See Raul Castro’s journey from rebel commander to Cuban leader

Secretary General Youssef El-Sebai (L) and Raul Castro (R) attending the Organization of Solidarity with the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America (OSPAAAL), succeeding to the Tricontinental Conference in Havana, Jan.1966.

An undated picture shows Raul Castro, brother of Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Defense minister, delivering a speech in Havana circa 1970.

Ethiopian President Lieutenant Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam (R) makes V sign as he stands with Fidel Castro (C) and Raul Castro (L) during an official visit in La Havana, Cuba on April 25, 1975. Mengistu took part in the attempted coup against Haile Selassie in 1960 and in 1977 after a further coup he became indisputed ruler of his country. He was overthrown in 1991 by the Ethiopian People's Democratic Front.

Cuban President Fidel Castro (L) and his brother Minister of Defense Raul Castro attend and extraordinary session of the Cuban Parliament on Feb. 24, 1995 in Havana on the 100th anniversary of the start of the war of independence from Spain in 1895. The rifle is the one used by Fidel Castro when hed led Cuban guerrillas to power in 1959.

Cuban Defense Minister Raul Castro (L) talks with his brother Cuban President Fidel Castro (R) while watching a military parade on Dec. 2, 1996 marking the 40th anniversary of the creation of the Revolutionary Armed Forces(FAR) in Havana, Cuba.

Cuban Defense Minister Raul Castro (2ndR), brother of leader Fidel Castro, Com. Ramiro Valdes (3rdR), Gen. Ulises Rosales del Toro(C) and Gen. Abelardo Colome Ibarra (3rdL) salute the funeral cortege of Argentine-born Cuban revolutionary hero Ernesto "Che" Guevara on Oct. 14, 1997 during a solemn ceremony in Havana as the cortege leaves for the town of Santa Clara. The Che and six of his comrades killed with him by the Bolivian army in 1967, will be laid to rest permanently at a new mausoleum complex. Guevara and his troops liberated Santa Clara in December 1958 from US-backed Batista's forces.

Picture taken Dec. 20, 1999, in Havana of Cuban President Fidel Castro (L) speaking with his brother ad Armed Forces Minister Raul Castro during the IV Working Session of the National Assembly. A spokesman of Cuban President Fidel Castro read on Cuban National TV a document signed by him, July 31, 2006, by which he delegates power to his brother Raul Castro. Fidel Castro underwent surgery shortly after coming back from Mercosur?s Summit in Cordoba, Argentina. "I do delegate, provisionally, my duties as first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party in Cuba, to the second secretary, comrade Raul Castro Ruz," Castro said.

Raul Castro during a ceremony in Mexico Oct. 8, 1999.

Cuban President Raul Castro and his counterpart from Guinea Bissau, Malam Bacai Sanha (R) arrive at the welcoming ceremony at Revolution Palace in Havana, on Aug. 30, 2010. Bacai Sanha is in Cuba in a official visit.

Cuban President Fidel Castro (C) waves as he embraces Chinese President Jiang Zemin (L) as he and his brother, Raul Castro (R) bid Jiang farewell on April 15, 2001 at the Varadero airport in Matanzas, Cuba. Jiang was on a three day visit to the island nation as part of a Latin American tour and will continue on to Venezuela.

Cuban President Fidel Castro (L) is assisted to seat down by his brother Raul Castro, Minister of the Armed Forces on Dec. 23, 2004 in Havana. Fidel and Raul Castro attended the closing session of the year of the Cuban Parliament. Fidel Castro, who is recovering from a fall he suffered on 21st October during a massive rally, arrived walking unassisted to the ceremony.

Cuban Army Minister Raul Castro waves during the ceremony to welcome Malaysia's Prime Minister Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Radawi, in Havana on Nov. 24, 2004. Malaysia's Prime Minister is in a three-day state visit to Cuba.

Headlines from the Miami Herald and its Spanish-language edition, El Nuevo Herald, display the news about Fidel Castro at Miami Internationl Airport Aug.1, 2006 in Miami, Fla. Cuban Americans were celebrating the news that Fidel Castro had turned over power to his younger brother, Raul Castro, while he undergoes medical treatment for intestinal bleeding.

TV grab of a video released Aug. 14, 2006 by the state-owned Cuban television showing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (L) being welcomed upon his arrival 13 August at Havana's international airport by Raul Castro, brother of Cuban President Fidel Castro. Cuban television showed video Monday of Fidel Castro, following two weeks of speculation over the ailing communist strongman who said he still faces a long and possibly risky recovery from surgery.

A Cuban holds a sign cheering acting President Raul Castro on Dec. 2, 2006 at Revolution Square in Havana, during a military parade celebrating President Fidel Castro's 80th birthday and the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution. Raul Castro, in a shift from the tack of his ailing brother Fidel Castro, pushed for negotiations with the United States to end decades of tense ties. Fidel Castro missed the military parade, sitting out almost a full week of events in his honor and fueling new uncertainty about his health and Cuba's future.

