2002

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From the left, in the sense of the watch needles: The Winter Olympics of 2002 are held in Salt Lake City; Death Queen Isabel Bowes-Lyon; East Timor is independent of Indonesia and is admitted to the United Nations; an Armenian postal stamp shows the World Cup of FIFA 2002, which was held in South Korea and Japan; investigates the most official collision coin from the United States;

2002 (MMII) was a common year beginning on a Tuesday according to the Gregorian calendar. It was also the number 2002 anno Dómini or the Christian Era designation, as well as the second of the third millennium and the XXI century, the third of the 2000s.

The International Year of Ecotourism was appointed by the United Nations Economic and Social Council.
The year of the horse, according to the Chinese horoscope.

Events

Eduardo Duhalde

Enrique Bolaños Geyer

January

January 1st: in 12 of the 15 countries of the European Union euro banknotes and coins are put into circulation.
January 1: In Spain the sale of any type of gasoline with lead is prohibited by law.
January 1st: In Argentina, Eduardo Duhalde is elected as new interim president.
January 2: In Argentina, Eduardo Duhalde assumes as interim president in the midst of a serious economic crisis.
January 6: in Argentina President Duhalde devalues the weight by 40%, thus establishing a new type of exchange regime that governs at 1.40 pesos per US dollar, thus repealing the Convertibility Act.
January 7: In Venezuela, groups of supporters of President Hugo Chávez protest against the newspaper El Nacional for their editorial line against the Bolivarian Revolution.
January 8: New euro coins cause allergies among the population.
10 January: in Madrid, Jaime de Marichalar (child of the infant) leaves the Gregorio Marañón hospital, after having been admitted 20 days in the center as a result of a stroke.
January 10: In Nicaragua, businessman Enrique Bolaños assumes as president.
January 13: In the center of Bilbao, the terrorist band ETA explodes a car bomb.
14 January: in the areas near Sydney, Australia, a fire that lasted more than fifteen days still holds fireflies, and was considered by its intensity one of the most damaged.
January 15: Wikipedia in Spanish is one year old.
17 January: in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the eruption of Mount Nyiragongo displaced about 400 000 people.
January 20: Triple H wins the Royal Rumble Championship, entering the number 22.
January 24: San Lorenzo de Almagro achieves its first international cup, the Mercosur Cup 2001.
January 27: in Honduras, Ricardo Maduro assumes as president.
January 28: TAME's 120 flight, a Boeing 727 that covered the Quito-Cali route, with a stopover in Tulcan, crashes into the Cumbal volcano when it was about to land at Lt.Louis Mantilla International Airport (from Tulcan). The 87 passengers and 7 crew members die.

