Raul Castro was named by lawmakers the new Cuban president after 49 years under “El Líder Máximo”. The island’s 614-member national assembly chose Raul Castro as president for a five-year term.

The first thing the new president did was to propose that his brother Fidel Castro will continue to be consulted on the country’s most important issues such as defense, foreign policy and economic development. He also vowed to be on guard against Cuba's powerful northern neighbor the United States and, of course, he praised his predecessor.

“Fidel is not substitutable,'' Raul Castro said in a speech.

“The people will continue his work when he isn't physically here anymore,'' the president added.

This political move of keeping the presidency in the Castro family helps the Cuban current leadership avoid a power struggle and a possible rapid political transformation. As a consultant, Fidel will most likely limit any attempt made by his brother to change to his policies while he is still alive.

"I accept the responsibility I have been given with the conviction I have repeated often: there is only one Commander in Chief of the Cuban Revolution: Fidel is Fidel and we all know it well," said Cuba’s new president.

However, the first U.S. reaction to this turn of events in Cuba came from Washington’s top diplomat for Latin America Tom Shannon, who said that the historical changes taking place in Cuba were very "significant". He added that he saw some hope for change, but the change will have to be born inside Cuba.  

Nevertheless, Raul Castro will face a tough time as the new president. He will try to improve living standards and food supplies and in the mean time he’ll have to remain faithful to his brother’s communist revolution.

The 76-year-old general promised he’ll begin implementing some minor reforms, but even some small things such as increasing the government’s efficiency, revaluing the peso currency and lifting some state restrictions will take a while to make their way through Cuba’s political machinery.

An old Communist Party ideologue, Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, was named Cuba’s vice president.