Project 3: Context

What happened in the 1994 century socially:

January 1: Twelve days of armed conflict are initiated by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation in Chiapas, Mexico. The army is a far-left and libertarian socialist political and military group and it controls a large amount of territory in the Chiapas state.

January 1: American actor Cesar Romero dies at the age of 86.

January 2: In South Mexico, 57 people are killed when battles between rebellious Indians and the army break out.

January 3: Hundreds of people are killed in a prison revolt in Venezuela.

January 3: The South African parliament, led by President F. W. de Klerk, announced the restoration of South African citizenship on December 15, 1993. On this day, it becomes effective, four months prior to the non-racial South Africa polls of April 27, 1994.

January 6: One of the major events in 1994 – Nancy Kerrigan, American ice skater, is attacked by the bodyguard of fellow ice skater Tonya Harding.

January 7: American figure skater Tonya Harding wins the US Female Figure Skating championship.

January 7: In Ohio, a United Express commuter plane crash kills 5 people.

January 8: TM-18, a Russian-manned spacecraft, launches into orbit.

January 8: Scott Davis, American ice skater, wins the US Male Figure Skating championship.

Reference:

What happened in the 1994 century economically:

March – November, 1994

The crawling peg of the Mexican peso (figure 1) is under fire. Not only does the US Federal Reserve raise its policy rate by 250bps during this time span, Mexico also suffers from political homicides in the lead-up to the presidential elections later that year. Foreign exchange reserves therefore decline rapidly (figure 3). In April, to stop the outflow of foreign currency, the Mexican government issues short term dollar denominated debt, called tesobonos. As investors buying the tesobonos are protected for a potential devaluation of the peso, the outflow of foreign currency stops, while the foreign exchange rate stabilizes. However, in November USD 3bn is pulled out of the country, of which USD 1.6bn on a single day (18 November).

December 1st, 1994

The new Mexican government, headed by President Zedillo, takes office.

December 15th, 1994

The Wall Street Journal publishes an interview with the new Finance Minister Jaime Serra Puche, in which he denies that Mexico will devaluate the peso. The next day, USD 855 m leaves Mexico.

December 20th, 1994

The new cabinet concludes that the situation is unsustainable. Therefore, the Central Bank of Mexico announces a lift of the upper band of the exchange rate by 15%, an effective devaluation of the peso.

December 20-21th, 1994

In the two days after the announcement, USD 4.6 bn leaves the country, half of the foreign exchange reserves.

December 22th, 1994

The intervention on the foreign exchange market is lifted, and the peso is allowed to float freely. The total devaluation of the peso amounts to 35% by the end of December.

Reference:

https://economics.rabobank.com/publications/2013/september/the-tequila-crisis-in-1994/

What happened in the 1994 century politically:

1994 was a particularly eventful year politically and culturally, with so many stand-out events taking the world by storm. After years of Apartheid, South Africa saw its first black President take office when Nelson Mandela was sworn in, and a planned attack on figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was frequently in the news, eventually banning champion and rival Tonya Harding from the sport for life for her involvement.

The public were saddened by the death of grunge rocker and Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, and the case against O. J. Simpson began to form. Our 1994 timeline reveals some of the most memorable events from the year.

Many iconic, award-winning films were released this year, including Forrest Gump, The Shaw-shank Redemption and Schindler’s List, and the popular sitcom Friends hit our screens for the first time, beginning a decade of laughter and watching the gang drink coffee at Central Perk. 

The best way to learn even more about 1994 is in an original 1994 newspaper, showing how the news reported some of these 1994 events and how the public read about them at the time. 

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