Americas Features
Raul Castro: Known but quiet figure to lead Cuba's new era
By DPA
Feb 25, 2008, 1:59 GMT

Havana - Two raised fingers were enough in Cuba to designate one man: Raul Castro, Fidel Castro's younger brother and eternal 'number two' in his shadow.

However, Raul Castro's election Sunday to succeed his iconic brother is bound to change this custom in a country which, following nearly half-a-century without change at the top, is eager for reform that goes beyond mere gestures.

Raul Castro's election Sunday was not a surprise.

Fidel himself had long described his brother as his 'natural heir,' and for decades Raul held the portfolio of top deputy: first vice president of the Council of State and Council of Ministers, second secretary of the Communist Party. In fact, Raul remains second secretary in the party, as Fidel remains party leader.

Raul Castro, 76, has been acting Cuban leader for 19 months since Fidel, 81, 'temporarily' ceded power on July 31, 2006, after undergoing surgery for an unspecified but serious intestinal condition. Raul's interim leadership had not brought any sign of social upheaval in the communist island.

Although several biographers claim that they have had bitter disputes at several points in the Cuban revolution, the Castro brothers have never shown their differences to the outside world.

Fidel's inseparable companion since he launched his revolutionary quest to bring down the regime of Fulgencio Batista in 1953, Raul Castro has been a main character in the Cuban government since the revolution in 1959.

Physically very different from his older brother, Raul is considered less charismatic and much less drawn to the public eye. To the relief of many Cubans, he is not known for the hours-long speeches that have been Fidel's trademark for decades.

In his 19-month as acting leader, Raul granted a single interview, and that was only with a print publication.

He is regarded as a pragmatist who - despite his orthodox views - is capable of undertaking reform and perhaps opening Cuba's closed socialist system.

Raul is credited with having introduced measures that took pressure off the Cuban system at difficult times. He instigated the creation of peasant free markets after the Soviet Union collapsed, which set off years of severe economic hardship on the island after 1990.

Raul Castro Ruz was born on June 3, 1931 in the village of Biran, in Cuba's Holguin province, the seventh child of the Spaniard Angel Castro and the Cuban Lina Ruz.

Upon the triumph of the revolution led by his brother, Raul married fellow-militant Vilma Espin - who died in 2007 - with whom he had four children. One of daughter is a prestigious sexologist with great presence in the Cuban media.

Although Raul is regarded as a 'tough guy,' family pictures have shown his more affable side.

Moreso than Fidel, Raul's communist leanings were clear from the start, and dissidents have described him as the 'Stalinist face' of the Cuban revolution.

In 1953, the Castro brothers took in the failed assault on the Moncada Barracks, and three years later both returned to Cuba from exile in Mexico aboard the boat Granma.

Acknowledged as skilled organizer and manager by friends and critics alike since the time of the struggle on Sierra Maestra, Raul was named defence minister when he was only 28. Nowadays, the companies controlled by the Army, such as the tourism-centred Gaviota, are considered among the most efficient on the island.

Raul's reputation for competent pragmatism gives a glimmer of hope for change and improvements in the daily lives of average Cubans.

As interim leader, he already acknowledged the need for 'structural changes.' He has already encouraged Cubans to debate 'with courage' about what works on the communist island - and what doesn't.

Dissidents don't see radical change under Raul Castro, but they have acknowledged that he heads a faction of Cuban leaders who are at least conscious of the need for reform.