Raul Castro Sunday became Cuba's new president when he was elected unopposed by the National Assembly to succeed his older brother, Fidel, as the island's Commander-in-Chief.
Raul Castro, 76, had long served in his brother's shadow as Cuba second most powerful person as well as Defence Minister.
He has acted as head of state since his elder brother underwent surgery 19 months since ago for an intestinal ailment.
Fidel Castro, 81, who led the Caribbean Communist nation since the 1959 Cuban Revolution, shocked many on February 19 when he announced he was stepping down due to ill-health.
Although he has officially taken over the reigns of the communist nation, Raul Castro said he would consult with his elder brother on "matters of great importance", signalling that there would not be a break with the past.
"I accept the responsibility I have been given with the conviction I have repeated often: there is only one Commander in Chief of the Cuban Revolution: Fidel is Fidel and we all know it well.
"Fidel is irreplaceable; the people will continue his work when he is no longer with us physically, though his ideas always will be here," Raul Castro said in his acceptance speech to the National Assembly.
His older brother had long been a thorn in the side of successive United States administrations in Washington, and the new president vowed to be on guard against its powerful northern neighbour.
"We have taken note of the offensive ad openly meddling declarations by the empire (a common Cuban reference to Washington) and some of its closest allies," he declared.
The new president said he would be eliminating simple economic restrictions within the coming weeks, but did not elaborate.
Raul is the son of Spanish immigrant Angel Castro and Lina Ruz, a Cuban woman of Galician ancestry. The youngest of three brothers, he also has four sisters, Angela, Juanita, Enma, and Agustina, and two half siblings, Lidia and Pedro Emilio, who were raised by Ángel Castro's first wife.
Raúl attended the Jesuit School of Colegio Dolores in Santiago and Colegio Belén in Havana. A committed socialist, he joined the Socialist Youth, an affiliate of the Soviet- -oriented Cuban Communist Party, Partido Socialista Popular (PSP) and with Fidel, participated actively in sometimes violent student political actions.
In 1953, he joined Fidel in the assault on the Moncada Barracks, in an attempt to oust the regime of Fulgencio Batista. The assault failed and both men were sentenced to 22 months in jail.
After his release in 1955, Raul went to Mexico, where he befriended Che Guevara, and later introduced him to Fidel. They later launched a guerrilla warfare campaign, finally overthrowing Batista in early 1959.
A few weeks after the 1959 victory, Raul Castro married Vilma Espin Guillois, who in 1960 became president of the Cuban Federation of Women. They have three daughters (Deborah, Mariela and Nilsa) and one son (Alejandro).
CMC/bm/pr/08
Today's Date is: Sun, 12 Oct 2008 03:34:10
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