Raúl Castro said he is stepping down as chief of Cuba’s ruling Communist Party, leaving behind a demoralized country running on little but post-revolutionary fumes as it struggles with growing food shortages and rising discontent.
Mr. Castro’s retirement announcement Friday, which came during a four-day party congress in the capital of Havana, marks a generational change as the old guard that took power with his older brother Fidel Castro in 1959 gives way to a younger generation of bureaucrats. The 89-year-old is expected to be replaced by his handpicked successor, President Miguel Díaz-Canel, a longtime party apparatchik.
In his speech, Mr. Castro effusively praised Mr. Díaz-Canel, saying he had built a good team. Nevertheless, he said in retirement he would remain with a “ foot in a stirrup ready to defend socialism.”
Mr. Díaz-Canel, a burly, white haired 60-year-old, takes over at a particularly tough time, with Cuba’s economy…