Cubans hope for change and no turmoil as Castro retires

HAVANA (Reuters) - For decades, Fidel Castro's enemies have hoped his death or retirement would send thousands of Cubans onto the streets to demand democratic reforms.

But when it finally came on Tuesday, with the ailing 81-year-old communist revolutionary saying he would not return to the presidency, Cubans took it all in their stride.

Although some were saddened by Castro's retirement and others hoped it would herald economic changes, no one was ready to predict major changes to Cuba's one-party rule.

People went about their lives as usual and there appeared to be little or no increase in the police presence on the quiet and muggy streets of Havana.

Most Cubans have only lived under one leader and the charismatic socialist revolutionary still has the admiration of many, even if they dislike elements of his authoritarian rule and believe government policies have wrecked the economy.

"His body gave up after so many years fighting for social justice and the independence of Cuba from American control," said a saddened psychology professor, who identified himself only as Dr Alvizu.

"He was ill," said Milagros, a housewife returning from a farmers market with papayas and guavas. "But things will be OK, because there are well-prepared cadre to go on."

Castro ruled with a firm grip after seizing power in a 1959 revolution, but has not been seen in public since undergoing intestinal surgery in July 2006 and few Cubans were surprised when he finally announced his retirement on Tuesday.

Even the government media took a low-key approach. Castro's resignation message was broadcast repeatedly on radio but was read out without emotion by a television newscaster in a dark suit who made it sound like just another statement from the veteran revolutionary.

SMOOTH HANDOVER

Some said Castro's long illness had helped prepare a smooth transfer of power to his younger brother Raul Castro, 76, who has run the country as acting president for more than 18 months and is expected to be formally named president on Sunday.

"The revolution will continue. Fidel resigned in time. It's a wise decision. He let Cubans get used to his absence for 18 months," said Lazaro, a building administrator sweeping a lobby in slippers and an Australian Olympics team shirt.

He said he hoped Raul Castro, who has been Cuba's defense minister since 1959 and is seen as an efficient administrator, will clean up the economy and raise living standards.

"Raul can improve things. He has different economic views from Fidel, though both are the same politically," Lazaro said, praising the Cuban armed forces managed by the younger Castro as the only financially solvent institution in Cuba.

In their two-room apartment stacked with books and papers, dissidents Oscar Espinosa Chepe and Miriam Leiva said Castro's retirement was a step forward for the country.

"It would have been absurd for him to continue in his physical shape," Espinosa Chepe said of Castro, who for the last year and a half has only been seen in pictures and video, looking gaunt and frail.

An economist who was jailed for 20 months in a crackdown on dissent in 2003, Espinosa Chepe said Raul Castro has a firm hold on power and will likely push through some economic reforms.

The changes could include lifting restrictions on travel abroad by Cubans and allowing them to buy and sell cars and homes, currently prohibited in Cuba's state-run economy.

But Espinosa Chepe also warned that Raul Castro needs to deliver improvements in wages and living standards.

"If rising expectations are not met, there will be a lot of frustration and that could put Cuba's stability at risk," he said.

(For special coverage from Reuters on Castro's retirement, see: here)

(Writing by Anthony Boadle, Editing by Michael Christie and Kieran Murray)