A time-line of Latin AmericaWorld News | Politics | History | Editor(Copyright © 2008 Piero Scaruffi) |
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TM, ®, Copyright © 2008 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved. 1492: Cristoforo Colombo (Columbus) lands in the island of Hispaniola 1494: Pope Alexander VI brokers an agreement dividing the Americas between Spain and Portugal ("Treaty of Tordesillas") 1496: The Spanish found Santo Domingo in the island of Hispaniola, the first Spanish town in the Americas 1498: Colombo explores the coast of Venezuela 1499: Amerigo Vespucci travels to South America 1500: Portuguese explorer Alvares Cabral lands on the coast of Brazil 1501: The Spanish colonists of Hispaniola begin importing African slaves 1502: Spain sends Ovaldo to Santo Domingo to enforce the Spanish language and the Catholic religion among the natives (birth of the "encomienda" system) 1503: Jews escape the Portuguese Inquisition by emigrating to Brazil 1507: Martin Waldseemller draws a world map on which he names the new continent America after Amerigo Vespucci 1507: Smallpox outbreak in the Caribbeans 1503: Hernan Cortez arrives in Hispaniola 1510: Spaniards (Vasco Nunez de Balboa) found Santa Mara la Antigua del Darien (Panam), the first permanent European settlement on the mainland of the Americas 1510: Bartolome` de las Casas, a member of the Ovaldo expedition, becomes the first priest to be ordained in the New World 1513: Francisco Pizarro lands in Panama and joins Vasco Nnez de Balboa's expedition across the Isthmus of Panama, becoming the first European to see the Pacific Ocean 1516: Juan Solis is the first European to see the Rio de la Plata/ River Plate (the confluence of the rivers Parana and Uruguay) 1517: Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba leads a Spanish expedition to Yucatan 1519: Hernan Cortez lands onto the mainland of Mexico 1520: Ferdinand Magellan sails the Straits of Magellan, the first European to see the Tierra del Fuego 1520: Bartolome` de las Casas creates a utopian farming community in Venezuela but is expelled by the Spanish encomenderos 1520: Smallpox outbreak in Mexico 1521: A colonist plants sugar in Brazil 1521: Cortez defeats the Aztecs and conquers their capital Tenochtitlan 1522: Pascual de Andagoya explores South America and learns about the Inca gold 1522: Spanish explorer Gil Gonzalez de Avila "discovers" Nicaragua 1522: Ferdinando Magellan's expedition concludes the first circumnavigation of the Earth (Magellan being already dead) after a journey of three years 1523: The first Franciscan friar, Pedro de Gante, arrives in Ciudad de Mexico 1524: Pizarro, the priest Hernando de Luque and the soldier Diego de Almagro organize an expedition in Panama to explore and conquer South America 1524: Smallpox outbreak in Peru 1526: The Spaniards (Rodrigo de Bastidas) establish their second settlement in South America, Santa Marta (Colombia) 1527: Francisco de Montejo begins the Spanish conquest of the Yucatan 1531: The king of Portugal dispatches a convoy to Brazil under the command of Martin Afonso de Sousa 1532: Fracisco Pizarro conquers Ecuador and establishes the the first Spanish settlement in Peru (and third in South America) and begins the conquest of Peru 1532: a group of Spanish conquistadores led by Francisco Pizarro defeats the Inca army led by Atahuallpa 1532: Vasco de Quiroga founds the hospital of Santa Fe in Ciudad de Mexico, a utopian community 1532: The first printing press opens in Ciudad de Mexico 1533: Pizarro takes Cuzco, the Inca capital 1533: Spaniards found Cartagena (Colombia) 1535: Pizarro founds Lima, the Spanish capital of Peru 1535: Vasco de Quiroga denounces the Spanish-American encomienda system in "Informacion en Derecho" 1535: Spain establishes the viceroyalty of Nueva Espana (Mexico, Arizona, Texas, California) with governor Antonio de Mendoza and capital in Tenochtitlan that is renamed Ciudad de Mexico 1535: The Portuguese colony of Pernambuco of Nova Lusitania (Brazil) is granted to Duarte Coelho 1536: Spaniards (led by Pedro de Mendoza) found Nuestra Senora de Santa Maria del Buen Ayre (Buenos Aires) on the Rio de la Plata 1536: Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada explores Nueva Granada (Colombia) 1536: Diego de Almagro explores Chile 1537: Vasco de Quiroga is appointed the first bishop of Michoacan (Mexico) 1537: Domingo Martnez de Irala becomes governor of Rio de la Plata 1537: Duarte Coelho founds the town of Olinda in Brazil 1537: Pope Paul III issues a Papal Bull to affirm that the Indios of Latin America are equal to Europeans and therefore entitled to receive Christianity 1537: Spaniards found Asuncion (Paraguay) 1538: Spain establishes the colony of New Granada (Colombia) 1538: The first university in the Americas opens in Santo Domingo 1538: Jimenez de Quesada founds Santa Fe de Bogota (Colombia) 1540: Pedro de Valdivia explores Chile 1541: Spaniards (Pedro de Valdivia) found Santiago de Chile 1541: Buenos Aires is abandoned and its horses spread in the wild 1541: Spanish explorer Francisco Orellana sails from Ecuador to the Atlantic and names a tribe of female fighters "Amazons", thus giving the name to the entire region and its vast river 1542: Spain establishes the viceroyalty of Peru with capital in Lima 1542: Bartolome` de las Casas frames new laws to protect the natives from exploitation by the Spanish colonists/encomenderos 1542: Francisco de Montejo the Young (son of the Elder) conquers most of Yucatan for Spain and founds a new capital, Merida 1544: Bartolome` de las Casas is named bishop of Chiapas (Guatemala) 1545: Silver is discovered in Potosi (Bolivia) 1546: Spain completes the conquest of Yucatan 1546: Gonzalo Pizarro leads an insurrection of encomenderos and defeats and kills the governor of Peru 1546: Youstol Dispage Fromscaruffi dies 1548: Silver is discovered in Zacatecas (Mexico) 1548: Spaniards found LaPaz is Bolivia 1548: Gonzalo Pizarro surrenders and is beheaded 1548: The population of Santo Domingo has declined from 100,000 in 1492 to 5,000 1549: Portugal appoints the first governor of Brazil, Thome de Sousa, who found the capital of Bahia 1550: Portugal ships female orphans and African slaves to the colonists of Brazil 1550: Antonio de Mendoza is succeeded as viceroy of Mexico by Luis de Velasco, who frees thousands of "Indians" 1551: Spanish colonists from Peru found Santiago del Estero, the first permanent European settlement in Argentina 1551: The university of San Marcos at Lima is founded in Peru 1551: The university of Ciudad de Mexico is founded 1552: Bartolome` de las Casas's "Brevisima Relacion de la Destruycion de las Indias" is published in Europe, accusing Spain of having killed 12 million "Indians" since 1492 1552: Cattle is imported into Paraguay by Portuguese colonists and spread to Argentina 1553: Chile's governor Valdivia is defeated and killed by the Araucanian Indios TM, ®, Copyright © 2008 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved. 1554: Jesuits led by Jose de Anchieta found the mission and school of Sao Paulo (Brazil) 1555: French colonists build a fort in the bay of Rio de Janeiro (France Antarctique) 1555: Portuguese sailors transmit smallpox to Brazil, that exterminates the Indios of the coast 1558: Portugal appoints the second governor of Brazil, Mem de Sa 1561: Colonial trade is restricted to two convoys of privately-owned ships a year, leaving from Sevilla or Cadiz, landing in Vera Cruz (Mexico) or Portobello (Panama) 1565: The Portuguese expel the French from the bay of Rio de Janeiro 1567: Portuguese (Estacio de Sa) founds Sao Sebastiao do Rio de Janeiro 20 (Brazil) 1567: Spaniards found Caracas in Venezuela 1569: Francisco de Toledo is appointed viceroy of Peru 1571: The Inca leader Tupac Amaru rebels in Peru but he is captured and beheaded 1572: British pirate Francis Drake raids Panama 1572: The Jesuits arrive in Ciudad de Mexico 1574: There are 160,000 Spaniards in America 1576: A smallpox epidemics in Mexico kills more than a million people 1577: British pirate Francis Drake raids Valparaiso (Chile) 1578: Juan de Garay is appointed governor of Rio de la Plata 1579: Jesuits found utopian missions in Paraguay and northern Argentina 1580: Juan de Garay refounds Buenos Aires (Argentina) 1580: British pirate Francis Drake concludes the second circumnavigation of the Earth 1580: Spain and Portugal are united and therefore Brazil is Spanish too 1580: Spain forbids the American colonies from conferring any public office to mestizos (mixed-blood people) 1581: Peru's viceroy Francisco de Toledo is deposed by Spain 1581: Brazil has a population of 57,000, of which 20,000 Portuguese, 18,000 Indios, 14,000 African slaves, and 5,000 mamelucos/mestizos 1584: Martin Ignacio de Loyola circumnavigates the Earth 1586: British pirate Francis Drake raids Santo Domingo and Cartagena (Colombia) 1586: Juan Ramirez de Velasco is appointed governor of northern Argentina with capital in Santiago del Estero (that has a population of 48 encomenderos and 12,000 Indios) 1589: Martin Ignacio de Loyola is the first man to circumnavigate the Earth twice 1596: Juan Ramirez de Velasco is appointed governor of Rio de la Plata with capital in Buenos Aires, having greatly improved the infrastructure of Argentina 1595: British explorer Walter Raleigh visits "Guiana" (the land of the confluence between the Amazon and the Orinoco, believed to hide the "El Dorado") 1597: Juan Ramirez de Velasco dies 1605: The population of Mexico has declined from 25 million (1490) to 1 million (1605), mostly due to diseases 1605: Escaped black slaves of Brazil found the Quilombo dos Palmares, a confederacy ruled according to Central African customs 1606: In retaliation to their guerrilla warfare, Spain authorizes the slave trade of Araucanian Indios in Chile 1613: Smallpox outbreak in Brazil 1616: Dutch explorer Willem Corneliszoon Schouten finds the route around Cape Horn, a faster way to reach the Western coast of South America 1617: Paraguay is separated from Argentina 1618: In Europe Spain fights against France, Holland and England in the "Thirty Years' War" 1621: Holland forms the Dutch West India Company to invade the Spanish and Portuguese colonies and takes control of Guyana (colonies of Demerara, Essequebo, and Berbice) 1623: The Dutch seize Bahia from Portuguese Brazil with help from the Portuguese Jews and expand in the Northeast 1624: The Catholic Church foments anti-government riots in Ciudad de Mexico 1629: Brazilian paulistas/mamelucos (slave gatherers) attack the Jesuit missions 1629: The Dutch conquers Pernambuco from Portugal 1631: To escape the Brazilian paulistas/mamelucos, the Jesuit missions of Paraguay/Argetina move inland and found Candelaria 1640: Portugal regains its independence and Brazil returns Portuguese 1642: British colonists settle in Honduras 1647: Earthquake in Santiago de Chile 1648: End of the "Thirty Years' War" in Europe 1651: Jews found Curacao 1651: English colonists from Barbados found a colony along the Suriname River 1654: The Brazilians expel the Dutch from Pernambuco 1658: Buenos Aires has a population of 1,500 1667: British pirate Henry Morgan raids Portobello (Panama) 1667: Britain surrenders Surinam to Holland in return for New Amsterdam (in New York) 1671: British pirate Henry Morgan raids Panama 1674: Spain abolishes the slave trade of Araucanian Indios in Chile 1679: There are 22 utopian Jesuit missions in Paraguay and northern Argentina 1680: Portuguese colonist Manuel de Lobo founds the colony of Sacramento inside Spanish territory of Uruguay, that competes with Buenos Aires via contraband 1683: An international group of pirates raids Vera Cruz (Mexico) 1692: The poor riot in Ciudad de