Havana ? Raul Castro announced Saturday that Cuba will cut spending on education and health care, potentially weakening the building blocks of its communist system in a bid to revive a foundering economy.

The former defense minister who took over the presidency last year called state spending “simply unsustainable” and said the cash-strapped government would reorganize rural schools and scrutinize its free health care system in search of ways to save money.

But he vowed that the island will not see fundamental change even after he and his older brother and predecessor, Fidel Castro, are gone.

“I wasn’t elected president to return capitalism to Cuba,” Raul Castro said, “or to surrender the revolution” — the armed uprising that toppled dictator Fulgencio Batista a half century ago.

“I was elected to defend, build and perfect socialism, not destroy it,” he said to a standing ovation from lawmakers in Parliament.