Fidel Castro has reiterated he has no plans to retire as Cuba's president after 47 years in power and voiced confidence that younger leaders coming up through the ranks of the Communist party, military and government will carry on his legacy.

"In general I feel good. Most of all I feel energetic and enthusiastic about things," Mr Castro told Ignacio Ramonet, the director of Le Monde Diplomatique, in an interview published by the Spanish newspaper El País on Sunday.