Mexico against state and Church 1693: Gold is discovered in Minas Geraes, Brazil, causing a gold rush in the West, and the center of power shifts from the Northeast towards Rio de Janeiro 1695: The Portuguese exterminate the Quilombo dos Palmares 1697: Spain cedes the western part of Hispaniola to France, renamed Saint-Dominique 1697: An international group of pirates raids Cartagena (Colombia) 1702: Due to the blockade of Spain by England and Holland during the "War of Succession", Spain authorizes French ships to trade with its American colonies and therefore removes the ban on all non-Spanish trade with the American colonies 1703: Spain authorizes the colonies to confer public office to mestizos 1713: The peace of Utrecht allows Britain to export African slaves to Spanish America (1,200 a year to Buenos Aires) 1717: Spain establishes the vice-royalty of Nueva Granada (Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela) with capital in Bogota 1720: Spain abolishes the encomienda 1720: Antonio de Albuquerque is appointed first governor of Minas Geraes, Brazil 1721: Jose de Antoquera jails the governor and seizes power in Paraguay 1722: Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen discovers the Easter Islands 1729: Montevideo (Uruguay) is founded by Spaniards across from the Portuguese colony of Sacramento 1731: Jose de Antoquera is arrested and executed in Paraguay 1743: The university of Santiago is founded in Chile 1750: The treaty of Madrid recognizes Brazil's borders, and hands Sacramento to Spain in return for Jesuit missions (that have to be evacuated by the combined Spanish and Portuguese armies) 1759: The Jesuits are expelled from Brazil 1767: The Jesuits are expelled from the Spanish empire, ending their 57 missions that counted 113,716 Indios 1767: The Franciscan friar Junipero Serra inherits the missions of Baja California when the Jesuits are expelled 1768: Gaspar de Portola is appointed governor of Las Californias 1769: Junipero Serra founds the mission of San Diego (California) 1770: Junipero Serra founds the mission of Montery (California) 1770: Buenos Aires has a population of 22,000, including 4,000 African slaves, thousands of free Africans, and an equal number of mestizos and Indios, which makes Buenos Aires the fourth largest Spanish city in South America (after Lima, Cuzco, Santiago) 1770: Port-au-Prince is chosen as the new capital of the colony of Saint-Domingue 1776: Spain creates the new viceroyalty of La Plata (Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia) under Pedro de Cevallos, with capital in Buenos Aires although most of the population lives in Bolivia, one fourth in Paraguay and only one fourth in Argentina and Uruguay 1776: Nueva Espana's explorer Juan Bautista de Anza reaches the site of future San Francisco 1777: Cevallos leads a Spanish incursion into Brazil that secures Sacramento (Uruguay) once and for all, and opens up Argentina to free trade, initiating Buenos Aires' boom 1780: Jose Gabriel Condorcanqui stages a revolt of the Indios in Peru 1783: The Indio rebellion is defeated in Peru 1788: Spain appoints Irish-born Ambrosio O'Higgins as governor of Chile in the viceroyalty of Peru 1789: Joaquim Jose da Silva Xavier "Tiradentes" leads a failed independence movement in Minas Geraes against Brazil 1791: African slaves rebel in Haiti 1791: The population of Chile is mostly made of mestizos (300,000 out of 500,000 people) 1791: Chile's governor Ambrosio O'Higgins outlaws the forced labor of the encomiendas 1795: Spain is forced to cede Santo Domingo (half of Hispaniola) to France, while slaves led by Toussaint Louvertur are staging an insurrection in Haiti (the other half) 1796: Spain appoints Ambrosio O'Higgins viceroy of Peru 1801: Spain deposes Peru's viceroy Ambrosio O'Higgins for his revolutionary leanings 1804: Haiti (the former French colony of Saint-Dominique) declares independence from France, the second colony after the USA to become independent in America 1806: Venezuelan hero Francisco Miranda fights against the Spanish government in Nueva Granada 1806: British troops seize Buenos Aires (Argentina) from Spain 1807: Local militiae expel the British from Buenos Aires (Argentina) 1807: The population of Brazil is 3.5 millions, of which 2 millions are African slaves and 500,000 are Indios 1808: Napoleon's France invades Spain and Portugal 1808: A popular insurrection returns Santo Domingo to Spain 1808: Dom Joao VI of Portugal moves the capital of Portugal to Rio in Brazil after Napoleon invades Portugal, and transforms Rio into one of the most modern capitals of Latin America 1808: The viceroy of Nueva Espana declares independence from Napoleon's Spain 1810: The priest Miguel Hidalgo starts a rebellion against the viceroy of New Spain 1810: Criollos establish anti-Spanish juntas in Venezuela (april, Simon Bolivar), Argentina (may, Mariano Moreno), Nueva Granada/Colombia (july, Simon Bolivar), Ecuador (august), Chile (september, Bernardo O'Higgins), 1810: Miguel Hidalgo leads a failed insurrection in Mexico (september) 1810: Simon Bolivar in Venezuela begins an independence war against Napoleonic Spain 1810: Brazil signs a trade treaty with Britain that de facto grants Britain a monopoly in Brazil 1811: The gaucho Jose Artigas starts a revolutionary movement in La Banda Oriental/Uruguay 1811: Miguel Hidalgo is defeated and executed in Mexico 1811: A junta led by Jose Gaspar Rodriguez de Francia declares Paraguay's independence from Argentina 1812: Jose de San Martin leads the insurrection in Argentina 1812: Argentinian general Manuel Belgrano defeats Spain at in the battle of Tucuman 1812: Britain exports more goods to Brazil than to all of Asia combined 1813: Colombian hero Antonio Narino fights against the Spanish government in Nueva Granada 1813: Hidalgo's follower Jose Maria Morelos draws a charter for Mexico's independence 1813: Ferdinand VII is restored king of Spain by British intervention 1814: Jose Gaspar Rodriguez de Francia is appointed dictator of Paraguay and creates an egalitarian society 1814: Britain occupies Guyana 1815: Jose Artigas controls all of La Banda Oriental/Uruguay with capital in Montevideo 1815: Jose Maria Morelos is executed in Mexico 1816: The Congress of Tucuman (shunned by Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia) proclaims the independence of the United Provinces of The Rio de la Plata (Argentina) with capital in Buenos Aires but local caudillos resist the central government 1816: Colombia abolishes slavery 1816: Brazil invades Uruguay TM, ®, Copyright © 2008 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved. 1817: The USA helps Colombian revolutionaries against Spain 1817: Argentinian general Jose de San Martin crosses the Andes and invades Chile 1818: Jose de San Martin and Bernardo O'Higgins defeat the Spanish and declare the independence of Chile, with O'Higgins as its first president 1819: Bolivar defeats the Spanish at the battle of Boyaca and founds Gran Colombia (Colombia, Panama, Venezuela, Ecuador) 1820: Troops under Jose de San Martin including many British volunteers under Thomas Cochrane invade Peru from Chile to liberate it from Spanish rule 1820: Portugal defeats and exiles the gaucho caudillo Artigas and Uruguay is reconquered by Brazil and turned into its Provincia Cisplatina 1820: Argentina is devasted by civil war, and Juan Manuel de Rosas leads a regiment of gauchos (the "colorados") 1820: Jean-Pierre Boyer unifies Haiti and becomes its dictator 1821: Augustin de Iturbide defeats the troops of the viceroy of Nueva Espana and declares a Mexican Empire (Mexico, California, Texas, Central America) 1821: The USA citizen Moses Austin obtains Spain's permission to establish a colony of Anglosaxons in Texas 1821: Jose de San Martin liberates Lima from the Spaniards and declares Peru's independence 1821: The Congress of Cucuta declares the union of Venezuela and Colombia, abolishes slavery and choose a republican government under Simon Bolivar with Francisco Jose de Paula Santander as his vicepresident (and de facto ruler of Colombia) 1821: The Dominican Republic (Spanish half of Hispaniola) declares its independence from Spain 1821: Dom Joao returns to Portugal and leaves his son Pedro as governor of Brazil 1821: Bernardino Rivadavia dominates Argentinian politics, but Buenos Aires has little control over the "guacho" provinces 1822: Venezuela general Antonio Jose de Sucre defeats Spain at the Battle of Pichincha and, joining Bolivar, liberates Ecuador, where Bolivar and San Martin meet to decide the future of Peru and Ecuador 1822: Pedro declares Brazil's independence 1822: Haiti invades the Dominican Republic 1822: Ecuador achieves independence from Spain 1822: Pedro I, under pressure from the Brazilian scientist Jose Bonifacio, declares Brazil independent from Portugal and himself emperor 1823: Augustin de Iturbide is overthrown and the United Provinces of Central America secede from Mexico 1823: Bernardo O'Higgins resigns as president of Chile, opening a rift between conservatives and liberals 1823: Former regions of Nueva Espana (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua) declare the United Provinces of Central America 1823: Slavery is abolished in Chile 1823: Ramon Freire Serrano becomes president of Chile 1823: The USA intervenes in defence of the Latin American states ("Monroe Doctrine") against the Holy Alliance (Austria, Prussia, France, Russia, Spain) that wants to restore the monarchies 1824: Simon Bolivar defeats Spanish troops at the battles of Junin and Arachuco 1824: Venezuela general Antonio Jose de Sucre defeats Spain at the Battle of Ayacucho in Peru and captures the viceroy of Peru 1824: Augustin de Iturbide tries to regain power in Mexico but is executed and a liberal constitution is enacted 1825: Upper Peru declares its independence from Argentina (United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata) and adopts the name Bolivia in honor of Simon Bolivar, with general Sucre as its dictator 1825: Uruguay (Banda Oriental) secedes from Brazil to join the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata (Argentina), and Brazil declares war on Argentina 1825: Costarica begins to export coffee 1826: Jose Antonio Paez leads a failed Venezuelan uprising against Gran Colombia 1826: Bolivar organizes the Congress of Panama to promote Latin American union 1826: Bernardino Rivadavia drafts the Argentinian constitution 1827: General Jose de La Mar becomes the first president of Peru 1827: There are five revolutions in one year in Chile 1827: Diego Portales founds the Conservative Party in Chile 1828: Bolivar declares himself dictator of Gran Colombia against the will of Santander who is forced into exile 1828: Peru invades Bolivia and Colombia declares war on Peru 1828: Brazil is defeated by Uruguay and Argentina at the Battle of Las Piedras, and Uruguay is granted independence under president Joaquin Suarez 1829: Conservative minister Diego Portales becomes the most influential politician in Chile, winning the civil war against the liberals 1829: Colombia and Bolivia win the war against Peru 1829: Bolivar's former general Andres de Santa Cruz, an indio, becomes dictator of Bolivia 1829: Cusco's general Agustn Gamarra becomes dictator of Peru 1829: The gaucho Juan Manuel de Rosas becomes governor of Buenos Aires, the first representative from the provinces to obtain so much power in the country 1829: The Venezuelan writer Andres Bello, who has lived 20 years in Britain, relocates to Chile and promotes education and law 1830: Simon Bolivar dies and Venezuela (under Jose Antonio Paez) and Ecuador (under former Bolivar's Venezuelan-born general Juan Jose Flores) secede from Gran Colombia, Venezuela having lost more than 