Fidel's Brother: The Raul I Know

Few in politics have a record as long as Raúl Castro's, and yet rare is the leader as powerful as he who is as mysterious to the outside world. Raúl, who temporarily assumed charge of the Cuban presidency for the first time last week as Fidel recovered from abdominal surgery, has always been there. His brother's designated successor, he was beside Fidel from the moment the two, with Raúl's acquaintance Che Guevara, launched the revolution that overthrew the dictatorship of Cuba's Fulgencio Batista in 1959. Having joined the Socialist Youth as a university student, Raúl was red before Fidel, who fought Batista in the name of nationalism and only later made his way to communism. Early on, the younger brother gained a reputation for ruthlessness, overseeing the execution of scores of Batista soldiers in 1959, an image that would be reinforced over the years when Raúl ordered the death, imprisonment or ouster from the Communist Party of a long line of dissidents and potential rivals. As Defense Minister, Raúl, with Moscow's backing, built a 150,000-strong disciplined military that was tested in conflicts in Angola and Ethiopia. After the Soviet collapse brought an end to aid that had sustained Cuba, a pragmatic Raúl turned the much diminished army into a pioneer of free enterprise, managing the government's stakes in agriculture, industry and, now especially, tourism. Those reforms have provoked speculation that as President, Raúl, 75, would be more open to economic liberalization than Fidel, who turns 80 this month. No one knows for sure, though. Raúl has remained a figure in the shadows, almost never giving interviews or speeches covered by the media. TIME's Mexico City--based reporter Dolly Mascareñas, however, has known Raúl Castro for decades. These are her impressions:

The first time I met Raúl Castro, in 1972, I confess that I did not pay any attention to him at all. I was visiting revolutionary Cuba with a group of young "internationalists"; I was green and wanted to change the world. Fidel was the one that I wanted to see. First I met Vilma Espín, who had joined the revolution before marrying Raúl. That she was from a well-to-do family and had thrown away everything for the cause made her a dashing character in my eyes. She was then and remains today head of Cuba's Women's Federation. People who knew Raúl at the time of the revolution speak of him as hotheaded and daredevilish. He wore his beret a bit sideways then; separate studio photographs of him and Fidel just after their victory show Fidel looking pensive, Raúl beaming with confidence. That was all lost on me in that first encounter. The younger Castro made almost no impression, and I remember wondering how he could be so different from his brother, who filled a room with his presence. All eyes were on Fidel when he entered.

The next time I visited Cuba was in 1983 as a journalist. Attending a social gathering, I saw Raúl and Vilma again. At first sight, Raúl, wearing his green fatigues, seemed serious and stern as he went through the official greetings required of him. But later I saw him talking to people and laughing. That is when I realized how different he seemed from my first impression. You could see how he was enjoying the jokes and the bantering. He intrigued me.