translated from Spanish: Ephemeris Wednesday, March 20, 2020

1583.- Juan de Garay and 40 others die at the hands of the indigenous people while sleeping in the ground, on their journey to Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz (Argentina).
1786.- Foundation of the Swedish Academy by King Gustav III.
1807.- The English seize the city of Alexandria, following the arrival of Napoleon’s army in Egypt.
1814.- The Chilean army, under General O’Higgins, defeats the royal troops, commanded by General Gabino Gaínza, in the fields of Membrillar.
1816.- Mary I, queen of Portugal and mother of Prince John, dies in the Carmelite convent of Rio de Janeiro. John VI is crowned king of Brazil.
1828.- Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian playwright, Nobel Prize 1903, is born.
1852.- Publication of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, by Harriet Stowe, which was a great support for the cause of the emancipation of blacks.
1856.- The Costa Rican Army defeats the hosts of American adventurer William Walker in Santa Rosa.
1861.- An earthquake almost completely destroys the Argentine city of Mendoza and kills more than 10,000 people.
1878.- Salgar-Wyse Treaty, under which Colombia cedes to Lucien Napoleon Bonaparte Wyse the privilege of building the Panama Canal.
1915.- The Spanish astronomer Comas Solá discovers asteroid number 804, which he calls “Hispania”.
1926.- Chiang-Kai-Chek strike in Guangzhou; repression against the communists begins.
1927.- José Guinovart, Spanish painter, was born.
1937.- Lina Morgan, Spanish comic actress, is born.
1945.- World War II. The island of Iwo Yima, defended by the Japanese, is left up to the Americans after a month of fierce fighting, in which 20,000 soldiers were killed on each side.
1946.- The Senate of Puerto Rico passes a bill that restores Spanish as the official language.
1947.- Pedro Emilio Coll, Venezuelan writer, dies.
1950.- William Hurt, an American actor, was born.
1956.- Tunisia proclaims its independence.
1985.- Argentine President Raúl Alfonsín denies his support for President Reagan’s policy of force on Central America in his speech to the U.S. Congress.
.- After 13 days of general strike in Bolivia, military and police forces take over La Paz.
1990.- Victor Rothschild, British financier, dies.
1993.- President Boris Yeltsin dissolves the Russian Parliament and assumes special powers, measures declared unconstitutional three days later.
.- Antonio Quadros, a Portuguese philosopher and historian, dies.
1994.- The Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) wins in the general election held in El Salvador.
.- Zin al Abidin Ben Ali, re-elected president of Tunisia.
1995.- The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) approves the Stability Pact in Paris.
1996.- Approved the law authorizing a public parliamentary trial to the President of Colombia, Ernesto Samper, for the “narcoescándalo”.
2001.- Domingo Cavallo, Argentina’s new economy minister, the third to this month.
.- The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) condemns Peru for a massacre of peasants in 1991 known as the “Barrios Altos” case.
.- The Vatican confirms the existence of sexual abuse of religious by missionaries and priests.
2002.- Nine killed in an attack near the US embassy in Lima three days before President George W. Bush’s official visit to Peru.
2004.- Juliana of the Netherlands, mother of Queen Beatrix, dies at the age of 94, from pneumonia, in the Palace of Soestdijk, near The Hague.
2010.- Pope Benedict XVI apologises for forgiveness from the victims of paedophile priests in Ireland and orders an inspection of the dioceses and seminaries where the abuses were committed.



Original source in Spanish