Fidel Castro: Cuba’s totalitarian dictator for almost a half a century. Nineteen fifty nine marked the beginning of a long era in Cuban history, the Castro age. On February 19, 2008 the ailing eighty-one year old announced his resignation, one and a half years after the intestinal surgery that marked the beginning of his end.

An air of secrecy looms around reasons for Castro’s resignation, as no official cause has been stated.

Whatever the reason was, the decision does not come as a surprise. After an unspecified digestive illness required Castro to undergo surgery in 2006, the Cuban government has not exactly been the same. The Cuban leader rarely, if ever, appeared in public.

While Castro was undergoing and recovering from his intestinal surgery, Castro’s younger brother, Raúl, assumed leadership of Cuba and led the country for several months. Fidel slowly but surely recovered and took the reigns back from his brother, who resumed his original position as Vice President.

Now, Cuban citizens and the global community are anxious to know: will Raúl measure up to his brother’s level of control, or will he be less powerful?

On February 24, 2008, Raúl was sworn in as the leader of Cuba, shortly after Fidel announced that he would not be in the running for the position.

For a time during Raúl’s first brief period in office, when his brother Fidel allowed him to take power, Cuban citizens experienced something very different from what they were accustomed to. Instead of a loud and powerful headman, they experienced a quieter and reserved leader.

Raúl may never become as renowned as Fidel managed to. The Cuban people have grown accustomed to the powerful dictator Fidel for 48 years, ever since the Cuban revolution, which began when a group of guerilla fighters, Fidel and Raúl among them, attacked the Moncada barracks, starting years of fierce battle and conflict. They might not care about the new leadership.