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HAVANA-Cuba's new leader Raul Castro vowed it would remain a bastion of revolution as he took over on Sunday from his brother Fidel Castro, who resisted half a century of U.S. attempts to oust him.Raul Castro, 76, a former hardliner feared for his ruthlessness against his brother's enemies but who has adopted a softer tone in recent years, nodded and smiled as legislators applauded his election by the rubber-stamp National Assembly.He is expected to bring some economic reforms and he said he might revalue the peso currency, but in a sign that change is unlikely to be deep or abrupt, Communist Party ideologue Jose Ramon Machado Ventura was named first vice president, or Cuba's No. 2.In his first speech as leader, Raul Castro said he would continue to consult Fidel Castro, who stepped down on Tuesday because of poor health, on important decisions of state."The mandate of this legislature is clear...to continue strengthening the revolution at a historic moment," he said.He added that he was accepting the job on the condition that Fidel Castro continued to be the "commander in chief of the revolution"-a title created for him during his guerrilla uprising before the 1959 revolution."Fidel is Fidel. Fidel is irreplaceable and the people will continue his work when he is no longer physically around."Raul Castro lacks the oratorical flair of his brother, whom he converted to communism, but he has encouraged ordinary Cubans in the last 19 months to air their concerns over shortages and inefficiencies in the economy.To read more go to:
As in the days of Noah...
