1989 - Political Events
Political Events
Soviet citizens gain rights and other eastern Europeans overthrow despots in spontaneous uprisings after Beijing cracks down on dissidents with a bloody massacre.
Cuban troops begin pulling out of Angola January 10 pursuant to a December 1988 agreement.
World War II spymaster Sir William S. Stephenson dies at his Hamilton, Bermuda, home January 31 at age 93, having earned the code name Intrepid. Stalingrad-born microbiologist Vladimir Pasechnik, 51, defects to Britain and discloses information showing that the Soviet biological weapons development program is 10 times larger than what Western analysts had feared (see anthrax release, 1979). The Biopreparat's network of 18 research laboratories, Pasechnik reveals, employ more than 25,000 people to develop not only deadly forms of anthrax but also Ebola, Marburg virus, plague, Q fever, and smallpox. Another defector will confirm Pasechnik's story in 1992 (see Chemical Weapons Convention, 1993).
Soviet troops complete their withdrawal from Afghanistan in February.
Soviet voters elect opposition candidates in March to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, a newly reconstituted parliament. Boris Yeltsin wins a landslide victory and warns that Mikhail Gorbachev is gaining too much power (see 1987). The hard-drinking Yeltsin visits America in September and says that if Gorbachev does not show more progress within a year he will face revolt, as demonstrated by widespread strikes that have already crippled production in some areas.
Yugoslavia's collective presidency sends troops into the Serbian province of Kosovo February 27 to end more than 3 weeks of strikes and protest demonstrations by ethnic Albanians, who make up 90 percent of the province's population and profit from the Trepca Mining Co., whose British-built silver, lead, cadmium, gold, and zinc mine is worth an estimated $5 billion, making it the most valuable piece of property in the Balkans (see 1941). The new Yugoslavia's president Slobodan Milosevic, 47, strips the Kosovars March 28 of the autonomy they were given in 1974 and delivers a speech at Pristina, the Kosovar capital, that stirs nationalist Serbian sentiment against Albanians. Milosevic says Serbs are the largest of Yugoslavia's ethnic groups but are being cheated of their fair share of jobs and economic benefits. Serbs observe the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo that ended the first Serbian Empire June 15. The Serb-controlled press in Kosovo runs inflammatory articles about alleged atrocities against Serbs, who accounted for half the province's population in 1945 but have been leaving in droves ever since. The Serbian assembly ousts Milosevic's former mentor Ivan Stambolic, who headed the League of Communists of Serbia (LCS) before Milosevic took over as head of the organization 5 years ago, and replaces him with Milosevic, who will rule with dictatorial powers until 2000 (see 1990).
Poland ends 40 years of strict Communist Party rule August 18. Party candidates have been roundly defeated in June parliamentary elections; a new cabinet headed by Tygodnik Solidarnosc editor Tadeusz Mazowiecki, 62, takes over with support from Lech Walesa and Roman Catholic Primate Jozef Cardinal Glemp, but communists retain the interior and defense ministries. Walesa visits the United States in November and receives a hero's welcome.
Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia demand autonomy; Moscow admits to secret protocols in the 1939 Ribbentrop-Molotov pact under which the USSR was to annex the then-independent Baltic republics. Hundreds of thousands of Latvians, Lithuanians, and Estonians join hands August 23 in a human chain stretching across the three republics; Lithuania acts December 7 to change her constitution, ending the guarantee of Communist Party domination (see 1990).
Armenians, Azerbaijanis, Georgians, Moldovans, and Ukrainians agitate for autonomy as ethnic divisions threaten to dismember the Soviet Union. The Supreme Council of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic declares August 31 that Romanian is the state language and returns to the Latin alphabet used prior to 1940, but local officials in the south and east refuse to implement the language law and retain the Cyrillic alphabet (see 1990).
Former Hungarian premier János Kádár is removed from his position as president of the Communist Party in May and dies at Budapest July 6 at age 77. Hungary permits thousands of East German "holiday visitors" to cross her frontier into Austria (and thence to West Germany) in September despite a 1969 treaty in which she agreed to prevent any such exodus. The German Democratic Republic allows East German visitors in Czechoslovakia to leave for West Germany in October.
