Raul Castro to retire On Friday, April 16, the 8th Congress of the Cuban Communist Party opens in Havana. During the Congress, the 89-year-old Raul Castro is expected to submit his resignation from the post of the Secretary General and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. He said this himself in 2016. The new leader of the country, as it is believed, will be Miguel Diaz-Canel, who took over as president (chairman of the State Council) of the country in 2018. But the real question is whether something is going to change in the Cuban system. The US is very hopeful of it as Washington is anticipating a moral decline for the Cuban revolution.