Press Release

 Subscribe

Castro bows out

Communist icon Castro bows out
Feb 19 01:04 PM US/Eastern

Cuban revolutionary icon Fidel Castro announced Tuesday he was stepping aside, ending five decades of ironclad rule marked by his brash defiance of the United States.

Citing poor health, Fidel Castro, 81, said he would not retain the presidency when the national assembly meets later this week, in a message published by the online version of the Cuban Communist Party newspaper Granma.

"I neither will aspire to, nor will I accept, the position of president of the Council of State and commander-in-chief," Castro wrote, almost 19 months after undergoing intestinal surgery and handing power temporarily to his brother Raul Castro.

"It would betray my conscience to take up a responsibility that requires mobility and total commitment that I am not in physical condition to offer," he said.

Castro did not say who he thought should be his successor. Any member of his inner circle is arguably a contender, although many Cuba-watchers believe Raul Castro, who has been serving as interim president, is the leading choice.

However, the elder Castro's reference in his on-line letter to a "middle generation" suggests that younger leaders such as Vice President Carlos Lage, 56, should not be ruled out.

US President George W. Bush said Tuesday that Fidel Castro's decision to step down should begin a "democratic transition" in Cuba, eventually culminating with free and fair elections.

"I believe that the change from Fidel Castro ought to begin a period of democratic transition," said Bush, who signaled no change in a half-century of tough US policies towards America's one-party neighbor.

In Washington, the US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said there were no plans to end the decades-old US trade embargo on Cuba.

Asked if Washington planned to lift sanctions, he stated: "I don't imagine that happening anytime soon."

A guerrilla revolutionary and communist idol, Castro held out against history and turned tiny Cuba into a thorn in the paw of the mighty capitalist United States.

Castro's departure was met with disbelief on the streets of Havana, where most have never known another leader.

"Damn, the commander in chief is stepping down! We knew this was going to happen one day. But now that it's a reality, it's just hitting us," said 20-year-old Dayron Clavellon upon returning home after a night out with his friends in Havana's club district.

Alba, a 67-year-old retired nurse, struggled to accept the development. Castro, she long swore to herself, "would die with his boots on."