Raul Castro Resigns, Ends Long Era in Cuba

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Raul Castro announced Friday that he is resigning as head of Cuba’s Communist Party.

Castro, 89, made the official announcement at the opening of Cuba’s Eighth Party Congress. Castro says he “fulfilled his mission and confident in the future of the fatherland.”

Raul Castro had planned to step down as head of Cuba in 2021. Three years ago, he handed over the presidency to Miguel Diaz-Canel, Castro’s handpicked successor. The president is the second most powerful position in Cuba, after the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba. According to the AP, Castro has not said who he would endorse as his first secretary successor.

With Castro’s exit from government, it will mark the first time since the 1959 communist revolution that a Castro will not hold a top role in Cuba’s government. In 1959, Raul’s brother Fidel led the revolution that knocked dictator Fulgencio Batista from power. Raul succeeded an ill Fidel as president in 2008 and head of the party in 2011. Fidel Castro died in 2016.

Cuba has been battered by the pandemic. Estimates say Cuba’s economy, which is reliant on tourism, shrunk at least 11% in 2020.

The start of the new congress on Friday falls on the 60th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion. 

Written by Bobby Burack

Bobby Burack is a writer for OutKick where he reports and analyzes the latest topics in media, culture, sports, and politics..

Burack has become a prominent voice in media and has been featured on several shows across OutKick and industry related podcasts and radio stations.

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  1. Actually got to see Cuba and toured Havana and Hemingway’s estate. They told us Hemingway “donated” the whole thing to Cuba. I’m like, “ummmm”..

    The thing about the old cars, though? For real and very cool.

  2. I’m sure Cubans are all sitting around reminiscing about the good ole days when the Castros took power, took away Cuban’s political and human rights, implemented government surveillance of dissenters, started public beatings, enforced arbitrary detentions while ruining a once thriving nation in the name of godless communism. Yeah, many tears flowing I’m sure.

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