Since Castro’s official handover of power to his brother Raul is “hot news”, I thought I’d translate the official statement for you.

The original text in Spanish can be found here.  Translation is mine and therefore all errors are mine.

Proclamation of the Head of the Cuban People

Because of the enormous effort expended on a visit to the Argentinian city of Cordoba to participate in the MERCOSUR meeting, in the closing of the People’s Summit at the University of Cordoba and also because of the visit to Altagracia, the city where Che [Guevara] lived in his (young) childhood combined with my determination to attend the 53rd anniversary of the assault on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Cespedes forts of July 26, 1953  in the provinces of Granma and Holguin,  after countless days and nights of working non-stop without sleep, a toll has been exacted on my health causing an extremely high level of stress and fever that no measures have been able to rectify.

This has caused an acute intestinal disorder combined with sustained bleeding which has forced me to submit to a complicated surgical procedure.  All of the details of this health problem have been identified via endoscopies and X-rays [and other “filmed materials”].  The operation will force me to spend several weeks resting, away from my responsibilities and duties.

As our nation is being threatened by circumstances such as those posed by the government of the United States, I have taken the following decision[s]:

  1. On a provisional basis, I hereby delegate my duties as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party in Cuba to the Second Secretary, Comrade Raul Castro Ruiz [Fidel’s brother].
  2. On a provisional basis, I hereby delegate my duties as Commander in Chief of the heroic Revolutionary Armed Forces to the same comrade, General of the Army, Raul Castro Ruiz.
  3. On a provisional basis, I hereby delegate my duties as President of the State Council and [President of] the government of the Republic of Cuba to the First Vice President, Comrade Raul Castro Ruiz.
  4. On a provisional basis, I hereby delegate my duties as the leader of the National and International Public Health Program to the member of the Political Bureau and Public Heath Ministry, Comrade Jose Ramon Balaguer Cabrera.
  5. On a provisional basis, I hereby delegate my duties as the leader of the National and International Educational Program to Comrades Jose Ramon Machado Ventura and Esteban Lazo Hernandez, Members of the Political Bureau.
  6. On a provisional basis, I hereby delegate my duties as the leader of the National Revolutionary Progam in Cuba and the collaboration with other nations in this effort to Comrade Carlos Lage Davila, Member of the Political Bureau and Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers.

The fundamentals of the three Programs – Health, Education and [Revolutionary], must continue to be a priority, as they have been under the leadership of Comrade Carlos Lage Davila, Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers, Francisco Soberon Valdes, the President of the Central Bank of Cuba, and Felipe Perez Roque, the Foreign Minister, who assisted me in these efforts and should be included as members of a committee to further those programs.

Our glorious Communist Party, supported by the people and by the organizations of the masses, now has as its mission to fulfill the duties entrusted to it by this Proclamation.

The meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement, scheduled for September 11-16, must be given the fullest attention by the Cuban nation so that it can be celebrated with maximum results.

The occasion of my 80th birthday, which so many thousands of people have generously decided to celebrate on August 13, I must ask them to re-schedule the festivities until December 2, the 50th anniversary of the Disembarkation of the Granma.

I ask the Party’s Central Committee and the National Assembly of Popular Power for their firm support of this Proclamation.

I do not harbor the slightest doubt that our people and our Revolution will fight until the last drop of blood to defend these and other ideas and methods necessary to safeguard this historic process.

Imperialism will never crush Cuba.

The Battle of Ideas marches forward.

Long live the Homeland!
Long live the Revolution!
Long live Socialism!
Until the Permanent Victory!

Fidel Castro Ruiz

Commander in Chief
First Secretary of the Party and
President of the National Council and Ministers of the Republic of Cuba

July 31, 2006
10:06pm

A couple of notes here.  The structure of the government of Cuba can be found here, which explains all those councils and ministers, etc.

The three programs that Castro is referring to, Education, Health and the Revolution, are the foundation of Cuba’s foreign relations with other countries.  That is to say that Cuba provides healthcare and educational support to other nations, part and parcel of its effort to encourage Cuban-like socialism.  The program I am referring to as the “Revolutionary” program is actually called the “Energetic Revolution” program in Spanish.

The references to the historical acts of Castro have been given hyperlinks if you’re interested in understanding their significance.

The exact terminology concerning Castro’s current health problems more literally states that working night and day without sleep has caused his health, “which has resisted all tests”, resulting in an “extreme stress and fever”.  Therefore the implication is that the sleeplessness caused the stress and fever and the stress and fever caused the sustained bleeding and an intestinal “crisis”.  The literal translation also says that “all the details of this health accident are consistent with the X-rays, endoscopies and filmed material”.  I have no medical training so I’m not quite sure what these are symptoms of.

Peace