Today, New America's U.S.-Cuba Policy Initiative gathered leading Cuba watchers and scholars to discuss the implications of Fidel Castro's announcement that he will not seek nor will he accept the role of Cuban President and Commander-in-Chief. (On Sunday, Feb. 24, the Cuban Council of State is expected to hand power to Fidel's brother, Raul Castro, ending Fidel's 49-year rule with a constitutional succession.)

An MP3 audio recording of this conference call is available here.

Participants in the call, which I moderated, included:

• Rep. Jim McGovern
  U.S. Congressman (D-Mass.)
• Col. Lawrence Wilkerson (ret.)
  Co-Chair, U.S.-Cuba Policy Initiative
  Former chief of staff to secretary of state Colin Powell
• Julia Sweig
  Rockefeller Senior Fellow for Latin America Studies, Council on Foreign Relations
• Peter Kornbluh
  Director, Cuba Documentation Project, National Security Archive
• Sarah Stephens
  Executive Director, Center for Democracy in the Americas
• Jake Colvin
  Director, USA*Engage, National Foreign Trade Council