Cuba's acting leader Raul Castro (C) holds a picture of him with his brother President Fidel Castro next to Pedro Ross (L) and Commander Ramiro Valdez Menendez on Sept. 27, 2006 during the closing ceremony of the XIX Workers Central Union of Cuba (CTC) Congress in Havana.

Acting Cuban leader Raul Castro (R) salutes next to Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez after laying a wreath of flowers next to a statue of Latin American independence-era hero Francisco de Miranda, in Havana on June 13th, 2007. Chavez arrived in Havana on Tuesday in a surprise visit, and it was not announced how long he was to stay. Chavez spent six hours talking with Fidel Castro after arriving Tuesday, Cuban media reported.

Raul Castro, who has been running Cuba since his brother Fidel was sidelined by illness 19 months ago, gestures during a meeting of the National Assembly in Havana Feb. 24, 2008. Cuba's National Assembly met on Sunday to name a successor to Fidel Castro.

Cuban President Raul Castro watches the Mayday parade May 1, 2009 in Havana.

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro (L) holds up the arm of his brother, Cuba's President Raul Castro, during the closing ceremony of the sixth Cuban Communist Party (PCC) congress in Havana April 19, 2011. Cuba's Communist Party chose the old guard to oversee a new economic course for the Caribbean island on Tuesday, selecting President Raul Castro and First Vice President Jose Machado Ventura to lead the country's highest political body. The choice of Castro, who replaces his older brother Fidel Castro as first secretary of the ruling party's Central Committee, was expected.

Pope Benedict XVI and Cuban President Raul Castro wave to the media after a meeting at the Consejos de Estado on the second day of his three day visit on March 27, 2012 in Havana, Cuba. Fourteen years after Pope John Paul II visited Cuba, Pope Benedict is making his first trip to the communist country.

Pope Francis speaks Cuban President Raul Castro upon landing at Havana's international airport on Sept. 19, 2015, on the first leg of a high-profile trip that will also take him to the United States.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos (L) and the head of the FARC guerrilla Timoleon Jimenez, aka Timochenko (R), shake hands as Cuban President Raul Castro (C) holds their hands during a meeting in Havana on Sept. 23, 2015. The Colombian government and FARC rebels announced a key breakthrough in their nearly three-year peace talks Wednesday with the signing of a deal on justice for crimes committed during the five-decade conflict. The deal includes the creation of special courts and a broad amnesty, though this will not cover "crimes against humanity, serious war crimes" and other offenses including kidnappings, extrajudicial executions and sexual abuse, said officials from Cuba and Norway, the guarantors in the talks.

Cuban President Raul Castro addresses a massive rally on Revolution Square in Havana on Nov. 29, 2016 in honor of late leader Fidel Castro. Fidel Castro -- who ruled from 1959 until an illness forced him to hand power to his brother Raul in 2006 -- died Friday at age 90.

Cuban President Raul Castro speaks with Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro during a memorial tribute for his brother former President of Cuba Fidel Castro at the Antonio Maceo Revoloution Square before his burial tomorow on December 3, 2016 in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba.

President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro review troops before bilateral meetings at the Palace of the Revolution March 21, 2016 in Havana, Cuba. These are the first direct talks between Castro and Obama, the first sitting U.S. president to visit Cuba in 88 years.

President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro visit during an exhibition game between the Cuban national team and the Major League Baseball team Tampa Bay Devil Rays at the Estado Latinoamericano March 22, 2016 in Havana, Cuba. This is the first time a sittng president has visited Cuba in 88 years.

Outgoing Cuban President Raul Castro raises the arm of Cuba's new President Miguel Diaz-Canel after he was formally named by the National Assembly, in Havana on April 19, 2018. Miguel Diaz-Canel succeeds Raul Castro -- a historic handover ending six decades of rule by the Castro brothers. The 57-year-old Diaz-Canel, who was the only candidate for the presidency, was elected to a five-year term with 603 out of 604 possible votes in the National Assembly.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz Canel shakes hands with former President Raul Castro at the start of the first extraordinary session of the IX legislature of the Cuban Parliament at the Convention Palace in Havana, on June 2, 2018.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro (L) and his Bolivian counterpart Evo Morales (R) gesture as Cuba's former President Raul Castro applauds during the Sao Paulo Forum, in Havana, Cuba on July 17, 2018.

An old American car passes near a poster of Cuban late leader Fidel Castro, Former President Raul Castro and current President Miguel Diaz-Canel in Havana, on Aug. 17, 2023.

Former Cuban President Raul Castro, center, and Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, right, attend a national celebration in Havana on Jan. 27, 2025.

Members of the armed forces hold images of former Cuban president Raul Castro and the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro during an "Anti-Imperialist" protest in front of the US Embassy against the US incursion in Venezuela, where 32 Cuban soldiers lost their lives, in Havana on January 16, 2026. The capture by US forces of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro on Jan. 3, 2026, and the killing in the operation of 32 Cubans assigned to protect him represent a major blow for the island's revered intelligence services, experts say.