Tribute to Raúl Castro Ruz on his 93rd birthday

Since his early days at the University of Havana when he was studying Administration at the Law School, the young Raúl Castro participated in revolutionary activities against the corrupt government of Carlos Prío Socarrás.

Later he manifested himself against the Batista tyranny, through his participation in the Martiano Congress in Defense of the Rights of the Youth and in the March of the Torches with which homage was paid to the Apostle in his centenary.

In February 1953 he participated in the International Conference on the Rights of Youth held in Vienna, and at the conclusion of the event he traveled to Romania, where he took part in the meeting of the International Preparatory Committee for the 4th World Festival of Youth and Students.

Upon his return to his homeland, in June of that year, he was arrested under the accusation of introducing communist propaganda in the country, and while in jail, where he was mistreated by the authorities, he joined the Socialist Youth, an organization of communist orientation.

He participated in the events of the Moncada Barracks at the head of a group of men who took the Palace of Justice, in support of the main action of the assault on the fortress, led by Fidel. For this revolutionary action he was sentenced to 13 years in prison. However, on May 15, 1955, thanks to the popular mobilization, a political amnesty was decreed for the Moncada assailants and he was released.

Later, due to the persecution of the tyranny, he traveled to Mexico where he prepared himself under Fidel’s orders for the Granma expedition, where he came with the rank of captain. He participated in the entire guerrilla campaign, was promoted to Commander and opened the II Eastern Front “Frank País”, where he was greatly concerned about the political aspect and the formation of the combatants. Under his leadership, more than 400 schools were built and operated, 20 hospitals were installed and two congresses were held, one for peasants and the other for workers.

After the Triumph of the Revolution in 1959, Raúl Castro was appointed Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR), a position he held until February 2008. This led him to carry out complex and hard studies in the military field and to have a deep knowledge of the Cuban society and the revolutionary process. From that responsibility and with the rank of Army General, he has a decisive participation with Fidel in the implementation of the concept of war of all the people, whose essential core is the defensive nature of the actions and the generalized popular resistance as a way to face a foreign military aggression, and the support of the liberation movements to the defeat of apartheid in Africa.

Deputy Prime Minister of the Revolutionary Government and, upon the creation of the Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers (1972), first Deputy Prime Minister. In 1976 he was elected deputy to the National Assembly of People’s Power and appointed first vice-president of the Councils of State and Ministers. He was a member of the National Directorate of the Integrated Revolutionary Organizations (ORI) and later of the United Party of the Socialist Revolution of Cuba (PURSC).

In 1965, when the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) was formed, he was appointed Second Secretary and member of its Political Bureau, positions in which he was ratified from the first to the sixth Congress of the PCC. He has received numerous decorations, including the Honorary Title of Hero of the Republic of Cuba.

This exceptional man, whose middle name is Modesto, as if one of the most evident traits of his personality was announced from the moment he was so inscribed, assumed the leadership of the country in 2006 when Fidel became seriously ill. He was elected to the presidency of the Councils of State and Ministers from 2008 to 2018.

He chaired the Commission in charge of drafting the new Constitution of the Republic of Cuba. At the VI Party Congress (2011) he assumed the position of First Secretary of the PCC, a task continued until the VIII Congress, held in April 2021, when the historic leadership of the Revolution gave way to a new generation of leaders born after the triumph of January 1, 1959.