Cuba's Raul Castro steps down, ending the era of his famous clan at the country's helm

When Raul Castro announced three years ago that he would step down in 2021 as head of Cuba's all-powerful communist party, he surely envisioned the island on firmer economic footing and the transition to a new generation of leadership nearly complete.

Things have not worked out exactly according to Castro's plan.

As Castro announced he was stepping down on Friday, his country is deep in crisis. The tourism-dependent island has been battered by the pandemic; the economy shrunk at least 11% in 2020 according to government estimates. Cubans each day spend hours in long lines to find increasingly scarce food, medicine and other necessities.

While Cuban officials have made an all-out effort to thwart the spread of the coronavirus, cases are at an all-time high on the island. It will likely take many more months to know if Cuba's ambitious, "Hail Mary" plan to develop the island's own homegrown vaccines will prove successful.

With then-US President Barack Obama, Castro mended long fraught US-Cuban relations, only to see those ties blown up again under the Trump administration which enacted some of the toughest economic penalties on the island in decades.

But so far, current President Joe Biden has been reluctant to engage with the communist-run island despite the most significant change in leadership in Cuba in decades.

"Regardless of what administration we have, Republican or Democrat, it's a good time to engage," said former Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ), a rare member of the GOP to push for improved relations, who met with Raul Castro during frequent trips to Cuba. "It benefits the Cuban people and puts pressure on the Cuban government that they don't have when we try to isolate them."