Castro Resigns

"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." President George W. Bush, traveling in Rwanda on a tour of Africa, greeted the news Tuesday by saying that Castro's resignation should mark the beginning of a transition toward democracy in Cuba. "The United States will help the people of Cuba realize the blessings of liberty," Bush said. Bush also called on Cuba to release political prisoners and to begin building "institutions necessary for democracy that eventually will lead to free and fair elections." The deputy U.S. secretary of state, John Negroponte, said the United States would not soon lift its embargo on Cuba despite Fidel Castro's resignation, The Associated Press reported. He would not comment further. Castro's unexpected announcement left unclear the roles that other high-level government ministers - among them Vice President Carlos Lage Dávila and Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque - would play in the new government. Castro also indicated that he would continue to be a force in Cuban politics through his writings, just as he has over the past 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 the National Assembly vote Sunday and that Cuba would continue to be ruled, in essence, by two presidents, with Raúl Castro on stage while Fidel Castro stands in the wings. At times over the past year and a half, the government seemed paralyzed when the two disagreed. On Tuesday, Fidel Castro expressed confidence that the country would be in goods hands with a government composed of elements of "the old guard" and "others who were very young when the first stage of the revolution began." He said that he had declined to step down earlier to avoid dealing a blow to the government before "the people" were ready for a traumatic change. "To prepare the people for my absence, psychologically and politically, was my first obligation," he said. ... http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/19/america/castro.php

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