Today is Friday, Jan. 16, the 16th day of 2009. There are 349 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History
On Jan. 16, 1920, Prohibition began in the United States as the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution took effect, one year to the day after its ratification. It was later repealed by the 21st Amendment.
On this date:
In 1547, Ivan IV of Russia popularly known as “Ivan the Terrible” was crowned Czar.
In 1883, the U.S. Civil Service Commission was established.
In 1919, pianist and statesman Ignacy Jan Paderewski became the first premier of the newly created republic of Poland.
In 1942, actress Carole Lombard, 33, her mother and about 20 other people were killed when their plane crashed near Las Vegas, Nev., while returning from a war-bond promotion tour.
In 1944, General Dwight D. Eisenhower took command of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in London.
In 1969, two manned Soviet Soyuz spaceships became the first vehicles to dock in space and transfer personnel.
In 1978, NASA named 35 candidates to fly on the space shuttle, including Sally K. Ride, who became America’s first woman in space, and Guion S. Bluford, Jr., who became America’s first black astronaut in space.
In 1989, three days of rioting began in Miami when a police officer fatally shot a black motorcyclist, causing a crash that also claimed the life of a passenger. The officer, William Lozano, was convicted of manslaughter, but then was acquitted in a retrial.
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January 16, 1992: El Salvador officials, rebel leaders sign peace accord, ending a 12-year civil war that cost over 75,000 lives.
Salvador Peace Pact Sets Stage for Profound Reforms
ON paper, the war in El Salvador ends today.
By signing their names to the peace accord, presidents and diplomats from 12 countries gathered here will commit their nations to the close of a savage 12-year civil war that cost more than 75,000 lives – a war during which the United States spent more than $4 billion backing successive Salvadoran governments against a leftist insurgency.
“Now, the real challenge begins – the transition to peace,” says Marcos Jimenez, a 32-year-old Faribundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) commander who has spent all of his adult life as a soldier.
Two years of intense United Nations-mediated negotiations came to fruition early Tuesday morning. The final pact calls for a cease-fire beginning Feb. 1. In the next month, the forces will be separated, moving to designated areas around the country. By Oct. 31, the Salvadoran Army will disband three and one-half out of five US-trained anti-insurgency battalions. The FMLN army – estimated at about 7,000 members – will be dismantled during the same period. During the next two years, the Salvadoran governme nt forces will be cut in half to about 30,000 members.
The FMLN plans to form a political party, positioning itself for the 1994 presidential elections.
But the most profound change, analysts say, will be the curbing of the Salvadoran military’s broad internal control.
“This agreement changes the power equation dramatically,” says Robert White, US ambassador to El Salvador from March 1980 to February 1981. “There’s been a highly political military enforcement of every aspect of national security – with US support. Now it will be pared and confined to external defense.”
The military-run National Intelligence Directorate, the National Guard, the Treasury Police, the Customs Police, and the National Police – totaling more than 17,000 members – will each be dissolved during the next two years.
In their place, a civilian-run security ministry will govern a new national police force of 10,000 to 12,000 officers. The majority of the new force must have had no wartime experience. Former FMLN combatants and National Police members can apply, and hold positions at all levels, but there must be parity between the number of participants from these two groups. A new National Police academy will also be created, and neither its staff nor directors can have served in the Salvadoran Army.
The accords also include commissions on human rights (including one to “purify” the Salvadoran military), land reforms (including land for combatants and for peasants in rebel-held territory), reorganization of the judicial and electoral systems, and FMLN participation in economic reconstruction programs.
A five-day meeting of the two Salvadoran sides and potential donor nations to develop plans and seek about $1 billion to rebuild the war-ravaged nation is scheduled to be held under UN auspices in late February.
“A principal cause of this conflict was economic differences. If we don’t overcome economic injustices, then the future is dark,” says Mr. Jimenez. “Peace is synonymous with reconstruction.”
Disputes over interpreting the treaty are likely. And given anti-accord elements in the Army, “I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of a military coup attempt,” White says. But he expects such an attempt would fail. White says he thinks the treaty will work because of its popularity in El Salvador and the active UN role in backing it.
The UN currently has a 160-member squad in El Salvador monitoring human rights. On Tuesday, the UN Security Council approved plans to send about 1,000 UN peacekeeping troops to supervise the cease-fire and demilitarization process.
The accord, analysts note, was reached with considerable pressure, cajoling, and support from many interested nations. Thus the location of the signing and the presence of presidents from Latin America and Spain as well as US Secretary of State James Baker III and Cuban Foreign Minister Isidoro Malmierca.
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In 2003, the space shuttle Columbia blasted off under extremely tight security; on board was Israel’s first astronaut, Ilan Ramon. The mission ended in tragedy when the shuttle broke up during its return descent, killing all seven crew members.
In 2007, Senator Barack Obama, D-Ill., launched his successful bid for the White House.
Ten years ago: Closing three days of opening arguments, House prosecutors demanded President Bill Clinton’s removal from office, telling a hushed Senate that otherwise the presidency itself may be “deeply and perhaps permanently damaged.” Forty-five ethnic Albanians were found slain near the southern Kosovo village of Racak.
Five years ago: Pop star Michael Jackson pleaded innocent to child molestation charges during a court appearance in Santa Maria, Calif.; the judge scolded Jackson for being 21 minutes late. Jackson was eventually acquitted. NASA announced that the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope would be allowed to degrade and eventually become useless. Freddy Adu, the 14-year-old phenom, was selected by D.C. United as the first pick in Major League Soccer draft.
One year ago: President George W. Bush closed out his Mideast trip with a brief visit to Egypt, where he was welcomed by President Hosni Mubarak. Archbishop Earl Paulk, the 80-year-old leader of a megachurch, pleaded guilty in Atlanta to lying under oath about his sexual affairs and was sentenced to 10 years’ probation.
Today’s Birthdays
Author William Kennedy is 81. Author-editor Norman Podhoretz is 79. Rock musician Bob Bogle (The Ventures) is 75. Opera singer Marilyn Horne is 75. Auto racer A.J. Foyt is 74. Singer Barbara Lynn is 67. Country singer Ronnie Milsap is 66. Country singer Jim Stafford is 65. Talk show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger is 62. Movie director John Carpenter is 61. Actress-dancer-choreographer Debbie Allen is 59. Singer Sade is 50. Rock musician Paul Webb (Talk Talk) is 47. Rhythm-and-blues singer Maxine Jones (En Vogue) is 43. Actor David Chokachi is 41. Actor Richard T. Jones is 37. Actress Josie Davis is 36. Model Kate Moss is 35. Rock musician Nick Valensi (The Strokes) is 28. Actress Yvonne Zima is 20.
Thought for Today
“Only the sinner has the right to preach.” — Christopher Morley, American journalist (1890-1957).
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Full article: http://wcbstv.com/watercooler/Today.In.History.2.902749.html
