Fidel Castro resigns as Cuba's president

Associated Press
HAVANA (AP) -- An ailing, 81-year-old Fidel Castro resigned as Cuba's president Tuesday after nearly a half-century in power, saying he will not accept a new term when parliament meets Sunday.

The end of Castro's rule - the longest in the world for a head of government - frees his 76-year-old brother Raul to implement reforms he has hinted at since taking over as acting president when Fidel Castro fell ill in July 2006. President Bush said he hopes the resignation signals the beginning of a democratic transition.

"My wishes have always been to discharge my duties to my last breath," Castro wrote in a letter published Tuesday in the online edition of the Communist Party daily Granma. But, he wrote, "it would be a betrayal to my conscience to accept a responsibility requiring more mobility and dedication than I am physically able to offer."

In the pre-dawn hours, most Cubans were unaware of Castro's message, and Havana's streets were quiet. It wasn't until 5 a.m., several hours after Castro's message was posted on the internet, that official radio began reading the missive to early risers.

By sunrise, most people headed to work in Havana seemed to have heard the news, which they appeared to accept without obvious signs of emotion. There were no tears or smiles as Cubans went about their usual business.

"He will continue to be my commander in chief, he will continue to be my president," said Miriam, a 50-year-old boat worker waiting for the bus to Havana port. "But I'm not sad because he isn't leaving, and after 49 years he is finally resting a bit."

Castro temporarily ceded his powers to his brother on July 31, 2006, when he announced that he had undergone intestinal surgery. Since then, the elder Castro has not been seen in public, appearing only sporadically in official photographs and videotapes and publishing dense essays about mostly international themes as his younger brother has consolidated his rule.

There had been widespread speculation about whether Castro would continue as president when the new National Assembly meets Sunday to pick the country's top leadership. Castro has been Cuba's unchallenged leader since 1959 - monarchs excepted, he was the world's longest ruling head of state.

Castro said Cuban officials had wanted him to remain in power after his surgery.

"It was an uncomfortable situation for me vis-a-vis an adversary that had done everything possible to get rid of me, and I felt reluctant to comply," he said in a reference to the United States.

Castro remains a member of parliament and is likely to be elected to the 31-member Council of State on Sunday, though he will no longer be its president. Raul Castro's wife, Vilma Espin, maintained her council seat until her death last year even though she was too sick to attend meetings for many months.

Castro also retains his powerful post as first secretary of Cuba's Communist Party. The party leadership posts generally are renewed at party congresses, and the last one was held in 1997.

The resignation opens the path for Raul Castro's succession to the presidency, and the full autonomy he has lacked in leading a caretaker government. The younger Castro has raised expectations among Cubans for modest economic and other reforms, stating last year that the country requires unspecified "structural changes" and acknowledging that government wages that average about $19 a month do not satisfy basic needs.

As first vice president of Cuba's Council of State, Raul Castro was his brother's constitutionally designated successor and appears to be a shoo-in for the presidential post when the council meets Sunday. More uncertain is who will be chosen as Raul's new successor, although 56-year-old council Vice President Carlos Lage, who is Cuba's de facto prime minister, is a strong possibility.

"Raul is also old," allowed Isabel, a 61-year-old Havana street sweeper, who listened to Castro's message being read on state radio with other fellow workers. "As a Cuban, I am thinking that Carlos Lage, or (Foreign Minister) Felipe Perez Roque, or another younger person with new eyes" could follow the younger Castro brother, she added.

Bush, traveling in Rwanda, pledged to "help the people of Cuba realize the blessings of liberty."

"The international community should work with the Cuban people to begin to build institutions that are necessary for democracy," he said. "Eventually, this transition ought to lead to free and fair elections - and I mean free, and I mean fair - not these kind of staged elections that the Castro brothers try to foist off as true democracy."

The United States built a detailed plan in 2005 for American assistance to ensure a democratic transition on the island of 11.2 million people after Castro's death. But Cuban officials have insisted that the island's socialist political and economic systems will outlive Castro.

"The adversary to be defeated is extremely strong," Castro wrote Tuesday. "However, we have been able to keep it at bay for half a century."

Castro rose to power on New Year's Day 1959 and reshaped Cuba into a communist state 90 miles from U.S. shores. The fiery guerrilla leader survived assassination attempts, a CIA-backed invasion and a missile crisis that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. Ten U.S. administrations tried to topple him, most famously in the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961.

His ironclad rule ensured Cuba remained communist long after the breakup of the Soviet Union and the collapse of communism across Eastern Europe.

Castro's supporters admired his ability to provide a high level of health care and education for citizens while remaining fully independent of the United States. His detractors called him a dictator whose totalitarian government systematically denied individual freedoms and civil liberties such as speech, movement and assembly.

The United States was the first country to recognize Castro's government, but the countries soon clashed as Castro seized American property and invited Soviet aid.

On April 16, 1961, Castro declared his revolution to be socialist. A day later, he defeated the CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion. The United States squeezed Cuba's economy and the CIA plotted to kill Castro. Hostility reached its peak with the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.

The collapse of the Soviet Union sent Cuba into economic crisis, but the economy recovered in the late 1990s with a tourism boom.

