Raul Castro

Head of state of Cuba.

Raul Castro Ruz (born June 3, 1931; in full Raul Modesto Castro Ruz) is the President of the Cuban Council of State and the head of state of Cuba. The younger brother of Fidel Castro, he is also Second Secretary of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), and Commander in Chief (Maximum General) of the Armed Forces (Army, Navy, and Air Force).
On July 31, 2006, Raul Castro assumed the duties of President of the Council of State in a temporary transfer of power due to Fidel Castro's illness. According to the Cuban Constitution Article 94, the First Vice President of the Council of State assumes presidential duties upon the illness or death of the president.
Raul Castro was elected President at the February 24, 2008, National Assembly session, as Fidel Castro had announced his intention not to stand for President again on February 19, 2008.

Pre–1959
Son of Galician immigrant Angel Castro and Lina Ruz, a Cuban woman of Galician ancestry, Raul is the youngest of the three Castro brothers. He also has four sisters, Angela, Juanita, Enma, and Agustina, and two half siblings, Lidia and Pedro Emilio, who were raised by Angel Castro's first wife. Persistent rumors supported by former CIA analyst Brian Latell are taken to suggest that Batista army loyalist Felipe Miraval, nicknamed "el Chino" is Raul's, but not Fidel's, father. As youngsters, the Castro brothers were expelled from the first school they attended. Like Fidel, Raul later attended the Jesuit School of Colegio Dolores in Santiago and Colegio Belen in Havana. Raul, as an undergraduate, studied social sciences. Whereas Fidel excelled as a student, Raul's performance was mostly mediocre. Raul was a committed socialist and joined the Socialist Youth, an affiliate of the Soviet-oriented Cuban Communist Party, Partido Socialista Popular (PSP).The brothers participated actively in sometimes violent student political actions. In 1953, Raul was a member of the 26th of July Movement that attacked the Moncada Barracks, and he spent 22 months in prison as a result of this action. During his exile in Mexico, he participated in the preparations of the expedition of the ship Granma, embarking for Cuba on December 2, 1956.
It was during the period in Mexico that Raul reportedly befriended Ernesto "Che" Guevara in Mexico City and brought him into Fidel's circle of revolutionaries. Raul also established contact with Soviet KGB agent Nikolai Leonov, whom he had met two years earlier during a trip to the Soviet-bloc nations. That relationship would persist until the Castro brothers successfully assumed power in Cuba.
Raul was one of the few survivors of the disastrous Granma landing. He was part of the tiny group of survivors who managed to reach a safe haven in the Sierra Maestra mountains (see the Cuban Revolution). As Fidel's brother and trusted right-hand man he was given progressively bigger commands. On February 27, 1958, Raul was made comandante and assigned the mission to cross the old province of Oriente leading a column of guerrillas to open, to the northeast of that territory, the "Frank Pais Eastern Front."
As a result of Raul's "Eastern Front" operations he was not involved in the pivotal Operation Verano (which came close to destroying the main body of fighters but ended up a spectacular victory for Fidel). However, Raul's forces remained active and grew over time. By October 1958, after being reinforced by Fidel, the two brothers had about 2,000 fighters and they were operating freely throughout Oriente province. In December, while Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos were operating around Santa Clara, Fidel and Raul's army laid siege to Maffo (capturing it on December 30). Their victorious army then headed to Santiago de Cuba, the capital of Oriente province.
Thanks to the loss of Santa Clara, Batista fled Cuba on night of December 31-January 1. The two Castro brothers with their army arrived on the outskirts of Santiago de Cuba and said their forces would storm the city at 6 PM January 1 if it did not first surrender. The commander (Colonel Rego Rubido) surrendered Santiago de Cuba without a fight. The war was over and Fidel was able to take power in Havana when he arrived on January 6, 1959.
Ra?l's abilities as a military leader during the revolution are hard to see clearly. Unlike Che Guevara or Cienfuegos, Raul had no significant victories he could claim credit for on his own. The last operations (which were clearly successful) were conducted with his older brother Fidel present (and in command).
After Batista's fall, Raul was responsible for overseeing the summary execution of "scores" of soldiers loyal to deposed president Fulgencio Batista.

President of Cuba
Taking his brother's place as President of Cuba in February 2008, Raul Castro's government has been carrying out many changes. Unlike his brother, Raul Castro has, among others things, allowed ordinary citizens to buy DVD-players, PC's, scooters and other energy-consuming products. He has also signed two United Nations human rights agreements, given unused state land for farming, freed many prisoners and loosened up travel restrictions for Cubans.

Public persona and personal life
A few weeks after the 1959 victory, Castro married Vilma Guillois, a former MIT chemical engineering student and veteran of the revolution who in 1960 became president of the Cuban Federation of Women. They have three daughters (Deborah, Mariela and Nilsa) and one son (Alejandro) Castro. Their daughter Mariela currently heads the Cuban National Center for Sex Education. Vilma Espen died on June 18, 2007; a daughter and some relatives of Raul are believed to reside in Italy.
In an interview in 2006, following his assumption of presidential duties, Rau Castro commented on his public profile stating: "I am not used to making frequent appearances in public, except at times when it is required … I have always been discreet, that is my way, and in passing I will clarify that I am thinking of continuing in that way."