Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Fidel Castro sorry for causing an uproar about not being the Communist Party leader

Posted on Tuesday, 03.22.11

Fidel Castro sorry for causing an uproar about not being the Communist
Party leader
BY JUAN O. TAMAYO
jtamayo@elnuevoherald.com

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro apologized Wednesday for the brouhaha
he sparked when he noted that he had given up his responsibilities as
first secretary of the ruling Communist Party after his emergency
surgery in 2006.

Castro said that he was so focused on commenting on President Barack
Obama in his column published Tuesday that he did not realize the
importance that his comments on his party post would be given.

Several news media and analysts regarded the comments as revealing for
the first time that Castro had surrendered control of the party when he
underwent emergency intestinal surgery in 2006.

"I saw ... that, because of my fault, the news service dispatched had
given importance to what I said about the job of first secretary of the
party,'' Castro wrote in a follow up column published Wednesday.

He went on to note that in 2006 he announced publicly that he was
temporarily turning over his "public functions'' as party leader and
head of the government to his brother, and a small group of top Cuban
officials.

"It was not necessary that I specifically quit each one of my posts,''
Castro added, apparently drawing a distinction between his "public
functions'' and his "posts.''

He added, "As I recovered my health, progressively and partially, the
idea or the need to proceed with the formality of expressly resigning
from any of the posts never even occurred to me.''

Castro's column Tuesday sparked commentaries that he was trying to
bolster his brother's standing in advance of a crucial Communist Party
Congress, the first since 1997, scheduled for next month.

The congress is expected to discuss and largely approve a string of
market reforms that Raul is pushing forward as a way of making Cuba's
economy self-sustaining.

In his Wednesday column he claimed that he had been so focused on
writing about Obama that "I did not even remember that the party
congress will be next month.

But Castro acknowledged that the most important duties he surrendered in
2006 were those of first party secretary. "In a revolutionary stage,
that political post carries the maximum authority,'' he wrote.

"I beg the readers to excuse the time spent on this explanation, which
the circumstances I mentioned forced me to produce,'' he added.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/03/22/2129020/fidel-castro-says-hes-not-in-charge.html

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