"To my dear compatriots, who gave me the immense honor in recent days of electing me a member of parliament ... I communicate to you that I will not aspire to or accept -- I repeat, not aspire to or accept -- the positions of President of Council of State and Commander in Chief."
Fidel Castro, 81, is retiring as Cuba's head of state, forty-nine years after he seized power in an armed revolution.
Castro's supporters admired his ability to provide a high level of health care and education for citizens while remaining fully independent of the United States.
Castro's detractors called him a dictator whose totalitarian government systematically denied individual freedoms and civil liberties such as speech, movement and assembly.
Monarchs excepted, Castro was the world's longest ruling head of state.
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