By Rose Onda
The head of Cuba’s Communist Party, Raul Castro, has announced that he would be relinquishing his position.
The head of Cuba’s Communist Party, Raul Castro, has announced that he would be relinquishing his position.
His retirement will be ending an era of formal Socialist leadership that began with his elder brother, Fidel Castro, and the country’s 1959 Revolution that saw the overthrowing of the dictator Fulgencio Batista.
For the past decade, Raul has been the face of Communist Cuba and its defiance of US efforts to overthrow its Socialist system.
The 89-year-old Castro announced his retirement in a speech made at the opening of the eighth congress of the ruling and the Socialist country’s only party.
He expressed confidence in having “fulfilled his mission and confident in the future of the fatherland.”
Castro said: “Nothing, nothing, nothing is forcing me to make this decision. As long as I live I will be ready with my foot in the stirrup to defend the homeland, the Revolution and Socialism with more force than ever.”
A successor has not been announced to his position of First Secretary of the Communist Party.
With his exit Cuba will not have a Castro family member formally guiding its affairs for the first time in 61 years.
Pundits say the transition comes at a difficult time for Cuba, with many on the island anxious about what the future holds. Battered by the coronavirus pandemic and its effect, especially the collapse in tourism, and harsh policies from the neighbouring US, the country saw its economy shrink 11 percent last year.
The Communist Party is made up of 700,000 activists and enjoys a monopoly from the Cuban Constitution as the sole compass directing affairs of the nation and society.
Fidel Castro led the Communist Revolution that sacked the dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959. He became head of the party in 1965 and the country’s leader until ailment set in, in 2006, making him to hand over the presidency to his younger brother Raul in 2008.
Raul, who had fought alongside Fidel during the Revolution, succeeded his brother as head of the party in 2011.
Fidel Castro died in 2016.
But for the past decade, Raul has been the face of Communist Cuba and its defiance of U.S. efforts to oust its Socialist system. Ironically, he it was who reached accords with U.S. President Barack Obama in 2014 that allowed the hugest U.S. opening to Cuba since the early 1960s —creating a surge in contacts with the United States that was largely reversed under Donald Trump.