February

February 1: U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl, who had been kidnapped on January 23, was murdered.
February 2nd: The United States is proclaimed champion of the 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
2 February: in Spain, the film The others, by Alejandro Amenábar, becomes the triumphant film of the Goya Awards, with eight statuettes.
2 February: in the Nieuwe Kerk church in Amsterdam (Netherlands), Prince William Alexander marries the Argentinian Maxima Zorreguieta. The father of Maxima is not invited, because of his complicity in the bloody Argentine military dictatorship (1976-1983).
February 3: In Turkey, a strong earthquake causes 44 deaths and hundreds of wounded.
4 February: In Spain, the Ministry of Education and Science announces that the reform of secondary education will include the conduct of a secondary examination to obtain the bachelor's degree. Politicians, teachers and students expressed their rejection of the recovery of the reválida, disappeared in Spain in 1970.
5 February the Italian Senate passed a decree law to allow the return to Italy of the descendants of the last king of the country, Umberto II, who had vetoed their entry for 56 years.
5 February: In Argentina, provisional president Eduardo Duhalde announced general elections for 14 September 2003.
5 February: In Spain, Judge Baltasar Garzón decrees the wrongfulness of Segi and Askatasuna because they are structures that form part of the terrorist organization ETA and that they carry out "the same criminal activity as their predecessors Jarrai and Gestoras Pro Aministía".
February 6: Alfredo Bryce Echenique, Orhan Pamuk and Christoph Hein win the Italian award Grinzane Cavour 2002 for foreign narrative.
6 February: in London, United Kingdom, Queen Elizabeth II celebrates the 50th anniversary of her arrival on the throne.
February 6: At the University Clinic of Navarra, a medical team performs the first implant of stem cells in Spain to regenerate an infarted heart.
8 February: In Spain, the Government Council of Ministers approves the draft Law on Services of the Information Society and Electronic Commerce (LSSI).
8 February: In Algeria, the Algerian army assaults Antar Zouabri (the GIA Army).
8 February: Winter Olympics opened
9 February: in Écija (Sevilla), the Guardia Civil intervenes 200 000 pieces of an archaeological collection.
February 9: At the Salt Lake City Olympic Games, the Spanish nationalized German skier, Johann Mühlegg, won the gold medal at the 30km cross-country skiing test.
9 February: in Seville, Spain, the Palantina athlete Marta Domínguez achieves a new national record in 1500 m with a brand of 4 min 7.69 s.
13 February: In Madrid, Spain, the 21st edition of the International Contemporary Art Fair, ARCO 2002.
13 February: In Spain, Ana Botín assumes the presidency of Banesto, an entity integrated in the financial empire Santander (financial group), controlled by his father, Emilio Botín.
February 14: at the Salt Lake City Olympic Games, the Spanish nationalized German skier, Johann Mühlegg, won the gold medal at the 20-kilometre test.
14 February: Saint Vincent and the Grenadines recognizes the Arab Democratic Saharan Republic (RASD).
February 15: In the federated state of Carinthia, the ultra-rightist politician Jörg Haider announced his withdrawal from national politics, although he maintained his position as head of the local government.
February 15: In Russia, the Duma asks President Vladimir Putin to restore the death penalty.
February 18: in Europe the European group Arcelor, one of the most important steel groups in the world, began to be listed.
February 19: the American ship Mars Odyssey NASA begins to map the surface of Mars.
February 20: In Colombia, President Andrés Pastrana suspends the peace process with the FARC guerrilla group.
20 February: in Reqa Al-Gharbiya, Egypt, a fire on a train causes 370 dead and 65 wounded.
20 February: the numerical representation of the 20 hours and two minutes of the day today sets up a curious hood of twelve figures: 20:02.20.02.2002not produced since 470 years before (23:51.21.12.1532) and it won't be repeated until after 110 years (21:12.21.12.2112).
February 22: In the UK, authorities authorize the birth of a genetically selected baby to try to save the lives of his sick brother.
February 22: In the United States the 89-year-old Looney Tunes Chuck Jones animator dies, being the only animator who started his career in the 1930s
February 23: In Colombia, the candidate for the Íngrid Betancourt presidency and her head of debate Clara Rojas are kidnapped by the FARC.
February 24: In Colombia: Iván Urdinola Grajales, leader of the North Cartel del Valle, died poisoned.
February 24: Johann Mühlegg achieves his third Olympic gold after imposing himself in the 50 km of classic background.
February 24: The Salt Lake City Winter Olympics are over.
February 26: Start of the Universal Free Encyclopedia in Spanish.
28 February: In Bethlehem, Jenin and Nablus, Cyprus, the Israeli army launched a military operation against several Palestinian refugee camps.
February 28: In Portugalete (Vizcaya), the terrorist band ETA tries to kill the socialist edil Esther Cabezudo with a bomb hidden in a cart.
February 28: In Spain, the Guardia Civil disarticulates the Urbasa command of the ETA band.
February 28: In Havana, Cuba, a group of Cubans took refuge in the Mexican embassy after destroying the fence of the building.

