Castro Resigns as Cuban president

Fidel Castro today (19 February) announced his retirement as head of state of Cuba, 49 years after he seized power in an armed revolution.

With the exception of monarchs, his resignation will bring to an end the world's longest reign in power.

The 81-year-old, who handed over power to his brother, Raúl, in July 2006 after surgery, said in a letter published on the site of the official state newspaper, Granma: "I communicate to you that I will not aspire to or accept ... the position of president of council of state and commander in chief."

Outlasted nine US presidents 

Castro had not appeared in public for almost 19 months after being stricken by an undisclosed illness. His retirement brings down the curtain on a political career that spanned the cold war, CIA assassination attempts and the demise of Soviet communism. He has outlasted nine US presidents.

A charismatic leader famous for his long speeches delivered in green military fatigues, Castro is admired in the developing world for standing up to the US, but considered by his opponents as an authoritarian who threw his critics into jail.

Castro hinted in December last year that he would stand down to make way for a leader from the younger generation.

He appeared on national television saying: "My essential duty is not to cling to office nor to obstruct the rise of people much younger, but to pass on experience and ideas whose modest value arises from the exceptional times in which I lived."

Parliament will vote in March 

A new parliament elected in January will meet on Sunday. They will in turn elect a new president in March, just as the US is going through the process of choosing its own presidential candidates.

Castro's brother is expected to be nominated by the national assembly as president. Raúl was second in Cuba's power structure as defence minister until he took over from Fidel in July 2006, when the leader announced he had undergone intestinal surgery.

However, it had always been felt that his role would be temporary and a younger person would take over in the long term. One of the current favourites for the position is Carlos Lage, the 56-year old vice-president.

Lage, a paediatrician by profession, has risen to prominence in recent months after overseeing economic changes in Cuba, including negotiations over oil from Venezuela, whose president, Hugo Chávez, is Castro's strongest international supporter.

One of the last five communist countries 

The US had designed a plan in 2005 to ensure a democratic transition on the island of 11.2 million people after his death. However, Castro insisted there would be no transition, and the island's socialist political and economic systems would live on after he is gone.

Castro's rise to power began on New Year's Day 1959, and his firm rule kept Cuba among the world's five last remaining communist countries, long after the breakup of the Soviet Union and collapse of communism across eastern Europe.

The US was the first country to recognise Castro's new role as leader after his guerrilla movement drove out then-president Fulgencio Batista. But the two countries quickly clashed over Castro's increasingly radical path, which saw many American properties and businesses seized.

Two years later, Castro declared his revolution to be socialist and soon invited aid from fellow communist state the Soviet Union.

His reign saw one of the most traumatic periods of history during which the world came close to nuclear war. Following the disastrous CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, the US discovered nuclear-armed missiles on the island which led to a showdown until the Soviet Union agreed to remove them.

The fall of the Soviet Union plunged Cuba into financial crisis until the late 1990s, when it slowly recovered, help by a tourism boom.

Controversial legacy 

Supporters of Castro have praised his ability to provide high levels of healthcare and education for Cuban citizens, while keeping the country fully independent of the US. But his critics describe him as a dictator whose ironclad rule denied civil liberties such as freedom of speech and movement. (AB/MT/AG)

* This article was taken from The Guardian, with additional subheadings added by bianet.