Havana, April 19 (RHC)— The first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, Raul Castro, was re-elected to that post during the last day of the Seventh Congress of the organization, which closed in Havana on Tuesday.

A plenum of the newly elected Central Committee also ratified Jose Ramon Machado Ventura as the Party’s Second Secretary.

The Party’s Political Bureau is made up of 17 members, who in addition to the First and Second secretaries, also ratified as members the nation’s First Vice President, Miguel Diaz-Canell; National Assembly President Esteban Lazo; Vice Presidents Ramiro Valdes and Salvador Valdes; Defense Minister Leopoldo Cintra; and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez.

Also re-elected to the Political Bureau are Economy Minister Marino Murillo; City of Havana Party Secretary Mercedes Lopez; First Deputy Defense Minister Alvaro Lopez; and Deputy Defense Minister Ramon Espinosa.

The Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba also includes five new members. They are: Secretary General of the Confederation of Cuban Workers, the CTC, Ulises Guilarte; Health Minister Roberto Morales; the Rector of Cuba’s University of Computer Sciences, Miriam Nicado; Secretary General of the Federation of Cuban Women, the FMC, Teresa Amarelle; and Marta Ayala, Deputy Director of Cuba’s Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Center.

Addressing the Congress’ nearly 1,000 delegates and 280 invited guests, Raul Castro said that the newly elected 142- member Central Committee has an average age of 54.5 years, younger than that of the previous 2011 Congress.

Raul noted also that women's representation in the Central Committee grew compared to the previous Congress and stood at 44 percent, with Blacks and mestizos standing at 36 percent.