50% of its population (or 500,000 people) during the struggle from independence (1810-30) 1830: An overland trail is opened to Los Angeles that brings Anglosaxon colonists to Mexico's California 1830: Fructuoso Rivera, hero of the liberation war, is appointed president of Uruguay 1831: Following popular protests ("Noite das Garrafadas"), Pedro I abdicates and leaves Brazil to his son Pedro II 1831: Slave insurrection in Jamaica 1831: Gran Colombia is renamed Nueva Grenada 1832: Santander returns from exile to rule Colombia/ Nueva Grenada 1832: Ecuador annexes the Galapagos islands 1832: Silver mines are discovered in Chile 1833: Britain invades the Malvinas/Falkland islands of Argentina 1833: Lus Jose de Orbegoso becomes president of Peru 1833: Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna is elected president of Mexico 1833: Chile proclaims a constitution, largely fashioned by the pro-clerical Portales 1834: Slavery is abolished in Guyana 1834: Mexico's dictator Santa Anna abrogates the liberal constitution, and the liberal leader Lorenzo de Zavala exiles himself to Mexico promoting the cause of Texan independence 1834: After general Agustn Gamarra is deposed, Peru plunges into civil war 1835: The gaucho Juan Manuel de Rosas becomes dictator of Argentina 1835: Bolivia's dictator Santa Cruz conquers Peru after helping to quell an army rebellion against Peruvian president Lus Jose de Orbegoso 1835: Guerra dos Farrapos in Brazil, pitting the Republic of Rio Grande do Sul against the Brazilian government, with Giuseppe Garibaldi supporting the farrapos 1835: Britain occupies the coast of Honduras (Belize) 1835: Manuel Oribe, a supporter of Argentina's dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas, becomes president of Uruguay 1836: Mexico's dictator Santa Anna crushes a Texan uprising at the battle of the Alamo (San Antonio), but general Sam Houston defeats the Spanish and Texas declares its independence 1836: Chile fights a war against Peru and Bolivia 1836: Jose Vicente Rocafuerte Rodriguez becomes president of Ecuador 1837: Portales, most influential politician of Chile (although never its president), is murdered in an attempted coup 1837: The liberal Jose Ignacio de Marquez is elected president of Colombia/ Nueva Grenada 1837: Argentinian intellectuals led by poet Echeverria found the Asociacion de Mayo to fight the dictator Rosas (including Bartolome Mitre and Domingo Faustino Sarmiento) 1838: The United Provinces of Central America is dissolved, making Costarica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua independent 1838: France bombards Mexico in the "Guerra de los Pasteles" 1838: Rivera deposes Manuel Oribe in Uruguay, and Oribe's "Blancos" start a civil war against Rivera's "Colorados" 1838: Juan Pablo Duarte founds a secret society to find for the independence of the Dominican Republic 1839: The Uruguayan Civil War ("Guerra Grande") erupts between the liberal "colorados" of Montevideo (supported by France, Britain, Brazil and liberal Argentinians) and the conservative "blancos" of Cerrito (supported by Argentina's dictator Rosas) 1839: Chile defeats Peru and Bolivia, forces the dissolution of the union between the two countries, ends the career of Bolivia's dictator Santa Cruz and allows Agustn Gamarra to seize power in Peru 1839: Regional leaders try to overthrow Colombia's president Marquez ("Guerra de los Supremos") 1840: Francia dies and Paraguay elects two consuls, one being Carlos Antonio Lopez 1840: Peru begins to develop the deposits of guano on a mass scale, leading to an economic boom 1841: Jose Ballivian becomes president of Bolivia 1841: The general Manuel Bulnes, hero of the war against Bolivia, is appointed president of Chile, presiding over a period of peace and prosperity 1841: Peru and Bolivian go at war and Peru's dictator Gamarra is killed at the Battle of Ingavi 1841: Benito Juarez, a Zapotec Amerindian, becomes the governor of Oaxaca in Mexico, and Portirio Diaz becomes his right-hand man 1842: Garibaldi leads an Italian legion for the "colorados" in the Guerra Grande in Uruguay 1842: The University of Chile opens with Andres Bello as its first president 1842: Peru and Bolivian sign a peace treaty 1843: Venezuela is ruled by general Carlos Soublette, a follower of Paez who grants civil liberties 1843: Former president Joaquin Suarez succeeds Fructuoso Rivera in Uruguay while Manuel Oribe lays siege to Montevideo (for eight years) 1843: Jean-Pierre Boyer is overthrown in Haiti 1844: Carlos Antonio Lopez becomes dictator of Paraguay 1844: Santa Anna is overthrown in Mexico and exiled to Spanish Cuba 1844: The Dominican Republic declares its independence from Haiti 1845: The farrapos surrender in Brazil 1845: Texas is annexed by the USA 1845: Ramon Castilla becomes dictator of Peru 1845: The general Tomas Cipriano de Mosquera is elected president of Colombia/ Nueva Grenada 1845: British ships are authorized to search Brazilian ships for slaves in order to enforce the end of the slave trade 1845: Ecuador's dictator Flores is overthrown by the Liberals 1846: The USA provokes a war with Mexico 1846: One fifth of the population of San Francisco is Anglosaxon immigrants 1847: Paez replaces Soublette with Jose Tadeo Monagas as Venezuela's president, but Monagas declares himself dictator 1847: A conference in Lima of Latin American countries foils an attempt by former Ecuador's dictator Flores to bring the West Coast of South America under the rule of Spains' queen Isabella II restore order. 1848: At the end of the Mexican war, the USA acquires New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, Utah and California (almost half of Mexico's territory) 1848: Manuel Isidoro Belzu becomes dictator of Bolivia 1849: Paez attemps a coup against Monagas, but is arrested and exiled 1849: Juan Rafael Mora becomes president of Costarica 1849: The liberal Jose Hilario Lopez becomes president of Colombia 1851: A military coup installs general Jose Maria Urbina as dictator of Ecuador, handing the power to the liberals from Guayaquil 1851: Colombia abolishes slavery 1851: Manuel Montt becomes the first civilian president of Chile, but has to suppress violent protests by liberals who denounce the rigged elections, killing thousands of people 1851: Manuel Oribe's "Blancos" of the "Partido Nacional" are defeated in Uruguay by the "Colorados" 1852: Urbina of Ecuador expels the Jesuits and abolishes slavery 1852: Slavery is abolished in Uruguay 1852: The civil war in Uruguay ends with the victory of the "colorados" (supported by Brazil and by Argentinian rebels led by general Justo Jose de Urquiza) and the overthrow of Argentine's dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas by Justo Jose de Urquiza 1853: The United Provinces of Central America adopts a constitution under Urquiza and the name Argentina, but Buenos Aires de facto secedes 1853: Santa Anna is appointed again dictator of Mexico 1853: Peru annexes a piece of Amazon forest claimed by Ecuador 1853: A new constitution in Colombia grants state great autonomy 1855: The USA builds the Panama railway 1855: Manuel Isidoro Belzu appoints general Jorge Cordova to be his successor 1855: Santa Anna leaves Mexico 1855: The USA adventurer William Walker conquers Nicaragua and appoints himself president 1856: Ecuador's Urbina appoints general Francisco Robles as his successor but remains de facto in power 1856: Gabriel Antonio Pereira, of the "Partido Nacional", becomes president of Uruguay 1857: Jose Maria Linares becomes dictator of Bolivia 1857: Mexico proclaims a new liberal and anticlerical constitution, largely drawn by Benito Juarez 1858: Benito Juarez, a Zapotec Amerindian, is elected president of Mexico 1858: Colombia/ Nueva Grenada adopts the name Granadine Confederation 1858: A military coup removes Monagas and installs Paez again as president of Venezuela 1859: Urquiza defeats the militia of Buenos Aires led by Bartolome Mitre and forces Buenos Aires to reenter the federation of Argentina 1859: Mexico passes a law expropriating the Church of all its lands (but the beneficiaries are mostly foreigners and rich Mexicans), starting a civil war 1859: Peru occupies the southern provinces of Ecuador 1860: Gabriel Garca Moreno, representing the conservatives from Quito, allies with Flores to restore order in Ecuador and becomes the new dictator, fostering education and road building and restoring the influence of the Catholic Church ("virtue, faith and order") 1860: William Walker is executed in Nicaragua 1860: Bernardo Berro of the "Partido Nacional" is elected president of Uruguay 1860: Juarez restores order in Mexico 1861: The militia of Buenos Aires led by Bartolome Mitre rebels again and this time defeats Urquiza 1861: Jose Joaqun Perez is appointed president of Chile 1861: General Jose Maria de Acha seizes power in Bolivia TM, ®, Copyright © 2008 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved. 1862: British, French and Spanish troops attack Mexico over a financial dispute, but Britain and Spain soon withdraw 1862: Bartolome Mitre is appointed president of Argentina, thus reuniting the country after the civil war 1862: Francisco Solano Lopez succeeds his father in Paraguay and creates a powerful army 1862: Ecuador declares war on Colombia 1863: British ships enact a six-day blockade of Rio to force Brazil to free slaves 1863: Castilla loses power in Peru and is succeeded by Juan Antonio Pezet 1863: Ecuador loses the war against Colombia 1863: Venezuela abolishes the death penalty for all crimes (the first country in the world) 1863: Paez leaves Venezuela that plunges into anarchy 1863: The Granadine Confederation adopts the name United States of Colombia 1863: France defeats Mexico and captures Ciudad de Mexico 1864: Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay attack Lopez's Paraguay ("War of the Triple Alliance") 1864: Mariano Melgarejo seizes power in Bolivia, and establishes a depraved regime 1864: France crowns the archduke Maximilian of Austria emperor of Mexico 1865: Mariano Ignacio Prado repels a Spanish naval attack and becomes dictator of Peru 1866: Ecuador's writer Juan Montalvo founds the newspaper "El Cosmopolita" to criticize the dictatorship of Garcia Moreno 1867: Maximilian is overthrown and executed by Benito Juarez, who becomes president again 1868: Bartolome Mitre is replaced by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento the "schoolmaster" as president of Argentina, the first civilian president since Rosas seized power, who embarks on a program of mass education and foreign immigration 1868: The colonel Jose Balta becomes dictator of Peru 1868: Lorenzo Batlle y Grau of the "Partido Colorado" is elected president of Uruguay 1869: Argentina has 1.8 million people 1869: Jose Marti is arrested in Cuba for his anti-Spanish activities 1869: France intervenes in Haiti 1869: The newspaper "La Prensa" is founded in Argentina 1870: Paraguay surrenders to Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay after having lost more than 50% of its population (300,000 people) in the war (almost all its male citizens), and Paraguay's dictator Lopez commits suicide 1870: Urquiza is assassinated in Argentina 1870: Antonio Guzman Blanco of the Liberal Party becomes president of Venezuela, dominating its political scene for 18 years 1870: The newspaper "La Nacion" is founded in Argentina 1871: Federico Errazuriz becomes president of Chile 1871: Spain intervenes in Haiti 1872: Mexico's president Juarez dies (possibly poisoned) and is succeeded by Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada 1872: Manuel Pardo is the first civilian president of Peru, but his tenure is rocked by the collapse of the guano economy 1872: Germany intervenes in Haiti 