Peter DeShazo, director of the CSIS Americas Program, was quoted by the Washington Times, "Raul in Spotlight as Fidel Fades.&q

Feb 20, 2008

Raul Castro, a familiar face in Cuba but still an enigma to many of his countrymen, yesterday emerged at last from his older brother's giant shadow.

The 76-year-old longtime defense minister will need his trademark baseball cap and tinted glasses as he faces the glare of global scrutiny, at a time when the island is facing critical economic problems and the first transfer of power since the revolution a half-century ago.

"I would expect Raul's main focus — at least in the short term — will be change in the economic area, not in politics," said Peter DeShazo, former Latin American point man for the State Department and now director of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

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