Skip to main content
Raul Castro: change with continuity
As the first secretary of the Cuban Communist Party steps down, BERNARD REGAN assesses whether he has achieved his task of modernising the celebrated socialist nation
Cuba's former President Raul Castro (centre) and President Miguel Diaz-Canel (second left) attend an event celebrating Revolution Day in Santiago, Cuba

ON SUNDAY April 18 2021 Raul Castro Ruz stepped down as first secretary of the Cuban Communist Party.

When he became the president of the republic of Cuba in 2008 he announced that he would be a candidate of transition from the “historic generation” that made the revolution to a new generation. He has kept that promise.

Now in his 90th year, he became politically active as a teenager, participating in student demonstrations in Havana against the military dictator Fulgencio Batista who staged a coup with the backing of the US in 1952.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Fidel Castro Smirnov
Features / 8 February 2026
8 February 2026

In the centenary year of Fidel Castro, Cuba faces ferocious aggression from the United States — but we will not kneel, vows FIDEL CASTRO SMIRNOV

Cubans queue for petrol
Latin America / 2 February 2026
2 February 2026

On January 29, US President Donald Trump declared Cuba an ‘unusual and extraordinary threat’ to US national security and tightened the blockade against the island nation MANOLO DE LOS SANTOS reports

SHOWING NO FEAR: Cubans file past the US Embassy on January 16 holding a banner: ‘Listen Rubio, listen Trumpeta (Loudmouth) stop hussling us, our people will be respected’
Features / 23 January 2026
23 January 2026

The US attack on Venezuela raises grave threats to Cuba and the region, writes NATASHA HICKMAN of Cuba Solidarity Campaign

Cubans march to Revolution Square to mark May Day, in Havana, May 1, 2025
Features / 4 May 2025
4 May 2025

Cuba Solidarity Campaign secretary BERNARD REGAN says the inhuman blockade of Cuba not only continues, but the Donald Trump administration is ratcheting up aggression against both Havana and Latin America more widely