Havana, Rajab 13, 1437, April 20, 2016, SPA -- The Cuban Communist Party (PCC) Tuesday re-confirmed President Raul Castro as leader of the island nation's only officially sanctioned political party for another five years, according to dpa. About 1,000 delegates to the seventh party congress re-elected Castro, 84, as first secretary of the PCC, as had been widely expected. Jose Ramon Machado, at 85 another member of the Cuban Revolution's old guard, was named second secretary. Castro's election to a second term at the head of the party keeps him in power at least until 2021, though he will step down as president in February of 2018 at the end of his second five-year turn. Speaking to the party, Castro said his task remained to "preserve" socialism in Cuba, despite market reforms of recent years. In a speech before the assembly that sounded at times like a farewell, the elder Castro, 89, congratulated his brother on his "magnificent strength" even while reflecting on his own death. "Soon I will be like all the rest - everyone's time must come," the retired revolutionary leader said. "This may be one of the last times I speak in this hall." --SPA 02:39 LOCAL TIME 23:39 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w