East Germany ( GDR) celebrates her 40th anniversary in October with a 2-day visit by Mikhail Gorbachev but arrests demonstrators after Gorbachev leaves October 7. More than 170,000 East Germans emigrate to the West. President Erich Honecker issues live ammunition to his forces at Leipzig but resigns under pressure October 18, reportedly after his former security chief Erich Mielke presents an old Stasi dossier alleging that Honecker collaborated with the Gestapo when he was held as a political prisoner by the Nazis during World War II; now 77, Honecker is succeeded by his new security chief and protégé Egon Krenz, 52, a hardline Stalinist like Honecker who makes some conciliatory moves but says there will be no sharing of power with pro-democracy groups. GDR authorities permit citizens to exit without visas November 9, joyful East Germans by the millions seize the opportunity to visit the West, and demolition begins of the Berlin Wall erected in 1961. Revelations of corruption force Krenz to resign in early December (Honecker has lived lavishly and his labor minister has kept a 5,000-acre estate on the Baltic with a large staff of servants and groundskeepers). Berlin's Brandenburg Gate is opened December 22 and the city reunites (see 1990).
Hungary's ruling Communist Party renames itself the Socialist Party and the country's parliament adopts a quasi-democratic constitution October 18. The country proclaims itself a democratic republic October 23 and plans multiparty elections.
Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard (Ambrosievich) Shevardnadze, 61, tells the legislature October 23 that his country's invasion of Afghanistan was illegal and that a radar station near Krasnoyarsk in Siberia was a violation of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Agreement with the United States. Moscow agreed in September to dismantle the Bacility. President Bush meets with President Gorbachev off Malta in early December (see Shevardnadze, 1991).
West Germany's ultra-leftist Red Army Faction kills Deutsche Bank chief executive Alfred Herrhausen, 59, at Bad Homburg December 1. A bomb blows up his armored, chauffeur-driven Mercedes-Benz 500SE.
Bulgaria's president and party leader Todor I. Zhivkov resigns November 10 at age 78 after 35 years in power. Having boasted that his country and the Soviet Union "breathe with the same lungs, and the same blood flows in our veins," he is replaced as party secretary by his foreign minister Petar T. Mladenov, 53, who says "there is no alternative to restructuring" the nation's economy and tightly-controlled political apparatus. A pro-democracy rally at Sofia December 10 brings out 50,000 people demanding that the constitution be changed to eliminate the communist monopoly on power.
Czech authorities crush a demonstration October 28 and arrest leading dissidents, including playwright and Charter 77 founder Vaclav Havel, who have led chants of "Freedom!" and "We want democracy!" Mikhail Gorbachev urges the Czech government to respond to the need for change, officials announce November 14 that Czechs will be permitted free travel to the West, but Prague police beat student demonstrators November 17. Huge demonstrations follow in Prague's Wenceslas Square and in other major cities demanding the resignation of Communist Party general secretary Milos Jakes, now 67. Former party leader Alexander Dubcek, now nearly 68, speaks out for the first time since the suppression of the "Prague Spring" in 1968. Jakes is replaced November 24, but Czechs, unappeased, demand more rights. President Gustav Husak resigns December 10, a new cabinet with a Communist Party minority is installed in what some call a "velvet revolution," the parliament votes December 19 to move toward Western-style democracy, communist rule ends after 41 years, and parliament votes December 29 to elect playwright and longtime dissident Vaclav Havel, now 53, president, making Dubcek parliamentary chairman.
Liechtenstein's prince Franz Josef II turns over his executive powers November 13 to his son Hans Adam and dies at his capital, Vaduz, November 13 at age 83 after a 51-year reign in which he has overseen the principality's development from a poor rural region into a rich banking center and tax haven with one of the world's highest per-capita incomes.
Romania's president Nicolae Ceausescu continues to suppress dissent, maintaining a Stalinist hard line even though his country suffers the worst food and fuel shortages in Eastern Europe. Demonstrators in Timisoara surround a church to prevent Ceausescu's Securitate (secret police) from arresting a clergyman who has supported rights of ethnic Hungarians in Transylvania, the Securitate shoots down protestors by the thousands beginning the night of December 16, and more are shot in Bucharest demonstrations December 21. Army personnel quickly go over to the side of the demonstrators and Ceausescu is ousted at age 71 after 24 years in power. His Securitate outnumbers the military two to one and battles with army units, but Ceasuscu and his wife, Elena, are captured December 22 and executed by a firing squad December 25 after a military court has convicted them of "genocide" and plundering more than $1 billion from the state. Onetime official Ion Iliescu, 59, heads a new, provisional government (see 1990).
