a turning point in Cuban history. For the first time since Fidel Castro seized power in January 1959, the government is in the hands of a different leader, a pragmatic military officer who lacks his charisma and ego. Raúl Castro has a reputation as a consensus builder, a man who listens closely to his advisers, delegates authority and holds his underlings accountable for their decisions. Continue reading the main story The trappings of leadership had also changed if the message did not. Fidel, ever the revolutionary, usually wore olive green fatigues; Raúl, 76, addressed the Assembly in a dark gray suit, a steel-colored tie and gold-rimmed glasses. Raúl spoke calmly for half an hour, a contrast with his brother’s fiery lectures, which often rambled on for hours. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Raúl Castro also said the government needed to change to survive in the new era. He proposed putting more power in the hands of provincial governments and streamlining the bureaucracy in Havana. “Today a more compact structure is required,” he said.

He made it clear no government institution was sacred. “We should never believe that what we have done is perfect,” he said. Despite those hints of change, other actions by the Assembly ensured the continued power of Cuba’s old guard. It picked another veteran of the revolution, José Ramón Machado Ventura, 76, as the first vice president. A former health minister, Mr. Machado Ventura has a reputation as a Communist hard-liner fiercely loyal to the Castros. The Assembly re-elected Ricardo Alarcón, 70, as its president. The decisions seemed to dash the hopes of Fidel Castro’s younger followers. Some had expected that a younger politician would take over the legislature’s helm, an important bully pulpit even if the body only rubber-stamps the president’s decisions. Carlos Lage, 56, a doctor close to the elder Castro who engineered the economy after Soviet aid dried up in the 1990s, remains in his previous role, one of five vice presidents. The foreign minister, Felipe Pérez Roque, 42, was also passed over for promotion.

In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Cuba’s government “to begin a process of peaceful, democratic change by releasing all political prisoners, respecting human rights and creating a clear pathway towards free and fair elections.” President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, Cuba’s main foreign benefactor, called Raúl Castro to congratulate him and invite him to Venezuela. “Nothing is going to change,” Mr. Chávez said of Venezuela’s support of Cuba, “because we will only advance by being united.” Advertisement Continue reading the main story Perhaps the most important challenge facing the new president is the struggling economy. Since becoming acting president in July 2006, when his brother became ill, Raúl Castro has raised expectations among Cubans that he might make it easier to earn a decent salary within the state-run system. In his speech, he said he would lift some of the regulations that strangle private enterprise and that he would gradually revalue the Cuban peso, now nearly worthless, to allow people on miserly state salaries to earn a better living. “The country has a priority to satisfy the basic needs of the population, both physical and spiritual,” he said.

But many Cubans greeted the news with a shrug, doubtful that after years of brutal economic conditions, Raúl Castro would improve their lives anytime soon. “Fidel was here, now the brother comes,” said Jose Clemente Calvo, 58, a retired janitor, who was sitting on a park bench in Havana. “There is no difference.” “The same nonsense continues, there’s no doubt,” said Jolando, 79, a former driver who asked his last name not be used. He said he fought in the revolution but long ago became disenchanted with the Castros. “What they need to do is hold elections,” he said. The ballot before the Assembly contained 31 names for the top positions in the country, with only one name for each position. Although they had no alternatives, several delegates said they were satisfied with the selection of Raúl Castro. “He has had the career path that goes all the way back to the Granma,” said Teovaldo de la Paz Venega, a delegate and a garbage collector, referring to the yacht on which the Castro brothers arrived with their ragtag rebel force in 1956.

“He has the confidence of the people.” Advertisement Continue reading the main story Oden Marichal, an Anglican minister in the Assembly, echoed the party line of most delegates when asked who should lead the nation now. “Fidel,” he said. “But that cannot be, so Raúl.” The Assembly was elected last month in elections completely controlled by the Communist party, the only political organization permitted in this country of 11 million. Fidel Castro, 81, was said to be too ill to attend the meeting, and he voted through a proxy. When his name was called, the Assembly gave him a standing ovation. In a sense, who holds the office of president hardly matters, experts on Cuban politics say. Fidel Castro remains the Communist party’s chief, by law the ultimate authority in the land. Raúl Castro, the former defense minister, still has the loyalty of the military. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the military has become much more than simply an expeditionary army at the service of what was once the Soviet bloc.

Cuba’s active and retired military leaders, who served under Raúl Castro for decades, oversee important state-run businesses, from agricultural production to tourist enterprises, the all-important earners of hard currency. They are likely to play a critical role in consolidating Mr. Castro’s power over the new government, and they are the only figures in Cuban society who have the power to bring down the government quickly. Most have close personal relationships with Mr. Castro, who has put them in lucrative positions of authority and power. “Raúl controls everything, every important position in the country,” said Vladimir Roca, a former fighter pilot who broke with the government and served prison time for speaking out against the Castros. Brian Lattel, a former C.I.A. analyst, wrote in his book “After Fidel” that the Castros’ command over the generals sprinkled through the government and state-run businesses will be critical if they hope to stay in power. “The odds of that will be much in their favor in the beginning at least.” Simon Romero contributed reporting from Caracas, Venezuela.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A10 of the New York edition with the headline: Taking the Helm as Cuba's President, Castro's Younger Brother Holds the Course. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe Fidel Castro Hands Power To Brother 8 Years Ago Today « CBS Miami Fidel Castro Hands Power To Brother 8 Years Ago Today July 31, 2014 10:51 AM Filed Under: Cuba , Cubans , Embargo , Fidel Castro , Human Rights Watch , Raul Castro Cuban former President Fidel Castro gives a speech, on September 03, 2010, at Havana's University. Castro talked to the students about the possibility of a nuclear war. (Source: Adalberto Roque/ Getty Images) MIAMI (CBSMiami) – On this day exactly eight years ago, Fidel Castro handed power of the communist island over to his brother Raul Castro. Fidel Castro, who took power in a 1959 revolution, led Cuba for 48 years before falling gravely ill in July 2006.

