Raúl Castro confirms retirement on historic visit to Mexico.

[forest444]

Source: Telesur

Cuban President Raúl Castro confirmed during a diplomatic meeting in Mexico on Friday he would be stepping down from office in 2018, an announcement he had already made two years ago. “I will not become the great-grandfather nor the great-grandson because otherwise Cubans would get bored of me,” Castro said, according to El Financiero.

The Cuban leader was at a lunch in Mérida, the capital of the southeastern state of Yucatán, with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. Castro said he would like to return to Merida after his retirement from office. President Raúl Castro and his brother, former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, lived in Mexico City in 1955, where they planned the Cuban Revolution.

President Castro's visit to Mexico was his first as Head of State and reinforced a change in relations that were severed by former President Vicente Fox (2000-06), who made former Cuban leader Fidel Castro feel uninvited during a regional summit in Mexico in 2002. Fox at the time suggested to Fidel Castro that he leave the country and not attend the dinner for the leaders of the region.

Raúl Castro, however, honored the Mexico’s “peaceful stance and solidarity” as the country had been the only one in Latin America to not cut ties with Cuba during the Cold War. Now 84, Raúl Castro has already picked a likely successor and announced in 2013 his intention to establish term limits and age caps for the presidency.

Read more: http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Raul-Castro-Confirms-Retirement-on-Historic-Visit-to-Mexico-20151107-0002.html

[Adrahil]

1. Maybe actual elections?

It's time for Cuba to REALLY embrace the people.

[forest444]

2. Hear, hear. And above all, may they choose wisely.

i.e. not somebody to Illiana Ros-Lehtinen's liking.

[MyNameGoesHere]

3. Yes they cold use america as

model to rep... Oh crap I can't even finish it I am laughing so hard.

[forest444]

5. There you go. Illeana can ship them a few electronic voting machines.

And Jeb Bush could finally realize his dream of being president of something (God help them).

[Adrahil]

6. Even that would be better than what they have...

But hopefully they can adopt a better system.

[eissa]

8. Wouldn't that be nice

To fulfill what the original revolutionaries fought so valiantly for -- to bring Marti's vision for a pluralistic, democratic Cuba to fruition.

[sabbat hunter]

4. hopefully they will

allow free and open elections so that not just someone who Raul Castro has picked as his successor can run for the presidency. That is unlikely to happen IMHO.

[forest444]

7. Absolutely. I'd like that day to come for the Cuban people sooner rather later.

But just as important, is that they choose wisely, and not a CIA-backed fly-by-nighter hand-picked by Illeana and the rest of the Miami Cuban mafia.

Whatever happens after Raúl Castro steps down, we don't want it to look like this:

[hack89]

9. Perhaps now there can be free multi-party elections. nt