Spanish Civil War heroine Dolores Ibárruri (La Pasionaria) dies at Madrid November 12 at age 95; former Spanish premier Carlos Arias Navarro at his native Madrid November 27 at age 80.
Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini undergoes surgery for internal bleeding from stomach cancer at Teheran May 23 and dies of a heart attack just after midnight June 3 at age 86 (89 by some accounts) after a 10-year theocratic regime. The nation's senior Shiite clergymen promptly vote June 4 to make President Ali Khamenei, 50, the ayatollah's successor, eight people are crushed to death and hundreds injured as hysterical crowds turn out June 5 to view the ayatollah's body in its refrigerated glass coffin, Khomeini's last will and testament attacking the United States and calling moderate Arab leaders "terrorists" and "pirates" is read over Teheran radio, Majlis (parliament) speaker (Hojatolislam ali Akbar) Hashemi Rafsanjani, 54, has called on Palestinians May 5 to hijack airplanes, blow up Western factories, and kill five Westerners for every Palestinian killed by Israeli forces in occupied territories. Washington has warned that it would retaliate for any acts of terrorism, London and Paris have called Rafsanjani's statement "totally unacceptable," PLO leader Yasir Arafat has denounced the statement, Rafsanjani has withdrawn it May 10, saying that it had been distorted, and he wins a landslide victory in the presidential elections July 28. A member of a rich pistachio-growing family, Rafsanjani has been Iran's preeminent politician for the past few years and receives 94.5 percent of the votes cast, having outlined programs to improve the nation's lagging agricultural economy, rebuild its war-shattered petrochemical infrastructure, harness natural gas and hydroelectric power for domestic use, free up more oil for export, improve health services and education for young people and women, and fight corruption by abolishing price controls and food subsidies.
Soviet scientist, congressman, and civil rights champion Andrei D. Sakharov dies at Moscow December 14 at age 68 just hours after warning fellow deputies that the USSR is headed for catastrophe.
Radicalized Muslim army officers seize control of Sudan after 4 years of ineffective democracy. A junta headed by Lieut. Gen. Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir, 45, takes power as the Revolutionary Command Council but quietly hands over sovereignty to the National Islamic Front, an outgrowth of the Muslim Brotherhood, headed by Hassan al-Turabi, 56.
Lebanon's Muslim and Christian factions reach an accord in October at Taif, Saudi Arabia (see 1988). They agree to a plan drawn up in August that will give the country's Muslim majority greater political power; Maronite Christian René Moawad, 64, is elected president November 5 at a special session of Parliament, but President Moawad is assassinated with 23 others in a Beirut bombing November 22. Moawad is succeeded by fellow Maronite Elias Hrawi, 64, but Christian army commander Gen. Michel Aoun considers himself the legitimate president and begins an 11-month rebellion (see 1990).
Japan's Showa emperor Hirohito dies of cancer at Tokyo January 7 at age 87 after a 62-year reign; he is succeeded on the "Chrysanthemum Throne" by his son Akihito, 55, who will reign as the Heisei emperor. Japan's dominant political party loses at the polls in July following the resignation of a prime minister in one scandal and the tainting of his successor in a scandal involving a geisha.
Burma's military government agrees in February to hold the nation's first democratic elections in nearly 30 years and changes Burma's name to Myanmar (see 1988), but when the election returns in May produce overwhelming support for the opposition National League for Democracy party, the State Law and Order Restoration Council refuses to yield power to the duly elected civilian government. Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is placed under house arrest in July (see 1991).
Vietnamese troops leave Cambodia (the last ones exit September 26) after nearly 11 years of occupation. Civil war ensues as the Khmer Rouge tries to regain control.
Former Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos dies of cardiac arrest at Honolulu September 28 at age 72, leaving his wife, Imelda, a very rich widow.
