Castro resigns from Cuba party leadership

[sasha031]

Fidel Castro confirmed he had resigned from the top leadership of the Cuba Communist Party in an article published Tuesday, after the party approved a raft of economic reforms.

"Raul knew that I would not accept a formal role in the party today," Mr Castro said in an article on the Cubadebate.cu portal, referring to his brother Raul and his own absence from the party's new Central Committee, elected on Monday.

Mr Castro, 84, had served as first secretary in the Central Committee of the party - which underpins the country's communist government - since the party's creation in 1965.

He said he had handed over the functions of the party head to Raul when he ceded power to his brother because of his own declining health in 2006, though he retained the first secretary title.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/04/19/3195991.htm