Raúl Castro

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Raul Castro, first secretary of the Communist Party and former president, attends the VIII Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba's opening session, at the Convention Palace in Havana, Cuba, Friday, April 16, 2021. (Ariel Ley Royero/ACN via AP)

Era ends as Raul Castro steps down as Communist Party chief

By ANDREA RODRÍGUEZ - Associated Press

FILE - In this April 19, 2011 file photo, Fidel Castro, left, raises the hand of his brother President Raul Castro as they sing the international socialism anthem during the 6th Communist Party Congress in Havana, Cuba. For most of his life, Raul Castro played second-string to his brother, but for the past decade, it’s Raul who's been the face of communist Cuba. On Friday, April 16, 2021, Raul Castro formally announced he'd step down as head of the Communist Party, leaving Cuba without a Castro in an official position of command for the first time in more than six decades. (AP Photo/Javier Galeano, File)

Raul Castro, long a sidekick, finally the face of his nation

By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ - Associated Press

Raul Castro, first secretary of the Communist Party and former president, waves to members at the VIII Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba's opening session, as Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, right, applauds at the Convention Palace, in Havana, Cuba, Friday, April 16, 2021. (Ariel Ley Royero/ACN via AP)

Raul Castro confirms he’s resigning, ending long era in Cuba

Associated Press

In this April 16, 2016, file photo, Cuba's President Raul Castro addresses the Cuban Communist Party Congress in Havana, Cuba. The VIII Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, between April 16 and 19, 2021, could go down in history as the last with a member of the Castro family at the head, if Raul Castro fulfills his announcement to say goodbye as secretary-general. (Ismael Francisco/Cubadebate via AP File)

Raul Castro, long a sidekick, finally the face of his nation

By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ - Associated Press

Raul Castro, first secretary of the Communist Party and former president, attends the VIII Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba's opening session, at the Convention Palace in Havana, Cuba, Friday, April 16, 2021. (Ariel Ley Royero/ACN via AP)

Raul Castro resigns as Communist chief, ending era in Cuba

By ANDREA RODRÍGUEZ - Associated Press

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo listens during an event hosted by the Department of State's Energy Resources Governance Initiative in New York, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

US hits Cuba’s Raul Castro, family with travel ban

Associated Press

FILE - In this Nov. 10, 2011 file photo, Cuba's Cardinal Jaime Ortega celebrates a Mass, in Havana. Cuba's Roman Catholic Church said Friday, July 26, 2019, the former archbishop of Havana who helped organize the first papal visit to communist Cuba has died. Ortega was 83. (AP Photo/Javier Galeano, File)

Cardinal Ortega, former archbishop of Havana, dies at 82

By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ and PETER ORSI - Associated Press

Castro warns Cubans to brace for shortages

By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ and MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN - Associated Press

FILE - In this Jan. 3, 2013, file photo, U.S. Rep. Ed Pastor of Arizona is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington. Pastor, Arizona's first Hispanic congressman, died Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2018. He was the longtime senior member of the state's U.S. House delegation before he decided in 2014 against running for re-election. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci, File)

Ex-Rep. Ed Pastor, Arizona’s 1st Hispanic congressman, dies

By BOB CHRISTIE and PAUL DAVENPORT - Associated Press

In this Sept. 30, 2018 photo, residents gather for a public forum on constitutional reform in Havana, Cuba. At a half-dozen public forums attended by Associated Press journalists this month, Cubans repeatedly called for direct election of the president and other officials, while many objected to allowing gays and lesbians to marry. (AP Photo/Desmond Boylan)

Cuban constitutional reform spawns unusual public debate

By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ - Associated Press

In this March 17, 2015, file photo, Cuba's President Raul Castro listens to the playing of national anthems during his welcome ceremony at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela. On April 19, 2018, Raul Castro will step down as president after a decade in office. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)

Miguel Diaz-Canel, bureaucrat, replaces Raul Castro as Cuba’s president

By Michael Weissenstein and Andrea Rodriguez - Associated Press

In this photo released by Cuba's state-run media Cubadebate, Cuba's President Raul Castro, center left, enters the National Assembly followed by his successor Miguel Diaz-Canel, center right, for the start of two-day legislative session in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, April 18, 2018. The Cuban assembly selected the 57-year-old First Vice President as the sole candidate to succeed Castro on Wednesday, in a transition aimed at ensuring that the country's single-party system outlasts the aging revolutionaries who created it. (Irene Perez/Cubadebate via AP)

The Latest: Pence tweets response to Cuba’s Raul Castro

Associated Press

FILE - This Jan. 2, 2007 file photo shows the Miramar section of Havana, Cuba. In 2008, the government lifted its prohibition on Cubans staying at the island’s resort hotels. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)

Economic changes in Cuba under President Raul Castro

Associated Press

A man wearing a shirt with the stars and stripes sits on the Malecon in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, April 18, 2018. Cuba's legislature opened today a two-day session that is to elect a successor to President Castro. (AP Photo/Desmond Boylan)

Cuba’s presidential transition bringing no joy to its exiles

By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON - Associated Press

In this April 12, 2018 photo, artist and former diplomat Hector Pascual Gallo Portieres poses at his home in the Alamar public housing complex in Havana, Cuba. The barber by profession was approached in 1960 to go on a mission to find out how the U.S. would attack Cuba. He found answers in Costa Rica, and was highly decorated for alerting Cuba to the 1961 U.S. invasion of the Bay of Pigs. After years in diplomacy, he returned home to teach intelligence and retired after 30 years. Gallo, now 93, says he hopes the next generation will be faithful to national hero Jose Marti and to the process Fidel Castro started. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

AP PHOTOS: Cuba transition sparks hope for many generations

By RAMON ESPINOSA - Associated Press

FILE - This June 10, 2016 file photo shows a family photograph of the Castro brothers, from left, Fidel, Raul and Ramon, on the wall of the room they shared as children in Biran, Cuba. Biran is the birthplace of revolutionary leader Fidel Castro and his brother, President Raul Castro. Their father Angel planted and sold sugarcane and timber as well as raising cattle deep in the lush green hill country of Holguin province in eastern Cuba. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa, File)

AP PHOTOS: Cuba’s Castro brothers through the years

Associated Press

FILE - In this Dec. 20, 2014 file photo, workers stand behind their food stalls at a state-run market in Havana, Cuba. The average monthly state salary of $31 is so low that some workers often live on stolen goods and handouts from relatives overseas. (AP Photo/Desmond Boylan, File)

Raul Castro leaves Cuba with new freedoms, deep problems

By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN and ANDREA RODRIGUEZ - Associated Press

Cuba's President Raul Castro speaks during a rally in Havana, Cuba, in this Nov. 29, 2016, file photo. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan, File)

Cuba’s leadership transition is an illegitimate succession of power

By Ana Quintana

A waiter serves customers at a private restaurant's outdoor seating in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018. Eight years after Cuba's President Raul Castro widened the niche for private enterprise in Cuba's state-dominated economy, he has thrown the brakes on, raising fundamental questions about the nation's economic path. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Castro freezes Cuban private sector, throws future in doubt

By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ - Associated Press

Cuban Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel (left) is the long-presumed successor to President Raul Castro, but it is unclear how much power he will have with Mr. Castro still leading the nation's Communist Party. (Associated Press/File)

Raul Castro’s exit delay puts Miguel Diaz-Canel’s Cuba succession in question

By Guy Taylor - The Washington Times