On March 16, but in 1995, almost 130 years late, slavery was abolished throughout the United States after being ratified by the State Senate and the House of Representatives of the State of Mississippi. OTHER EVENTS 1244.- More than 200 Cathar followers, who had refused to deny their faith, are immolated on a pyre raised in the French city of Montsegur. 1521.- Ferdinand Magellan arrives in an archipelago called San Lázaro, the current Philippines. 1541.- The capital of Guatemala returns to the place occupied by the first Guatemala City founded by Pedro de Alvarado, which was destroyed by a volcano. 1734.- The “Gazette of Mexico” appears, the first newspaper published in the country. 1781.- Sir William Herschel discovers the planet Uranus. Although it initially announced the sighting as a comet, it was later confirmed that it was a planet, the seventh in the solar system. - The so-called “community uprising” broke out in the Colombian city of Socorro, which spread throughout much of Nueva Granada and whose hero was José Antonio Galán. 1802.- Founding of the Westpoint Military Academy, the oldest in the United States of which officers such as Robert E. Lee, Douglas Macarthur or Dwight D. Eisenhower will emerge. 1812.- General San Martín creates the grenadier regiment on horseback that bears his name and which exercises the custody of the presidents of Argentina. - Opening of the National Library of Buenos Aires. 1816.- The “Elise”, the first steamship to cross the English Channel, arrives at the French port of Le Havre. 1921.- The Soviet Union, after an agreement with Turkey, invades Armenia. 1968.- Vietnam War: More than 500 Vietnamese, most of them women and children, are killed by American troops in the so-called My Lai massacre. - Abduction of the Archbishop of Guatemala Mario Casariego by the right-wing New Order Antiguerrilla Movement. 1978.- Aldo Moro, leader of the Italian Christian Democracy, is kidnapped by the Red Brigades. 1988.- An attempt by a group of soldiers to force the withdrawal of General Noriega has been aborted in Panama. 1998.- The Vatican asks forgiveness for the Catholic Church's passivity in the face of the Jewish Holocaust. 2002.- The Archbishop of the Colombian city of Cali, Monsignor Isaías Duarte Cancino, is killed by assassins. 2003.- George W. Bush, José María Aznar and Tony Blair, meeting in the Azores Islands (Portugal), give an ultimatum to the Iraqi government. 2010.- During a shooting in a town near Paris, the gendarme Jean-Serge Nérin, the only French policeman killed by ETA and the last murder of the terrorist gang, dies. 2013.- The Eurogroup bailouts Cyprus with 10 billion euros but imposes a withdrawal on all deposits. 2014.- Crimea approves its accession to Russia in a referendum. 2016.- The President of Argentina, Mauricio Macri, obtains the endorsement of the Chamber of Deputies to close the dispute with the “vulture funds” that kept his country out of international markets. - Created an experimental vaccine against dengue, effective in all strains. BIRTHS 1868.- Maximo Gorky, Russian writer. 1892.- César Vallejo, Peruvian poet. 1906.- Francisco Ayala, Spanish writer and academic 1926.- Jerry Lewis, American actor. 1933.- Teresa Berganza, spanish lyric singer. 1941.- Bernardo Bertolucci, Italian film director. 1953.- Richard Stallman, American engineer and computer scientist, founder of the free software movement. - Isabelle Huppert, French actress. 1959.- Jens Stoltenberg, Norwegian politician, NATO Secretary General. DEATHS 1736.- Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Italian composer. 1910.- Juan de Dios Peza, Mexican poet. 1935.- J.J. Richard Mac Leod, Irish doctor, discoverer of insulin, Nobel 1923. 1939.- Selma Lagerlof, Swedish writer, Nobel laureate 1909. 1945.- Pierre Drieu La Rochelle, French poet. 1979.- Jean Monnet, French politician, considered one of the “fathers of Europe”. 1994.- Jacques Doucet, French painter. 2018.- Eduardo Ramos, Cuban musician and one of the founders of the Nueva Trova movement. CHIEF doc/ah
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