On January 3

On this day in ...
... 1961 (50 years ago today), the United States broke off diplomatic relations with Cuba, and thus closed the U.S. embassy in Havana. Taking this action was President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who would leave office later in the month. The break reflected tensions that had been mounting since Fidel Castro, whom U.S. officials deemed "too anti-American to be trusted," had become Cuba's leader 2 years earlier. Diplomatic relations between the 2 countries have not since been restored.

(Prior January 3 posts are here, here, and here.)

On April 17

On this day in ...
... 1982, Queen Elizabeth II proclaimed Canada's Constitution Act. Effective the next day, the Act ended British authority in Canada, though it remains a constitutional monarchy and part of the Commonwealth. The Act also brought into force the written Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. These events were nominated as a Legal Wonder of the World in IntLawGrrls' contest. (Incidentally, nominations are still being accepted.)
... 1961, with U.S. support by sea and air, 1,400 Cuban exiles landed on "a beach surrounded by a mosquito-infested swamp" at the island country's Bahía de Cochinos. The troops of Fidel Castro, Cuba's Premier, routed the invaders in what has come to be known as the Bay of Pigs fiasco. Speaking of President John F. Kennedy, who gave the green light for an operation that had been in planning well before Kennedy's inauguration 2 months earlier, the BBC wrote:

It was the worst foreign policy embarrassment of his career.

Adiós a Fidel Castro

Until now he was the longest-serving leader of any nation-state in the world; indeed, he's shown at left addressing the U.N. General Assembly in 1960, nearly a half-century ago. This morning that speaker, Cuba's Fidel Castro, resigned and transferred power to his brother, Raúl Castro, at 76 the younger of the 2 by 5 years.
Here's a roundup of some of the commentary already online:
La Prensa, Havana, has the full text of Castro's resignation, in Spanish. And the English version of Castro's address to his "dear compatriots" is available at The New York Times.
Le Monde, Paris, reports on dissidents' "mistrust" and "hope."
Politicos have weighed in, too, among them British Foreign Secretary David Milband and, in the United States, President George W. Bush, Democratic Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and Republican Presidential candidate John McCain. Not a peep so far on Mike Huckabee's website -- nor anything yet found on the web from leaders more friendly to Castro, such as Venezuela's Hugo Chávez.
IntLawGrrls' prior posts on Cuba, a number recounting aspects of that country's decades-long tensions with the United States, are here.