Fidel Castro is Gone; Communism Remains

Fidel Castro has resigned as Cuba's "president," a landmark day in Cuban history. 

For now, however, Communism remains in Cuba -- the same failed social, economic and political system that continues to bring misery to people in Cuba and wherever it has been tried on earth.

For a system of government that is supposed to be egalitarian, Communism puts far too much power in the hands of the one or the few.  It seems nice in theory, but it's tyrranical and cruel when put into practice.

HAVANA (AP) - 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."  . . . .

(AP) Cuban President Fidel Castro speaks after he had been re-elected president of the state council... Full Image

By sunrise, most people headed to work in Havana seemed to have heard the news, which they appeared to accept without obvious signs of emotion. There were no tears or smiles as Cubans went about their usual business.

. . . .  Castro temporarily ceded his powers to his brother on July 31, 2006, when he announced that he had undergone intestinal surgery. Since then, the elder Castro has not been seen in public, appearing only sporadically in official photographs and videotapes and publishing dense essays about mostly international themes as his younger brother has consolidated his rule.

There had been widespread speculation about whether Castro would continue as president when the new National Assembly meets Sunday to pick the country's top leadership. Castro has been Cuba's unchallenged leader since 1959 - monarchs excepted, he was the world's longest ruling head of state.

Alan Caruba looks back:  Goodbye, Fidel and Good Riddance