The 89-year-old Castro reiterated his long-anticipated intention to resign in a speech kicking off the Eighth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba on Friday.

He is expected to formally step down and announce his replacement before the party’s congress ends on Monday.

His resignation will leave the country without a Castro at its helm for the first time in in more than six decades.

Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz served as the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, the most senior position in the one-party communist state, succeeding his brother, Fidel Castro, in April 2011.

Castro has also been a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Cuba, the highest decision-making body, since 1975.

He served as the minister of the Armed Forces from 1959 to 2008. His ministerial tenure made him the longest-serving minister of the armed forces.

Because of his brother's illness, Castro became the acting president of the Council of State in a temporary transfer of power from 31 July 2006.

Castro was officially made president by the National Assembly on 24 February 2008, after his brother, who was still ailing, announced on 19 February 2008 that he would not stand again.

He was re-elected president on 24 February 2013. Shortly thereafter, Castro announced that his second term would be his final term, and that he would not seek re-election in 2018. (ILKHA)