Raúl Castro: Biography from Answers.com Mobile

Ral Castro Ruz

(born June 3, 1931, Holgun province, Cuba) head of state of Cuba (since 2008), defense minister, and revolutionary. Best known as the younger brother of Fidel Castro, Ral embraced socialism as a young adult and belonged to a communist youth group. He participated with Fidel in the 1953 attempt to unseat dictator Fulgencio Batista and spent nearly two years in prison for the assault. In 1956 Ral helped launch the revolution that resulted in Fidel's becoming premier in 1959 and which began his own tenure as Cuba's defense minister. That same year Ral married fellow revolutionary Vilma Espn Guillois. Over the ensuing decades, Ral served in the number two position of the principal government bodies of Cuba. He emerged as a key figure of the Communist Party of Cuba, and he enjoyed the strong support and loyalty of top military officers, known as raulistas. Ral forged links with the Soviet Union and expanded the military's reach into various state-owned enterprises. Throughout the 1990s he supported the economic and agricultural reforms that helped to revive the economy following the collapse of Soviet subsidies. In 2008 he was elected president of Cuba after Fidel announced he was stepping down.

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