<p>Cuba's ruling Communist Party announced Wednesday it would hold its annual congress in April, an event that will likely mark the end of the Castro era.</p>.<p>Raul Castro, the 89-year-old party's First Secretary and former president has already said he will bow out of public life at the 2021 congress.</p>.<p>Other survivors of the generation that forged the 1959 revolution alongside Raul's brother Fidel Castro and Che Guevara are likely to follow suit, according to party newspaper Granma.</p>.<p>They include deputy leader Jose Ramon Machado Ventura.</p>.<p>"This will be the congress of continuity, expressed in the gradual and orderly passage of the country's main responsibilities to the new generations," Machado Ventura said in a statement.</p>.<p>"The revolution is not limited to those who led it to triumph on that glorious January 1 (1959), but also incorporates the will and commitment of those who have made it theirs for all these years and those who will continue its work," he said.</p>.<p>The next party congress will take place from April 16-19 next year, the party's newspaper Granma announced.</p>.<p>Miguel Diaz-Canel, the 60-year-old who succeeded Castro as president in 2018, is tipped to take over leadership of the party.</p>.<p>Wednesday's announcement underlined the will of the authorities to continue a slew of economic reforms begun under Castro in 2008, despite an economic crisis deepened by the coronavirus pandemic.</p>.<p>"The current situation cannot justify a delay in these processes. On the contrary, it is necessary to give them impetus," the statement said.</p>.<p>In a message directly addressed to the nascent private sector, the CCP said that "the links between the state and non-state sectors of the economy must continue to develop, within the framework of the defined economic strategy."</p>.<p>The party also pointed out that "social networks and the internet have become a permanent place of ideological confrontation, where our arguments must also prevail in the face of enemy campaigns."</p>.<p>A group of artists and intellectuals have caused a stir in the country by using the internet to publicize calls for greater freedom of expression, taking their protest to the gates of the Culture Ministry building in Havana.</p>
<p>Cuba's ruling Communist Party announced Wednesday it would hold its annual congress in April, an event that will likely mark the end of the Castro era.</p>.<p>Raul Castro, the 89-year-old party's First Secretary and former president has already said he will bow out of public life at the 2021 congress.</p>.<p>Other survivors of the generation that forged the 1959 revolution alongside Raul's brother Fidel Castro and Che Guevara are likely to follow suit, according to party newspaper Granma.</p>.<p>They include deputy leader Jose Ramon Machado Ventura.</p>.<p>"This will be the congress of continuity, expressed in the gradual and orderly passage of the country's main responsibilities to the new generations," Machado Ventura said in a statement.</p>.<p>"The revolution is not limited to those who led it to triumph on that glorious January 1 (1959), but also incorporates the will and commitment of those who have made it theirs for all these years and those who will continue its work," he said.</p>.<p>The next party congress will take place from April 16-19 next year, the party's newspaper Granma announced.</p>.<p>Miguel Diaz-Canel, the 60-year-old who succeeded Castro as president in 2018, is tipped to take over leadership of the party.</p>.<p>Wednesday's announcement underlined the will of the authorities to continue a slew of economic reforms begun under Castro in 2008, despite an economic crisis deepened by the coronavirus pandemic.</p>.<p>"The current situation cannot justify a delay in these processes. On the contrary, it is necessary to give them impetus," the statement said.</p>.<p>In a message directly addressed to the nascent private sector, the CCP said that "the links between the state and non-state sectors of the economy must continue to develop, within the framework of the defined economic strategy."</p>.<p>The party also pointed out that "social networks and the internet have become a permanent place of ideological confrontation, where our arguments must also prevail in the face of enemy campaigns."</p>.<p>A group of artists and intellectuals have caused a stir in the country by using the internet to publicize calls for greater freedom of expression, taking their protest to the gates of the Culture Ministry building in Havana.</p>