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        February 20, 2008

(CNN Student News) -- February 20, 2008 Castro Resigns - Get the latest on the resignation of Cuba's controversial leader. CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Hi, there, you've made it to the middle of the week! Thanks for tuning in to CNN Student News. I'm Carl Azuz. ID Me MICHELLE WRIGHT, CNN: See if you can ID Me! I'm where you'll find the U.S.-run Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. Try this on for size: I'm just a little smaller than Pennsylvania. A famous fact: I'm an independent country located just 90 miles from the U.S. I'm Cuba, my capital is Havana, and I'm the largest country in the Caribbean. First Up: Castro Resigns AZUZ: There's been a big shake-up on that island, and it's what's first up. After almost 50-years in power, and outlasting nine U.S. presidents, Cuban leader Fidel Castro has stepped down as the country's president. He made the announcement in a letter published in a Cuban newspaper, where he also resigned as commander-in-chief of Cuba's military. His brother, Raul, was publicly named as the country's leader when Castro got sick 18-months ago, but Cuba's parliament will choose an official successor on Sunday. James Mates has more. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JAMES MATES, ITV NEWS: A simple announcement on Cuban television, a headline in the state-run newspaper and a leader that now fewer than nine U.S. presidents have wanted to see the back of stands down of his own volition and on his own schedule. For 49 years, surrendering neither the revolutionary rhetoric nor the combat fatigues, Castro came to define his people as their seemingly eternal struggle with their giant neighbor the United States. ARCHIVE FOOTAGE: Castro buys the loyalty of the peasants. MATES: It was he who toppled the pro-American Batista regime, who repelled the U.S.-backed counter revolution at the Bay of Pigs, and then allowed his Soviet ally to park nuclear missiles right under the noses of his tormentors in Washington. JOHN F. KENNEDY, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: We regard any nuclear missile launch from Cuba as an attack by the Soviet Union by the United States. MATES: Neither invasion nor CIA plots could remove him. In the end, he simply succumbed to the ravages of time. Eighteen months ago, emergency stomach surgery left him gravely weakened. His brother and fellow revolutionary Raul even then took over effective control. In Washington's eyes, Raul promises to be little different from Fidel. GEORGE W. BUSH, U.S. PRESIDENT: So, I view this as a period of transition and it should be the beginning of the Democratic transition for the people in Cuba. MATES: Among the Cuban exiles in Miami, non of this means that they will soon be heading home. CUBAN EXILE: Only if they turn the whole thing upside down, and the bring Democracy and free elections and everyone of them is out of Cuba, nothing has changed. MATES: The European Union says it is now prepared to reassess its relations with Cuba under Raul. In the middle of a presidential election, the U.S. is unlikely to do the same in the short term. Aware that while the days of Fidel are over, the Castro regime may have a while to run yet. James Mates, ITV News, Washington. (END VIDEO CLIP) Promo AZUZ: Fidel Castro is hailed as a revolutionary by some people and called a tyrant by millions of Cubans who feel they were forced out of their country during his revolution. Many of those Cuban exiles now call the U.S. home. Find out why people some people admire him and some people despise him, in our Learning Activity. That's at CNNStudentNews.com.

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