Ailing Castro steps down as Cuba’s president

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23229795?GT1=10856

Ailing Castro steps down as Cuba & #8217;s president

Revolutionary leader had ruled for 49 years; U.S. won't lift

sanctions soon

MSNBC News Services

updated 9:48 a.m. CT, Tues., Feb. 19, 2008

HAVANA - An ailing, 81-year-old Fidel Castro resigned as Cuba & #8217;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 & #8217;s rule & #8212; the longest in the world for a head of

government & #8212; frees his 76-year-old brother 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.

& #8220;My wishes have always been to discharge my duties to my last

breath, & #8221; Castro wrote in a letter published Tuesday in the online

edition of the Communist Party daily Granma. But, he wrote, & #8220;it

would be a betrayal to my conscience to accept a responsibility

requiring more mobility and dedication than I am physically able to

offer. & #8221;

The United States said it was unlikely to lift its trade embargo. & #8220;I

can't imagine that happening any time soon, & #8221; U.S. Deputy Secretary

of State Negroponte told reporters in response to a question on

whether the restrictions could be lifted.

On the streets, little obvious reaction

In the pre-dawn hours, most Cubans were unaware of Castro & #8217;s message,

and Havana & #8217;s streets were quiet. It wasn & #8217;t until 5 a.m., several

hours after Castro & #8217;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.

& #8220;He will continue to be my commander in chief, he will continue to

be my president, & #8221; said Miriam, a 50-year-old boat worker waiting for

the bus to Havana port. & #8220;But I & #8217;m not sad because he isn & #8217;t

leaving,

and after 49 years he is finally resting a bit. & #8221;

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.

Political survivor

There had been widespread speculation about whether Castro would

continue as president when the new National Assembly meets Sunday to

pick the country & #8217;s top leadership. Castro has been Cuba & #8217;s

unchallenged leader since 1959 & #8212; monarchs excepted, he was the

world & #8217;s longest ruling head of state.

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

his surgery.

& #8220;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, & #8221; 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. Castro & #8217;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.

NBC News' Murray, reporting from Havana, said that for the time

being Castro retains his powerful post as leader of Cuba's ruling

Communist Party.

Feb. 19: NBC & #8217;s Mark Potter reports from Miami on the reaction of the

Cuban community.

The party leadership posts generally are renewed at party

congresses, and the last one was held in 1997.

ready to step up

The resignation opens the path for Castro & #8217;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 & #8220;structural changes & #8221; and

acknowledging that government wages that average about $19 a month

do not satisfy basic needs.

As first vice president of Cuba & #8217;s Council of State, Castro was

his brother & #8217;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 & #8217;s new

successor, although 56-year-old council Vice President Lage,

who is Cuba & #8217;s de facto prime minister, is a strong possibility.

& #8220; is also old, & #8221; allowed Isabel, a 61-year-old Havana street

sweeper, who listened to Castro & #8217;s message being read on state radio

with other fellow workers. & #8220;As a Cuban, I am thinking that

Lage, or (Foreign Minister) Felipe Roque, or another younger

person with new eyes & #8221; could follow the younger Castro brother, she

added.

Bush, traveling in Rwanda, pledged to & #8220;help the people of Cuba

realize the blessings of liberty. & #8221;

& #8220;The international community should work with the Cuban people to

begin to build institutions that are necessary for democracy, & #8221; he

said. & #8220;Eventually, this transition ought to lead to free and fair

elections & #8212; and I mean free, and I mean fair & #8212; not these kind of

staged elections that the Castro brothers try to foist off as true

democracy. & #8221;

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 & #8217;s death. But Cuban officials have

insisted that the island & #8217;s socialist political and economic systems

will outlive Castro.

& #8220;The adversary to be defeated is extremely strong, & #8221; Castro wrote

Tuesday. & #8220;However, we have been able to keep it at bay for half a

century. & #8221;

Castro rose to power on New Year & #8217;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 & #8217;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 & #8217;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 & #8217;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.