Castro era could end with Raúl’s resignation

Sixty-two years after a band of revolutionaries set Cuba down the path of confrontation with Washington — and unleashed waves of exiles that reshaped American cities — the last of the Castro brothers, towering figures of the Cold War, is poised to surrender official power.

The anticipated exit of Raúl Castro, 89, has been a chronicle of a retirement foretold. Fidel Castro’s younger brother has hinted for a decade at an expiration date to his public life; he’s expected to step down as first secretary of the Communist Party when it meets this weekend in Havana.

Raúl Castro will be remembered as the prose to his brother’s poetry, a less showy, more grounded figure who pushed for a communist state that often appears stuck in time to adapt to modern reality. His departure, which would come 4½years after the death of Fidel, brings an end to an era that has seen the Cuban system survive — if not thrive — through decades of tense standoffs with U.S. presidents from John F. Kennedy to Donald Trump.

The more reform-minded of the brothers who overthrew the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1959, Castro leaves having set in motion an important period of political and economic change — albeit one that never went far enough for most Cubans and has failed to prevent the Caribbean island nation of 11 million from plunging into what is now its most brutal economic crisis since the fall of the Soviet Union. Many watchers now expect other senior members of Cuba’s revolutionary old guard to offer their final bows at the party congress, an event held every five years.

Castro began the transition of power three years ago when he relinquished the key title of president, a mantle he took over in 2011.