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19 February 2008
MADRID – Spain’s governing Socialist Party on Tuesday described the resignation of Cuban leader Fidel Castro as "great news" if it led to a "democratic opening."
"From Spain, we will work for that to happen," said Jose Blanco, organisational secretary of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s Socialist Party.
Trinidad Jimenez, secretary of state for Ibero-American affairs, said Castro’s resignation might help acting president Raul Castro to carry out the reforms he has announced.
Conservative opposition leader Mariano Rajoy welcomed Castro’s resignation, describing the Cuban regime as an "anachronism" because there were no longer Communist regimes in the world.
Castro on Tuesday renounced his presidency and military leadership of Cuba, after more than a year of illness and absence from the job.
[Copyright dpa 2008]
Subject: Spanish news