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All Events
The Communist party relinquishes power without bloodshed in Czechoslovakia's Velvet Revolution
With the fall of Pinochet, Chile returns eagerly to democracy - electing a Christian Democrat, Patricio Aylwin, as president
Kenneth MacMillan gives 20-year-old Darcy Bussell the leading role in his new full-length ballet, The Prince of the Pagodas
President Bush sends 24,000 US troops to occupy Panama City and seize Manuel Noriega
Nicolae Ceauşescu and his wife are captured and executed in a Romanian uprising
Alexander Dubcek is Speaker of Parliament and Václav Havel is President in the new democratic government of Czechoslovakia
The old marshalling yards of Kew Gardens station are turned into a housing estate
Aung San Ssu Kyi remains under house arrest, and is not released till 1995
Panama's dictator, Manuel Noriega, is captured by US troops and taken to Miami on drug trafficking charges
South African president F.W. de Klerk announces his radical intention to end apartheid
The Sandinistas lose the Nicaraguan presidential election, with Daniel Ortega beaten into second place by Violeta Chamorro
Nelson Mandela is given an ecstatic reception on his release after twenty-six years in prison on Robben Island, near Cape Town
Racing Demon launches a trilogy on the British establishment by English playwright David Hare
British primatologist Jane Goodall publishes Through a Window, exposing violence and brutality in chimpanzees
The Hubble Space Telescope is launched from a space shuttle and goes into orbit 370 miles (600 km) above the earth
Danish choreographer Peter Martins becomes director of the New York City Ballet
The aged president, Félix Houphouët-Boigny, wins the Ivory Coast's first democratic elections
Aung San Suu Kyi's party wins an overwhelming victory in Burma's general election but the military refuse to hand over power
A Catholic priest, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, is elected president of Haiti and begins a programme of reform
Namibia becomes independent with Sam Nujoma as president
The Conservative government's poll tax is greeted with violent riots in London and a campaign of non-payment
Alberto Fujimori and his newly formed Cambio 90 party win a surprise election victory in Peru
Gérard Depardieu plays the title role in Cyrano de Bergerac, based on the play by Edmond Rostand
Mikhail Baryshnikov and Mark Morris establish the White Oak Dance Project as a touring company
Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi transforms Inkatha into a political party, the Inkatha Freedom Party
