Castro seat empty at Cuban assembly meeting

HAVANA, Dec 22 (Reuters) The Cuban National Assembly met for its year-end session today without the ailing Fidel Castro, in another sign that his nearly half a century as Cuba's hands-on leader may be over.

The seat usually occupied by the 80-year-old Castro in Havana's convention center was empty at the opening meeting, which was led by his brother Raul Castro and other members of the island's Communist Party leadership.

While Castro was not physically present, party members paid tribute to him.

''Dear comrade Fidel ... we are ready to obey your orders and guarantee your achievements with the faith in victory that you inspired in us,'' Economy Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez told the 502 delegates.

Castro was last seen in public on July 26. Havana denies he is terminally ill, but Cuban officials no longer insist he will return as president of the country and leader of the party.

His prolonged absence has fueled uncertainty about the future of the Western hemisphere's only communist state but party members seemed ready to move on.

''With Raul in charge, the revolution will continue to strengthen,'' said Enrique Gomez, a social worker at the National Assembly meeting.

Defense Minister Raul Castro, 75, took over the government temporarily on July 31 when emergency surgery forced his famous brother to relinquish power for the first time since Cuba's 1959 revolution.

Fidel Castro has been treated for an undisclosed illness. Video images released on October 28 showed the once towering revolutionary diminished to a frail and shuffling old man.

The US government, which has sought to oust and even kill Fidel Castro since he turned Cuba into a Soviet ally in the early 1960s, has said it opposes a ''dynastic'' succession without democratic reforms.

Despite US sanctions enforced since 1962, the Cuban economy was steaming ahead with record growth of 12.5 percent this year, delegates were told.

Cuba watchers believe the low-key Raul Castro, who has long lived in the shadow of his brother, does not have the ambition to run Cuba indefinitely and would govern for only a few years before handing over to a younger successor.

''Like it or not, we are finishing the fulfillment of our duty and we have to give way to new generations,'' Raul Castro said in a speech to university students on Wednesday night.

Raul Castro said he favored fewer speeches and was more inclined to delegate authority and open up debate on policy.

Reuters MQA GC0126