President Raul Castro was elected first secretary of the ruling Communist Party's Central Committee at the party's sixth congress in its history.
President Raul Castro was elected first secretary of the ruling Communist Party's Central Committee at the party's sixth congress in its history and first in 14 years.
He moves up from second secretary, although he has been fulfilling the functions of the party's top post since July 2006 when the previous occupant, older brother Fidel Castro, fell ill and resigned. That fact was only recently disclosed.
The Castro brothers held the top two positions in Cuba's only political party since its formation in 1965, six years after the revolution that put Fidel Castro in power.
Raul Castro, 79, said on Saturday the government is considering limiting future Cuban leaders to two five-year terms.
Here are some key facts about Raul Castro:
* Raul Castro was at his brother's side at the assault on the Moncada barracks in 1953 that began the revolution and was always his most trusted right-hand man.
* He took over as minister of defence after the 1959 victory of the revolution and served in that position for 49 years before replacing his brother as president of the Council of State in February 2008.
* Under his leadership, Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces, known as FAR, became one of the most formidable fighting forces in the Third World with combat experience in Africa, where they defeated South Africa's army in Angola.
* Known as a good administrator, Raul oversaw the downsizing of the army to 60,000 men, one-fifth of its size before the collapse of Soviet Communism threw Cuba into severe economic crisis. He introduced Western business practices to make the FAR self-sufficient with a large stake in the most dynamic sectors of the Cuban economy, including tourism.
* Since taking over the presidency, Castro has emphasised the need to get the government's finances in shape and strengthen the economy to assure the long-term survival of socialism.
* He has enacted some reforms and proposed others aimed at reducing the state's role in the economy and encouraging greater private initiative. He wants to cut more than 1 million jobs from state payrolls in the next few years while increasing the number of self-employed.
* Castro says the changes are necessary to assure the survival of socialism once the current leaders are gone.
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