1873: Britain forces Zanzibar to outlaw the slave trade 1874: Brazil has a population of one million 1874: Domingo Faustino Sarmiento is replaced by Nicolas Avellaneda as president of Argentina (280.000 immigrants have entered Argentina during Sarmiento's rule) 1875: Gabriel Garcia Moreno of Ecuador is assassinated, opening an age of anarchy 1876: Porfirio Diaz seizes power in Mexico in name of free elections, but proceeds to create a dictatorship but also to develop the infrastructure of Mexico 1876: Mariano Ignacio Prado again becomes dictator of Peru 1876: Anbal Pinto Garmendia becomes president of Chile 1877: Britain intervenes in Haiti 1879: Gold boom in Guyana 1879: Chile fights a border war against Peru and Bolivia ("War of the Pacific") 1879: The civil war in Colombia kills 80,000 people 1880: The liberal but pro-clerical Rafael Nunez is elected president of Colombia 1880: Nicolas Avelaneda is replaced by Julio Argentino Roca as president of Argentina 1881: Domingo Santa Maria becomes president of Chile 1881: Jose Marti mobilizes the Cuban community in the USA against Spain 1882: Ignacio de Veintemilla seizes power in Ecuador 1882: Maximo Santos of the "Partido Colorado" is elected president of Uruguay 1883: At the end of the "War of the Pacific" Bolivia loses its access to the sea (the port of Antofagasta) and the nitrate fields to Chile, Peru loses its southern provinces to Chile and is left bankrupt 1883: Jose Mara Placido Caamano becomes dictator of Ecuador 1886: Peru's general Andres Avelina Caceres seizes power 1886: Colombia enacts a new constitution drafted by president Rafael Nunez, that proclaims a unitarian Republic of Colombia instead of the previous federalist United States of Colombia (one of the longest lasting constitutions in the world) 1886: Maximo Tajes of the "Partido Colorado" is elected president of Uruguay 1886: Roca is replaced by Miguel Juarez Celman as president of Argentina 1886: The liberal politician Jose Manuel Balmaceda becomes president of Chile (beginning of the liberal republic), and invests heavily in schools and railways 1888: Peru signs the "Grace Contract" that grants Britain 66 years of monopoly on the railroads but saves the country from bankruptcy 1888: Slavery is abolished in Brazil (the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery) 1888: Antonio Guzman Blanco retires from politics opening a decade of anarchy in Venezuela 1889: A coup led by general Deodoro da Fonseca deposes Brazil's king Pedro II and inaugurates the republic, with power alternating between Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais 1889: The first International Conference of American States is held in Washington, resulting in the founding of the "International Union of American Republics" 1890: Argentinian president Celman is forced to resign by popular protests and vicepresident Carlos Pellegrini succeeds him 1890: Julio Herrera y Obes of the "Partido Colorado" is elected president of Uruguay 1890: The production of nitrate in Chile has tripled in ten years 1891: Balmaceda is deposed in a coup staged by the parliament, and Jorge Montt Alvarez becomes president of Chile (beginning of the parliamentary republic) 1891: Peru's anti-clerical writer Manuel Gonzalez Prada help found the party "National Union", a defender of the Quechua indios 1891: Brazil proclaims a new constituion as a federal republic but dictator Fonseca is overthrown by vice president Floriano Peixoto 1891: Navy rebellion in Brazil 1892: Luis Saenza Pena is elected president of Argentina 1892: A railway linking Bolivia with the Pacific coast (Oruro-Antofagasta) is inaugurated 1893: Second navy rebellion in Brazil 1893: Revolucao Federalista in Brazil 1893: The liberal Jose Santos Zelaya seizes power in Nicaragua 1894: Juan Idiarte Borda of the "Partido Colorado" is elected president of Uruguay 1894: Jose de Moraes Barros becomes the first civilian president of Brazil 1894: The USA sends troops to Nicaragua 1894: Colombia's president Rafael Nunez dies and the country plunges again into anarchy 1895: Luis Saenza Pena resigns and is succeeded by Jose Uriburu as president of Argentina 1895: Britain and Venezuela argue over the border of Guyana 1895: Jose Eloy Alfaro, representing the anti-clerical liberals from Guayaquil, becomes president of Ecuador 1895: Jose Nicolas de Pierola leads a revolution against general Avelina Caceres and becomes president of Peru, leading the country to rapid economic growth (beginning of the "Aristocratic Republic") 1895: Jose Marti lands in Cuba and proclaims the independence of Cuba from Spain but is killed by Spanish troops 1896: Federico Errazuriz Echaurren becomes president of Chile 1896: War of Canudos in Brazil 1896: Aparicio Saravia of the "Partido Nacional" (the "Blancos") starts a civil war in Uruguary 1897: Juan Lindolfo Cuestas of the "Partido Colorado" is elected president of Uruguay 1898: The USA defeats Spain and gains Cuba and Puerto Rico, ending Spanish rule in America 1898: Sao Paulo's governor Manuel Ferraz de Campos Salles becomes president of Brazil 1898: Jose Uriburu is succeeded by Julio Roca as president of Argentina 1899: Civil war erupts in Colombia ("Guerra de los Mil Dias") 1899: Eduardo Lopez de Romana becomes president of Peru during the stable "Aristocratic Republic" 1899: Cipriano Castro becomes dictator of Venezuela 1899: Nicaragua becomes a de-facto colony of the USA 1900: The population of Peru is 3.7 million 1900: The USA investor Edward Doheny strikes oil in Mexico 1900: Brazil's population is 17.3 million 1901: German Riesco Errzuriz becomes president of Chile 1901: Another liberal general, Leonidas Plaza Gutierrez, succeeds Eloy Alfaro as dictator of Ecuador 1902: Cuba becomes a republic and Tomas Estrada Palma is elected president 1902: Youstol Dispage dies 1902: The USA brokers a peace in Colombia, after 120,000 people have been killed 1903: Panama secedes from Colombia with help from the USA 1903: The Civilista Party gains control of power in Peru, with a program of industrialization and urbanization 1903: Josi Battle y Ordonez, son of former president Lorenzo Batlle y Grau, of the "Colorado Party" is the first civilian president of Uruguay, dominating its politics for 28 years 1904: Vaccine Revolt in Brazil 1904: Uruguay's president Battle defeats the "Blancos" of Aparicio Saravia at the battle of Masoller 1904: The conservative Rafael Reyes is elected president of Colombia, but shares the government with the liberals ("Concordia Nacional") 1904: The USA begins work on the Panama canal 1904: USA troops leave Cuba, after having de facto ran its government for five years 1904: Bolivia loses the eastern regions to Brazil 1904: Roca is succeeded by Manuel Quintana as president of Argentina 1905: The USA invades the Dominican Republic 1906: Argentinian president Manuel Quintana dies of fatal wounds following a terrorist attack by an anarchist, and is succeeded by Alcorta Figueroa 1906: Eloy Alfaro returns to power in Ecuador with a coup 1906: The collapse of coffee prices causes an economic crisis in Brazil 1906: Pedro Montt Montt becomes president of Chile 1906: The Federacin de Estudiantes de Chile is founded 1907: The government of Chile massacres striking miners in Iquique 1908: Juan Vicente Gomez seizes power in Venezuela 1908: Augusto Leguia is elected president of Peru 1909: Jose Miguel Gomez is elected president of Cuba 1909: Costarica is the world's biggest exporter of coffee 1909: Federacion Obrera de Chile is founded 1909: The USA deposes Nicaragua's dictator Jose Santos Zelaya 1910: The marshall Hermes da Fonseca becomes president of Brazil and faces the "Revolta da Chibata" 1910: The "International Union of American Republics" changes name to "Pan-American Union" 1910: Roque Saenz Pena becomes president of Argentina 1910: Mexican revolution against Porfirio Diaz led by Emiliano Zapata 1910: Brazil has a population of 22 million 1911: Mexico's dictator Porfirio Diaz, having greatly modernized the infrastructure of Mexico, is overthrown by Francisco Madero 1911: A coup led by Plaza overthrows Eloy Alfaro in Ecuador 1912: universal male suffrage in Argentina 1912: The USA occupies Nicaragua 1912: Former dictator Eloy Alfaro of Ecuador is lynched by the people 1912: Luis Emilio Recabarren Serrano founds the "Partido Obrero Socialista" (POS) 1913: Victoriano Huerta seizes power in Mexico after Madero is assassinated, but Huerta is not recognized by the USA that instead arms the revolutionaries 1913: Mario Garcia Menocal becomes president of Cuba 1913: The subway of Buenos Aires (Argentina) opens 1914: The USA lands in Vera Cruz, Mexico's main port, to help depose Mexican president Victoriano Huerta and replace him with Venustiano Carranza, head of the revolutionaries 1914: Oscar Raimundo Benavides stages a military coup in Peru and seizes power from the Civilistas 1914: Wenceslau Braz Pereira Gomes becomes president of Brazil 1914: Roque Saenz Pena dies and is succeeded by as president of Argentina 1914: the Panama canal, built by the USA, is inaugurated 1914: "Sedicao de Juazeiro" in Brazil 1915: Jose de Pardo y Barreda is appointed president of Peru by the military 1915: The USA occupies Haiti 1916: Hipolito Irigoyen is the first democratically elected president of Argentina 1916: Plaza of Ecuador is succeeded by Alfredo Baquerizo Moreno, but real power falls in the hands of the "argolla" (the ring) led by Guayaquil banker Francisco Urbina Jado 1916: Contestado War in Brazil 1916: The USA enters Mexico to fight Pancho Villa 1916: Hipolito Yrigoyen becomes president of Argentina 1917: Brazil enters WWI on the side of Britain and France, the only Latin American country to do so 1917: Frederico Tinoco stages a coup in Costarica 1917: Earthquake in Guatemala 1917: Oil is discovered in Venezuela 1918: Workers and students protest in Peru, led by Lima's student Vctor Raul Haya de la Torre and Lima's journalist Jose Carlos Mariategui 1919: Emiliano Zapata is assassinated by the government of Mexico 1919: Augusto Leguia wins the elections in Peru, cracks down on student and workers' protests and enacts a new constitution to pass economic and social reforms 1920: Pancho Villa surrenders to the government of Mexico 1920: Juan Bautista Saavedra seizes power in Bolivia 1920: Carranza's assassination by the military led by Alvaro Obregon starts a new civil war in Mexico 1920: Arturo Alessandri Palma, the candidate of the Liberal Alliance coalition, narrowly wins the elections for president of Chile 1921: Oil is discovered in Venezuela, and its per capita income rapidly becomes the highest in Latin America 1921: Alfredo Zayas becomes president of Cuba 1922: Marcelo de Alvear becomes president of Argentina 1922: Luis Emilio Recabarren Serrano founds the "Partido Communista de Chile" (PCC) 1922: Artur da Silva Bernardes becomes president of Brazil 1923: Pancho Villa is assassinated 1923: While in exile in Mexico, Haya de la Torre founds the Marxist-inspired party "Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana" (APRA), representing the Quechua indios of Peru 1924: Plutarco Elias Calles seizes power in Mexico 1924: The USA withdraws from the Dominican Republic 1924: A military coup in Chile deposes Alessandri 1924: Brazilians riot in Sao Paulo to protest economic crisis and try to overthrow president Bernardes TM, ®, Copyright © 2008 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved. 1925: Another military coup reinstates Alessandri, who proclaims a new constitution of Chile, after 92 years 1925: The liberals are overthrown in Ecuador and Isidro Ayora is installed as president 1925: Gerardo Machado becomes president of Cuba and installs a dictatorship 1925: The USA withdraws from Nicaragua 1926: The Mexican