Castro Resigns

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Message from the Commander in Chief

Dear compatriots:

Last Friday, February 15, I promised you that in my next reflectionI would deal with an issue of interest to many compatriots. Thus, thisnow is rather a message.

The moment has come to nominate and elect the State Council, its President, its Vice-Presidents and Secretary.

For many years I have occupied the honorable position of President.On February 15, 1976 the Socialist Constitution was approved with thefree, direct and secret vote of over 95% of the people with the rightto cast a vote.

The first National Assembly was established on December 2nd thatsame year; this elected the State Council and its presidency. Beforethat, I had been a Prime Minister for almost 18 years. I always had thenecessary prerogatives to carry forward the revolutionary work with thesupport of the overwhelming majority of the people.

There were those overseas who, aware of my critical healthcondition, thought that my provisional resignation, on July 31, 2006,to the position of President of the State Council, which I left toFirst Vice-President Raul Castro Ruz, was final.

But Raul, who is also minister of the Armed Forces on account of hisown personal merits, and the other comrades of the Party and Stateleadership were unwilling to consider me out of public life despite myunstable health condition.

It was an uncomfortable situation for me vis--vis an adversary whichhad done everything possible to get rid of me, and I felt reluctant tocomply.

Later, in my necessary retreat, I was able to recover the fullcommand of my mind as well as the possibility for much reading andmeditation. I had enough physical strength to write for many hours,which I shared with the corresponding rehabilitation and recoveryprograms.

Basic common sense indicated that such activity was within my reach.On the other hand, when referring to my health I was extremely carefulto avoid raising expectations since I felt that an adverse ending wouldbring traumatic news to our people in the midst of the battle.

Thus, my first duty was to prepare our people both politically andpsychologically for my absence after so many years of struggle. I keptsaying that my recovery "was not without risks."

My wishes have always been to discharge my duties to my last breath. That's all I can offer.

To my dearest compatriots, who have recently honored me so much byelecting me a member of the Parliament where so many agreements shouldbe adopted of utmost importance to the destiny of our Revolution, I amsaying that I will neither aspire to nor accept, I repeat, I willneither aspire to nor accept the positions of President of the StateCouncil and Commander in Chief.

In short letters addressed to Randy Alonso, Director of the RoundTable National TV Program, --letters which at my request were madepublic -- I discreetly introduced elements of this message I am writingtoday, when not even the addressee of such letters was aware of myintention. ...

Following are some paragraphs chosen from the letter addressed to Randy on December 17, 2007:

... "My elemental duty is not to cling to positions, much less tostand in the way of younger persons, but rather to contribute my ownexperience and ideas whose modest value comes from the exceptional erathat I had the privilege of living in. ....

Letter from January 8, 2008:

"I am a firm supporter of the united vote (a principle thatpreserves the unknown merits), which allowed us to avoid the tendencyto copy what came to us from countries of the former socialist bloc,including the portrait of the one candidate, as singular as hissolidarity towards Cuba. I deeply respect that first attempt atbuilding socialism, thanks to which we were able to continue along thepath we had chosen."

And I reiterated in that letter that "I never forget that 'all of the world's glory fits in a kernel of corn."

Therefore, it would be a betrayal to my conscience to accept aresponsibility requiring more mobility and dedication than I amphysically able to offer. This I say devoid of all drama.

Fortunately, our Revolution can still count on cadres from the oldguard and others who were very young in the early stages of theprocess. Some were very young, almost children, when they joined thefight on the mountains and later they have given glory to the countrywith their heroic performance and their internationalist missions. Theyhave the authority and the experience to guarantee the replacement.

There is also the intermediate generation which learned togetherwith us the basics of the complex and almost unattainable art oforganizing and leading a revolution.

The path will always be difficult and require from everyone'sintelligent effort ... The adversary to be defeated is extremelystrong; however, we have been able to keep it at bay for half a century.

This is not my farewell to you. My only wish is to fight as asoldier in the battle of ideas. I shall continue to write under theheading of 'Reflections by comrade Fidel.' It will be just anotherweapon you can count on. Perhaps my voice will be heard. I shall becareful.

Thanks.

Fidel Castro Ruz

February 18, 2008, 5:30 p.m.

 

 

 

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