Raul Castro re-elected as first secretary of Cuba's Communist Party

Havana, April 20 : Cuban leader Raul Castro was re-elected the first secretary of the Central Committee of Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) at the the final plenary session of its seventh Congress.

Raul Castro was re-elected by nearly 1,000 delegates on Tuesday, including the leader of the Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro, Xinhua reported.

Raul had served as the first secretary of the PCC since the last Congress held in 2011, when he replaced his elder brother Fidel.

Fidel Castro directed PCC's political organisation since its founding in 1965, a severe illness forced him to leave office in 2006.

The PCC Central Committee also ratified Jose Ramon Machado Ventura in his position as the second secretary of PCC.

In an interview with Granma, the mouth piece of PCC, Susely Morfa Gonzalez, a young member of the newly elected Committee, said Raul's re-election as first secretary is a clear proof of people's confidence in the leadership.

The new Central Committee has 142 members, with an average age of 54.5 years, younger than the one elected in 2011, according to Raul.

He has frequently insisted the need to guarantee the generational replacement of the party leadership and proposed an age limit of 60 to join to the PCC Central Committee.

The seventh PCC Congress, with 1,000 delegates and 280 guests in attendance, was held from Saturday to Tuesday.

During the meeting, the delegates discussed and approved reform guidelines until 2021, which are advocated by Raul Castro and aimed to shape Cuba's economic and social course, as well as the national development plan until 2030.

IANS