March

1 March: in Spain the legal course of the peseta and the period of coexistence with the euro is finished, the latter being the only currency of legal course.
1 March: the Belgian Government, formed by liberals, socialists and greens, approves a bill that provides for the phased closure of all its nuclear power plants.
2 March: In the largest ultra-orthodox neighbourhood in Jerusalem, a Palestinian suicide attack leaves a balance of 10 dead.
3 March: Switzerland approves its accession to the UN in a narrow referendum.
March 3: Mexico launches the first reality show on Big Brother television by Televisa.
March 3: An earthquake of 7.4 in Afghanistan leaves 166 dead.
March 4th: In the Bilbao Stock Exchange (Galicia) a failure prevents the explosion of an ETA bomb.
4 March: Argentine novelist Tomás Eloy Martínez wins the V Alfaguara Award with The Queen's Flight.
March 10: In the streets of Barcelona (Cataluña), massive protests against the National Hydrological Plan are held.
March 14: In Beijing, China, 25 North Koreans break into the Spanish embassy and seek political asylum.
15 March: in Barcelona is the summit of the European Union.
March 15: In San Sebastián (Spain) Eduardo Chillida is admitted to a hospital in critical condition.
16 March: In Cali, Colombia, the archbishop of the archdiocese of that city, Monsignor Isaiah Duarte Cancino, is assassinated by a few moments after having served religious services in a popular sector of the city. The fact is attributable to the guerrillas of the FARC, the ELN or to drug trafficking, of whom he was a vicious critic.
18-22 March: the International Conference on Financing for Development takes place in Monterrey, Mexico, during the appointment of Vicente Fox and Fidel Castro the famous You eat and leave.
March 19: the Empire State Building (in New York) is sold for 65 million euros.
March 19: An ice block of the size of Álava is degated from the Antarctic.
March 20: in Lima, Peru, a terrorist attack is being carried out at the El Polo Mall, near the US Embassy, a few days after the visit of US President George W. Bush.
March 20: Italy declares the state of emergency to combat illegal immigration.
March 20: The Royal Moroccan House distributes for the first time the photo of Mohamed VI's girlfriend.
20 March: in Barcelona (Catalonia), Queen Sofia inaugurates the Year Gaudí.
March 21st: In Orio (Guipuzcoa) the terrorist group ETA kills Juan Priede, a socialist council.
March 22: In the UK, a judge authorizes the application of passive euthanasia to a patient.
March 25: A 6.1 earthquake shakes Afghanistan leaving about 1000 dead.
March 31: the Metropolitan Area of Santa Cruz de Tenerife-La Laguna is affected by torrential rains in Tenerife, producing losses of both homes and human lives.

April

Hugo Chávez

Pedro Carmona

Goddamn Hair

1 April: The Netherlands becomes the first and only country to legalize euthanasia.
April 2: Italian gynecologist Severino Antinori ensures that a human being has been successfully cloned, despite the radical rejection of reproductive cloning by the international scientific community.
April 5: In Spain the Ramon Llull Institute was founded
April 7: In Costa Rica, Abel Pacheco de la Espriella is elected president after winning the second round.
10 April: The Madrid Quartet for Peace in the Middle East, made up of the United States, the Russian Federation, the European Union and the United Nations, is established in Spain.
April 11: In Venezuela, after a great march by the opposition in which twelve people were killed by supporters of the government, there is a coup against President Hugo Chávez. Subsequently, Pedro Carmona Estanga became president of Venezuela.
April 11: In the streets of Cali, Colombia, FARC guerrillas kidnapped 12 deputies from the departmental assembly of Valle del Cauca, in the light of the day.
April 12: Siege to the Cuban embassy in Caracas, Venezuela.
April 13: In Venezuela, military forces loyal to Hugo Chávez destitute Carmona and appoint Diosdado Cabello as Acting President of the Republic. On that same day Chávez succeeded in taking power again.
April 18: Italy: A plane crashes at the Pirelli Tower in Milan: its 3 occupants die and 60 people are wounded.
April 21: In Colombia, the governor of the department of Antioquia, Guillermo Gaviria Correa, and his peace adviser and former defense minister of that country, Gilberto Echeverri Mejía, are kidnapped in the vicinity of the population of Caicedo in the development of a march for the guerrillas of the front 34 of the FARC.
24 April: in Chile, the XVII National Population Census and VI of Housing are held.

