Raul Castro took over from his brother Fidel Castro as Cuban president today, ending the rule of the bearded rebel who defied the United States for five decades but vowing to continue his communist revolution.
A former hardliner who is feared for his ruthlessness but has adopted a softer tone in recent years, Raul Castro, 76, nodded and smiled as legislators applauded his selection by the rubber-stamp National Assembly.
He is expected to pursue limited economic reforms but in a sign that change is unlikely to be deep or abrupt, Communist Party ideologue Jose Ramon Machado Ventura was named first vice president, or Cuba's No. 2.
In his first speech as president, Raul Castro said he would continue to consult his older brother on important issues.
"The mandate of this legislature is clear ... to continue strengthening the revolution at a historic moment," he said.
Fidel Castro, 81, stepped down on Tuesday because of ill health, ending his long rule of the West's last communist state.
He overthrew US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista in a 1959 revolution and then survived assassination attempts, a CIA-backed invasion, the Soviet Union's collapse and a US economic embargo to rule for almost half a century.
Raul Castro said he was accepting the job on the condition that his brother continued to be the "commander in chief of the revolution" -- a title created for him during his guerrilla uprising before seizing power in a 1959 revolution.
"Fidel is Fidel. Fidel is irreplaceable."
Raul Castro lacks the oratorical flair of his brother, but he has encouraged ordinary Cubans in the last 19 months to air concerns over the economy, raising hopes of modest reforms.