HAVANA — Raul Castro stepped from behind the shadow of his older brother Fidel and into the presidency on Sunday, but if anyone had hoped a change in Cuba might lead to political reform, the new government gave little sign of it.

Key new members include generals who have spent their lives preparing for a U.S. invasion and ideologues dedicated to rooting out capitalist influence.

The new No. 2 is a man who fought alongside Raul Castro in Cuba’s eastern mountains in the late 1950s and is one year older than the 76-year-old president.

But Raul Castro indicated at least one economic change is being contemplated: the revaluation of the Cuban peso, the national currency most people use to pay for government services such as utilities, public transportation and the small amount charged for their monthly food ration.
Cubans complain that government salaries averaging a little more than $19 a month do not cover basic necessities — something Raul Castro acknowledged in a major speech last year. But he said any change would have to be gradual to “prevent traumatic and incongruent effects.”

The selection Sunday by Cuba’s parliament came five days after Fidel Castro said he was retiring, ending his 49 years as head of the communist state in America’s backyard.

In a surprise move, officials bypassed younger candidates to name a 77-year-old revolutionary leader, Jose Ramon Machado, to Cuba’s No. 2 spot — apparently assuring the old guard that no significant political changes will be made soon.

Fidel Castro retains his post as a lawmaker and as head of the Communist Party. But his power in government has eroded since July 31, 2006, when he announced he had undergone emergency intestinal surgery and was provisionally ceding his powers to Raul.

The younger Castro has headed Cuba’s caretaker government in the 19 months since then, and the ailing 81-year-old Fidel Castro has not appeared in public.

Raul Castro stressed Sunday that his brother remains “commander in chief” even if he is not president and proposed to consult with Fidel on all major decisions of state — a motion approved by acclamation.

In his first speech as president, Raul Castro suggested that the Communist Party as a whole would take over the role long held by Fidel. The new president said the nation’s sole legal party “is the directing and superior force of society and the state.”

“This conviction has particular importance when the founding and forging generation of the revolution is disappearing,” he added.

The U.S. has said the change from one Castro to another would not be significant, calling it a “transfer of authority and power from dictator to dictator light.”

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday that Cubans have a right “to choose their leaders in democratic elections” and urged the government “to begin a process of peaceful, democratic change by releasing all political prisoners, respecting human rights, and creating a clear pathway towards free and fair elections.”

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