HAVANA: The Cuban Parliament named Raúl Castro president Sunday, ending nearly 50 years of rule by his brother Fidel but leaving the island's Communist system unshaken. In a surprise move, an old guard revolutionary leader was named No. 2, suggesting that major changes are not likely anytime soon.
The vote came just five days after the ailing 81-year-old president said he was retiring, capping a career in which he frustrated efforts by 10 U.S. presidents to oust him.
José Ramón Machado, who fought alongside the Castro brothers in the Sierra Maestra during the late 1950s, was named to the No. 2 slot that Raúl Castro had previously held. He is 76 years old, like the younger Castro.
The cabinet secretary Carlos Lage, whom many had expected would move up into the first vice president slot, maintained his spot as one of five other vice presidents on the governing Council of State.
The other four vice presidents included Juan Almeida Bosque, 80, a historic revolutionary leader; Interior Minister Abeldardo Colomé Ibarra, 68; Esteban Lazo Hernández, 63, a longtime Communist Party leader, and General Julio Casas Regueiro, 71, who was Raúl Castro's No. 2 at the Defense Ministry.
No comments:
Post a Comment