Castro resigns as president
19/02/2008| IslamWeb
Fidel Castro has resigned as the president of Cuba after nearly 50 years in power according to a statement in the official Communist newspaper, Granma.
"I neither will aspire to nor will I accept, the position of president of the council of state and commander in chief," a statement by Castro published on the newspaper's website read.
The 81-year-old's official resignation comes almost 19 months after he temporarily handed power over to his brother Raul following surgery for a stomach illness.
He has not appeared in public since.
Castro came to power in 1959 in a Communist revolution that overthrew the then president Fulgenico Bautista.
He became an icon of socialism and a staunch opponent of the United States which led to a crippling political and economic blockade of the Caribbean island.
During his leadership, Castro outlasted nine different US presidents.
Cuba's leader Fidel Castro gestures during an interview on state television in Havana in this June 5, 2007.
Al-Jazeera