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Fidel Castro
·
On February
19, 2008 in
Cuba, the
ailing
leader Fidel
Castro, 81,
announced he
will not
accept
another term
as
president-
Castro has
ruled Cuba
since
leading a
communist
revolution
in 1959.
·
In July 2006
Fidel handed
over power
temporarily
to his
brother Raul
when he
underwent
surgery and
has not been
seen in
public since
then.
·
US has
expressed
Castro's
retirement
should
herald a
transition
to democracy
for Cuba.
·
The European
Union said
it hoped to
relaunch
ties with
Cuba that
were almost
completely
frozen under
Castro.
·
The National
Assembly is
widely
expected to
elect Raul
Castro, 76,
as Fidel's
successor.
-
Cuba has
survived
more than
40 years
of US
sanctions
intended
to topple
the
government
of Fidel
Castro. It
also
defied
predictions
that it
would not
survive
the
collapse
of its
one-time
supporter,
the Soviet
Union.
-
Fidel
CASTRO led
a rebel
army has
been
ruling it
after
victory in
1959
-
His iron
rule has
held the
regime
together
since
then.
Cuba's
Communist
revolution,
with
Soviet
support,
was
exported
throughout
Latin
America
and Africa
during the
1960s,
1970s, and
1980s.
-
The
country is
now slowly
recovering
from a
severe
economic
recession
in 1990,
following
the
withdrawal
of former
Soviet
subsidies,
worth $4
billion to
$6 billion
annually.
-
Cuba
portrays
its
difficulties
as the
result of
the US
embargo in
place
since
1961.
-
Illicit
migration
to the US
- using
homemade
rafts,
alien
smugglers,
air
flights,
or via the
southwest
border -
is a
continuing
problem.
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