After 50 years in power, Castro calls it a day, brother Raul tipped to lead Cuba

Fidel Castro stepped down on Tuesday morning as the President of Cuba...

Fidel Castro stepped down on Tuesday morning as the President of Cuba after a long illness, ending one of the longest tenures as one of the most all-powerful communist heads of state in the world.

In late July 2006, Castro, who is 81, handed over power temporarily to his brother, Raúl Castro, 76, and a few younger cabinet ministers, after an acute infection in his colon forced him to undergo emergency surgery. Despite numerous surgeries, he has never fully recovered but has remained active in running government affairs from behind the scenes.

Now, just days before the national assembly is to meet to select a new head of state, Castro resigned permanently in a letter to the nation and signalled his willingness to let a younger generation assume power. He said his failing health made it impossible to return as President.

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Castro seized power in January 1959 after waging a guerrilla war against the then-dictator Fulgencio Batista,

“I will not aspire to neither will I accept — I repeat I will not aspire to neither will I accept — the position of President of the Council of State and Commander in chief,” he wrote. He added: “It would betray my conscience to occupy a responsibility that requires mobility and the total commitment that I am not in the physical condition to offer.”

US President George W Bush, travelling in Rwanda on a tour of African nations, greeted the news by saying that the resignation should be the beginning a democratic transition in Cuba that would lead to free elections. “The US will help the people of Cuba realise the blessings of liberty,” he said.

But the announcement puts Raúl Castro in position to be anointed as the Cuban head of state when the national assembly meets on Sunday, cementing the power structure that has run the country since Castro fell ill. However, Castro’s unexpected announcement left it unclear what role other high-level government ministers — among them Vice-President Carlos Lage Davila — would play in the new government.

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Castro also made it clear he is not fading into the sunset but pledged to continue to be a force in Cuban politics through his writings, just as he has over the last year-and-a-half. “I am not saying goodbye to you,” he wrote. “I only wish to fight as a soldier of ideas.”

That statement raised the possibility that little would change after Sunday’s vote, that Cuba will continue to be ruled in essence by two Presidents, with Raúl Castro on stage while Fidel Castro lurks in the wings.