May

Abel Pacheco de la Espriella

Jacques Chirac

2 May: in Colombia, in the population of Bojayá, department of Chocó, in the midst of clashes between paramilitaries of the United Self-Defense of Colombia, AUC, and guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, the Bojayá massacre occurs, which leaves a balance of more than a hundred deaths.
May 5: the Ecuadorian channel SíTV disappears. The next day, a new means of private service communication, Channel One, is immediately aired.
May 6: World Wrestling Federation (WWF) Due to a demand from the World Wildlife Fund (also WWF), the company changed its name to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
May 6: On the outskirts of a kindergarten a truck with children on the street causing a childish tragedy in Ecatepec, State of Mexico, several young children die because of the car driver's prepotence, he is arrested within a few hours.
May 8: In Costa Rica, Abel Pacheco de la Espriella assumes as president.
May 15: Real Madrid Football Club is crowned champion of the Champions League for the ninth time with a goal of Zinedine Zidane.
May 16: In the Dominican Republic, legislative elections are held.
May 16: In France, Jacques Chirac took office for the second time as president.
20 May: East Timor is definitively independent after a United Nations transitional administration since the 1999 referendum that defined its independence Indonesia recognizes the independence of the Portuguese ex-colony, after 27 years of military occupation. He is elected President Xanana Gusmão, leader of the Timorese resistance and proclaims the record of independence.
20 May: East Timor and the Arab Democratic Saharan Republic (RASD) recognize each other.
21 May: In Medellin, Colombia, there are many acts of violence that take the lives of 9 civilians, some of them minors, and leave an additional balance of 37 injured and 55 detained under Operation Mariscal, assisted by army personnel seeking to counter terrorist actions by urban ELN militias in Commune 13, West of the city. Such events would precede Operation Orion, which occurred in the same sector five months later.
May 25: The United States Department of State publishes a report designating North Korea, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Syria as "state promoters of terrorism."
25 May: in Tallinn (Estonia) the Marie N Latvian wins the Eurovision Festival with the song I wanna.
25 May: on the Penghu Islands (Taiwan), China Airlines flight 611 crashes a few minutes after taking off from Taoyuan International Airport (Taipéi). 225 people die on board when they break into the air.
May 26: the Club America is proclaimed champion of the Mexican Football Championship in the Summer 2002 Tournament by defeating in the final in two games (round and round) to the Necaxa by the global score of 3 goals to 2 –(0-2) and (3-0) – going back to the 2-0 against, with goals of Christian Patiño and Iván Zamorano to pack in the Regulatory time and the "
May 26: In Colombia, Álvaro Uribe Vélez is elected president.
May 29: in San Juan, Puerto Rico the Miss Universe 2002 is performed, the winner is the representative of Russia Oxana Fedorova; her reign would last almost four months.
May 31: the inauguration of the 17th edition of the 2002 World Cup of Football was first held on the Asian continent and by two countries in South Korea and Japan, the inaugural match the debutant selection of Senegal defeats the defending champion France for a goal to zero.

