The United States has said it is unlikely to lift its trade embargo on Cuba despite this morning's announcement that Cuban leader Fidel Castro will resign as president.
Castro (81) said in a statement this morning that he would not seek a new presidential term when the National Assembly meets on February 24th.
Fidel Castro
"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," Castro said in the statement published on the website of the Communist Party's Granmanewspaper.
However, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, when questioned on whether the US embargo would be lifted, said he could not "imagine that happening any time soon".
The Cuban National Assembly or legislature is expected to nominate brother and designated successor Raul Castro (76) as president in place of Castro, who has not appeared in public for almost 19 months after suffering illness.
The National Assembly meets to elect a new Council of State on Sunday next.
In December, Castro suggested that he might stand down to make way for a leader from the younger generation. However, he might retain an honorary role and title.
"My essential duty is not to cling to office nor to obstruct the rise of people much younger, but to pass on experience and ideas whose modest value arises from the exceptional times in which I lived," Castro said in December.
Fidel Castro pictured in 2005
His political career spanned the cold war and survived 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 is considered a tyrant who suppressed freedom by his opponents.
His illness and departure from Cuba's helm have raised doubts about the future of the Western Hemisphere's only communist state.
Castro, who took power in an armed uprising against a US-backed dictator in 1959, had temporarily ceded power to his younger brother after he underwent emergency surgery to stop intestinal bleeding in mid-2006.
He has only been seen in pictures since then, looking gaunt and frail, though his health improved enough a year ago to allow him to write articles published by Cuba's state press.
Castro could remain politically influential as first secretary of the ruling Communist Party and elder statesman.
Raul Castro, Cuba's long-standing defence minister, has run the country since July 31st, 2006 as acting president. He has raised expectations of economic reforms but has yet to deliver.