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I held on to power only to thwart U.S.: Castro
— Photo: AFP
END OF AN ERA: Hero of the Cuban revolution, Fidel Castro, announced on Tuesday his decision to retire from his official positions. In a statement published online by the Communist Party daily, Granma, the 81-year-old leader said: “I communicate to you that I will not aspire to or accept … the position of President of Council of State and Commander-in-Chief” (when the National Assembly meets on Sunday). He added that he would continue to “fight as a soldier of ideas” by writing columns in the Cuban media.
HAVANA: Cuban leader Fidel Castro defied America for nearly half a century, resisting U.S. attempts to topple him while leading his country he built just 145 km south of Florida. He resigned as President on Tuesday, two years after falling ill and temporarily ceding power.
Through 10 U.S. administrations beginning with that of Dwight Eisenhower, Mr. Castro survived assassination attempts, an invasion by a CIA-trained exile army at the Bay of Pigs, and a standoff with Washington over Soviet missiles that pushed the world to the brink of nuclear war.
''Socialism or death'' was Mr. Castro's rallying cry long after his beard turned gray, the Soviet Union broke up and Communism toppled across eastern Europe.
The man who said ''power doesn't interest me'' as he led his rebels into Havana in 1959 said in his resignation letter that he held onto power for so long, even when ill, only because the United States ''had done everything possible to get rid of me.''
His defiance of the world's only remaining superpower excited many around the world, especially in Latin America, where Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez took up the torch of Mr. Castro's crusade against U.S. power.
Over the decades, Mr. Castro became such a constant presence in Cuban life, ruling with such vigour, that many on the island assumed he would outlive them.
So this nation of 11 million was stunned on July 31, 2006, when Mr. Castro announced he had undergone intestinal surgery and was temporarily stepping aside. He appointed his brother Defence Minister Raul Castro, five years younger, to lead Cuba and its ruling Communist Party during his recovery.
Almost 19 months passed before he announced on Tuesday that he was stepping aside for good, and would not accept a nomination to serve another five-year term as President of the governing Council of State when Parliament meets on Sunday.
Mr. Castro's exact ailment and condition remain state secrets. Since falling ill, he has stayed out of public view, appearing only occasionally in photographs and videos released by the government to knock down rumours he was dead or dying.
In March 2007, Mr. Castro began penning a series of sporadic essays called ''Reflections of the Commander-in-Chief,'' mostly weighing in on international issues. He wrote that he would continue the essays under the new title, ''Reflections of Comrade Fidel.''
That left open the possibility that Mr. Castro will continue to have an influential voice. He also retains his powerful post as first secretary of Cuba's Communist Party.
Mr. Castro came to power on January 1, 1959, when his revolution drove President Fulgencio Batista to flee. Monarchs excepted, he has been the world's longest ruling head of state.
The United States was the first country to recognise Mr. Castro, but his radical economic reforms and rapid trials of Batista supporters - which often ended before firing squads - quickly unsettled U.S. leaders.
Washington eventually slapped a trade embargo on the island and severed diplomatic ties. Mr. Castro seized American property and businesses and turned to the Soviet Union for military and economic assistance.
On April 16, 1961, Mr. Castro declared his revolution to be socialist. The following day, he humiliated the United States by capturing more than 1,100 exile soldiers in the Bay of Pigs invasion.
The world neared nuclear conflict on October 22, 1962, when U.S. President John F. Kennedy announced there were Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba. After a tense week of diplomacy, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev removed them.
Meanwhile, Cuban revolutionaries opened 10,000 schools, erased illiteracy, and built a universal health care system. Mr. Castro backed revolutionary movements in Latin America and Africa.
Mr. Castro characterised the U.S. ''transition to democracy'' plan for American aid in a post-Castro era as a thinly disguised attempt at regime change and insisted his socialist system would survive long after his death.
Fidel Castro Ruz was born in eastern Cuba, where his Spanish immigrant father ran a prosperous plantation. His official birthday is August 13, 1926, though some say he was born a year later.
Most details of Mr. Castro's family life remain private.
The only child he publicly recognised was his first son, Fidel Jr., whom he had with his first wife, Mirta Diaz Balart. Fidel Jr. went on to become a nuclear engineer in Cuba.
Mr. Castro broke a kneecap and an arm when he fell after a speech on October 20, 2004, but typically laughed off rumours about his health, including a 2005 report that he had Parkinson's disease.
''To affirm that the recovery period will take a short time and that there is no risk would be absolutely incorrect,'' he told Cubans on his 80th birthday, August 13, 2006. ''I ask you all to be optimistic, while at the same time ready to face any adverse news.'' - AP
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