Since that day, Fidel has only been seen on pre-recorded videos.

Many Cubans expressed their admiration and respect toward retiring Fidel and his legacy.

Quoted by Cuba's Prensa Latina news agency, Cuban poet and essayist Roberto Fernandez Retamar said Fidel was the conductor of Cuba's revolution. "Fidel's role as a spiritual conductor cannot be replaced," Fernandez said.

French journalist Salim Lamrani told the news agency that "Fidel is a figure of unique importance in Cuba's history. No one will have the same importance as Fidel."

Meanwhile, Raul's new administration was publicly welcomed by citizens quoted in Cuba's state-run media.

"We have shown that we have a revolutionary people and a stable and mature process which knows how to choose those who will guide the nation in new circumstances," retired brigadier Demetrio Montseny Villa told the Cuban news agency AIN.

Reserve Colonel Jorge Vilardel Gonzalez, who also spoke to AIN, said Raul was the "just and wise choice" as he had participated in Cuba's 1959 revolution and long been Cuba's second-in-command.

"Our main goal is to ready ourselves to fulfill our mission," said the nation's youngest legislator, 18-year-old Liaena Hernandez Martinez, who is a student leader in Cuba's eastern province of Guantanamo.

(Xinhua News Agency February 26, 2008)