Spring Break
Fidel Castro reign of power over
Issue date: 2/20/08 Section: News
Fidel Castro resigns Cuban presidency after nearly half-century in power
1 HAVANA (AP) -- An ailing Fidel Castro resigned as Cuba's president Tuesday after nearly a half-century in power, saying he was retiring and will not accept a new term when the new parliament meets Sunday.
"I will not aspire to nor accept‚ I repeat, I will not aspire to nor accept the post of President of the Council of State and Commander in Chief," read a letter signed by Castro published early Tuesday in the online edition of the Communist Party daily Granma.
The announcement effectively ends the rule of the 81-year-old Castro after almost 50 years, positioning his 76-year-old brother Raul for permanent succession to the presidency. Fidel 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.
A new National Assembly was elected in January, and will meet for the first time Sunday to pick the governing Council of State, including the presidency that Fidel Castro has held since the assembly's 1976 creation. Before 1976, Castro was president under a different government structure, and previously served as prime minister.
President Bush says other nations should do more to end genocide in Darfur
2 KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) -- President George W. Bush is calling on all nations to step up efforts to end the genocidal killing in Sudan's western Darfur region "once and for all."
Speaking in Rwanda, which was wracked in 1994 with its own genocide, the president says the United States will use sanctions, pressure and money to help resolve the crisis. But Bush has been frustrated at the lack of willingness in some countries to do the same and sought to increase pressure with his remarks in the Rwandan capital of Kigali.
1 HAVANA (AP) -- An ailing Fidel Castro resigned as Cuba's president Tuesday after nearly a half-century in power, saying he was retiring and will not accept a new term when the new parliament meets Sunday.
"I will not aspire to nor accept‚ I repeat, I will not aspire to nor accept the post of President of the Council of State and Commander in Chief," read a letter signed by Castro published early Tuesday in the online edition of the Communist Party daily Granma.
The announcement effectively ends the rule of the 81-year-old Castro after almost 50 years, positioning his 76-year-old brother Raul for permanent succession to the presidency. Fidel 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.
A new National Assembly was elected in January, and will meet for the first time Sunday to pick the governing Council of State, including the presidency that Fidel Castro has held since the assembly's 1976 creation. Before 1976, Castro was president under a different government structure, and previously served as prime minister.
President Bush says other nations should do more to end genocide in Darfur
2 KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) -- President George W. Bush is calling on all nations to step up efforts to end the genocidal killing in Sudan's western Darfur region "once and for all."
Speaking in Rwanda, which was wracked in 1994 with its own genocide, the president says the United States will use sanctions, pressure and money to help resolve the crisis. But Bush has been frustrated at the lack of willingness in some countries to do the same and sought to increase pressure with his remarks in the Rwandan capital of Kigali.
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