Raul Castro Remains Head Of Cuban Communist Party
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HAVANA (CBSMiami) – Cuban leader Raul Castro will remain head of the Communist Party for another five years.
Castro, 84, was reelected Tuesday alongside his hardline second-in-command José Ramón Machado Ventura.
Nearly 1,000 delegates of the Seventh Community Party Congress, including Fidel Castro, cast ballots for the Central Committee Monday. As the first act of the new committee, it elected members of the Political Bureau, including the aging revolutionary leaders to retain control.
Castro is first-secretary and Machado Ventura is second secretary.
The 85-year-old Machado Ventura is known as an enforcer of Communist orthodoxy and voice against some of the country's biggest recent economic reforms. He fought alongside Fidel Castro and Ernesto "Che" Guevara in their rebellion against a U.S.-backed government in the 1950s.
Fidel Castro sent his vote in an envelope which was cast by his brother Raul on Monday.
On Tuesday, Fidel delivered a valedictory speech to the Communist Party and told party members he would soon die and urged them to help his ideas survive.
He also heaped praise on his brother.
"I congratulate everyone, above all comrade Raul Castro for his magnificent effort," he said.
This is the first Cuban Communist Party Congress since the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Havana and Washington with the reopening of embassies in July 2015.
The Congress is not due to reconvene until 2021. Raul Castro steps down as Cuba's president in 2018 and it is not yet clear whether he will stay on as party leader for the full five-year term.