Castro era ends in Cuba as Raul steps down as party head

Raul Castro said Friday he is resigning as head of Cuba’s Communist Party, ending an era of formal leadership by him and his brother, Fidel Castro, that began with the 1959 revolution.

Raul Castro, 89, made the announcement Friday in a speech at the opening of the Eighth Congress of the ruling party, the only one allowed on the island.

He said he was retiring with the sense of having fulfilled his mission “and confident in the future of the fatherland.”

Castro didn’t say whom he would endorse as his successor as first secretary of the Communist Party. But he previously indicated that he favors yielding control to Miguel Diaz-canel, 60, who succeeded him as president in 2018.

Castro’s retirement means that for the first time in more than six decades, Cubans won’t have a Castro formally guiding their affairs. The change comes at a difficult time, with many on the island anxious about what lies ahead.

The coronavirus pandemic, painful financial reforms and restrictions imposed by the Trump administration have battered the economy, which shrank 11% last year as a result of a collapse in tourism and remittances. Long food lines and shortages have brought back echoes of the “special period” that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.

Much of the debate inside Cuba is focused on the pace of reform, with many complaining that the so-called “historic generation” represented by Castro has been too slow to open the economy.

In January, Diaz-canel finally pulled the trigger on a plan approved two congresses ago to unify the island’s dual currency system, giving rise to fears of inflation. He also threw the doors open to a broader range of private enterprise, permitting Cubans to legally operate many types of self-run businesses from their homes.

This year’s congress is expected to focus on unfinished reforms to overhaul state-run enterprises, attract foreign investment and provide more legal protection to private business activities.

Fidel Castro was the country’s unquestioned leader until falling ill in 2006. Two years later, he handed over the presidency to his younger brother Raul, who had fought alongside him during the revolution. Raul succeeded him as head of the party in 2011. Fidel Castro died in 2016.

THE NEW YORK TIMES A woman holds a portrait of brothers Fidel and Raul Castro as a caravan carrying Fidel’s ashes passes in Santa Clara, Cuba, on Dec. 1, 2016. Raul Castro resigned Friday as head of Cuba’s Communist Party.