Cuba's Castro endorses his brother Raul as successor

Published Monday, October 13, 1997, in the Miami Herald

Cuba's Castro endorses his brother Raul as successor

HAVANA -- (AP) -- In rare comments about Cuba's leadership after he dies, President Fidel Castro has endorsed his brother Raul as successor and urged the party to be unified in maintaining communism.

``We have to guarantee the revolu
tion,'' Castro said in a four-hour speech at the close of the Fifth Communist Party Congress on Friday. The speech was broadcast Sunday by Cuban state television.

Castro, the Communist Party's first secretary, said the party is fortunate that his 66-year-old brother is the No. 2 man as second secretary. The congress confirmed both men in their posts.

``Raul is younger than I, more energetic than I,'' the 71-year-old Cuban leader said. ``He can count on much more time.''

Castro made it clear his brother was his choice in an unusually explicit discussion of Cuban succession, one that seemed aimed at rumors that Castro suffers from ill health, though he made no direct reference to that and Cuban officials have denied it.

Raul Castro is also vice president of the government and head of the armed forces. He accompanied his older brother in the revolution that brought Castro to power in 1959, and was more closely allied with Communists than his brother at the start of the revolt.

Castro also demanded the party exercise collective leadership and maintain unity, citing the examples of other revolutions that had failed due to divisions.

It is essential, he said, ``that this revolution never can be corrupted by anybody . . . that it can never be destroyed by ourselves.''