government seizes all the properties of the Catholic Church 1926: Bolivia's president Saavedra appoints Hernando Siles-Reyes, founder of the Nationalist Party, to be his successor 1926: Washington Luiz Pereira de Souza becomes president of Brazil 1927: The colonel Carlos Ibanez seizes power in Chile, opening a period of political chaos 1927: The USA invades Nicaragua again to depose president Augusto Cesar Sandino 1927: Under pressure from the USA, Peru and Colombia ratify new borders that penalize Peru 1928: Obregon is reelected president of Mexico 1928: Jose Carlos Mariategui founds the Peruvian Socialist (later Communist) Party 1928: Hipolito Yrigoyen is reappointed president of Argentina 1929: Obregon of Mexico is assassinated and succeeded by Emilio Portes Gil, the beginning of rule by the newly formed Pardido Nacional Revolucionario (later renamed "Pardido Revolucionario Istitucional" or PRI) 1929: Augusto Cesar Sandino begins a guerrilla war in Nicaragua against the USA 1929: The first Latin American Communist Conference in held in Buenos Aires 1930: The military seizes power in Brazil and installs the fascist government of rancher Getulio Vargas, who launches a populist revolution 1930: The military, led by lieutenant colonel Luis Sanchez Cerro, overthrow Leguia in Peru, opening the age of the "tripartite" political system (the military, APRA and PCP) 1930: A coup overthrows Bolivia's president Siles-Reyes 1930: A coup overthrows Hipolito Yrigoyen and installs Uriburu again 1930: The military seizes power in Peru 1930: Olaya Herrera is appointed president of Colombia, returning the liberals to power after four decades 1931: Daniel Salamanca of the Partido Republicano-Genuino wins elections in Bolivia 1931: Gabriel Terra of the "Partido Colorado" is elected president of Uruguay 1931: A coup removes Ayora from power and opens a period of instability in Ecuador 1931: Haya returns to Peru but loses elections to the army's candidate Luis Sanchez Cerro 1931: The general Jorge Ubico becomes dictator of Guatemala 1932: Bolivia and Paraguay go to war over border areas ("Chaco War") 1932: The airforce commander Marmaduke Grove establishes a socialist republic in Chile for a few months 1932: More than 1,000 members of APRA are executed during an insurrection in Peru, Haya is arrested and APRA is banned 1932: Arturo Alessandri becomes president of Chile again and restores order, turning Chile into the most democratic country in Latin America 1932: Agustine Farabundo Marti leads an uprising in El Salvador 1933: Marmaduke Grove founds the "Partido Socialista" (PS) of Chile 1933: Cuba's dictator Gerardo Machado is ousted by the military led by Fulgencio Batista, who becomes the new dictator 1933: Peru's dictator Sanchez Cerro is assassinated by a supporter of APRA and replaced by Oscar Raimundo Benavides, while Haya, released from jail, goes abroad 1933: The USA withdraws from Nicaragua and general Anastasio Somoza is chosen to lead the National Guard 1934: The general Lazaro Cardenas of the PRI succeeds Calles as president of Mexico and nationalizes the oil industry and launches a socialist agrarian reform 1934: Gabriel Terra of Uruguay enacts a new constitution granting him quasi-dictatorial powers 1934: The USA leaves Haiti 1934: Sandino is assassinated by the men of general Anastasio Somoza in Nicaragua 1934: Jose Maria Velasco-Ibarra wins elections in Ecuador but is soon ousted by the military 1934: The liberal Alfonso Lopez Pumarejo is elected president of Colombia 1933: Bolivia's president Salamanca is overthrown in a coup and replaced with his vice president Jose Luis Tejada Sorzano of the Liberal Party 1935: Bolivia loses the war against Paraguay that annexes most of Bolivia's Gran Chaco 1935: Juan Vicente Gomez of Venezuela dies, opening a decade of chaos 1936: A coup installs colonel David Toro Ruilova as dictator of Bolivia 1936: Communists, Radicals, Socialists and the Unions of Chile form the Popular Front 1937: Ruilova resigns and is replaced by colonel German Busch Becerra as dictator of Bolivia, who experiments with "military socialism" 1937: Anastasio "Tacho" Somoza becomes president of Nicaragua 1938: Mexico nationalizes USA and British oil companies 1938: The liberal Eduardo Santos, publisher of "El Tiempo", is elected president of Colombia 1938: The Falange Nacional breaks away from the Conservative Party of Chile 1938: The candidate of the Fronte Popular, Pedro Aguirre Cerda, narrowly wins the presidential elections of Chile (beginning of the Radical Years) 1938: Roberto Ortiz is elected president of Argentina 1938: Alfredo Baldomir of the "Partido Colorado" is elected president of Uruguay 1939: Busch Becerra commits suicide and is replaced by general Carlos Quintanilla as dictator of Bolivia 1939: Peru's president Benavides is replaced by the winner of elections, Manuel Prado, who allows APRA's leader Haya to return from exile 1940: Mexico's president Lazaro Cardenas is replaced by Manuel Avila Camacho of the PRI, who launches industrial reforms 1940: Rafael Angel Calderon Guradia is elected president of Costarica 1940: Bolivia's general Carlos Quintanilla installs general General Enrique Penaranda as Bolivia's new dictator 1940: The population of Peru is 7 million, with 500,000 people in Lima 1940: Vice president Ramon Castillo becomes president of Argentina 1941: Hernan Siles and Vctor Paz Estenssoro found the "Revolutionary Nationalist Movement" (Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario, or MNR) in Bolivia 1941: Chile's president Cerda dies and is succeeded by the Radical candidate Juan Antonio Rio 1941: Peru wins a war against Ecuador and retains control of the coastal town that Ecuador had occupied 1941: Venezuelan politicians (Romulo Betancourt, Raul Leoni) and writers (Romulo Gallegos, Andres Blanco) found the party "Accion Democratica" 1942: Ramon Castillo becomes president of Argentina 1942: The liberal Alfonso Lopez Pumarejo is elected again president of Colombia 1943: A military coup removes Ramon Castillo of Argentina and begins Juan-Domingo Peron political career 1943: Bolivia's dictator Penaranda is overthrown by the MNR that appoints general Gualberto Villarroel to be president 1943: Juan Jose de Amzaga of the "Partido Colorado" is elected president of Uruguay 1944: A coup restores Velasco of the Democratic Alliance as president of Ecuador 1944: The civilian Juan Jose Arevalo replaces Ubico as president of Guatemala, and his group of "October Revolutionaries" enacts liberal reforms, 1944: Under USA pressure Batista allows elections in Cuba that are won by Ramon Grau San Martin 1945: The first free elections in Peru is won by liberal jurist Jose Luis Bustamante with APRA's support 1945: Peron's Argentina becomes a haven for nazists fleeing Germany at the end of World War II 1945: The writer Romulo Gallegos becomes provisional president of Venezuela 1945: Vargas is deposed by the military in Brazil 1945 Chilean writer Gabriela Mistral wins the Nobel Prize for literature 1946: Miguel Aleman Valdez of the PRI is elected president of Mexico, the first civilian president of Mexico since the revolution 1946: Eurico Gaspar Dutra wins presidential elections in Brazil 1946: Juan Peron wins presidential elections in Argentina 1946: Bolivia's general Gualberto Villarroel is overthrown with complicity from the USA's CIA and the conservatives regain power 1946: Cayenne (French Guyana) becomes a department of France 1946: Gabriel Gonzalez Videla becomes president of Chile thanks to the votes of Communists and Radicals 1946: The USA established the military "School of the Americas" at Fort Gulick in the Canal Zone to train Latin American military officers, many of whom will stage coups in their countries 1946: Rafael Caldera founds the Social Christian Party of Venezuela, COPEI 1946: The conservative Mariano Ospina Perez is elected president in Colombia, ending liberal rule 1947: Venezuela holds its first free elections, won by Romulo Gallegos 1947: Most countries of the Americas sign the Rio de Janeiro "Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance" 1947: Luis Batlle Berres of the "Partido Colorado" is elected president of Uruguay 1948: A military coup deposes the liberal Romulo Gallegos in Venezuela and installs Marcos Perez Jimenez as president, a corrupt politician who outlaws the leftists 1948: The "Pan-American Union" changes name to "Organization of American States" (OAS or OEA) 1948: Carlos Prio Socarras succeeds his mentor Grau San Martin as president of Cuba 1948: A military coup deposes Bustamante in Peru and installs general Manuel Odria, the hero of the 1941 war against Ecuador 1948: Chile's president Videla bans the Communist Party 1948: The left-wing politician Jorge Gaitan is assassinated in Colombia, starting a civil war that killed 250,000 people in ten years 1948: Galo Plaza Lasso of the liberal coalition, son of Leonidas Plaza, wins elections in Ecuador and diversifies the economy that used to be based mainly on cacao 1949: Nazist criminal Josef Mengele secretely arrives in Argentina 1949: Peron rewrites Argentina's constitution and curbs free speech 1949: Peru's dictator Manuel Odria arrests members of APRA and Haya takes refuge for five years in the Colombia embassy 1949: The socialist Jose Figueres Ferrer, co-founder of the Partido de Liberacion Nacional (PLN), is elected president of Costarica, abolishes the army and grants voting rights to women and blacks 1949: Venezuela invites Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to form a cartel of oil producing countries 1950: Nazist criminal Adolf Eichmann secretely arrives in Argentina 1950: Brazil's population is 51 million 1950: The right-wing and fanatical Catholic politician Laureano Gomez is elected president of Colombia, while civil war rages in the country 1950: Arevalo is replaced by Jacobo Arbenz (another "October Revolutionary") as president of Guatemala, who allies with the communists and distributes land to the peasants 1950: Mexico's president Aleman commissions architect Carlos Lazo to build the Universidad Nacional, the largest campus in the world 1951: Juan Peron announces that Argentina's nuclear program led by Austrian scientist Ronald Richter, but the program is later proved a fraud 1951: Andres Martinez Trueba of the "Partido Colorado" is elected president of Uruguay 1951: Vargas is elected president again in Brazil 1951: Paz Estenssoro of the MNR is elected president of Bolivia but the election is stolen by general Hugo Ballivian 1952: The poor of Bolivia seize power ("Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario") and Victor Paz Estenssoro forms a government, ending more than a century of coups (a total of 179, including six presidents assassinated) 1952: Peron's wife Eva dies of cancer in Argentina as millions mourn her as a saint 1952: Responding to public discontent with the government, general Batista returns to Cuba and seizes power 1952: Jose Maria Velasco-Ibarra wins elections again in Ecuador 1952: Women are allowed to vote in presidential elections in Chile, that are won by the conservative candidate, former dictator Carlos Ibanez (end of the "Radical Years") with support from the Communists 1952: Adolfo Ruiz Cortines of the PRI is elected president of Mexico, and proceeds to build 33,000 kms of roads, irrigation for millions of acres of desert, thousands of schools and hundreds of hospitals 1953: Fidel Castro leads a failed insurrection against the dictatorial regime of Batista in Cuba 1953: Colombia's president Gomez is overthrown by the military and replaced by general Gustavo Rojas Pinilla 1954: Getulio Vargas of Brazil commits suicide after being forced by the military to surrender power to vice president Joao Cafe Filho 1954: