Youth, Soldier, Officer, First Command

Abstract

Raúl Castro Ruz was born on June 3, 1931, the son of Galician-born Angel Castro y Argiz and Lina Ruz González, a Cuban, and raised in relative comfort in the home of a father more than able to provide for Raúl’s and his siblings’ needs but whose initial connection with Cuba is rather unclear. Angel had been a soldier in the Spanish army sent to crush the rebel movement of 1895–1898 and, like many of his peers, returned to the island, following several months back in Spain, to settle there the year after the war ended. He was by all accounts proud, efficient, strong, and resourceful and soon made his way to considerable wealth and position in the region of Mayarí in Oriente province (now Holguín).