Castro's brother named new president

Nearly 50 years of rule by Fidel Castro ended in Cuba tonight as parliament chose his brother Raul to replace him – a transition that leaves the island’s communist system unshaken.

The vote came just five days after the ailing 81-year-old president said he was retiring, capping a career in which he frustrated efforts by 10 US presidents to oust him.

In a surprise move, the No. 2 slot went to old guard revolutionary leader Jose Ramon Machado, who fought alongside the Castro brothers in the Sierra Maestra during the late 1950s.

Cabinet secretary Carlos Lage, who many had expected would move up into the first vice president slot, maintained his spot as one of five other vice presidents on the governing Council of State.

The other four vice presidents included Juan Almeida Bosque, 80, a historic revolutionary leader; Interior Minister Abeldardo Colomoe Ibarra, 68; Esteban Lazo Hernandez, 63, a long-time Communist Party leader, and Gen. Julio Casas Regueiro, 71, who was Raul Castro’s No. 2 at the Defence Ministry.

Raul Castro stressed that his brother remains ``commander in chief'' even if he is not president by proposing to consult with Fidel on all major decisions of state - a motion approved by acclamation.

The council secretary remained Dr Jose M. Miyar Barrueco, 75, physician and historic revolutionary leader, and long-time aide to Fidel Castro and Council of State.

Castro’s seat in the National Assembly was empty, but as the new National Assembly’s 614 members were read aloud, mention of the absent Castro drew a standing ovation.

The transition was likely to bring few major policy shifts by the communist government, but many Cubans have expressed hope it would open the door to modest economic openings and an improvement in their daily lives.

With today’s vote, Castro’s 49 years as head of a communist state in America’s backyard came to an end. He retains his post as a lawmaker and is head of Cuba’s Communist Party, but his power in the government has eroded since July 31, 2006, when he announced he had undergone emergency intestinal surgery and was provisionally ceding his powers.

The younger Castro has headed Cuba’s caretaker government in the 19 months since then, and Fidel Castro has not appeared in public.

The National Assembly, whose members were elected to five-year terms on January 20, chose a new, 31-member Council of State and its president, who serves as the country’s head of state and government.

Fidel Castro has held the position since the current government structure was created in 1976. For 18 years before that, he was prime minister – a post that no longer exists.

In a first round of voting today, Ricardo Alarcon was re-elected as president of the National Assembly, effectively removing him as a dark horse candidate for the presidency.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice issued a statement shortly before parliament met, calling the developments a “significant moment in Cuba’s history,” but saying Cubans have a right “to choose their leaders in democratic elections”.

She also urged the Cuban government to “to begin a process of peaceful, democratic change by releasing all political prisoners, respecting human rights, and creating a clear pathway towards free and fair elections”.

In Venezuela, President Hugo Chavez, a close friend of Castro, said the leadership change in Havana was “occurring without any type of trauma.

“Transition in Cuba?” asked Chavez, whose country is now a major economic ally of Cuba.

“The transition occurred 49 years ago, from that capitalism, dominated by imperialism, (under which Cuba) was a colony, to a socialist Cuba. The transition will continue marching forward, always with Fidel at the forefront.”

In his first speech as president, Raul Castro suggested that the Communist Party as a whole would take over the role long held by Fidel Castro, who formally remains its leader.

“The Communist Party guarantees the unity of the Cuban nation,” he said, calling it “the worthy heir of the confidence that the people have deposited in their leader,” Fidel.

The new president said the nation’s sole legal party “is the directing and superior force of society and the state.”

“This conviction has particular importance when because the founding and forging generation of the revolution is disappearing,” Raul Castro added.