Cuban revolutionary leader Raúl Castro assisted Fidel Castro, his brother, in overthrowing the regime of Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar in 1959 and from 2006 acted and then from 2008 served as president to 2018.
Fidel Castro passed control de facto of the government to Raúl Castro, his younger brother, in 2006.
Since 1975, he also made the highest decisions as a member of the politburo of the Communist party, the highest decision-making body. In February 2008, people appointed him of the council of state and ministers. Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz, a politician, currently succeeded as the first secretary of the Communist party, the most senior position in the state, in April 2011. He stepped away on 19 April 2018 but as the first secretary of the Communist party still holds considerable influence over government policy.