Ailing Castro Hints at Retirement

Cuba's ailing leader, Fidel Castro, has hinted at possible retirement, saying he does not want to "cling" to power.

In a letter read out by Cuban state television last night, the 81 year old - who has not been seen in public for 16 months after undergoing intestinal surgery - said he did not want to stand in the way of younger leaders.

"My elemental duty is not to cling to positions, or even less to obstruct the path of younger people, but to share experiences and ideas whose modest worth comes from the exceptional era in which I lived," Castro wrote in the final paragraph of the lengthy letter, which mainly discussed the Bali summit on global warming.

Some commentators interpreted the comments as indicating that Castro, Cuba's unchallenged leader since 1959, could be preparing the way for a handover of power. Following the surgery in July 2006, Castro temporarily ceded power to his younger brother, Raul.

However, the Cuban leader has made similar comments previously, including before his illness. Elsewhere in the latter, Castro also invoked the example of Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, who has just celebrated his 100th birthday.

"I think like Niemeyer that you have to be of consequence up to the end," Castro wrote in the letter, among regular pieces he still produces for Cuba's state media.

Castro remains the president of Cuba's Council of State, making him the country's official head of government. He is also a candidate for re-election as a deputy to the country's parliament on January 20.

When the parliament re-elected Castro to his sixth term as Council of State president in March 2003, he said he would stay power only as long as he felt he was contributing.

"I promise that I will be with you, if you so wish, for as long as I feel that I can be useful - and if it is not decided by nature before - not a minute less and not a second more ... Now I understand that it was not my destiny to rest at the end of my life."