1449 – LORENZO DE MEDICI. The statesman and patron Lorenzo De Medici, also known as “the Magnificent” for his contribution to the arts in the Renaissance, was born in the city-state of Florence. He was a patron of great artists, such as Botticelli, the brothers Antonio and Piero Pollaiolo and Verrocchio, among others. His death marked the end of the Golden Age of Florence.
1818 – FRANKENSTEIN. In London, the first edition of the novel “Frankenstein or the modern Prometheus” by the English writer Mary Shelley, a work of the romantic gothic genre that became a horror film classic, goes on sale. The first Frankenstein film was released in 1931, starring Boris Karloff and Colin Clive, based on Peggy Webling’s play of the same name.
1863 – PIERRE E. COUBERTIN. The French educator and historian Pierre de Coubertin, better known as Baron de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games and the Pentathlon, was born in Paris.
1905 – INDEPENDENT FOUNDATION. A group of young employees of Club Maipú founded the Club Atlético Independiente de Avellaneda, one of the “big five” of Argentine soccer. Arístides Langoni was the first president of the club based in what was then Barracas al Sur, whose team was historically nicknamed the “red devils”.
1910 – VÉLEZ SARSFIELD FOUNDATION. In the house of Nicolás Martín Moreno, in the current Buenos Aires neighborhood of Liniers, a group of neighbors founded the Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield under the name of Club Atlético Argentinos de Vélez Sarsfield, as an old Western Railway station was called. The first president of Liniers’ “El Fortín” was Luis Barredo.
1959. CUBAN REVOLUTION. Fidel Castro and “Che” Guevara lead the rebel Army that culminates in the regime established by the dictator Fulgencio Batista.
1986 – “THE REBEL NEWS”. The state channel Argentina Televisora Color (ATC, currently Channel 7) broadcasts the first edition of the ironic humor program La Noticia Rebelde, hosted by Carlos Abrevaya, Raúl Becerra, Adolfo Castelo, Jorge Guinzburg and Nicolás Repetto. The show, which marked a milestone in humorous journalism, remained on the screen until mid-1989.
1992 – WEIGHT. The peso begins to circulate as the official currency of Argentina, replacing the austral with a parity of “one to one” with the dollar in accordance with the Convertibility Law promoted by Domingo Cavallo, Minister of Economy of the Government of Carlos Menem (1989- 1999).
1994 – ZAPATIST ARMY. In the Lacandona jungle of the Mexican state of Chiapas, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation arose, a guerrilla group led by Subcomandante Marcos that brought together Zapatismo, Marxism and “libertarian socialism”. It became known when a group of armed indigenous people tried to occupy seven municipal seats in Chiapas on the same day that the North American Free Trade Agreement between Mexico, the United States, and Canada entered into force.
1999 – EURO. The euro, the common currency of the European Union, a bloc made up of 26 countries, begins to circulate. The first to adopt the single European currency were Germany, Austria, Belgium, Spain, Finland, France, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal and the Netherlands.
2008 – CIVIL UNION. A civil union law between people of the same gender enters into force in Uruguay, making it the first country in Latin America to establish this right. Uruguayan law provides that in order to obtain a civil union, couples must have shared at least five years of cohabitation. It gives them most of the rights of a heterosexual marriage, but does not allow them to adopt minors.
2016 – ANTONIO CARRIZO. At the age of 89, radio and television host Antonio Carrizo, one of the most prominent in the country, dies in Buenos Aires. He gained fame with the radio program La vida y canto. He hosted the television cycle “Football Controversy” and was a partner of Juan Carlos Calabró in the sketch El Contra, from the popular cycle “Every star has against.”
2022 – PUBLIC DOMAIN. Public Domain Day is celebrated to mark the entry of intellectual works into the public domain. The date refers to the Berne Convention (Switzerland) for the protection of literary and artistic works, which in 1886 established that every January 1 expires the term set by international agreements for intellectual property rights.
