New leaders

Name: Raul Castro

Titles: Elected president of Council of State and Council of Ministers on Sunday; still minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and second secretary of Communist Party.

Born: June 3, 1931, in Cuba’s Oriente province

Before the revolution: Attended Roman Catholic schools, studied administration at University of Havana. Fought alongside older brother Fidel in effort to topple President Fulgencio Batista, eventually leading 4,000 troops on a second front in eastern Cuba.

After the revolution: Named head of armed forces late in 1959. Served in the early decades as deputy prime minister, first deputy prime minister and first vice president, putting him first in line of succession. Named Cuba’s provisional president and head of Communist Party by Fidel Castro on July 31, 2006.

Family: Married to Vilma Espin, who fought alongside him. Before she died on June 18, Espin was head of Communist Party-linked women’s organization and often served as Cuba’s first lady. They had four children and numerous grandchildren.

Name: Jose Ramon Machado

Title: Elected Cuba’s first vice president on Sunday.

Born: Oct. 26, 1930

Before the revolution: As a young doctor, he joined Fidel and Raul Castro as a guerrilla in the Sierra Maestra mountains during the insurgency against Batista. He looked after the health of the rebel army, which took power in 1959.

After the revolution: A hard-line communist ideologue and old-guard revolutionary, he has long been a prominent member of the ruling Communist Party’s Central Committee and its political bureau. Seen as Raul Castro’s right-hand man, he has been responsible for supervising Cuba’s international education programs since Fidel Castro fell ill and delegated powers to his brother in July 2006. His duties include integrating socialist ideas into education programs.

Sources: Associated Press, Reuters