The Castro brothers

Fidel Castro, the young anti-Batista guerilla leader, center, returns to Cuba in December 1956 with his brother Raul and Argentine revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara aboard the yacht Granma. The Castro brothers, Che and a handful of men escaped an ambush by Batista's army on the beach and began their revolutionary campaign from the mountains of Cuba.

With Brezhnev

Fidel Castro raises hands with Secretary General of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Leonid Ilich Brezhnev, as Castro's brother Raul, stands to the left at Havana's Jose Marti airport, Jan. 31, 1974.

Celebrating the revolution

Fidel Castro stands in front of a statue of Cuban national hero Jose Marti while attending an event to celebrate the 6th anniversary of the Triumph of the Revolution at Revolution Square in Havana in 1965.

With Arafat

Fidel Castro, left, and PLO leader Yasser Arafat stand together at the airport in Havana during Arafat's first visit to Cuba, Nov. 14, 1974.

Baseball Championship, 1963

Fidel Castro bats during the inauguration game of the Amateur Baseball Championship in Havana in 1963.

Watching Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez

Fidel Castro watches Cuban cosmonaut Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez and Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Romanenko on a television transmission during the Soyuz 38 space mission in Havana, September 1980.

With Putin

Cuba's President Raul Castro, right,  decorates Russia's President Vladimir Putin with the Order of Jose Marti during a ceremony at Havana's Revolution Palace, July 11, 2014.

Shaking hands with Obama

President Barack Obama shakes hands with Cuban President Raul Castro during the official memorial service for former South African President Nelson Mandela at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Dec. 10, 2013.

At Book Fair in 2012

Cuba's leader Fidel Castro speaks during a meeting with intellectuals and writers at the International Book Fair in Havana, Cuba, Feb. 10, 2012.

Communist Party Congress, 2011

Fidel Castro makes a surprise appearance at the 6th Communist Party Congress in Havana, Cuba, April 19, 2011.

Raul Castro, right, was named first secretary of Cuba's Communist Party on Tuesday, with his brother Fidel not included in the leadership for the first time since the party's creation 46 years ago. Despite raising hopes during the gathering that a new generation of leaders was poised to take up important positions, Raul announced that Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, an 80-year-old longtime confidante, would be his No. 2.

CARICOM Summit

Cuba's president Raul Castro attends a family photo during a CARICOM summit in Havana, Dec. 8, 2014.