This is very interesting. I think the shoe-in for a replacement will be Raul. I can only hope that some young freedom-minded person becomes president there. I am hoping for a free Cuba.

That would be nice, but I don't think that will be a reality for a while. Raul is the shoe in as you said although he may have to make a few changes and seems to know he needs to.

Sweet!

Now we can invade!

Bush, traveling in Rwanda, pledged to "help the people of Cuba realize the blessings of liberty."

Let's hope not. But, it's just what I thought too ..... here we go again. Bush to the rescue.

I wonder how many folks in Iraq are feeling blessed and liberated.

More importantly, in my opinion, how many parents of American soldiers (who gave their lives for this liberating event), are feeling blessed to have lost their sons and daughters?

When I think about the lives lost, the injuries, the worry, heartache and the money spent trying to liberate a country that didn't ask to be liberated, I just can't make sense of it. I get so discouraged thinking about this issue... But, that's another topic I suppose.

__________________
" You've Been Thunder Struck ! "

I think that chances are 5 to 1 he's dead.

Why else would they announce this at 3 in the morning?

Bush knows better than to invade Cuba (although it would be alot more realistic than winning Iraq). The consequences of invading Cuba are too disasterous. We can't say however that Cuba is better of as a communist country instead of democracy though. Ask a Cuban (in Miami who left Cuba). Don't ask one in Cuba because they could get killed for saying what they think.

Actually, I've talked to/heard plenty of parents who were honored that their son/daughter fought and died in Iraq to hopefully liberate the Iraqi people. It's one thing to have honor, and to know they died fighting a worthy cause, it's another thing if they are sad at their son/daughters death.

Just to recap, how many lives were lost in WWI? (estimates are between 20-40 MILLION) WW2? World War II resulted in the death of over 60 million people, making it the deadliest conflict in human history. World War II - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Any other major war? The numbers are in the hundreds of thousands and even millions!! If anything we should consider the Iraq war being "lucky" (to an extent), for not having losts tens of thousands of lives.

People these days just don't have any idea of what warfare used to be like just a generation ago. We're all to young to have experienced a major war, so most people these days often fail to look back at history.

Whoops, there it is ...... see, this is where the problem lies..... the whole premise and hard sell was to help protect and defend the USA from terrorists, not to liberate the people of Iraq.

Yes, it might be honorable to die for your country if you did so for the right reasons.. the same reasons you were told to get you over there. But, for a lie, (WMD) now that's a different story.. if I were a parent who lost a child or a child who lost a parent or anyone else who lost a loved one, I'd be very pissed off.

Sorry, this is going wayyyy off topic... we should start a new thread if we want to discuss Iraq. Not that I really do.. it's very disturbing.

__________________
" You've Been Thunder Struck ! "

Bush knows better? Since when has that made a difference?

And spouting numbers about how much worse it COULD be in Iraq doesn't change the fact that we shouldn't be there, nor does it bring back the thousands that have died. It's not a worthy cause (in my opinion).

And you do?

Until you've donned a uniform and bled...Please stay off this soapbox.

Oh here we go making another thread about Bush and Iraq. The whole WMD issue is a whole other story. Look to Syria, there is where your WMD went to.

I agree. I think he's dead. When is the last time we actually saw him anyway? They always give quotes but never show him speaking. I think he's been very ill for a long time and croaked last night.

You brought them both up there sharpie.

Actually broa I brought the Fidel issue up, Karried added the comments about Bush and WMD genius. I just commented on it.

And I was responding to your posts...If you're going to comment on Bush and Iraq...Don't go slinging mud when other people do.

Anyhow, back to topic. What are everyone's thoughts on Fidel stepping down. I concur that Raul is the likely and current successor and probably won't be much different than Fidel although I think he knows that he will have to make a few changes to keep his country stable. Hopefully other countries will step up to the plate and put some serious economic pressure/sanctions on Cuba. My father was actually in Cuba this past summer. People are policed on what they can or can't do a lot more than most American's realize. I'd really like to see them go to a democratic system and open up for tourism again.

When I was in Cuba, I thought the people seemed pretty nice. Relatively happy too. I've been to a dozen other countries that were much, much worse off.

It's a beautiful country that would get TONS of tourism from the states if we were allowed to go.

Cuba is "open" to tourism with many other countries, Canada and many European countries among them. You can also go over via Mexico. My husband and I were seriously tempted to go during our honeymoon (we were in Playa del Carmen), but elected not to take the risk.

I've known others who have gone and they all say the people are incredibly warm and delightful.

Raul will want to make changes, but will mostly be thwarted by Fidel (assuming he IS still alive, which I believe), will hold the strings on the government.

I think it's time the US just get over what it needs to get over regarding Cuba, open up the borders, and let bygones be bygones. If only it were that simple.

So what if they are communist? That's their business. Not ours. We trade off billions of dollars daily with China and they're the largest communist nation in the world.

Personally, if we were to open up relations with Cuba, it might force their government to become more open itself, since its citizens would likely be able to visit other parts of the world, and it would be more subject to outside influence.

You bring up some good points FritterGirl.