Cuba to name new leader to succeed Fidel Castro

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba's rubber-stamp National Assemblywill name Fidel Castro's successor on Sunday, ending the49-year rule of the bearded revolutionary who turned Cuba intoa communist state on the United States' doorstep.

His brother Raul Castro, who has been running Cuba sincethe 81-year-old leader was sidelined by illness 19 months ago,is widely expected to become the next president.

The 614-member legislature meets at 10 a.m. EST (3:00 p.m.British time). An announcement on composition of the Council ofState, the island's highest executive body, is expected in theafternoon.

Fidel Castro, who has aged from a military fatigue-cladcommander in chief who gave seven-hour speeches under theCaribbean sun into a shuffling old man, has not appeared inpublic since undergoing intestinal surgery in July 2006.

He will retain significant but potentially waning influenceas first secretary of the ruling Communist Party.

Castro announced his retirement as president last Tuesday,almost half a century after he ousted a U.S.-backed dictator inan armed revolution and began to create a persona that wouldturn him into an icon of the left, a perpetual thorn inWashington's side and a tyrant to his foes.

He said he was too weakened by his undisclosed illness tocontinue governing but would soldier on in the "battle ofideas" by writing articles.

Anti-Castro exiles and U.S. President George W. Bush haveled calls for democratic reform on the island.

But in the streets of Havana, few Cubans think that, withFidel Castro gone, the West's last communist state will crumbleswiftly like many Soviet allies did.

"For me, it's like a normal day. I'm not worried becauseeverything's going to carry on the same," said Carlos, 44, ashe laid out green peppers at a corner market in the Vedadodistrict. "Fidel was great, we won't have anyone like him."

Baker Mario Santos said low wages and a worthless currencyneeded fixing, but Cuba had good things too, such as low crimeand a social safety net. "In the United States if you don'twork, you don't eat," he said.

"Things could change, but Fidel is not dead, and peoplehere are Fidelistas, not comunistas," Santos said. He comparedCastro to Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh, who continued leadingwhen he was an old man.

Though he has faded from the public stage, staunch Castrosupporters say is still the unquestionable "leader of therevolution" and will continue pulling the strings of power.

"He has not left power. Fidel will never resign fromrevolution and power. What he is doing is resigning his posts,like the Che (Argentine revolutionary Ernesto Guevara) did,"said Alejandro Ferras, 87, who followed Castro into the nearsuicidal attack on the Moncada army barracks in 1953.

'BATTLE ON'

"He will continue fighting like a soldier in the Battle ofIdeas," Ferras said in his dilapidated Old Havana home, wherehe has lived for 62 years.

An army general who has lived in the shadow of his morefamous and charismatic brother, Raul Castro is considered amanager more concerned with putting food on Cuban tables thanwaging an ideological war against the United States.

As acting president, Raul Castro has fostered debate on thefailings of Cuba's state-run economy and raised expectationsthat reform may be coming. In December he stated that Cuba has"excessive prohibitions."

But so far he has delivered little, other than relaxingcustoms rules for appliances and car parts that are much indemand and desperately short in supply in Cuba.

Many Cubans hope they will soon be allowed to freely buyand sell their homes, travel abroad and stay at hotels andbeaches where only foreigners can now set foot.

Last year, Raul Castro extended an olive branch to theUnited States, saying he was open to talks but only after Bush,who tightened economic sanctions and travel restrictions toCuba, leaves office which is to happen in January.

Bush administration officials rejected the offer, callingRaul Castro "Fidel Lite" and denouncing what they see as thehanding of power from one dictator to another.

(Reporting by Anthony Boadle, Editing by Michael Christieand Vicki Allen)

(For special coverage from Reuters on Castro's retirement,see: http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/cuba)