I just read this from AP:

Fidel Castro temporarily relinquished his presidential powers to his brother Raul on Monday night and told Cubans in a statement that he had undergone surgery.

The Cuban leader said he had suffered intestinal bleeding, apparently due to stress from recent public appearances in Argentina and Cuba, according to the letter read live on television by his secretary, Carlos Valenciaga.

Castro said that extreme stress “had provoked in me a sharp intestinal crisis with sustained bleeding that obligated me to undergo a complicated surgical procedure.”

Castro said he was temporarily relinquishing the presidency to his brother and successor Raul, the defense minister.

[...]

Castro said he would also temporarily relinquish his duties as first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba to Raul, who turned 75 in June and who has been taking on a more public profile in recent weeks.

Val at Babalu Blog says,

All local stations are dispatching reporters to Little Havana as we speak. It is being reported that after the surgery, fidel castro would be out of commission for two months.

I’ll be following Babalu Blog’s coverage (bound to be far ahead of most other places) as I look for other sources as well.

UPDATE: From the Miami Herald:

In South Florida, the initial reaction was muted but seemed certain to intensify as the news spread.

Miami Mayor Manny Diaz predicted that the next few days would be “very tense.”

He called it ”unusual” that Castro would be willing to cede power, even temporarily, and suggested that it was a sign that the Cuban leader’s health was deteriorating sharply.

”Obviously, we’re all going to be very, very happy the day that he dies,” Diaz said. “We’ll be keeping a close eye.”

UPDATE: From the Lakeland Ledger (FL):

Cubans in the exile community waited Monday night to hear news about Fidel Castro’s health after officials on the island announced he had temporarily relinquished presidential power to his brother Raul due to intestinal illness.

“This is a clear reminder that the end of the Castro regime is approaching, and that the only solution is free elections and the rule of law,” said U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Miami late Monday night.

[...]

Outside the famed Cuban restaurant Versailles in Little Havana, a crowd gathered late Monday night. People on the side of the street waved Cuban flags, cheered, danced and hugged as drivers honked their horns.

But Joanna Gonzalez, spokeswoman for Raices de Esperanza or Roots of Hope, an umbrella organization for Cuban-American university students and young professionals, cautioned that the transfer of power to Raul Castro symbolized only a continuation of the current regime.

“We long for the day when power transfers in Cuba are the results of a free, democratic process and reflect the wishes of the Cuban people, not the preordained wishes of a dictator” she said. “Although this transfer of power is being characterized as temporary, the oppression under which the Cuban people live is enduring and continues.”

[...]

Some Cuban leaders said they were surprised that the announcement of his illness was done in such a public manner.

“It’s very early to give an opinion,” said Janisset Rivero, executive director of the Cuban Democratic Directorate, which supports dissidents on the island.

“We will be watching what they are saying in and outside of the island,” she said. “To often it is very different.”

Other Blogging:
Ed Morrissey at Captain’s Quarters:

That sounds like the Castros do not expect Fidel to be recuperating very quickly. If Fidel stays sidelined or declines significantly, one has to wonder how long Raul can hold the government in place. Raul has never had the kind of personality cult that his older brother encouraged for himself. When the strongman of a democracy fails or appears to do so, it causes the men around him to suddenly recalculate their own fortunes.

Blue Crab Boulevard:

I’m going to go out on a limb here. He’s dying. About 47 years too late for a lot of innocent Cubanos, but death is coming for him, and right soon. One hopes he meets all of those he sent to early graves in the afterlife.

One also hopes he fears just that. For every moment he has left.