Blitzkommando
Feb 19, 2008, 10:39 AM
An ailing, 81-year-old Fidel Castro resigned as Cuba’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’s rule — the longest in the world for a head of government — frees his 76-year-old brother Raul 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.
“My wishes have always been to discharge my duties to my last breath,” Castro wrote in a letter published Tuesday in the online edition of the Communist Party daily Granma. But, he wrote, “it would be a betrayal to my conscience to accept a responsibility requiring more mobility and dedication than I am physically able to offer.”
I'm not sure whether I'm more surprised he's letting someone else take over before he dies or the fact he's still alive. In any event it seems not much will change other than the name of the leader.
Source (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23229795?GT1=10856)
Ketchup edit: Fixed link.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Ketchup345 on 2008-02-19 09:34 ]</font>
The end of Castro’s rule — the longest in the world for a head of government — frees his 76-year-old brother Raul 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.
“My wishes have always been to discharge my duties to my last breath,” Castro wrote in a letter published Tuesday in the online edition of the Communist Party daily Granma. But, he wrote, “it would be a betrayal to my conscience to accept a responsibility requiring more mobility and dedication than I am physically able to offer.”
I'm not sure whether I'm more surprised he's letting someone else take over before he dies or the fact he's still alive. In any event it seems not much will change other than the name of the leader.
Source (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23229795?GT1=10856)
Ketchup edit: Fixed link.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Ketchup345 on 2008-02-19 09:34 ]</font>