Anniversaries of August 13th

Santo Domingo.- The anniversaries of August 13th, are marked by important historical events and international celebrations that left a mark on world history. Below are the main anniversaries of August 13th:

• International Left-Handers Day.
• International Armadillo Day.
• World K-Pop Day.

Saints’ Day: Saints Hippolytus and Pontian, martyrs.

National: anniversaries for August 13th

• 1504: Christopher Columbus, arriving from Jamaica, makes port in Santo Domingo for a visit, which would be his final voyage and farewell to the land he loved so much.
• 1863: During the night, the Guayubín plaza is attacked by General Juan A. Polanco and Colonel Francisco A. Gómez Feliz, with the patriots being repelled by Colonel Félix Gómez.
• 1865: President Pedro Antonio Pimentel Chamorro communicates his resignation from office to the Santiago City Council, after learning that in Santo Domingo, Generals José María Cabral and Eusebio Manzueta were leading a coup plot.
• 1913: The young Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina marries Aminta Ledesma, who becomes the mother of his first daughters: Julia Genoveva and Flor de Oro Trujillo Ledesma.
• 1927: President Horacio Vásquez promotes Colonel Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina to brigadier general and appoints him commander-in-chief of the National Army.
• 1965: The Constitutionalist Government, led by Francisco Caamaño, appeals to the UN to denounce that the OAS was forcing it to accept proposals it considers “repugnant.”
• 1966: Ramón Emilio Mejía del Castillo (Pichirilo), a combatant of the April Revolution and the Sierra Maestra—the latter led by Fidel Castro—is assassinated in Santo Domingo.
• 1970: Monsignor Francisco Panal, who opposed the Trujillo regime during the last four years of the tyranny, dies in Santo Domingo.
• 1994: The National Assembly meets again in its capacity as the Assembly for the Revision of the Constitution, with a quorum of 114 deputies and 25 senators.
• 1997: The alleged Haitian businessman Frederick Mazourka, accused of committing fraud of more than RD$90 million against the National Lottery, escapes from the Abreu clinic along with his guard, due to the actions of Lieutenant Colonel PN Alcides Rafael Ramírez Ramírez, who is accused of being responsible and assisting in the escape.
• 1999: Three Contracts for the Granting of Rights for the Exploitation of Electrical Works Related to the Public Electricity Distribution Service of the Dominican Republic were signed between the Dominican Electricity Corporation and the companies EDEESTE, EDENORTE, and EDESUR, respectively.
• 2008: Senator Prim Pujals speaks out in favor of people identified as responsible for murder or sexual assault being lynched if the justice system does not impose the corresponding sanction.
• 2008: The Global Institute for Higher Studies in Social Sciences (IGLOBAL) officially begins its work, with its main headquarters in the National District.
• 2010: The Executive Branch promulgates the Law for the Promotion of Cinematographic Activity in the country, with the purpose of “fostering a progressive, harmonious, and equitable development of the national cinematography.”
• 2012: In Mexico, an explosion is recorded at the Francisco Madero refinery, located in Tamaulipas, and hours later a fire apparently caused by fuel theft occurs in the state of Hidalgo.
• 2013: The Attorney General’s Office orders the arrest of three police officers linked to the alleged theft of RD$60 million perpetrated during a raid in the La Mulata III residential complex, in the municipality of Sosúa, Puerto Plata province.
• 2015: At least 20 people are linked to the case of the failed Banco Peravia, including a former legislator, a journalist, and officials from the Central Bank and the Superintendency of Banks.
• 2018: The Executive Branch promulgates the Law on Political Parties, Groups, and Movements, approved days earlier by the National Congress with the votes of legislators from the main political organizations.
• 2018: The construction company Norberto Odebrecht had paid US$20 million to Ángel Rondón Rijo for consulting services to ensure he was awarded the construction of the Punta Catalina Thermoelectric Plant, according to documents that are part of the defendant’s defense brief.
• 2023: President Luis Abinader announces through social media his decision to run for re-election in the 2024 presidential elections, with a message arguing the challenges he has yet to achieve, while maintaining a “policy of honesty.”