India's Congress (I) Party loses power in December elections. Rajiv Gandhi is replaced as prime minister by his former minister of finance and defense Vishwanath Pratap Singh, 58, who has launched a crusade against corruption (see 1984). A Kashmir insurgency begins following revelations of election improprieties, with Muslims from Egypt, Libya, Sudan, and other countries joining the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front in a terrorist campaign that will include abductions of officials, tourists, and others; car bombings; indiscriminate shooting of civilians; killing of villagers; and torture. The rebels' intent is not union with Pakistan but rather the establishment of an independent state; Indian authorities will crush the rebellion by 1995, using imprisonment, torture, and execution to end resistance.
Chinese Politburo member Hu Yaobang dies April 15 at age 73. University students gather in Beijing's Tiananmen Square ostensibly to mourn Hu's death (he was forced to resign as general secretary in January 1987 by hard-liners for not cracking down on student unrest) but actually to demand more democracy and demonstrate against the abuses of corrupt government officials. They remain in the square night and day for weeks. Students in at least six other cities demand political reform and the resignation of Premier Li Peng. Troops sent to clear Tiananmen Square are won over by the students until June 6, when Deng Xiaoping sends in young Mongolian soldiers who fire into the crowd with AK-47 assault rifles, killing hundreds if not thousands. Leaders of the democracy movement are executed despite appeals from Western powers for leniency. Former premier Zhao Ziyang, now 69, sides with the protesters, the Central Committee dismisses him as its general secretary June 24, and he will remain under house arrest until his death in early 2005. Congress imposes sanctions against Beijing, but President Bush secretly sends an emissary in July to meet with China's political leaders; he acts in December to veto a bill that would extend the visas of some 40,000 Chinese students in the United States and waives some congressional sanctions. China's Deng Xiaoping, now 85, resigns his last political post November 9 and pledges not to meddle in politics; he has been succeeded as chairman of the party's military commission in June by Jiang Zemin, 63.
President Bush appoints Houston-born former senator John G. (Goodwin) Tower, 63, secretary of defense, but Tower has been seen drunk in public on various occasions, the far right in his party has condemned him for womanizing, and the full Senate rejects the appointment March 9. Bush appoints former White House chief of staff Richard B. Cheney to the position March 10, and the Senate confirms him unanimously; now 48, Cheney has served five terms in Congress, defining himself as a "compassionate conservative."
Lawyer and presidential adviser John J. McCloy dies at Stamford, Conn., March 11 at age 93; Far Eastern scholar Owen Lattimore at Providence, R.I., May 31 at age 88. He suffered a stroke last year and has never recovered.
House Speaker James C. "Jim" Wright, 66, (D. Tex.) resigns June 30 following accusations of ethics violations presented in April by Pennsylvania-born Rep. Newt Gingrich (originally Newton LeRoy McPherson), 34, (R. Ga.), who says Wright has broken congressional rules that limit speaking fees. Gingrich has charged that Wright persuaded companies and associations to place bulk orders for his 1984 book Reflections of a Public Man as covert payment for speeches, and evidence has come to light that he also accepted illegal gifts from a San Antonio businessman. The first speaker ever to step down in midterm, Wright is succeeded by Spokane-born Rep. Tom Foley, 60 (D. Wash.).
Paraguay's dictator Alfredo Stroessner is overthrown in a bloody coup February 2 to 3 at age 76 after a brutal 35-year "presidency." Gen. Andrés Rodríguez Pedotti, 64, makes himself president and wins office May 1 with a 74 percent plurality in the first multicandidate election since 1958. Rodríguez has made himself one of the richest men in Latin America on a $400-per-month salary but denies that he has trafficked in drugs. He retains his active-duty status, installs a cabinet that includes a number of other military men, but promises to step down at the end of his term in 1993 and permit free elections (see 1992).
Uruguayan Tupamaro founder Raul Sendic dies at Paris April 27 at age 64, reportedly of a neurological ailment related to the more than 13 years that he spent in prison.
Argentine voters elect Perónist leader Carlos Saul Menem, 58, president May 14, the first peaceful transfer of power in the country since 1927. Succeeding Raul Alfonsín, Menem vows to privatize about 25 industries nationalized in the Perón years, reform the tax system, and stop Argentina's hyperinflation.