June

June 1st: In the U.S., the Playhouse Disney Channel channel is launched as a cable television channel
June 5: a celestial object produces an explosion similar to the American atomic bomb on Nagasaki (Eastern Mediterranean Event).
10 June: the Second World Food Summit promoted by FAO begins.
June 11: The United States Congress recognizes that the inventor of the phone was Italian Antonio Meucci and not American Alexander Graham Bell, who had stolen the patent.
20 June: in Spain UGT and CC unions. They call for a general strike.
June 22: In the United States, the promotion of professional free struggle TNA Wrestling launches its first evening.
26 June: in the vicinity of Avellaneda railway station, in the conurban of the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Masacre of Avellaneda is produced, in which several Bosnian police murder young activists Maximiliano Kosteki and Darío Santillán. Because of this, President Eduardo Duhalde anticipates the elections six months.
29 June: There is a clash between North Korean ships against South Korea resulting in the death of 6 South Korean and 30 North Korean marines.
June 30: in Yokohama (Japan) The World Cup was held in South Korea and Japan, where the Brazilian Team is the World Champion for Quinta Vez in the final victory for the selection of Germany for 2 to 0, with so many Ronaldo.

July

Jan Peter Balkenende

1 July: the Rome Statute, established by the International Criminal Court, enters into force in Italy.
July 1st: On Lake Constanza, on the border between Germany and Switzerland, a tupolev 154 and a Boeing 757 of cargo are colliding in full flight. 71 people die, including 52 Russian children who were on vacation to Barcelona (Spain) (see Lake Constance accident, Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937 & DHL Flight 611).
July 3: launch of the CONTOUR space probe, which would stop running a few weeks later.

11 July: a group of Moroccan gendarmes takes the Island of Perejil, beginning the first armed conflict of the centuryXXI. This conflict is known as the Perejil Island Incident.
July 14: In Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, former President Joaquín Balaguer died.
16 July: Operation Romeo-Sierra began at 23:43 for the eviction of the island of Perejil that had been occupied by Moroccan forces five days earlier.
July 22: In the Netherlands, Jan Peter Balkenende takes office as prime minister.
July 25: In Manchester, England, the Etihad Stadium is inaugurated.
July 26: in Bolivia, Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada succeeds in the presidency.
July 30: in Guatemala City, Pope John Paul II canonize Brother Pedro de San José Betancur.
30-31 July Pope John Paul II made his last visit to Mexico
July 31: In the Basilica of Guadalupe of Mexico City, Pope John Paul II canonizes the indigenous Juan Diego.

August

Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada

Álvaro Uribe Vélez

1 August: in Mexico the project of the new Texcoco airport is cancelled by the protests of the Atenco laborers in October of the previous year, the project is retaken with improvements 12 years later.
4 August: in Bolivia, Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada is elected president for the second time, assumes two days later.
August 7: In Colombia, Alvaro Uribe Vélez holds office as president, during the acts of affidavits attacks by the FARC Guerrillero Group take place to try to kill the newly arrived president.
9 August: in the Cacadu District, South Africa, the repatriated remains of Sara Baartman (Gamtoos River, 1789-Paris, 1815), a slave of the Khoikhoi ethnic group (mostly “hotentote”) exhibited in British and French circuses.
17 August: in Dresden, Germany, the overflow of the Elbe reaches the same level as the historical flooding of March 31, 1845.
August 19: the school year 2002-2003 of SEP in Mexico begins.
August 20: Mexican rock band Maná launches its sixth studio album Revolution of Love.
August 27: In the United States, the British Alternative Rock Band Coldplay launches its second studio album titled A Rush of Blood to the Head.

September

September 10: Switzerland officially joins the UN.
September 17: Spanish singer and composer Enrique Iglesias, released his sixth studio album and fourth album on Spanish titled Maybe.. It is also the first album in this language since the release of Things of love (1998).
September 20: Microsoft buys the British video game company Rareware for 375 million dollars.
September 22: In Mexico, Laura Zapata and Ernestina Sodi are kidnapped (sisters of the actress and singer Thalía. They will be recovered on October 10.
September 24: The Russian Miss Universe Oxana Fedorova is replaced by the first finalist by the Panamanian Justine Pasak who will have to complete her reign until the 2003 contest in that country.
September 25: meeting of Presidents George W. Bush and Alvaro Uribe Velez in the White House.
September 29: in Busan (South Korea) the XIV Asian Games begin.

