Castro Resigns!

[Heera Singh]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7252109.stm

Castro steps down as Cuban leader

Fidel Castro talks to the Brazilian president in a video chat (15 January 2008)

Fidel Castro has not been seen in public since his operation in July

Castro's career

Cuba's ailing leader Fidel Castro has announced he will not accept another term as president, ending the communist revolutionary's 49 years in power.

The 81-year-old handed over power temporarily to his brother Raul in July 2006 when he underwent surgery and has not been seen in public since then.

Cuba's new parliament will meet on Sunday to elect a new president.

Washington has called for Cuba to hold free elections, and said its decades-long embargo would remain.

This should be a period of democratic transition for the people of Cuba

US President George W Bush

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Cold War to thaw?

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President George W Bush said the US was ready to help the "people of Cuba realise the blessings of liberty".

A senior US state department official, John Negroponte, added that the 1962 embargo would probably not be lifted "any time soon".

The European Union said it hoped to relaunch ties with Cuba that were almost completely frozen under Mr Castro, while China described Mr Castro as an old friend and said it would maintain co-operation with Cuba.

Mr Castro has ruled Cuba since leading a revolution in 1959.

The BBC's Michael Voss reports from Havana that most Cubans will be saddened by news of their leader's retirement, but many hope the political transition will bring economic improvements.

Soldiering on

Mr Castro made his announcement in a letter published on the website of the Cuban Communist Party's newspaper Granma in the middle of the night, Cuban time.

A Cuban reads the letter from Fidel Castro in Granma (19 February 2008)

I just want to carry on fighting like a soldier of ideas

Fidel Castro

Letter published in Granma

Excerpts of Castro's letter

Castro: The great survivor

Profile: Raul Castro

He said he would not accept another five-year term as president when the National Assembly met on Sunday.

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

Mr Castro said he had not stepped down after undergoing emergency intestinal surgery in 2006 because he had had a duty to the Cuban people to prepare them for his absence.

But retirement, he added, would not stop him from carrying "on fighting like a soldier of ideas", and he promised to continue writing essays entitled Reflections of Comrade Fidel.

"I will be one more weapon in the arsenal that you can count on," he said.

Search for new leader

The National Assembly is widely expected to elect Raul Castro, 76, as Fidel's successor.

FIDEL CASTRO

Fidel Castro photographed in New York City in 1959

Born in 1926 to a wealthy, landowning family

Took up arms in 1953, six years before coming to power

Brother Raul was deputy and Che Guevara third in command

Has outlasted nine American presidents

Target of many CIA assassination plots

Daughter is a dissident exile in Miami

Castro's life in pictures

He has mooted major economic reforms and "structural changes".

But some analysts see a possible generational jump, with Vice-President Carlos Lage Davila, 56, a leading contender.

Anyone hoping that Fidel Castro's departure from the political scene would bring about the end of the communist regime was disappointed, the BBC's Nick Miles reports.

Whilst Cuban exiles celebrated in Miami, Florida, there were no protests on the streets of Havana calling for political change.

In part, our reporter says, this is because the regime does not tolerate dissent - but it is also because many in Cuba are wary of what change will probably mean: a mass influx of exiles returning from Miami.

Raul Castro has worked to ensure a smooth political transition, keeping the army loyal to the regime and strengthening the Communist Party's hold by introducing reforms and weeding out corrupt officials.

He has also had the advantage of continued economic support from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in the form of millions of barrels of cheap oil, our reporter adds.

Mixed legacy

It is not clear whether Mr Castro's retirement was prompted by a further decline in his health - the state of which is an official secret.

Though Fidel Castro has not been seen in public for 19 months, the government occasionally releases photographs and pre-edited video of him meeting visiting leaders from around the world.

The retiring leader will be remembered as one of the most distinctive and enduring icons from the second half of the 20th Century, the BBC's Paul Keller writes.

With his olive green fatigues, beard and Cuban cigars, Fidel Castro was the original Cold Warrior.