Surinam's president Ramsewak Shankar signs an agreement with rebel leader Ronny Brunswijk July 21 calling for a cease-fire, amnesty, and special panel to consider the grievances of the maroons, or bush negroes, thousands of whom have fled to neighboring French Guiana to escape the forces of Surinamese army commander Desi Bouterse (see 1988; Brunswijk, 1986). The maroons are allowed under the agreement to keep their arms and police the jungle interior, but army commander Desi Bouterse rejects the peace accord July 25, calling it a violation of the constitution approved in 1987; his National Democratic Party calls the pact a "declaration of war on the Surinamese people . . . aimed at the division of Surinam and legalizing an independent military force" (see 1990).
El Salvador's 10-year-old civil war sees its most severe rebel attack since 1981 as the Farabundo Martin National Liberation Front mounts a "final offensive" November 11 but fails in its attempt to kill President Alfredo Cristiani or Vice President Francisco Merino. More than 70,000 have died and thousands have been maimed since 1979, and the murder November 16 by government forces of six Jesuit priests brings demands in Washington that Congress stop supporting the Cristiani regime at a cost of nearly $1 million per day.
Panama's voters oust strongman Manuel Antonio Noriega in free elections May 7 (see 1988), Noriega ignores the election results, retains power, and quells an attempted military coup October 3. The Bush administration comes under fire for not giving the rebels more support. Noriega's National Assembly declares war December 15 and formalizes Noriega's position as head of state, an unarmed U.S. Army officer is killed December 16, a U.S. Navy officer and his wife are harassed, and airborne U.S. troops invade Panama with night-flying Apache attack helicopters December 20, offering $1 million reward for information leading to Noriega's arrest. As many as 4,000 Panamanian civilians are killed (Washington says 202), 23 U.S. servicemen. Other Latin countries express outrage at the U.S. invasion; the UN General Assembly denounces it as a "flagrant violation of international law." Noriega eludes capture, turns himself in to Vatican authorities in Panama City December 24, and receives political asylum for 10 days before surrendering to U.S. authorities for trial at Miami on drug charges.
Belize holds her second democratic elections in September (see 1984); voters return the People's United Party to power after criticisms about the ruling United Democratic Party's free-market economic policies and the country's growing dependence on foreign interests; now 70, former prime minister George Price will hold office until replaced by Manuel Esquivel once again in 1993.
Chile's brutal 16-year Pinochet regime nears its end December 14 as voters elect 71-year-old coalition candidate Patricio Aylwin president in a return to democratic tradition. Gen. Pinochet remains military chief of staff (see human rights, 1998).
Brazil holds her first democratic elections in 29 years (see constitution, 1988). Fernando Collor de Mello, 40, wins the presidency December 17; an obscure state governor and former model, he has inveighed against the nation's maharadjahs—overpaid, underworked civil servants.
Uganda's Museveni government comes under renewed attack from a 25-year-old cousin (or nephew) of Holy Spirit Army leader Alice Lakwena (see 1987). Once a choir boy, the illiterate Joseph Kony heads what he calls a Lord's Resistance Army, but while his followers curb the atrocities committed by President Museveni's troops they soon begin a campaign of ruthless kidnappings as they forcibly conscript thousands of young boys, give the recruits bottles of "magic" water that will "drown" any bullets fired in their direction, and fill their heads with apocalyptic promises that a time is coming when all the world's guns will fall silent and only those skilled in the use of machetes, spears, and stones will prevail. The civil war (and Museveni's presidency) will continue into the 21st century.
South Africa's president Pieter W. Botha, 73, suffers a mild stroke January 18 and resigns August 15. He is succeeded in September by F. (Frederick) W. de Klerk, 53, who permits anti-apartheid marches and pledges to make the government more representative. President de Klerk releases some leading political prisoners in mid-October and meets with members of the outlawed African National Congress (see Mandela, 1990).
The Center for Public Integrity founded late in the year at Alexandria, Va., will work to expose corruption in U.S. politics. Former 60 Minutes TV producer Charles "Chuck" Lewis, 45, has started the nonprofit, nonpartisan watchdog organization that will grow by the end of the century to have a full-time staff of about 40 engaged in what used to be called muckraking.
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