Havana, Cuba, Feb 19, 2008 / 08:39 am
In a press release issued in response to the news that Fidel Castro has stepped down as president of Cuba, the leader of the Christian Liberation Movement, Oswaldo Paya Sardinas, said the Cuban dictator’s retirement should mark the beginning of an era of freedom and reconciliation in the country.
Fidel Castro announced on Tuesday that he is resigning from the presidency after 49 years in power. In a letter published by the official state newspaper Granma, he said he would neither “aspire to nor accept” another term as leader of the country.
The 81 year-old dictator resigned after ailing health forced him into seclusion from the public almost nineteen months ago, just five days before the country’s National Assembly was set to elect him for another five-year term.
Paya said the news “undoubtedly is of importance both historically and for the lives of Cubans both inside and outside of Cuba,” because “one man’s almost five decades of power has ended, and we have always said the successor of Fidel Castro should be the sovereign people.”