Feb 19 12:04 PM US/Eastern
Cuban revolutionary icon Fidel Castro announced Tuesday he was stepping aside, ending five decades of ironclad rule marked by his brash defiance of the United States.
Citing poor health, Fidel Castro, 81, said he would not retain the presidency when the national assembly meets later this week, in a message published by the online version of the Cuban Communist Party newspaper Granma.
"I neither will aspire to, nor will I accept, the position of president of the Council of State and commander-in-chief," Castro wrote, almost 19 months after undergoing intestinal surgery and handing power temporarily to his brother Raul Castro.
"It would betray my conscience to take up a responsibility that requires mobility and total commitment that I am not in physical condition to offer," he said.
Castro did not say who he thought should be his successor. Any member of his inner circle is arguably a contender, although many Cuba-watchers believe Raul Castro, who has been serving as interim president, is the leading choice.
However, the elder Castro's reference in his on-line letter to a "middle generation" suggests that younger leaders such as Vice President Carlos Lage, 56, should not be ruled out.
US President George W. Bush said Tuesday that Fidel Castro's decision to step down should begin a "democratic transition" in Cuba, eventually culminating with free and fair elections.
"I believe that the change from Fidel Castro ought to begin a period of democratic transition," said Bush, who signaled no change in a half-century of tough US policies towards America's one-party neighbor.
In Washington, the US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said there were no plans to end the decades-old US trade embargo on Cuba.
Asked if Washington planned to lift sanctions, he stated: "I don't imagine that happening anytime soon."
A guerrilla revolutionary and communist idol, Castro held out against history and turned tiny Cuba into a thorn in the paw of the mighty capitalist United States.
Castro's departure was met with disbelief on the streets of Havana, where most have never known another leader.
"Damn, the commander in chief is stepping down! We knew this was going to happen one day. But now that it's a reality, it's just hitting us," said 20-year-old Dayron Clavellon upon returning home after a night out with his friends in Havana's club district.
Alba, a 67-year-old retired nurse, struggled to accept the development. Castro, she long swore to herself, "would die with his boots on."
"I never thought I'd see the day he'd give up power. It's incredible," she said.
The longest ruling leader in the Americas overthrew Fulgencio Batista to take power in 1959 and kept a tight clamp on dissent at home, imprisoning political opponents. Rights groups put the current number of political prisoners at more than 200.
Fidel Castro has said he would never retire from politics and would retain his position as head of the island's sole political party.
Out of public sight since his surgery and seen only in videos and photos, Castro has maintained his influence through columns in the Cuban media titled "Reflections of a Commander-in-chief."
"I am not saying farewell. I want only to fight as a soldier of ideas. I will continue writing under the title 'Reflections of Comrade Fidel.' I will be one more weapon in the arsenal that you can count on. Perhaps my voice will be heard," he wrote Tuesday.
Castro's message came just five days before a historic session in the National Assembly which will name the new president.
Famed for his rumpled olive fatigues, straggly beard, and the cigars he reluctantly gave up for his health, Castro dodged everything his enemies could throw at him in nearly half a century in power, including assassination plots, a US-backed invasion bid, and the US trade embargo.
Cuban revolutionary icon Fidel Castro announced Tuesday he was stepping aside, ending five decades of ironclad rule marked by his brash defiance of the United States.
Citing poor health, Fidel Castro, 81, said he would not retain the presidency when the national assembly meets later this week, in a message published by the online version of the Cuban Communist Party newspaper Granma.
"I neither will aspire to, nor will I accept, the position of president of the Council of State and commander-in-chief," Castro wrote, almost 19 months after undergoing intestinal surgery and handing power temporarily to his brother Raul Castro.
"It would betray my conscience to take up a responsibility that requires mobility and total commitment that I am not in physical condition to offer," he said.
Castro did not say who he thought should be his successor. Any member of his inner circle is arguably a contender, although many Cuba-watchers believe Raul Castro, who has been serving as interim president, is the leading choice.
However, the elder Castro's reference in his on-line letter to a "middle generation" suggests that younger leaders such as Vice President Carlos Lage, 56, should not be ruled out.
US President George W. Bush said Tuesday that Fidel Castro's decision to step down should begin a "democratic transition" in Cuba, eventually culminating with free and fair elections.
"I believe that the change from Fidel Castro ought to begin a period of democratic transition," said Bush, who signaled no change in a half-century of tough US policies towards America's one-party neighbor.
In Washington, the US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said there were no plans to end the decades-old US trade embargo on Cuba.
Asked if Washington planned to lift sanctions, he stated: "I don't imagine that happening anytime soon."
A guerrilla revolutionary and communist idol, Castro held out against history and turned tiny Cuba into a thorn in the paw of the mighty capitalist United States.
Castro's departure was met with disbelief on the streets of Havana, where most have never known another leader.
"Damn, the commander in chief is stepping down! We knew this was going to happen one day. But now that it's a reality, it's just hitting us," said 20-year-old Dayron Clavellon upon returning home after a night out with his friends in Havana's club district.
Alba, a 67-year-old retired nurse, struggled to accept the development. Castro, she long swore to herself, "would die with his boots on."
"I never thought I'd see the day he'd give up power. It's incredible," she said.
The longest ruling leader in the Americas overthrew Fulgencio Batista to take power in 1959 and kept a tight clamp on dissent at home, imprisoning political opponents. Rights groups put the current number of political prisoners at more than 200.
Fidel Castro has said he would never retire from politics and would retain his position as head of the island's sole political party.
Out of public sight since his surgery and seen only in videos and photos, Castro has maintained his influence through columns in the Cuban media titled "Reflections of a Commander-in-chief."
"I am not saying farewell. I want only to fight as a soldier of ideas. I will continue writing under the title 'Reflections of Comrade Fidel.' I will be one more weapon in the arsenal that you can count on. Perhaps my voice will be heard," he wrote Tuesday.
Castro's message came just five days before a historic session in the National Assembly which will name the new president.
Famed for his rumpled olive fatigues, straggly beard, and the cigars he reluctantly gave up for his health, Castro dodged everything his enemies could throw at him in nearly half a century in power, including assassination plots, a US-backed invasion bid, and the US trade embargo.
