Castro: Relieved to be stepping down
HAVANA (AP) - February 22, 2008 After nearly a half-century in power, Castro announced Tuesday
that he wouldn't accept another term when parliament selects a new
government on Sunday.
"The night before, I slept better than ever," Castro wrote in
a newspaper column. "My conscience was clear and I promised myself
a vacation."
The ailing 81-year-old said Tuesday that he's not well enough to
continue as president. Most expect his brother Raul, five years
younger, to step into the presidency on Sunday. Raul Castro has
been acting president since his brother fell ill in July 2006.
Fidel Castro said he had planned on taking a break from his
newspaper columns for at least 10 days, but decided: "I didn't
have the right to keep silent for so long."
The column published Friday in both major government-controlled
newspapers focused on the United States, with Castro poking fun at
U.S. presidential candidates. He said word of his retirement forced
them to talk about Cuba.
"I enjoyed observing the embarrassing position of all the
presidential candidates in the United States," he wrote. "One by
one, they could be seen forced to proclaim their immediate demands
to Cuba so as not to alienate a single voter."
He criticized demands by the candidates and by President Bush
for political change on the island.
"'Change, change, change!' they shouted in unison. I agree.
'Change!' But in the United States," he wrote. "Cuba changed a
while ago and will continue on its dialectical course."
He added of Bush: "'Annexation, annexation, annexation!' the
adversary responds. That's what he thinks, deep inside, when he
talks about change."
Castro asked press authorities not to run the column on page
one, and the column was printed on page four of both newspapers.
That's in contrast to the front-page play given to Castro's earlier
columns written before his resignation.
He titled the column "Reflections of Companion Fidel," rather
than "Reflections of the Commander in Chief," which he had used
earlier. State Web sites that ran the column changed the logo as
well, replacing an image of Castro in olive-green fatigues with one
of the leader half-smiling, his hand thrust high in a wave.
Castro remains head of the Communist Party, the only political
faction tolerated in Cuba.