CUBA -- Raul Castro stepped down as president of Cuba after 10 years in office this week.

The new president is expected to be Cuba’s first vice president, Miguel Diaz-Canel.

While Castro will retain the powerful leadership of the Communist Party, the transition is an historic moment in a country that has been ruled by the Castro brothers for six decades.

Castro became acting president in 2006 when his brother, Fidel Castro, surprised the world and announced his retirement following emergency surgery. In 2008, the National Assembly formally elected Raul to the post. Three years later he was named leader of the Communist Party of Cuba.

For many years, he was viewed by the public as the second in command to his more charismatic brother, who died in November 2016. But he has left a distinctive mark on Cuba in the course of a 12-year administration. He oversaw a limited opening of the private sector, without ceding state control over the economy, and a thaw in relations with the United States.

Raul was born in eastern Cuba on June 3, 1931, the fourth of seven brothers. After the Cuban revolution in 1959, he served more than four decades as defense minister before becoming head of state.

He was married to the late guerrilla leader Vilma Espin and had four children with her.

Upon leaving the presidency this week he will remain head of the Communist Party, giving him oversight of his successor.