FACTBOX: Two of Cuba's possible new leaders

(Reuters) - Following are facts about two figures in the Cuban government who are expected to play prominent roles alongside likely new Cuban leader Raul Castro, after his ailing brother, Fidel Castro, said he would not return as president.

They are Carlos Lage, the Cuban official most closely identified with economic reforms, who could become Cuba's new deputy leader on Sunday, and Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque.

LAGE - DE FACTO PM

* Lage, 56, son of a Spanish immigrant, started his political career as a student leader, rising through the ranks of the Union of Young Communists. He joined the party in 1976 and was a Central Committee member by 1980.

* A pediatrician by profession, Lage headed the Cuban medical team in Ethiopia in 1978 during Cuba's military involvement there in the war against Somalia.

* Lage was deputy director of Fidel Castro's coordination and support team from 1987 to 1992, when he was named executive secretary of the cabinet, virtually a prime ministerial role.

* He was responsible for putting together a package of reforms to avoid the collapse of Cuba's highly centralized economy after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Cuba allowed small private businesses, legalized use of the U.S. dollar and opened Cuba up to foreign investment and tourism.

* Lage has become the face of Cuba abroad in recent years, standing in for Fidel Castro at regional summits.

* His brother Agustin Lage is one of the top brains behind Cuba's advanced biotechnology industry. The scientist is director of Havana's Center of Molecular Immunology, which focuses on cancer vaccine and drug research.

* Lage's two sons Carlos and Cesar are student leaders.

FELIPE PEREZ ROQUE - CASTRO PROTEGE

* Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque is the most prominent figure among a new generation of bright young Cuban leaders groomed by Fidel Castro to carry on the work of building socialism.

* As the youngest of Cuba's top political figures, Perez, appears to be unwaveringly loyal to Fidel's ideas. He echoes Castro's vocabulary and oratorical style in public addresses at home and lambasting the evils of capitalism at international forums.

* A short man with a gravelly voice, close-cropped hair, snappy suits and an affable manner, Perez has been the flag-bearer abroad of Castro's "Battle of Ideas" -- an ideological offensive to try to prove the superiority of socialism over capitalism.

* An electrical engineer by profession, his key role became evident when he stepped forward to calm a crowd after Castro fainted in the middle of a speech on June 23, 2001. For a few moments, Perez and Vice President Carlos Lage hesitated as security officials took Castro from the scene, but it was Perez who went to the microphone and told the crowd Castro had been taken ill because of overwork.

* Born on March 28, 1965, Perez developed early revolutionary credentials -- he was a legislator in Cuba's National Assembly at 21, headed the Cuban Students' Union (FEU), and also formed part of the Communist Youth's leadership. He was elected a member of the ruling Communist Party's Central Committee in 1991, and was picked by Castro to be his main personal aide.