Castro ends decades old hold on ruling party in Cuba

Fidel Castro confirmed his exit from the Communist Party leadership on Tuesday, ceding power to his brother, Raul, as delegates prepare to vote on changes that could bring term limits to key posts.The move came after the sixth Communist Party Congress approved a flurry of measures aimed at keeping Cubas centrally planned economy from collapse but without any broad embrace of market-oriented change.Raul knew that I would not accept a formal role in the party today, Fidel wrote in an article on the Cubadebate.cu portal, referring to his absence from the partys newly elected central committee.Castro, 84, had served as first secretary in the central committee of the party -- which underpins the countrys Communist government -- since the partys creation in 1965.Fidel said he had handed over the functions of the party head to Raul when he ceded power to his brother because of his own declining health in 2006, though he retained the first secretary title.