He stepped down from power on July 31, 2008 and delegated his presidential duties to Raul in what state media described as a temporary measure. However, Raul officially took power two years later and has led Cuba ever since. Fidel nearly died in 2006 after having to go through multiple abdominal surgeries and reportedly having part of his colon removed. In the United States, no region has been impacted more by Castro’s rule than South Florida, where hundreds of thousands of Cubans have settled since he took power. The U.S. has maintained a tight embargo against the Cuban government which, along with harsh and often failing communist policies, has helped cripple the island nation’s economy. Still, Castro ruled with an iron fist and drew worldwide scorn for human rights violations. Human Rights Watch said in 2013 that Cuba is ruled by a regime that “represses virtually all forms of political dissent.” Some thawing of the icy relationship with the United States has been attempted in the past decade.

RELATED CONTENT: Fidel Castro's role in Cuba is chiefly offstage as he turns 87 today Fidel Castro's role in Cuba is chiefly offstage as he turns 87 today World | Reuters | Updated: August 13, 2013 08:36 IST EMAIL COMMENTS File picture of former Cuban president Fidel Castro Havana: Fidel Castro turns 87 today, largely out of sight but not out of mind, as Cuba struggles to move on from his half-century rule and as many of his policies are reconsidered under the leadership of his younger brother Raul. The birthday of one of Latin America's most iconic revolutionary figures has been a low key celebration in recent years. A choral concert in his honor at the Jose Marti national monument in Havana on Monday evening was the only official event planned. Castro goes about his daily activities out of the public eye, and how much influence the retired commandante still wields is unknown. He emerges every once in a while to reassure his followers that he is very much around, frustrating those who wish he was not.

"No one believes anymore that Fidel has any real influence over day-to-day policy," a western diplomat said, "but that doesn't mean he is never consulted on big questions or that when he comes out it isn't important." The government has staged just three media events this year for Castro: first, to vote in January for National Assembly deputies and chat with local reporters; then, in February, to attend the new parliament's opening session where his brother's possible successor, 53-year-old Miguel Diaz-Canel, was named first vice president, and more recently, to inaugurate a school near his home on the outskirts of Havana. Photos of a frail-looking Castro meeting with visiting dignitaries are occasionally published, as well as some of his writings, though far fewer than his once frequent "Reflections," on global topics. The once-towering, broad-shouldered man is now stooped. He has trouble walking, and his famed booming oratory has softened to a near whisper. It is a transformation which brought tears to two women interviewed for this story.

Castro, now referred to as "the historic leader of the revolution," lives in a modest home on the western outskirts of Havana with his wife, Dalia Soto del Valle, near his sons and grandchildren, and where he studies, writes and receives visitors. Cubans who have seen Fidel up close on one of his occasional ventures away from home report he remains lucid and in relatively good shape for a man who was at death's door in 2006 after undergoing repeated abdominal surgeries and reportedly having part of his colon removed. "He was old, but the same old Fidel, asking questions, citing statistics from last year and before, shuffling around, chuckling and talking with everyone," said a worker at the Empresa Genetica Pecuaria Los Naranjos in Atemisa province, around 30 miles (48 km) west of Havana. "His mind was still amazing," he said. The worker, who asked that his name not be used, said Castro on April 26 paid a surprise two-hour visit to the company, which raises and improves livestock such as goats, turkeys and buffalo.

"He showed up in a caravan of at least 10 vehicles, including two vans and an ambulance, and accompanied by his wife, one of his sons, numerous military-clad bodyguards and other people," he said. Smoothing the transition Castro writes that he spends much time trying to increase Cuba's agricultural production and promoting alternative animal forage plants grown at Los Naranjos. "Fidel is Fidel and he continues experimenting in the countryside," said a farmer in central Camaguey who asked that he not be identified. 82-year-old Raul Castro has governed the Caribbean island since his brother became ill. He is presiding over a sweeping plan to move the bankrupt Soviet-style economy in a less paternalistic and more market-friendly direction, like those of Vietnam and China. He has loosened regulations on travel and the buying and selling of personal property and broadened other personal freedoms, while preserving Cuba's one-party communist system. Raul Castro rarely speaks in public, and when he does it is invariably for less than 45 minutes, a dramatic change from the hours-long oratory of Fidel Castro. Cubans expressed mixed feelings about this difference between the brothers. "What do I miss?

The constant guidance of Fidel in the face of any eventuality," said Pedro Gonzales, a Santiago de Cuba retiree. Havana housewife Luisa, who declined to give her last name, was less kind, saying that reforms under Raul had done little to improve her life and had created "uncertainty among the people." She said his inability to communicate left her feeling like "I'm on a boat without a captain." Christopher Sabatini, senior director of policy at the Americas Society and Council of the Americas, said Fidel Castro had transitioned from policy making to "a symbolic role as the protector of the revolution's integrity," in order to allay public unease, which inevitably accompanies both a leadership and economic transition in a country like Cuba. © Thomson Reuters 2013

Question: What is the last name of brothers Fidel and Raúl?
Answer: Castro