Fidel Castro, 81 years old, relinquished the office of President of the Council of State of Cuba and of Commander in Chief of the Revolution. Having to care for his health, he chose to be out of the governmental activities, but will continue to participate in the public debate - which he always liked very much - through his articles in the mass media. He will, however, remain as a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba.

Next Sunday, the 24th, Raul Castro, 77 years old, will be elected by the new representatives of the National Assembly, to occupy the office of Cuba's head of state.

This is the second time Fidel relinquished power. The first was in July 1959, seven months after the triumph of the Revolution. Elected Prime Minister, he collided with President Manuel Urrutia, who considered the revolutionary laws, such as agrarian reform, promulgated by the council of ministers, to be too radical. To avoid a coup d'etat, the Cuban leader chose to resign. But the people took to the streets on his behalf. Pressured by the demonstrations, Urrutia had no choice, and left power. The presidency was then occupied by Oswaldo Dorticos, and Fidel returned to the office of prime minister.

I was in Cuba in January of this year, to participate in the International Encounter on World Equilibrium, at the beginning of the 155º Anniversary of the birth of Jose Marti, paradigmatic figure of the country. I returned in the middle of February for another international meeting, the Congress of Universities of 2008, in which several presidents of Brazilian universities took part.

On both occasions, I met with Raul Castro and other Cuban ministries. I also met with the leadership of the University Students Federation, FEU, (from its Spanish Federación Estudiantil Universitaria); with students from the University of Communication Sciences; with faculty of basic and medium levels; and with popular educators.

He who believes that Fidel's resignation means the beginning of the end of socialism in Cuba is mistaken. There is not one indication that significant sectors of Cuban society aspire to the return of capitalism. Not even the Bishops of the Catholic Church. With the exception of a few, who would want the future of Cuba to be equivalent to present day Honduras, Guatemala or Nicaragua. Moreover, none of those who left the country continued with the defense of human rights once they joined the enchanted world of consumerism.

Cuba is not opposed to change. Raul Castro himself unleashed a process of internal critique of the revolution through the mass organizations and the professional sectors. More than a million suggestions are being analyzed by the government. The Cubans know that the difficulties are enormous, because they live in a fourfold island: geographic; the only socialist nation in the West; without the support it used to get from the Soviet Union; and blockaded for 40 years by the government of the United States.

In spite of it all, the country was praised by Pope John Paul II, during his 1998 visit. In the IDH 2007 of the United Nations, Brazil was pleased to occupy the 70th position. The first seventy countries are considered the best in terms of quality of life. Cuba, where there is no charge for the right to universal health care and education, occupies the 51st position.

Cuba has a literacy rate of 99.8%; it has 70, 594 physicians for a population of 11.2 million (1 physician for every 160 inhabitants); an infant mortality rate of 5.3 per thousand live births (in the United States, there are 7, and in Brazil 27); 800 thousand graduates from 67 universities, where every year 606 thousand new students enter.

Right now, Cuba has physicians and teachers working in more than 100 countries, including Brazil, and promotes all throughout Latin America "Operation Miracle," to treat for free ailments of the eyes, and the literacy campaign, "Yes I can," with results that convinced president Lula to adopt the method in Brazil.

There will surely be changes in Cuba when the United States blockade ceases; when the Cuban Five, unjustly jailed for struggling against terrorism, are liberated; and if the Guantanamo naval base, used now as a clandestine jail for presumptive terrorists - a world symbol of the lack of respect for human and civil rights - is returned to Cuba. .

Do not, however, expect Cuba to remove from the entrances to Havana the two billboards that fill with shame those of us Latin Americans who live in islands of opulence surrounded by misery: “80 thousand children die of preventable illnesses each year. None of them is a Cuban."  And, "200 million of children will sleep in the streets of the world tonight.  Not one of them is a Cuban."  (Translation: Refugio del Rio Grande, Texas)

- Frei Betto is a writer, author of "Fidel and Religion: Fidel Castro in conversation with Frei Betto" and  “Calendario del Poder,” among other books.