The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Havana

Fidel Castro said Friday he helped choose candidates for Cuba's new government, but he asserted that his brother Raul is fully in charge as the new president. In his first comments since his brother assumed the presidency last weekend, the elder Castro appeared to be trying to quash speculation that he would continue directing his brother - and the nation's affairs - from his sickbed. In an essay published in the Communist Party newspaper Granma, Fidel Castro described his role in selecting the governing body his brother now heads as president. But he did not mention involvement in any decision-making since Raul assumed permanent power. Raul Castro has "all legal and constitutional faculties and prerogatives" to lead Cuba, Fidel Castro wrote. The elder Castro said both he and his brother were consulted when the parliament's nominating committee came up with the candidates for the Council of State, Cuba's supreme governing authority, elected by the new parliament on Sunday.