Raúl Castro Elected Communist Party First Secretary

Havana, Apr 19. -Raul Castro was elected first secretary of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) by its new Central Committee, presented Tuesday during the closing session of the party´s 6th Congress.

* Cuban 6th Party Congress Concludes The post of second secretary went to Jose Machado Ventura, who will also head the Central Committee Secretariat, comprised of seven members.

The Political Bureau, previously with 24 members, now has 15, and includes Ramiro Valdes, Abelardo Colome Ibarra, Julio Casas Regueiro, Esteban Lazo, Ricardo Alarcon and Miguel Díaz-Canel.

The other members are Leopoldo Cintra Frias, Ramon Espinosa Martin, Alvaro Lopez Miera and Salvador Valdes, who along with the first group, were previous members of the Political Bureau.

New members include Marino Murillo, Adel Yzquierdo and Mercedes López Acea, the only woman in the group.

Along with Machado Ventura and Lazo, the Secretariat is comprised of José Ramon Balaguer, Abelardo Alvarez, Victor Gaute, Olga Lidia Tapia and Misael Enamorado. (Prensa Latina)