Several news sites are now breaking the news that Fidel Castro will not seek re-election.
I will update this diary as soon as more details emerge.
Sources so far include Norway's Dagbladet, Reuters and the BBC.
I wonder how this will affect the elections and US policy in the Caribbean in the next few years.
[Update:]
Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro said on Tuesday that he will not return to lead the country, retiring as head of state 49 years after he seized power in an armed revolution.
[Update 3]
The Reuters piece has been fleshed out a bit more:
The National Assembly or legislature is expected to nominate his brother and designated successor Raul Castro as president in place of Castro, who has not appeared in public for almost 19 months after being stricken by an undisclosed illness.
His retirement drew the curtain on a political career that spanned the Cold War and survived U.S. enmity, CIA assassination attempts and the demise of Soviet Communism.
A charismatic leader famous for his long speeches delivered in his green military fatigues, Castro is admired in the Third World for standing up to the United States but considered by his opponents a tyrant who suppressed freedom.
Reuters
[Update 2]
"I neither will aspire to nor will I accept, the position of president of the Council of state and commander in chief," he wrote in the letter.
Mr Castro handed over power temporarily to his brother, Raul, in July 2006 when he underwent intestinal surgery.
The 81-year-old has ruled Cuba since leading a communist revolution in 1959.
In December, Mr Castro indicated that he could possibly step down in favour of a younger generation.
BBC
[Update 4]
From a Dec. 2007 analysis on transition of power on Cuba by BBC correspondent Michael Voss:
At the time there was speculation about whether one-party rule could survive in Cuba without the man who has been at the helm since leading the revolution in 1959.
So far, though, it has proved to be a stable transition.
Acting President Raul Castro is not a charismatic leader like Fidel. His reputation is of a more pragmatic and practical administrator.
While there has been little change so far, Raul has encouraged debate on the country's main economic problems.
He has also offered to sit down at the negotiating table with the United States and earlier this month the government announced that Cuba would finally sign the two main United Nations human rights accords.
But there is no sign whatsoever of any change in political direction or an opening up of the communist state.
BBC