Ephemeris of February 20

On February 20, 2005, the Israeli Council of Ministers approved the evacuation plan for the Palestinian Gaza Strip after an occupation of 38 years. OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS 1813.- The forces of General Belgrano defeat the royalists of General Tristán in the battle of Salta, decisive for the independence of Argentina. 1909.- The Parisian newspaper Le Figaro publishes the complete ‘Futurist Manifesto’, the founding act of the movement written by the Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. 1932.- The American film by Tod Browning, Freaks, is released, a cult work of classic horror cinema. 1943.- The “Paricutín” volcano, considered one of the natural wonders of the world, erupts in the State of Michoacán (Mexico). 1944.- Operation “Big Week” begins, the intensive bombing of the American aviation on the German armament factories during the Second World War. 1947.- Lord Louis Mountbatten is appointed the last viceroy of India with the task of supervising the negotiated withdrawal of the most famous British colony. 1962.- Lieutenant John Glenn becomes the first American astronaut to orbit the earth aboard Mercury Atlas 6. 1968.- The popular American television series Colombo begins to air, in which Peter Falk plays a detective from Los Angeles Police Homicides. 1970.- The Government of Chile, headed by the socialist Salvador Allende, signs a trade agreement with Fidel Castro’s Cuba, despite the prohibition by the Organization of American States (OAS). 1982.- The social democratic candidate for the presidency, Guillermo Rodríguez, is assassinated in Guatemala. 1986.- The Italian police arrest Michele Greco, alias The Pope, considered the top boss of the Sicilian Mafia. 1987.- The description of a witness to the explosion of a bomb in a computer store in Salt Lake City (Utah), facilitates the robot portrait of Theodore Kaczynski, better known as the Unabomber. 1991.- Tens of thousands of people demonstrate in Tirana for the democratization of Albania and demolish the statue of the founder of the Albanian communist regime, Enver Hoxha. 2003.- A fire in a nightclub in West Warwick (Rhode Island) causes a hundred deaths and becomes one of the deadliest incidents of its kind in the United States. 2013.- The Mariscal Sucre International Airport, the main one in Ecuador, with the largest movement of passengers in the country, is inaugurated in the town of Tababela. 2021.- The US declares a “major disaster” in Texas, one of the states hardest hit by the storm that caused dozens of deaths. BIRTHS 1901.- Ali Muhammad Naguib, Egyptian soldier and politician. 1904.- Alexei N. Kossigin, Soviet politician. 1925.- Robert Altman, American film director. 1927.- Sidney Poitier, American actor. 1927.- Ibrahim Ferrer, Cuban son singer. 1947.- Peter Strauss, American actor. 1950.- Walter Becke, American guitarist, composer and record producer, founding member of Steely Dan. 1963.- Ian George Brown, British musician and composer, singer of the alternative rock band The Stone Roses. 1966.- Cindy Crawford, American model. 1967.- Kurt Cobain, American musician and composer, singer of the grunge band Nirvana. 1988.- Rihanna, American singer. 1989.- Jack Falahee, American actor. 1990.- Ciro Immobile, Italian soccer player. 1998.- Matt Hunter, American singer. 2000.- Kristóf Milák, Hungarian swimmer. 2014.- Eleanor of Sweden, Princess of Sweden, Duchess of Gotland. DEATHS 1920.- Robert E. Peary, American explorer and geographer. 1933.- Takiji Kobayashi, Japanese writer. 1936.- Max Schreck, German actor. 1941.- George Minne, Belgian sculptor. 1951.- Cyril Maude, British actor. 1963.- Ferenc Fricsay, Hungarian conductor and musician. 1963.- Jacob Gade, Danish composer. 1968.- Anthony Asquith, British filmmaker. 1969.- Ernest Ansermet, Swiss conductor and musician. 1972.- Maria Goeppert-Mayer, German physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics. 1976.- René Cassin, French jurist, Nobel Peace Prize winner. 1982.- Gershom Schoelem, Israeli philosopher and historian. 1992.- Roberto D’Aubuisson, Salvadoran politician, founder of the ARENA party. 1993.- Ferruccio Lamborghini, Italian car manufacturer. 1995.- Robert Bolt, British playwright and screenwriter. 22010.- Alexander Haig, American soldier and politician. 2012.- Renato Dulbecco, Nobel Prize in Medicine, Italian-American. 2018.- Emma Chambers, British actress. 2020.- Jean Daniel, French writer and journalist, founder of “Le Nouvel Observateur”. EFE doc/jac