Raúl steps down bringing to an end the Castro brothers 60 year rule over Cuba

Raúl Castro has resigned  his position as the  Cuban Communist Party leader, ending the Castro brothers’ six decades  rule over Cuba .

Mr Castro, 89, told  his party congress that he was stepping down and  handing over the leadership to a younger generation “full of passion and anti-imperialist spirit”. The move brings to an end the  Castro brothers rule since elder brother the late  Fidel Castro captured powered after the 1959 revolution.

“I believe fervently in the strength and exemplary nature and comprehension of my compatriots,” Raul told  party delegates in Cuba’s Capital City -Havana. Although Mr Castro did not name a successor the party leadership was handed to Miguel Díaz-Canel, who took over as the island’s president in 2018.

Fidel Castro led the revolution that toppled the Cuban government in 1959, when Raúl served as one of his commanders.

Fidel Castro was the country’s leader until falling ill in 2006 and in 2008 handed over the presidency to his brother. Fidel Castro died in 2016. As leader, Raúl Castro maintained the communists’ one-party grip on power.

He oversaw an improvement in relations with United States between 2014 and 2016, including historic talks with President Barack Obama in 2016.

The change at the top of Cuba’s governing party comes as the island’s leadership is tackling its most serious economic crisis in decades.

The Covid-19 pandemic, financial reforms and restrictions imposed by the Trump administration have hit the economy, which shrank by 11% last year.

The United States’ Central Intelligence Agency made several unsuccessful attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro during his time as the president of Cuba.