On November 27

On this day in ...

... 1967, French President Charles de Gaulle announced that he would veto Britain's application to become a member of the European Economic Community. It was the 2d time that de Gaulle had said "Non," even though the other 5 members, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy and Germany, were willing to begin negotiations to admit Britain. Britain would not be accepted until 1969, after de Gaulle had fallen from power.

... 1992, in Caracas, "[d]isgruntled air force units, allied with civilian leftists," attempted a military coup against the President of Venezuela (flag at right). The attempt failed. But the President was removed on account of corruption charges several months later, and eventually a leader of the 1992 unrest, Hugo Chávez, would gain power in the country.

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.