istoryworld
Events relating to america
Augusto Pinochet, the only candidate in Chile's presidential election, resigns when he wins less than half the votes cast
Republican George Bush ('read my lips, no new taxes') wins the US presidential election
M. Butterfly, by US author and composer David Henry Hwang, uses Puccini's opera as its inspiration
Paraguayan dictator Alfredo Stroessner is toppled by Andrés Rodríguez, who restores democracy to the country
The supertanker Exxon Valdez spills vast quantities of oil in Prince William Sound, Alaska
Carlos Menem is elected president of Argentina and introduces a free market economy
Uruguay enjoys the first entirely free election since the years of military dictatorship
US sculptor Richard Serra's Tilted Arc is removed from Federal Plaza, New York, after legal action by local protesters
The US unmanned spacecraft Galileo is launched from a space shuttle on a six-year voyage to Jupiter
With the fall of Pinochet, Chile returns eagerly to democracy - electing a Christian Democrat, Patricio Aylwin, as president
President Bush sends 24,000 US troops to occupy Panama City and seize Manuel Noriega
Panama's dictator, Manuel Noriega, is captured by US troops and taken to Miami on drug trafficking charges
The Sandinistas lose the Nicaraguan presidential election, with Daniel Ortega beaten into second place by Violeta Chamorro
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
A Catholic priest, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, is elected president of Haiti and begins a programme of reform
Alberto Fujimori and his newly formed Cambio 90 party win a surprise election victory in Peru
Mikhail Baryshnikov and Mark Morris establish the White Oak Dance Project as a touring company
Julia Roberts and Richard Gere star in Pretty Woman, directed by Garry Marshall
West Indian author Derek Walcott publishes Omeros, an epic poem of the Caribbean
The Piano Lesson is the second of August Wilson's plays to win a Pulitzer Prize
The US rock group Nirvana become the leading performers of grunge
Carl Lewis beats his own previous 100-metre world record, winning gold at the World Championships in Tokyo
Canadian poet and novelist Michael Ondaatje publishes The English Patient
US sculptor Jeff Koons marries one of his favourite subjects, Italian porn star La Cicciolina
