Fidel's Brother: The Raul I Know

At Fidel's side from the start, the younger Castro is still an enigma. But not to TIME's Dolly Mascarenas

ADALBERTO ROQUE / AFP / GETTY

Tete-a-tete: The brothers at a 2003 parliament session

Few in politics have a record as long as Raúl Castro's, and yet rare is the leader as powerful as he who is as mysterious to the outside world. Raúl, who temporarily assumed charge of the Cuban presidency for the first time last week as Fidel recovered from abdominal surgery, has always been there. His brother's designated successor, he was beside Fidel from the moment the two, with Raúl's acquaintance Che Guevara, launched the revolution that overthrew the dictatorship of Cuba's Fulgencio Batista in 1959. Having joined the Socialist Youth as a university student, Raúl was red before Fidel, who fought...

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