White-haired, thin and bent at nearly 90, Fidel Castro in person is a faint echo of the man who remade his country, defied the United States and fueled socialist uprisings around the world.

But 10 years after he handed control to his brother Raul, Cuba’s former leader has taken on a powerful new role in a country suffering an economic crisis and debating its direction in a new era of normalization with Washington.