One of the military leaders of the Cuban Revolution , Castro served as the minister of the Armed Forces from to His ministerial tenure made him the longest-serving minister of the armed forces.
Castro was also a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Cuba , the highest decision-making body, from until Because of his brother's illness, Castro became the acting president of the Council of State in a temporary transfer of power from 31 July Castro was officially made president by the National Assembly on 24 February , after his brother, who was still ailing, announced on 19 February that he would not stand again. He was re-elected president on 24 February Shortly thereafter, Castro announced that his second term would be his final term, and that he would not seek re-election in Castro remained the first secretary of the Communist Party; he was still considered the de facto leader of the country, retaining oversight over the president.
Castro was also the head of the constitutional reform commission , [ 14 ] and continues to have a seat representing Santiago de Cuba 's Segundo Frente municipality in the National Assembly. As children, the Castro brothers were expelled from the first school they attended Colegio La Salle in Santiago de Cuba. As Fidel's brother and trusted right-hand man and given his proven leadership abilities during and after the Moncada attack, he was given progressively bigger commands. The next day rebels took hostage 24 U.
This incident brought total kidnapped hostages to 36 34 U. Ambassador Earl E. Smith and his staff determined the kidnappings had the following objectives: Obtain worldwide publicity, regain M prestige lost by general strike call failure, force Batista's Air Force to stop bombing rebel holds, and gain public recognition from the U.
Two tactical objectives the kidnapping achieved for Castro forces can be discerned from contemporaneous reporting in Time: Batista declaring a ceasefire for negotiations, forcing a reduction in Operation Verano air raids; the rebels used the lulls to regroup and fly in arms. The hostage-taking caused significant U. Ultimately, the hostages were released in very small groups, extracting the maximum press attention.
