New era for Cuba as Castro steps down; Brother in line for presidency.

Byline: BY LIAM CHRISTOPHER Daily Post Correspondent

THE ailing 81-year-old Fidel Castro resigned as Cuba's president yesterday after foiling attempts to topple him for nearly half a century, leaving on his own terms by clearing the way for his brother, Raul, to take power.

The end of Castro's rule, the longest in the world for a head of government, frees 76-year-old Raul to implement reforms he has hinted at since taking over as acting president when Castro fell ill in July, 2006.

"My wishes have always been to discharge my duties to my last breath," Castro wrote in a letter in 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."

It wasn't until 5am, several hours after Castro's message was posted on the internet, that official radio began spreading the news across the island.

Cubans seemed to go about their business as usual, having seen Castro's resignation as inevitable, but with a certain sadness.

Cuban dissidents welcomed the news as a possible first step toward possible change.

Moderate opposition leader Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo, a former commander who fought alongside Castro in the revolution, expressed hopes that whoever follows him "will have freedom to launch economic and political changes as well."

Castro temporarily ceded his powers to his brother after undergoing 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 on 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.

Castro said Cuban officials had wanted him to remain in power after his surgery.

"It was an uncomfortable situation for me vis-a-vis an adversary that had done everything possible to get rid of me, and I felt reluctant to comply," he said in a reference to the United States.

Castro remains a member of parliament and is likely to be elected to the 31-member Council of State on Sunday, though he will no longer be its president.

Castro also retains his powerful post as first secretary of Cuba's Communist Party. The party leadership posts generally are renewed at party congresses, the last of which was held in 1997.

As first vice president of Cuba's Council of State, Raul Castro was his brother's constitutionally designated successor and appears to be a formality for the presidential post when the council meets on Sunday.

The United States built a detailed plan in 2005 for American assistance to ensure a democratic transition on the island of 11.2m people after Castro's death. But Cuban officials have insisted that the island's socialist political and economic systems will outlive Castro.

President Bush said yesterday: "The international community should work with the Cuban people to begin to build institutions that are necessary for democracy."

CAPTION(S):

Ailing Fidel Castro - standing down from power in Cuba; Castro's brother, Raul - expected to take power