LETTER N° 1

From 01 to 06 of January

01 Mexico (Tabasco)		The legislature of Tabasco elects Enrique Priego Oropeza as interim governor after Mexico's top electoral court had annulled the results of the state's October elections.
01 O.P.E.P		Ali Rodríguez Araque of Venezuela takes office as secretary-general.
01 Palau		Tommy Remengesau takes office as president.
01 Switzerland		Moritz Leuenberger takes office as president for 2001. See new government
01 Cuba		National holiday : Liberation Day (1 January 1959). In Mar., 1952, shortly before scheduled presidential elections, Batista seized power through a military coup. Cuban liberals soon reacted, but a revolt in 1953 by Fidel Castro was abortive. In 1956, however, Castro landed in E Cuba and took to the Sierra Maestra, where, aided by Ernesto "Che" Guevara, he reformed his ranks and waged a much-publicized guerrilla war. The United States withdrew military aid to Batista in 1958, and Batista finally fled on Jan. 1, 1959.
01 Haiti		National holiday : Independence Day (1 January 1804, from France) When the English invaded Haiti in 1793 during the Napoleonic Wars, Toussaint maintained an uneasy alliance with the mulatto André Rigaud and cooperated with the remnant of French governmental authority. In 1795, Spain ceded its part of the island to France, and in 1801 Toussaint conquered it, abolished slavery, and proclaimed himself governor-general of an autonomous government over all Hispaniola. Napoleon sent his brother-in-law, Gen. Charles Leclerc, with a huge punitive force to restore order in 1802, but he was unable to conquer the interior. A peace was negotiated, and Toussaint, taken by trickery, died in a French prison; but the revolt continued and forced the French troops, already ravaged by yellow fever, to withdraw. The rebels received unexpected aid from U.S. President Thomas Jefferson, who feared that Napoleon would use Saint-Dominque as a base to invade Louisiana. In 1804, Haiti became the second nation in the Western Hemisphere, after the United States, to win complete independence.
01 Sudan		National holiday : Independence Day (1 January 1956, from Egypt and UK). In 1924 the British instituted a policy of isolating southern Sudan by administering it separately from the north. An advisory council for northern Sudan was established in 1943, and in 1948 a predominantly elective legislative assembly for the whole territory was set up. In the 1948 elections, the Independence Front, which favored the creation of an independent republic, gained a majority over the National Front, which sought union with Egypt. After the 1952 revolution in Egypt, Britain and Egypt agreed to prepare Sudan for independence in 1956. In 1955 southerners, fearing that the new nation would be dominated by the Muslim north, began a revolt that lasted 17 years. In spite of the continuing revolt in the south, Sudan achieved independence as a parliamentary republic in 1956, as planned.
01 O S C E		Mircea Geoana (Romania) new chairmen of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europ (OSCE).
02 Puerto Rico		Sila María Calderón takes office as governor.
02 United States (Montana)		Judy Martz is inaugurated as governor of Montana. Governor-Elect Martz was born July 28, 1943, in Big Timber, Montana, to ranching parents. She graduated from Butte High School in 1961, and attended Eastern Montana College. She was a member of the 1963 U.S. World Speed Skating Team, and a member of the U.S. Olympic Speed Skating Team at the 1964 Winter Games. She was the catalyst for the creation of U.S. High Altitude Speed Skating Center, located in Butte, and served as the Center's executive director from 1985 to 1989.
02 United States		Former attorney general (1957-61) and secretary of state (1969-73) William Pierce Rogers dies. 1913&endash;2001, U.S.. government official, b. Norfolk, N.Y. Admitted to the bar in 1937, he served (1947&endash;50) as chief counsel to two Senate investigating committees before becoming (1953) Deputy Attorney General under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. He lobbied vigorously for passage of the 1957 Civil Rights Act and later, as Attorney General (1957&endash;61), set up the civil-rights division of the Justice Department. As Secretary of State (1969&endash;73) under President Richard M. Nixon, Rogers argued for restraint in the use of U.S. military power. In 1970 he arranged a ceasefire in the Middle East between Israel and Egypt.
03 United States (Delaware)		Ruth Ann Minner is sworn in as governor of Delaware. Ruth Ann Minner's election as Delaware's first woman governor is the latest milestone in a remarkable journey - a testament to hard work and determination and a true Delaware story.
03 Iran		President Mohammad Khatami named five new ministers to the Majlis (parliament) to head ministries of agriculture jihad, industries and mines, culture and Islamic guidance, road and transport, and post, telegraph and telephone. The five nominees are Mahmoud Hojjati, Eshaq Jahangiri, Ahmad Masjed Jamei, Ahmad Motamedi and Rahman Dadman.
04 Burma or Myanmar		National holiday : Independence Day (4 January 1948, from UK). During World War II, Myanmar was invaded and quickly occupied by the Japanese, who set up a nominally independent Burman regime under Dr. Ba Maw. Disillusioned members of the Burmese Independent Army (which the Japanese had formed secretly before the war to assist in expelling the British) under Aung San formed an anti-Japanese resistance movement, the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL). Allied forces drove the Japanese out of Myanmar in Apr., 1945. In 1947 the British and Aung San reached agreement on full independence for Myanmar. Most of the non-Burman peoples supported the agreement, although the acquiescence of many proved short-lived. Despite the assassination of Aung San in July, 1947, the agreement went into effect on Jan. 4, 1948. Myanmar became an independent republic outside the Commonwealth of Nations.
06 Thailand		General election. Results : Thai Rak Thai Party's (Thais Love Thais) Thaksin Shinawatra has won a runaway victory with 253 to 256 seats in the 500-seat lower house of parliament. Still he might be banned from politics over allegations of bribery.