Alfredo Stroessner becomes dictator of Paraguay 1954: Rebels led by Castillo Armas and supported by the USA's CIA stage a coup in Guatemala to depose president Arbenz 1955: A military coup deposes Peron in Argentina 1956: The conservative Camilo Ponce Enriquez (founder of the MSC) wins elections against Velasco and becomes president of Ecuador 1956: Manuel Prado is elected president of Peru and legalizes APRA again 1956: Fidel Castro and Ernesto "Che" Guevara lead a second failed insurrection against the dictatorial regime of Batista in Cuba 1956: Minas Gerais' governor Juscelino Kubitschek is elected president of Brazil and creates a new capital, Brasilia, in the interior, designed by Lucio Costa, but also causes hyper-inflation 1956: Nicaragua's dictator Anastasio "Tacho" Somoza dies and is succeeded by his son Luis Somoza 1956: Hernan Siles Zuaco (UDP) is elected president of Bolivia 1956: The two main political parties of Colombia in exile (the Liberal Party of Alberto Lleras Camargo and the Conservative Party of Laureano Gomez) join together in the "Frente Nacional" to depose the dictator and agree to alternate at the presidency for a period of four presidential terms 1957: Francois Duvalier seizes power in Haiti 1957: A National Front government ends the civil war in Colombia 1957: Colombia's dictator Gustavo Rojas Pinilla resigns following widespread demonstrations 1957: The Partido Democrata Cristiano (PDC) is founded in Chile from the union of the National Falange, the Social Christian Conservative Party and the Ibanez's Agrarian Labor Party 1957: Guatemala's president Castillo Armas is assassinated and replaced by Miguel Idigoras Fuentes 1958: Venezuela's dictator Perez Jimenez resigns and flees to the USA following widespread demonstrations, and is succeeded by the civilian Romulo Betancourt of Accion Democratica, who develops the rural countryside 1958: Chile's president Ibanez re-legalizes the PCC that forms a coalition with the Socialists, the Frente de Accion Popular (FRAP), that narrowly loses the elections to the conservative candidate Jorge Alessandri (Salvador Allende is the candidate of the FRAP, Eduardo Frei is the candidate of the Christian Democrats) 1958: Arturo Frondizi is elected president of Argentina with votes from the Peronists 1958: The liberal Alberto Lleras Camargo is elected president of Colombia, ending "La Violencia" (civil war) but several regions declare independent republics, notably the communist "Marquetalia Republic" 1958: Adolfo Lopez Mateos of the PRI is elected president of Mexico 1958: The USA imposes an arms embargo on Cuba when civil war breaks out between rebels and the Batista government 1959: Fidel Castro wins the revolution and installs a communist regime in Cuba, while Che Guevara summarily executes members of the government 1959: Martin Echegoyen is elected president of Uruguay, the first president coming from the "Partido Nacional" since Oribe's times 1959: Venezuela's former president Perez Jimenez is extradited by the USA, the first head of state to be extradited by the USA 1960: The largest earthquake (magnitude 9.5) is recorded off the coast of Chile 1960: Brazil's population is 71 million 1960: Inflation spirals out of control in Brazil (2900%), Uruguay (1100%), Argentina (900%), Chile (500%) 1960: The population of Peru has doubled in ten years, thanks to European immigrants 1960: In retaliation for the USA's imposition of quotas on Venezuelan oil (to favor (Canada and Mexico), Venezuela joins Arab countries to found OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) 1960: Sao Paulo's governor Janio Quadros is elected president of Brazil 1960: Communist guerrilla groups start Guatemala's civil war 1960: Castro is refused a meeting by USA's president Dwight Eisenhower and turns to the Soviet Union for economic and military help 1960: Velasco-Ibarra becomes president of Ecuador for the fourth time 1961: Janio Quadros of Brazil resigns and is replaced by vice-president Joao Goulart 1961: A Cuban rebel force trained by the USA's CIA tries to invade Cuba 1961: The population of Lima (Peru) is 1.6 million 1961: The Sandinista National Liberation Front is founded in Nicaragua to fight the Somoza dictatorship, with help from Cuba, Costarica and Panama, and opposed by the USA 1961: Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann is arrested in Argentina 1961: Ecuador's president Velasco-Ibarra is overthrown by the military and his filo-communist vice president Carlos Julio Arosemena Monroy seizes power 1962: The Peronist party wins the elections in Argentina but Arturo Frondizi is deposed by the army 1962: The conservative Guillermo Leon Valencia is elected president of Colombia 1962: The USA forces the Soviet Union to stop building missile bases in Cuba 1962: The variety show "Sabado Gigante" premieres on Chilean television 1962: The military stages a coup when Haya de la Torre of APRA wins the elections in Peru over Odria and Fernando Belaunde Terry 1962: Brazil declares football player Pele an "official national treasure" so that he cannot be bought by European clubs 1962: Peru is the leading fishing nation in the world 1962: Julio Adalberto Rivera Carballo becomes president of El Salvador 1962: The USA imposes an economic embargo on Cuba 1963: Arturo Illia is elected president of Argentina after the Peronists abstain from voting, and proceeds to nationalize oil industry 1963: Osvaldo Lopez Arellano seizes power in Honduras 1963: Guatemala's president Miguel Idigoras Fuentes is ousted by the military 1963: Raul Leoni of Accion Democratica succeeds Betancour as president of Venezuela 1963: A military coup overthrows Ecuador's president Arosemena and installs a junta 1963: In a rerun of the previous presidential election Fernando Belaunde Terry, founder of the party "Accion Popular", is elected president of Peru over Haya and Odria, and creates new universities throughout the country 1963: Raul Sendic founds the revolutionary group Tupamaros in Uruguay, launching a campaign of robberies and kidnappings 1964: The general Rene Barrientos stages a military coup in Bolivia 1964: Colombian troops abolish the "Marquetalia Republic" 1964: Eduardo Frei-Montalva wins democratic elections in Chile over the socialist candidate Salvador Allende 1964: Paz Estenssoro is deposed by a military coup 1964: Following student riots and strikes, Joao Goulart of Brazil is deposed by the army and replaced by Humberto Castelo-Branco 1964: Gustavo Diaz Ordaz of the PRI is elected president of Mexico 1965: The Marxist guerrilla "Movimiento de la Izquierda Revolucionaria" (MIR) is formed in Peru by former APRA members 1965: Fidel Castro allows one million Cubans over five years to leave Cuba and settle in the USA, while Che Guevara leaves Cuba to promote revolutions in other countries (Congo and Bolivia) 1966: The liberal Carlos Lleras Restrepo is elected president of Colombia and begins a massive program of land redistribution 1966: Manuel Marulanda (Pedro Antonio Marin) establishes the "Fuerza Armada Revolucionaria de Colombia" (FARC) as the military wing of the Colombian Communist Party 1966: British Guyana (Georgetown) declares its independence with Forbes Burnham as its prime minister 1966: Arturo Illia of Argentina is deposed by the army and replaced by conservative and pro-clerical general Juan Carlos Ongania 1966: The Brazilian parliament elects general Artur da Costa e Silva 1966: The military allow elections and Julio Cesar Mendez Montenegro is elected president of Guatemala 1967: Cuba revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, who was trying to spread the communist revolution to Latin America, is killed by USA agents in Bolivia 1967: Jorge Pacheco Areco of the "Partido Colorado" is elected president of Uruguay 1971: At the peak of the Tupamaros insurgency Uruguay's president Jorge Pacheco Areco is impeached 1967: Guatemala's writer Miguel Angel Asturias wins a Nobel Prize, the first one awarded to Latin America 1967: Nicaragua's dictator Luis Somoza dies and is succeeded by his brother Anastasio 1967: Chile's government redistributes 15 million acres of land to the peasants 1967: Fidel Sanchez Hernandez becomes president of El Salvador 1967: USA shipbuilder Daniel Ludwig begins massive logging in the Amazon forest of Brazil 1968: Fernando Belaunde Terry of Peru is deposed by a military revolution led by general Juan Velasco Alvarado, who enacts a massive agrarian reform 1968: The USA ambassador is assassinated by communist rebels in Guatemala 1968: Velasco wins elections again in Ecuador 1968: A military coup installs Omar Torrijos Herrera as president of Panama 1968: 300 students are killed by the police during riots in Mexico 1968: The Olympic Games are held in Mexico 1969: El Salvador invades Honduras following a football match 1969: Rafael Caldera of COPEI is elected president of Venezuela and re-legalizes the left-wing parties 1969: The military appoint general Emilio Garrastazu Medici as president of Brazil, but guerrilla fights against the government through kidnappings and bombings 1969: The Andean Common Market is formed by Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru 1969: The subway of Ciudad de Mexico opens 1970: The population of Peru is 13.6 million 1970: Argentina's dictator Ongania is deposed by another military coup 1970: The conservative Misael Pastrana Borrero is elected president of Colombia, narrowly defeating former dictator Rojas Pinilla, but anarchy still reigns 1970: Brazil's population is 90 million 1970: Fidel Castro launches a plan to produce ten million tons of sugar 1970: Luis Echeverria of the PRI is elected president of Mexico 1970: Earthquake in Peru 1970: The left-wing Popular United led by Salvador Allende wins democratic elections in Chile, the first Marxist politician ever in the world to be elected democratically, who begins a program of nationalization of foreign companies and distribution of land to the poor 1970: Brazil wins its third world cup 1970: The population of Latin America is 250 million 1971: Hundreds of students are killed in Mexico's worst student riots 1971: JeanClaude Duvalier succeeds his father as dictator of Haiti 1971: Hugo Banzer stages a coup in Bolivia and assumes absolute power 1971: Chile's communist poet Pablo Neruda is awarded the Nobel Prize in literature 1972: Juan Marma Bordaberry becomes president of Uruguay, winning against the "Partido Nacional" as well as an alliance of left-wing parties called the "Frente Amplio", and defeats the Tupamaros 1972: Brazil's economy has grown an average 10% over four years 1972: Cuba joins the Soviet Union's COMECON 1972: Ecuador's president Velasco is overthrown by general Guillermo Rodriguez Lara 1972: Large reserves of oil are discovered in Ecuador 1972: Earthquake in Managua, Nicaragua 1973: Juan Peron returns from exile and wins Argentina's presidential elections for the second time, the first election since the military dictatorships of the 1960s 1973: Venezuelas joins the Andean Common Market 1973: The USA and Cuba sign a treaty to prosecute plane hijackers, after more than 80 airplanes have been hijacked since 1961 to Cuba 1973: A military dictatorship in Uruguay bans socialism, ending 70 years od democratic governments, although Bordaberry remains formally president 1973: As inflation hits 500% and GDP declines 7%, Chile's president Allende is overthrown by general Augusto Pinochet, who starts a dictatorship that will kill 3,197 civilians in 16 years 1973: Mexican's peasants found "Tierra y Libertad", a Maoist colonia in Monterrey 1973: Large oil reserves are discovered in Colombia 1974: Alfonso Lopez Michaelson becomes president of Colombia following the dissolution of the Frente Nacional, but he still