Askari Kanzu
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SA Time: 19 April 2011 13:11:23
Fidel Castro steps down
April 19 2011 at 12:04pm
By Isabel Sanchez
AP
Fidel Castro praised his brother Raul's leadership.
Havana - Fidel Castro confirmed his exit from the Communist Party leadership on Tuesday, ceding power to his brother Raul as delegates prepare to vote on changes that could bring term limits to key posts.
The move came after the sixth Communist Party Congress approved a flurry of measures on Monday aimed at keeping Cuba's centrally planned economy from collapse but without any broad embrace of market-oriented change.
"Raul knew that I would not accept a formal role in the party today," Fidel wrote in an article on the Cubadebate.cu portal, referring to his absence from the party's new Central Committee, elected on Monday.
Castro, 84, had served as first secretary in the Central Committee of the party - which underpins the country's Communist government - since the party's creation in 1965.
Fidel said he had handed over the functions of the party head to Raul when he ceded power to his brother because of his own declining health in 2006, though he retained the first secretary title.
"(Raul) has always been who I described as First Secretary and Commander in Chief," Fidel wrote in the article.
"I have received too many honours. I never thought I would live so long."
Raul, who turns 80 on June 3, was expected to take over as the party's new first secretary. Raul said on Saturday that he backed term limits of 10 years for the top leadership spots, in a country he and his brother have led for more than five decades.
Fidel said he "liked the idea. I thought long and hard about the subject". Cuba watchers were meanwhile focused on who would ascend to the party's number two position, which could signal the direction of an eventual transfer of power in the coming years.
Sapa-AFP
Fidel Castro steps down
April 19 2011 at 12:04pm
By Isabel Sanchez
AP
Fidel Castro praised his brother Raul's leadership.
Havana - Fidel Castro confirmed his exit from the Communist Party leadership on Tuesday, ceding power to his brother Raul as delegates prepare to vote on changes that could bring term limits to key posts.
The move came after the sixth Communist Party Congress approved a flurry of measures on Monday aimed at keeping Cuba's centrally planned economy from collapse but without any broad embrace of market-oriented change.
"Raul knew that I would not accept a formal role in the party today," Fidel wrote in an article on the Cubadebate.cu portal, referring to his absence from the party's new Central Committee, elected on Monday.
Castro, 84, had served as first secretary in the Central Committee of the party - which underpins the country's Communist government - since the party's creation in 1965.
Fidel said he had handed over the functions of the party head to Raul when he ceded power to his brother because of his own declining health in 2006, though he retained the first secretary title.
"(Raul) has always been who I described as First Secretary and Commander in Chief," Fidel wrote in the article.
"I have received too many honours. I never thought I would live so long."
Raul, who turns 80 on June 3, was expected to take over as the party's new first secretary. Raul said on Saturday that he backed term limits of 10 years for the top leadership spots, in a country he and his brother have led for more than five decades.
Fidel said he "liked the idea. I thought long and hard about the subject". Cuba watchers were meanwhile focused on who would ascend to the party's number two position, which could signal the direction of an eventual transfer of power in the coming years.
Sapa-AFP
