The health of Cuban leader Fidel Castro has always been a state secret in the small island country, where he handed over power to his brother in August 2006 following an operation for intestinal bleeding.
On Wednesday morning, he made his departure from power officially, resigning as president of Cuba and its military commander, the Communist Party's official newspaper, Granma, reported.
Although Castro himself has referred to his illness on several occasions since then, he has not been seen in public since 2006, although video footage was occasionally released when his closest friends in Latin America such as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez would visit him.
Little was known of his reported ailments, and hypotheses were often amplified within the large community of exiled Cubans in Miami, Florida, just 160 km away from the Caribbean island that Castro ruled with an iron fist for nearly half a century.
In January, Castro made the unusual revelation that he thought he was going to die when he fell seriously ill on July 26, 2006.
"When I fell ill on the night of the 26th and the early hours of the 27th I thought it would be the end," Castro wrote in a piece published by the dailies Granma and Juventud Rebelde.
The revelation triggered some questions about whether he would go through with his candidacy for another term when Cubans hold National Assembly elections Sunday.
On July 31, 2006 Castro "temporarily" gave up power to his brother, Raul, and has not returned to government or been seen in public since, although he has met several distinguished guests.
Castro, 81, explained in January the details of the power transfer and recalled that, at the time he fell ill, he was revising the book "Fidel Castro: My Life: A Spoken Autobiography", by Spanish-born journalist Ignacio Ramonet.
The Cuban leader said was barely sleeping at all at the time he became sick.
The hospital where he was treated in 2006 exercised strict security measures, barring employees from leaving at shift change in the early days.
The secrecy prompted speculation that reports of his illness could actually mean he was already dead.
DPA
In a statement published on the Web site of the Communist Party's Granma newspaper he said: "To my dear compatriots, who gave me the immense honour in recent days of electing me a member of parliament ... I communicate to you that I will not aspire to or accept ... the position of president of council of state and commander-in-chief."
Castro has not been seen in public for 19 months since he underwent emergency intestinal surgery in July 2006.
Born into a wealthy landowning family, he turned to Marxism because of the poverty he saw around him in Cuba.
He came to international prominence in 1959 when, along with Che Guevara, he led the uprising which overthrew the corrupt government of President Fulgencio Batista, who had turned Cuba into a decadent playground for America's rich.
Promising to give the land back to the people, he received the backing of the Soviet Union, driving a wedge between Cuba and the US that has never been removed.
In April 1961 the US tried to topple the Castro government by recruiting a private army of Cuban exiles to invade the island.
At the Bay of Pigs, Cuban troops repulsed the invaders, killing many and capturing 1,000.
As money flowed from the Kremlin the Caribbean island became a cold war battleground.
But it was not just cash that headed west to Cuba from the Soviet Union.
In 1962 US reconnaissance planes discovered Soviet missiles on their way to sites in Cuba and the world stood on the brink of an apocalyptic nuclear war.
It was Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev who blinked first, turning his weapon-laden ships around.
The Cuban missile crisis confirmed Castro, in American eyes, as the enemy in their own back yard.
The CIA tried to assassinate him on many occasions - one plan involved filling his much-loved cigars with explosives.
The collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1980s meant the financial plug was pulled on Castro.
Still blockaded by the US, conditions in Cuba deteriorated, with food and fuel shortages and an economy in ruins.
Soon thousands of Cubans were fleeing to Florida in makeshift rafts, hoping for a better life in the arms of Castro's arch-enemy.
He did however bring about real change in Cuba with free health care for all and one of the highest literacy rates in the world. And his ability to needle the Americans has never diminished.
Castro's brother Raul is his designated successor, but many observers believe Cuba's communist state will not outlive the man who has divided international opinion for almost half a century. Credits: Sky news
As per ABC News:
Fidel Castro has resigned as president and commander in chief of Cuba in a message published in the online version of the official daily Granma.
"I neither will aspire to nor will I accept - I repeat - I neither will aspire to nor will I accept, the position of president of the council of state and commander in chief," wrote the Cuban leader, who had been in power for almost 50 years.
The 81-year-old made the announcement almost 19 months after a severe illness caused him to hand power temporarily over to his brother Raul Castro.