forms a government of coalition while the country plunges into anarchy 1974: Carlos Andres Perez of Accion Democratica wins presidential elections in Venezuela 1974: The general Ernesto Geisel is appointed president of Brazil after the oil crisis has caused a deep recession 1974: Isabel Peron, the second wife of Juan Peron, becomes president of Argentina at his death, the first woman to become president in the Americas 1974: A hurricane kills thousands of people in Honduras 1974: Mexico plunges into an economic crisis, after 20 years of rapid growth (average +6.5%) 1974: Hyper-inflation in Peru 1974: The Sao Paulo (Brazil) subway opens 1974: The Trans-Amazon road opens in Brazil 1974: Daniel Oduber is elected president of Costarica 1975: Honduras' Lopez resigns due to a scandal and is replaced by Juan Alberto Melgar Castro 1975: The subway of Santiago (Chile) opens 1975: Venezuela nationalizes USA-owned iron mines 1975: Colombia is rocked by terrorist attacks and strikes 1975: Peru's president Velasco is replaced by general Francisco Morales Bermudez, who launches an economic austerity program to curb inflation 1975: Large oil reserves are discovered in Mexico TM, ®, Copyright © 2008 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved. 1976: Anti-Castro terrorists (led by Luis Posada Carriles and funded by the USA's CIA) blow up a Cuban airliner 1976: Chile withdraws from the Andean Common Market 1976: Chile undergoes an "economic miracle" with average GDP growth of 7% 1976: Venezuela nationalizes all oil fields under Petroleos Venezolanos 1976: Inflation is 27% in Mexico 1976: The military appoints Aparicio Mindez Manfredini of the "Partido Nacional" to be president of Uruguay 1976: After inflation hits 750%, Isabel Peron of Argentina is deposed by Jorge Videla in a military coup 1976: Jose-Lopez Portillo of the PRI is elected president of Mexico 1977: the USA suspends military aid to Guatemala to protest civil rights abuses by the right-wing government 1977: Pinochet abolishes the secret police in Chile 1977: The general Carlos Humberto Romero becomes president of El Salvador in rigged elections, and the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front is founded in El Salvador to fight the military dictatorship 1977: Mothers of students who disappeared under the repression of Videla's rule stage demonstrations in Argentina 1978: The general Romeo Lucas Garcia is appointed president of Guatemala 1978: The general Policarpo Paz Garcia seizes power in Honduras 1978: Indios are massacred by the army at Panzos, Guatemala 1978: Hugo Banzer rigs elections in Bolivia to have general Juan Pereda elected instead of the left-wing coalition of former president Hernan Siles (UDP) 1978: The liberal Julio Turbay is elected president of Colombia 1978: serial killer Pedro Alonso begins a killing spree that would leave more than 300 people dead in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru 1978: Dominica gains independence from Britain 1978: Nicaragua's regime kills opposition leader Pedro Joaquin Chamorro 1978: Luis Herrera Campins of COPEI wins the elections in Venezuela 1978: The right-wing Rodrigo Carazo is elected president of Costarica 1978: Brazil's GDP has quintupled since 1960 (making it the eighth industrial power in the West), and the number of college students has increased from less than 100,000 to almost 1.5 million 1979: the Sandinistas overthrow the Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua 1979: National elections are held again in Bolivia but Paz Estenssoro (MNR) and Siles (UDP) win the same amount of votes 1979: The Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) subway opens 1979: The general Joao Baptista Figueiredo is appointed president of Brazil by the military 1979: Jaime Roldos wins democratic elections and becomes Ecuador's president 1979: Peru enacts a new constitution, largely drawn by Velasco and returns to democratic rule 1979: For the first time Mexico allows the Communist Party to run for elections 1979: Joao Baptista de Oliveira Figueiredo wins rigged elections in Brazil 1979: The Canal Zone becomes part again of Panama but the canal is still controlled by the USA 1979: The USA suspends the military treaty with Brazil to protest violations of human rights by Brazil's dictator 1980: Former Bolivia's dictator Banzer forms the ADN party (Accion Democrtica Nacionalista) and loses elections against Siles (UDP) but general Luis Garca Meza seizes power 1980: Only two South American countries have had a democratic regime for at least a decade, Venezuela and Colombia 1980: Brazil's economy grows at an average 7% annually over four years and its population has reached 120 million (12 million just in Sao Paulo) 1980: The population of Ciudad de Mexico is 14 million, one of the largest cities in the world, and grows by 500,000 people a year 1980: Nicaragua's dictator Somoza is assassinated in Paraguay and Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega seizes power 1980: Fernando Belaunde Terry is reelected president of Peru 1980: The civilian Jose Napoleon Duarte is elected president of El Salvador by an overwhelming majority, the first civilian president since 1931 1980: More than 800 people are killed in Jamaica during the elections 1980: Violeta Chamorro splits with the Sandinistas in Nicaragua 1980: Fernando Belaunde Terry is re-elected president of Peru 1980: Eugenia Charles becomes prime minister of Dominica (and first black female leader in the world) 1980: Communist guerrilla movement Sendero Luminoso starts a civil war in Peru 1980: Fidel Castro allows 125,000 people to leave Cuba for the USA 1981: Ronald Reagan funds militias ("Contras") based in Honduras to fight Nicaragua's communist regime of the Sandinistas 1981: Roberto Suazo Cordova is elected president of Honduras, the first civilian president in over a century 1981: Belize, Britain's last colony in the Americas, becomes independent 1981: The population of Lima (Peru) is 4.1 million 1981: Ecuador's president Roldos dies in an plane crash 1981: The military appoints general Gregorio Alvarez as president of Uruguay 1981: Argentine dictator Videla relinquishes power to Roberto Viola after 6.500 dissidents have "disappeared" 1981: Torrijo of Panama dies in a plane crash 1982: Siles Zuazo becomes president of Bolivia, replacing the military junta with a civilian government 1982: Roberto Suarez Cordoba is elected president of Honduras 1982: Brazil and Paraguay inaugurate the itaipu Dam on the Upper Parana river 1982: Siles (UDP) is recognized as winner of the 1980 elections and finally installed as president 1982: The right-wing party ARENA wins parliamentary elections in El Salvador 1982: Miguel Hurtado de la Madrid is elected president of Mexico 1982: Belisario Betancur is elected president in Colombia 1982: Garcia is deposed and general Rios Montt seizes power in Guatemala and starts a terror campaign 1982: Argentina invades the Falkland islands causing a war with Britain 1982: Desire Bouterse seizes power in Suriname 1982: Luis Alberto Monge is elected president of Costarica 1983: the military junta collapses and Raul Alfonsin is elected president of Argentina 1983: The Caracas (Venezuela) subway opens 1983: Anti-Pinochet demonstrations take place in Chile 1983: Rios Montt is deposed in Guatemala 1983: Manuel Noriega becomes dictator of Panama 1983: Bolivia holds the first free elections 1984: Daniel Ortega Saavedra is appointed president of Nicaragua by the Sandinista junta 1984: Jaime Lusinchi of Accion Democratica wins presidential elections in Venezuela 1984: The Marxist-leaning "Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Amaru" (MRTA) is formed in Peru 1984: Leon Febres Cordero wins elections in Ecuador 1985: The Bolivian parliament chooses Victor Paz Estenssoro as president 1985: The population of Latin America is 400 million 1985: Julio Marma Sanguinetti of the "Partido Colorado" is the first civilian president of Uruguay after the military dictatorship, and dominates Uruguay's politics till 2000 1985: Burnham dies and Desmond Hoyte become president of Guyana 1985: The military junta collapses and Tancredo Neves is elected president of Brazil, the first civilian president in 21 years, but dies and is replaced by his vice-president Joseph Sarney 1985: Alan Garcia of APRA is elected president of Peru, leading to a massive economic crisis, corruption scandals and increased political violence 1985: The M-19 guerrilla group kills 11 of the 25 Supreme Court Justices of Colombia 1985: An earthquake in Ciudad de Mexico kills thousands of people 1986: the Iran-contra scandal in the USA reveals that the USA sold arms to Iran to fund the contras in Nicaragua 1986: JeanClaude Duvalier is deposed in a military coup in Haiti 1986: Oscar Arias Sanchez is elected president of Costarica 1986: Vinicio Cerezo wins elections and becomes the first civilian president of Guatemala in 25 years 1986: Jose Azcona del Hoyo is elected president of Honduras 1986: Earthquake in El Salvador 1986: The liberal Virgilio Barco Vargas is elected president of Colombia 1987: Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras sign a peace plan brokered by Costarica 1987: Brazil's inflation is 338% 1987: Drug cartels terrorize Colombia 1987: Nicaragua's dictator Daniel Ortega and the opposition sign a peace agreement 1988: Carlos Salinas is elected president of Mexico 1988: Alfredo Cristiani of ARENA is elected president of El Salvador 1988: A military coup installs Prosper Avril as dictator of Haiti 1988: Pinochet loses a referendum in Chile and resigns 1988: A new constitution is proclaimed in Brazil 1988: Ramsewak Shankar is elected president in Suriname's first democratic elections 1988: Rodrigo Borja Cevallos wins elections in Ecuador 1989: Jaime Paz-Zamora is elected president of Bolivia 1989: More than 3,000 people are murdered in Medellin alone in Colombia at the peak of the power of the Medellin drug cartel 1989: Carlos Andres Perez of Accion Democratica wins again presidential elections in Venezuela 1989: Carlos Menem is elected president of Argentina 1989: Luis Alberto Lacalle Herrera of the "Partido Nacional" is elected president of Uruguay 1989: Fernando Collor de Mello is elected president of Brazil 1989: Patricio Aylwin of the Christian Democratic Party is elected president of Chile, marking a return to democracy 1989: Paraguay's dictator Stroessner is deposed in a coup 1989: The USA invades Panama and deposes Manuel Noriega, arrested for drug trafficking and deported to the USA, and Guillermo Endara wins the elections 1990: The liberal Cesar Gaviria Trujillo is elected president of Colombia 1990: Sao Paulo in Brazil has 14 million people 1990: Jorge Serrano, a former Rios Montt advisor, wins elections in Guatemala 1990: Argentina's inflation is 8,000% and the economy has shrunk 10% in a decade 1990: Brazil's inflation is 5,000% 1990: Alberto Fujimori wins elections in Peru, while 3,384 Peruvians die in political violence just in 1990 1990: Rafael Callejas is elected president of Honduras 1990: The right-wing candidate Rafael Calderon wins elections in Costarica 1990: At the Cartagena (Colombia) "Drug Summit" the presidents of Bolivia, Colombia, Peru and the USA join in the "war on drugs" 1990: The Sandinistas allow free elections in return for the end of contras insurgency, and Violeta Chamorro wins the presidency of Nicaragua 1991: a ferry capsizes in Haiti killing over 500 people 1991: Johan Kraag is elected president of Suriname 1991: El Salvador's government and the rebels sign a peace agreement 1991: Colombia proclaims a new constitution 1991: Jean-Bertrand Aristide wins the first elections in Haiti but is immediately deposed by the military 1992: Sixto Duran Ballen