FACTBOX: Raul Castro, Cuba's acting president

Cuba's acting President Raul Castro arrives at a reception ceremony for Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo at Havana's Revolution Palace February 16, 2008.

(Reuters) - Cuba's ailing leader, Fidel Castro, said on Tuesday he would not return as president of his communist country. His brother and acting president, Raul Castro, was likely to be ratified instead as head of state, succeeding his more famous brother.

Here are some facts about Raul Castro:

* Raul Castro, 76, is the world's longest-serving defense minister, commanding the Cuban armed forces since the 1959 revolution led by his brother.

* The younger Castro has been his brother's most trusted right-hand man from their 1953 assault on the Moncada barracks and guerrilla insurgency in the Sierra Maestra hills.

* Under his leadership, Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces became one of the most formidable fighting forces in the Third World with combat experience in Africa, where they defeated South African forces in Angola in 1987.

* Known as a good administrator, Raul downsized the army from 300,000 to 60,000 troops after the collapse of the Soviet Union threw Cuba into a severe economic crisis. He introduced Western business practices to help make the armed forces self-sufficient, and the military has large stakes in the most dynamic sectors of the economy, including tourism.

* Raul became acting president on July 31, 2006 when his brother delegated power after emergency intestinal surgery for an undisclosed illness. Fidel Castro has not appeared in public since.

* A low-key figure without the oratorical flair of his brother, Raul has held the post of second secretary of Cuba's ruling Communist Party since it was founded in 1965.

* His daughter Mariela Castro is a sexologist who has defended the rights of transsexuals and is pushing legislation to allow gay marriage in Cuba.

(Reporting by Anthony Boadle in Havana, Editing by Michael Christie)