Under his leadership Cuba established the first Marxist-Leninist state in the Western hemisphere, almost within sight of the US coastline.

Embracing communism and the patronage of the Soviet Union, Fidel Castro transformed Cuba economically and socially but had to struggle when it collapsed.

He leaves his country with universal free healthcare and a much-admired education system, which has produced doctors for the developing world, but also a failing economy.

[khalistan_militant]

i kinda liked him, i personally believe americans had personal problem with him due to his involvment with russia

he provided top of the range free medical care for the citizens of cuba

something which americans unfortunately cant do

[Guest peacemaker]

I have no love at all for Castro. I've waited for this day for so many years.

[Heera Singh]

I have no love at all for Castro. I've waited for this day for so many years.

any reason why?

[Guest peacemaker]

First, Castro isn't even communist, like many people believe. He's a corrupt dictatorial leader working under the fascade of communism. He controls all the facets of his people's lives. Citizens can't leave the country, there's a stipend on what and how much food you can eat.

When people say that the economy in Cuba is improving, that basically means the average person can eat two meager meals a day, instead of just one.

People say he has a great healthcare system. But he doesn't have any medicine.

Finally, If you consider the number of people that try to leave Cuba each day to get to the USA, then it is difficult to see Castro as a great leader

[Heera Singh]

^^ good points singhavelli

[khalistan_militant]

First, Castro isn't even communist, like many people believe. He's a corrupt dictatorial leader working under the fascade of communism. He controls all the facets of his people's lives. Citizens can't leave the country, there's a stipend on what and how much food you can eat.

When people say that the economy in Cuba is improving, that basically means the average person can eat two meager meals a day, instead of just one.

People say he has a great healthcare system. But he doesn't have any medicine.

Finally, If you consider the number of people that try to leave Cuba each day to get to the USA, then it is difficult to see Castro as a great leader

Any proof of his corruption?

Stipends on food, ensure equal distribution too all citizens. Atleast everyone eats, we couldn't say the same about america, canada, or england now could we?

2 meals a day instead of 1, is 2 more than the impoverished in our so called developed nations.

The doctor to patient ration is far greater than any "democratic" nation relative to its size. Also, with embargos and continuous warfare waged by the United States of America, how do you expect them to get shipments of medicine?

People are leaving because of the so called "American Dream", then they show up to Miami, get migrant work, and are exploited as working slaves. Aside from tha t migration and immigration is a natural process in every country, look at the amounts of Americans that dissented as conscientous objectors from The USA to Canada during the Vietnam and Iraq War's.

there isnt no shortage of medicine, i actually watched a documentary on cuba theres a pharmacy for every block in cuba thats remarkable we dont even have that in some western countries

in america a certain asthma pump costs $120, in cuba the same pump costs 5cents

theres your difference, as the health system is run by the state it provides for everyone rich or poor and if you look at it in america the health service is left to the economy, and the first rule of business is to make a profit and thats exactly what companies in america are doing ripping of the poor and ripping of the rich.

[kaur_khalistani_lioness]

i didnt know much about the guy but i loved his name!

is he really dead?

....

turning pointz for both amrica an cuba almost at the same time...lets see what happens next (his-story)

[fauji07]

Stipends on food, ensure equal distribution too all citizens. Atleast everyone eats, we couldn't say the same about america, canada, or england now could we?

um, yes in america everyone has the right to food, there are food stamps and wellfare. people don't starve to death here.

yes america has faults but show me one country that doesnt! why do people who live in canada go to america for specialized medical care?

one of cuba's biggest professions is prostitution i bet you didnt know that.

the best way to improve peoples live is to improve the econemy which gives people the ability to improve there own lives! not by making them dependant on the government for scraps

its easy to say the west is wrong when your living off of its success, tell it to the cubans who drown every year trying to get out of cuba

[Heera Singh]

^^^ dang.. another nice reply...