October

6 October: Pope John Paul II canonize Blessed Josemaría Escrivá, founder of Opus Dei.
October 11: Former American President Jimmy Carter (1977-1981) won the Nobel Peace Prize.
12 October: On the island of Bali, Islamic terrorists linked to Al Qaeda commit an attack by detonating two bombs at a night club and at a restaurant in the city of Kuta, leaving a balance of 202 people killed and more than 300 injuries.
14 October: in Busan (South Korea) the XIV Asian Games culminate.
October 15: Spanish singer David Bisbal, released his studio debut album entitled Latin Heart.
16 October: in the Commune 13 of Medellín, Colombia, the so-called Operation Orion, which was extended until Thursday, 17 October 2002.
October 23: A group of Chechen terrorists kidnap the Dubrovka Theatre in Moscow with hundreds of hostages inside, threatening to blow up the building if the Russian government does not withdraw its troops from Chechnya. (See Moscow Theater Hostage Crisis).
24 October: in the Democratic Republic of the Congo an earthquake of 6.2 leaves 2 dead.
October 24: In the south of Cali, the Colombian footballer Hernán Gaviria died lightning.
October 25: Hurricane Kenna enters Mexico, along the Pacific Ocean coast, affecting the states of Sinaloa, Nayarit and Durango, leaving four dead, dozens of wounded, twenty thousand displaced and producing material damage for more than 25 million dollars.
October 27: In Brazil, the worker Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is elected, in the second round of elections, president of Brazil.
October 31st: In Madagascar, in the Malagasy football Championship, the greatest score of professional football history takes place, when the AS Adema wins the SO l'Emyrne for 149 to 0, all goals in their own goal.

November

November 3: Diego M. Deiros, Carlos A. Rodríguez and José N. Hernández measure the altitude of Pico Bolívar, the highest mountain in Venezuela.
November 10: Darina winner of Operation Triomphe and Myriam of The Academy.
November 12: American Alternative Rock Band 3 Doors Down, launches his second studio album titled Away from the Sun.
13 November: In front of the Galician coasts, a tank of the Prestige oil tank explodes.
16 November: SARS Epidemic 2002-2004.
17 November: Swedish rider Kenny Bräck is proclaimed CART champion at the Telmex Giant Tecate Grand Prix in Mexico.
November: in Santander, Spain ETA explodes a car in a parking lot
19 November: on the coasts of Galicia (Spain) there is the collapse of the Prestige.
19 November: the Guatemalan singer Ricardo Arjona released his ninth studio album entitled Holy sin.
November 19: Puerto Rican singer Olga Tañón, released her ninth studio album entitled Survival.
22 November: In the Chinese province of Canton, the first case of Severo Acute Respiratory Syndrome appears.
November 24: in Ecuador, Colonel Lucio Gutiérrez is elected president.

December

December 2nd: In Venezuela, another oil employer strike begins that will last 62 days.
December 3: In Celaya (Mexico) the Celaya Athletic Football Club disappears.
3 December: in Japan, Real Madrid conquered its 3.♪Intercontinental Cup title, winning for 2 to 0 the Olympia of Paraguay.
6 and 7 December: the sixth Teleton was made and 217 million pesos were collected and the CRIT was inaugurated in Aguascalientes
December 8: closing of XIX Central American and Caribbean Games. in El Salvador.
December 10: Former American President Jimmy Carter (1977-1981) won the Nobel Peace Prize.
27 December:
- Two bombs are exploded at the pro-Russian barracks in Grozni, Chechnya. 72 people die, and 200 others are injured.
- In Mexico City, the violent seizure of the CNI Canal 40 broadcasting plant is held in the Cerro del Chiquihuite, an event known as the Chiquihuitazo.
December 28: IObit Uninstaller website is founded.