Raul Castro to step down as head of Cuba’s Communist party

Move marks a changing of the guard and the first time in 62 years that Cuba will not have a leader that is named Castro.

Havana, Cuba – By Monday, Cuba looks set to be without a Castro at the helm for the first time since Raúl and his brother Fidel swept down from the Sierra Maestra mountains in 1959, forcing the dictator Fulgencio Batista into exile. One of the last surviving members of that “historic generation”, Raúl has said he will relinquish his post as the supremely powerful first secretary during the 8th Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), which begins in Havana Friday. The 89-year-old leaves a country queueing for food, wracked by the economic effects of coronavirus and US sanctions, and showing increasing signs of dissent.