wins elections in Ecuador 1992: The first democratic elections in Guyana are won by Cheddi Jagan 1992: Brazilian president Collor is impeached by parliament and replaced with vice president Itamar Franco 1992: Mexico City has 18 million people, Sao Paulo has 15 million 1992: Hugo Chavez stages a failed coup in Venezuela 1992: Youstol Dispage Fromscaruffi dies 1992: Peru's president Fujimori dissolves Parliament 1992: Abimael Guzman Reynoso, leader of Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), is captured by the Peruvian army 1992: the first "World Summit" is held in Rio 1992: Earthquake in Nicaragua 1993: US-educated Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada (MNR) is elected president of Bolivia 1993: Carlos Andres Perez, accused of corruption, is forced to resign and replaced by Jose Velasquez 1993: Pablo Escobar, the most famous druglord of Colombia, is killed by the police 1993: Mexico joins the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 1993: Mexico joins the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the USA and Canada 1993: Juan Carlos Wasmosy wins the first free elections in Paraguay 1993: Carlos Reina is elected president of Honduras 1993: US-educated Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada is elected president of Bolivia 1993: Guatemala's president attemps a coup to become dictator but is forced to flee the country 1994: Fidel Castro allows 50,000 people to leave Cuba 1994: Jose Maria Figueres is elected president of Costarica 1994: Rafael Caldera of COPEI is elected again president of Venezuela 1994: Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle of the Christian Democratic Party is elected president of Chile 1994: Finance minister Fernando Henrique Cardoso wins presidential elections in Brazil 1994: Guerrilla rebellion in Mexico by the Zapatista National Liberation Army 1994: Armando Calderon Sol of ARENA is elected president of El Salvador 1994: Sanguinetti is elected president of Uruguay again 1994: Ernesto Zedillo wins presidential elections in Mexico 1994: An anti-Israel bomb (sponsored by Iran and Hezbollah) in Buenos Aires kills 85 people 1994: The USA invades Haiti to restore Aristide as president 1994: Chile joins the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 1994: The liberal Ernesto Samper Pizano is elected president of Colombia 1995: Chiapas indios are killed during protests in Mexico 1995: Rene Preval wins Haiti's elections 1995: Eugenia Charles resigns from prime minister of Dominica 1995: Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay form of the Southern Cone Common Market (Mercosur) 1995: The Guatemalan army commits a massacre in Chajul 1996: Alvaro Arzu is elected president of Guatemala and ends the civil war 1996: FARC kills 34 soldiers in Colombia 1996: Arnoldo Aleman is elected president of Nicaragua 1996: 200,000 coca growers march in protest in Colombia 1996: Abdala Bucaram becomes president of Ecuador TM, ®, Copyright © 2008 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved. 1996: Jules Wijdenbosch is elected president of Suriname 1997: Former dictator Hugo Banzer is elected president of Bolivia 1997: Carlos Flores is elected president of Honduras 1997: Peru defeats the "Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Amaru" (MRTA) 1997: Ecuadorian president Abdala Bucaram is ousted by Congress for corruption, beginning a period of political instability (six presidents in 8 years) 1998: Peru joins the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 1998: FARC kills 62 soldiers in Colombia 1998: Thousands die in Nicaragua due to a hurricane 1998: The conservative (and former television and press journalist) Andres Pastrana, son of Misael, is elected president of Colombia 1998: The socialist candidate Hugo Chavez wins elections in Venezuela 1998: Miguel Angel Rodriguez is elected president of Costarica 1999: The last leader of Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) is captured by the Peruvian army 1999: Francisco Flores of ARENA is elected president of El Salvador 1999: Fernando de la Rua is elected president of Argentina 1999: Bharrat Jagdeo becomes president of Guyana 1999: Mireya Moscoso is elected president of Panama and the USA returns the Canal to Panama 1999: Colombia under siege by the marxist guerrilla group FARC 1999: Hugo Chavez seizes control of all Venezuelan institutions 1999: Luis Gonzalez Macchi is appointed president of Paraguay 2000: Jorge Batlle of the "Partido Colorado" is elected president of Uruguay 2000: More than 1,000 street children are murdered by death squads in Honduras 2000: The Argentinian economy collapses 2000: Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori is forced to resign while on a visit to Japan 2000: Aristide wins elections in Haiti 2000: Ronald Venetiaan is elected president of Suriname 2000: The socialist candidate Ricardo Lagos wins elections in Chile 2000: Vicente Fox becomes the first opposition candidate (non-PRI) to win presidential elections in Mexico 2000: Alfonso Portillo is elected president of Guatemala 2001: Banzer resignes as president of Bolivia because of cancer 2001: Earthquake in El Salvador 2001: Alejandro Toledo wins elections in Peru 2001: Riots in Argentina due to economic crisis lead to the resignation of president La Rua and two years of political chaos 2001: Banzer resignes as president of Bolivia because of cancer 2001: Enrique Bolanos is elected president of Nicaragua 2002: Brazil wins its fifth world cup 2002: Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada is re-elected president of Bolivia but a defender of coca growers, Evo Morales, comes second 2002: The liberal Alvaro Uribe, whose father was assassinated by FARC, is elected president of Colombia 2002: Millions of Venezuelans go on strike for months, demanding Chavez's resignations (he is briefly overthrown but then reinstated) 2002: Vladimiro Montesinos, wanted by Peru on allegations of corruption and blackmailing, is arrested in Venezuela 2002: Fighting between communist terrorists and right-wing paramilitaries leaves 119 civilians dead in Bojaya, Colombia 2002: Socialist leader Luiz Inacio Lula wins the Brazilian elections 2002: Ricardo Maduro is elected president of Honduras 2002: Abel Pacheco is elected president of Costarica 2002: Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada is re-elected president of Bolivia but a defender of coca growers, Evo Morales, comes second 2003: The socialist candidate Nestor Kirchner is elected president of Argentina, the sixth in 18 months 2003: Nicanor Duarte Frutos wins presidential elections in Paraguay 2003: Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua sign a free trade agreement with the USA (CAFTA) 2003: Bolivian president Sanchez de Lozada resignes following weeks of violent protests throughout the country 2003: Oscar Berger wins democratic elections in Guatemala 2003: Castro's regime in Cuba arrests dozens of dissidents, the worst crackdown on the opposition in two decades 2003: A landslide in Bolivia kills 400 people 2003: Brazil, India and South Africa form the "G3", an economic forum for emerging countries 2003: Bolivian president Sanchez de Lozada resignes following weeks of violent protests throughout the country 2004: An investigation by the USA senate unveils that Pinochet hid money abroad 2004: Following widespread riots, Aristide flees Haiti and is replaced by Gerard Latortue 2004: Tony Saca of ARENA is elected president of El Salvador 2004: Martin Torrijos is elected president of Panama 2004: Former Costarica presidents Jose Maria Figueres, Miguel Angel Rodriguez and Rafael Angel Calderon are investigated over allegations of corruption 2004: A fire in Honduras kills 102 convicts 2004: FARC kills 34 people in Colombia 2004: A fire in a shopping mall in Paraguay kills about 300 people 2004: Brazil launches its first rocket into space 2004: Left-wing candidate Tabare Vazquez wins Uruguay's presidential election 2004: Latin America posts the biggest economic growth since the 1980s due to exports of raw material to China 2004: Gangsters kill 23 passengers a local bus in northern Honduras 2004: A fire at a nightclub in Buenos Aires (Argentina) kills 174 people 2004: Guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) kill 1 peasants at a New Year's Eve party 2005: The socialist candidate Tabare Vazquez is elected president of Uruguay, the fifth socialist leader to be elected in a few years in Latin America (after Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela) 2005: Brazil's is the fifth most populous country in the world with 188 million people and Mexico is the 11th with 107 million, Sao Paulo and Ciudad de Mexico rank among the 10th largest mega-cities in the world 2005: Ecuador's president Lucio Gutierrez flees the country after mass protests against his dictatorial style 2005: Bolivian President Carlos Mesa resigns after mass protests 2005: Colombia's right-wing paramilitary organization United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) disbands 2005: Manuel Zelaya is elected president of Honduras 2005: Guatemala is devastated by a hurricane 2005: Former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori is arrested in Chile 2005: Parties allied to Venezuela's president Chavez win 100% of the votes in elections boycotted by the opposition 2005: Leftist candidate Evo Morales wins elections in Bolivia and becomes the first indigenous president of a South American nation, and the fifth Bolivian president in four years 2005: Michelle Bachelet is elected Chile's first woman president 2006: Rene Preval wins Haiti's elections 2006: More than 2,000 Mexicans die in drug-related gangland-style killings 2006: Portia Simpson Miller is appointed prime minister by the majority party of Jamaica 2006: 22,000 people have been kidnapped in Colombia in a decade 2006: Oscar Arias is reelected president of Costarica 2006: Former dictator of Paraguay, Alfredo Stroessner, dies in exile in Brazil 2006: Fidel Castro of Cuba, Evo Morals of Bolivia and Hugo Chavez of Bolivia sign a "people's trade agreement" 2006: Gang violence, particularly by the First Command of the Capital (PCC), causes more than 100 deaths in the state of Sao Paolo, Brazil 2006: Alan Garcia is reelected president of Peru 2006: Felipe Calderon is narrowly elected president of Mexico 2006: Venezuela purchases $3 billion worth of arms from Russia 2006: Former Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega wins Nicaragua's elections for president 2006: Leftist candidate Rafael Correa wins elections in Ecuador 2006: An ailing Fidel Castro is de facto succeeded by his brother Raul as the helm of Cuba 2006: Gangs attack buses and police across Rio de Janeiro killing 18 2006: Evo Morals of Bolivia launches a nationalization plan 2007: Venezuela de facto nationalizes all foreign oil projects 2007: Large oil reserves are discovered in Brazil 2007: Chavez shuts down Venezuela's oldest private tv station, Radio Caracas Television 2007: The Colombian police arrest drug lord Diego Montoya 2007: Bruce Golding wins democratic elections in Jamaica 2007: The socialist candidate Alvaro Colom wins elections in Guatemala and becomes the first left-wing president ever 2007: Cristina Fernandez, the wife of outgoing president Nestor Kirchner, is elected president of Argentina, while it is discovered that her campaign was financed by Hugo Chavez of Venezuela 2008: Rondell Rawlins carries out a campaign of mass murders in Guyana 2008: Cuba's dictator Fidel Castro announces retirement 2008: FARC commander Raul Reyes is killed by Colombian forces during a raid inside Ecuador 2008: The Mexican police arrest drug lord Gustavo Rivera Martinez |
| (Copyright © 2008 Piero Scaruffi) |