36 Facts About Raul Castro

Raul Modesto Castro Ruz is a retired Cuban politician and general who served as the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, the most senior position in the one-party communist state, from 2011 to 2021, succeeding his brother Fidel Castro.

One of the military leaders of the Cuban Revolution, Castro served as the minister of the Armed Forces from 1959 to 2008.

Raul Castro was a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Cuba, the highest decision-making body, from 1965 until 2021.

Raul Castro was officially made president by the National Assembly on 24 February 2008, after his brother, who was still ailing, announced on 19 February 2008 that he would not stand again.

Shortly thereafter, Raul Castro announced that his second term would be his final term, and that he would not seek re-election in 2018.

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Raul Castro stepped down from the presidency on 19 April 2018 after his successor, Miguel Diaz-Canel was elected by the National Assembly following parliamentary elections.

Raul Castro remained the first secretary of the Communist Party; he was still considered the de facto leader of the country, retaining oversight over the president.

Raul Castro announced at the Eighth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, which began on 16 April 2021, that he was retiring.

Raul Castro was the head of the constitutional reform commission, and continues to have a seat representing Santiago de Cuba's Segundo Frente municipality in the National Assembly.

Raul Modesto Castro Ruz was born in Biran, Cuba, the legal son of a Spanish immigrant father, Angel Castro who was 55 at the time of his birth, and a Cuban-born mother of Canarian parentage, Lina Ruz.

Raul Castro is the youngest of three brothers: Ramon, Fidel, and himself.

Raul Castro became a committed socialist and joined the Socialist Youth, an affiliate of the Soviet-oriented Cuban Communist Party, Partido Socialista Popular.

In 1953, Raul Castro served as a member of the 26th of July Movement group that attacked the Moncada Barracks; he received a 13-year prison sentence and spent 22 months in prison as a result of this action.

On 27 February 1958 Raul Castro 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 "Frank Pais Eastern Front".

On 26 June 1958, Raul Castro's rebels kidnapped ten Americans and two Canadians from the property of Moa Bay Mining Company on the north coast of Oriente Province.

Unlike Che Guevara or Cienfuegos, Raul Castro had no significant victories he could claim credit for on his own.

Raul Castro Ruz was a member of the national leadership of the Integrated Revolutionary PO Organizations and of the United Party of the Socialist Revolution of Cuba.

Raul Castro is credited with helping shoot down a Lockheed U2 and killing Major Rudolf Anderson.

Raul Castro served as a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and Second Secretary of its Politburo from the Party's formation in October 1965; as First Vice President of the Cuban Council of State of the National Assembly of People's Power and Council of Ministers when these were established in 1976.

Raul Castro was appointed Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces when it was founded in October 1959 and served in that capacity until February 2008.

Raul Castro has a reputation for his businesslike, unanimated delivery of speeches.

Raul Castro announced a limitation on presidential terms, including his own.

Raul Castro announced that day that he would step down from power after his second term as president ended in 2018.

Raul Castro remained First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party until he resigned on April 19,2021.

Raul Castro called Trump's plans egotistical and - for the border - irrational.

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Raul Castro denied involvement but allowed FBI rare access to investigate the incident that allegedly left 21 people with hearing loss and brain damage.

In September 2019 the United States sanctioned Raul Castro and barred him from entering the US due to Cuba's support of the Nicolas Maduro government in Venezuela during the presidential crisis and alleged human-rights abuses caused by the government.

Raul Castro married Vilma Espin, a former Massachusetts Institute of Technology chemical engineering student and the daughter of a wealthy lawyer for the Bacardi rum company, on 26 January 1959.

Raul Castro is widely viewed as Raul's most trusted advisor and is likely being prepared for a future leadership role.

Raul Castro is widely regarded as one of the most powerful figures in the Cuban Economy due to the Military's hold on most of the lucrative business sectors.

Deborah's son, Raul Castro Guillermo, nicknamed El Cangrejo due to a malformed finger, is Raul Castro's current chief bodyguard.

However, Juan Reynaldo Sanchez, a defected bodyguard for Fidel who knew Raul Castro well, wrote later that his warm public exterior was a carefully maintained facade; In private, he found him to be "rough, curt, almost unpleasant" with a dubious sense of humor.

Whereas Fidel was "charismatic, energetic, visionary but extremely impulsive and totally disorganized", Raul Castro was described as a "natural, methodical, and uncompromising organizer".

Raul Castro said: "I promise to go to all his Masses and with satisfaction, " when Pope Francis visited Cuba in 2015.

Raul Castro retired as Communist Party leader on 19 April 2021.

Raul Castro is mentioned as "Fidel Castro's brother" in the Billy Bragg song, Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards.