Havana has repeatedly pushed back against Washington’s broader pressure campaign. Its President Miguel Díaz-Canel criticized the U.S. government on social media on Monday: “We will continue to denounce, in the firmest and most energetic way possible, the genocidal siege that seeks to strangle our people.”
Who is Raúl Castro?
Raúl Castro, alongside his older brother Fidel, helped topple the U.S.-backed regime in Cuba and pushed the country toward a communist revolution. For about five decades from 1959, Castro served as the Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, solidifying his power within the military and the country and garnering supporters called Raulistas.
As minister, Castro helped thwart the U.S.’s attempted invasion of the island in 1961 through the Bahía de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs) in Cuba’s southern coast.
Raúl Castro served as acting President in 2006 when Fidel fell ill, and he formally took over the presidency in 2008. He held the presidency until 2018, when Díaz-Canel took over, and stepped down as leader of the Communist Party of Cuba in 2021 but remains an influential figure in Cuban politics.
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