International: August 13th anniversaries

• 3114 BC: Start date of the Mayan calendar (which was possibly created in the 6th century BC).
• 554: Justinian I, Emperor of Byzantium, issues the Pragmatic Sanction of Justinian with which he attempts to reorganize Italy.
• 1521: In Tenochtitlan, the indigenous Mexican leader Cuauhtémoc surrenders to the Spaniards led by Hernán Cortés; he names himself governor and captain general of New Spain.
• 1553: Spanish theologian and scientist Michael Servetus is arrested in Geneva by order of John Calvin, accused of heresy for denying the Trinity and defending adult baptism.
• 1762: Havana (Cuba) falls into English hands after a four-month siege, causing Spain to lose its most important stronghold in the Antilles.
• 1787: Turkey declares war on Russia, following Catherine II’s rejection of the ultimatum given by Turkey to abandon its “protectorate” of Crimea.
• 1846: In the context of the Mexican-American War, the then-Mexican city of Los Angeles is occupied without resistance by United States military forces.
• 1868: A 9.0 magnitude earthquake is recorded off the coast of Tacna (Peru), leaving more than 25,000 victims.
• 1905: A popular plebiscite decides the separation of Norway from Sweden.
• 1940: The German air offensive against Great Britain begins.
• 1945: The U.S. government approves a document for the surrender of Japan, which is dropped in thousands of leaflets over Japanese cities.
• 1961: East German authorities close the border and begin construction of the Berlin Wall.
• 1990: The UN Special Committee on Decolonization requests that the United Kingdom and Argentina reach a peaceful agreement regarding the Falkland Islands.
• 2004: The XXVIII Summer Olympic Games begin in Athens, Greece.
• 2005: A FAO study highlights that one in 10 inhabitants of Latin America lives in conditions of undernourishment.
• 2008: A man breaks into the Arkansas Democratic Party headquarters and murders its chairman, Bill Gwatney.
• 2013: At least 200 people die in a police operation against supporters of deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi in Cairo.
• 2013: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry begins his first official visit to Brazil, addressing the electronic espionage scandal.
• 2015: Fidel Castro recalls that the U.S. owes Cuba millions in compensation for damages caused by its policy against the island.
• 2016: At the Rio Olympic Games, Michael Phelps wins his 23rd gold medal and his 28th Olympic medal in total.
• 2018: The Paraguayan Public Prosecutor’s Office orders preventive detention for former Attorney General Javier Díaz Verón and his wife for alleged illicit enrichment and money laundering.
• 2019: The National Electoral Council of Colombia opens a preliminary investigation against Juan Manuel Santos for alleged irregular financing involving Odebrecht.
• 2020: Israel and the United Arab Emirates announce an agreement to normalize diplomatic relations.
• 2022: The Taliban celebrate in Kabul the first anniversary of their takeover of the government in Afghanistan.
• 2023: An FBI commission arrives in Ecuador to support the investigations into the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio.

Births: August 13th anniversaries

• 1670: Zheng Keshuang, last king of Tungning, in Taiwan.
• 1762: Théroigne de Méricourt, French politician and feminist.
• 1913: Richard Stone, British economist, Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1984.
• 1913: Makarios III, Greek Cypriot leader, archbishop of the Orthodox Church and president of Cyprus.
• 1926: Fidel Castro, Cuban revolutionary and leader.
• 1982: Sarah Huckabee Sanders, American politician, Governor of Arkansas since 2023.

Deaths: anniversaries for August 13

• 1917: Eduard Buchner, German chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1907.
• 1952: Wilm Hosenfeld, German World War II officer, named Righteous Among the Nations.
• 1970: Monsignor Francisco Panal, opponent of the Trujillo regime in its final years.
• 1994: Manfred Wörner, German politician and diplomat, NATO Secretary General between 1988 and 1994.
• 2016: Kenny Baker, British actor, who brought R2-D2 to life in the Star Wars saga.
• 2018: Samir Amin, Egyptian economist, one of the promoters of the World Social Forum.