Commemorating two hundred years since the outbreak of the Creole revolution against Spanish rule and one hundred years since the beginning of the Mexican Revolution, Mexico is celebrating the Bicentenario de la Independencia de Mexico y Centenario de la Revolucion Mexicana throughout 2010. Interestingly, Colombia, Argentina and Venezuela also have their bicentennials this year.

Mexican Independence
In the early morning hours of September 16, 1810, the insurrection was initiated by a group called “the conspirators of Queretaro.” Among the group’s members, priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla is renowned for calling the people of Dolores, Guanajuato, to action. Included in this speech, known as “el grito de Dolores” or “the cry of Dolores,” he uttered the now famous exhortation “Long live the Virgin of Guadalupe! Down with bad government! Long live Fernando VII!” —referring to Fernando VII of Bourbon, king of Spain from 1808 to 1813.

After the speech, Hidalgo led a group of farmers to the town jail, where they took control and armed themselves before proceeding to Atotonilco el Grande, Hidalgo. They used a banner of the Virgin of Guadalupe as their standard, which is considered the first Mexican flag. But this was just the beginning of the long struggle for Mexican independence, which finally ended in 1821.

The Mexican Revolution
Referred to as the most important social event of the 20th century in Mexico, the Mexican Revolution began November 20, 1910, and formally ended in 1917 with the enactment of the 1917 Constitution, the current supreme law of Mexico. Nonetheless, internal strife and armed rebellions continued until the early ‘30s.

The revolution began as a rebellion against the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz, a Oaxacan with an extensive political and military background who remained in power for 33 years. After he resigned and went into exile in France, businessman and politician Francisco I. Madero, who had previously competed against Diaz, was elected.

Celebrations of the Centennial and Bicentennial
Both dates will be widely celebrated, some celebrations including unique ceremonies www.bicentenario.gob.mx

 Some related activities already are in effect, including the special peso bills put in circulation by the Banco de Mexico that feature revolutionary troops, camp followers or fragments of the mural “Del Porfirismo a la Revolución” by David Alfaro Siqueiros as the main image. In addition, Mexican television has dedicated time and commercial space to the commemoration of the dates, while social networks have created websites dedicated to various heroes of the armed struggle.

Puerto Vallarta Celebrates
The Puerto Vallarta municipal government has formed a board, chaired by Mayor Salvador Gonzalez Resendiz and directed by Professor Enrique Barrios Limon, to organize festivities related to the bicentennial and centennial. Several of these events were held in the first months of the year, but September will bring some of the most significant tributes to the heroes who wrought Mexican independence. Among the events are the play “La Sombra del Bribon,” a representation of the night of the cry of Dolores presented by the organizers of the Cuale Cultural Festival; the creation of a portfolio of engravings by eight widely recognized artists, the project led by Vallarta artist Ireri Topete; and the presentation of the Ballet de la Independencia, performed by municipal folkloric ballet troupe Xiutla.

                          New Menu “Sabores de México” Presented

In conmemoration to the bicentenary of the independence and de centenary of the revolution, Café des Artistes proudly presents its new menu: Sabores de Mexico (Mexico’s Flavors).

Come and enjoy the authenticity of Mexican cuisine begining from Saturday, July 3rd, 2010.

The Best is yet to come…

• 356 BC – The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is destroyed by arson.
• 285 – Diocletian appoints Maximian as Caesar and co-ruler.
• 365 – A tsunami devastates the city of Alexandria, Egypt. The tsunami is caused by an earthquake estimated to be 8.0 on the Richter Scale. 5,000 people perished in Alexandria, and 45,000 more died outside the city.
• 1403 – Battle of Shrewsbury: King Henry IV of England defeats rebels to the north of the county town of Shropshire, England.
• 1545 – The first landing of French troops on the coast of the Isle of Wight during the French invasion of the Isle of Wight.
• 1568 – Eighty Years’ War: Battle of Jemmingen – Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alva defeats Louis of Nassau.
• 1718 – The Treaty of Passarowitz between the Ottoman Empire, Austria and the Republic of Venice is signed.
• 1774 – Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774: Russia and the Ottoman Empire sign the Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji ending the war.
• 1831 – Inauguration of Léopold I of Belgium, first king of the Belgians.
• 1861 – American Civil War: First Battle of Bull Run – at Manassas Junction, Virginia, the first major battle of the war begins and ends in a victory for the Confederate army.
• 1865 – In the market square of Springfield, Missouri, Wild Bill Hickok shoots and kills Davis Tutt in what is regarded as the first western showdown.
• 1873 – At Adair, Iowa, Jesse James and the James-Younger gang pull off the first successful train robbery in the American Old West.
• 1877 – After rioting by Baltimore and Ohio Railroad workers and the deaths of nine rail workers at the hands of the Maryland militia, workers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania stage a sympathy strike that is met with an assault by the state militia.
• 1904 – Louis Rigolly, a Frenchman, becomes the first man to break the 100 mph (161 km/h) barrier on land. He drove a 15-liter Gobron-Brille in Ostend, Belgium.
• 1918 – U-156 shells Nauset Beach, in Orleans, Massachusetts. This is the first time that the United States is shelled since the Mexican-American War.
• 1919 – The dirigible Wingfoot Air Express crashes into the Illinois Trust and Savings Building in Chicago, killing 12 people.
• 1925 – Scopes Trial: In Dayton, Tennessee, high school biology teacher John T. Scopes is found guilty of teaching evolution in class and fined $100.
• 1925 – Sir Malcolm Campbell becomes the first man to break the 150 mph (241 km/h) land barrier at Pendine Sands in Wales. He drove a Sunbeam at a two-way average speed of 150.33 mph (242 km/h).
• 1944 – World War II: Battle of Guam – American troops land on Guam starting the battle. It would end on August 10.
• 1944 – World War II: Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg and fellow conspirators are executed in Berlin, Germany for the July 20 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
• 1949 – The United States Senate ratifies the North Atlantic Treaty.
• 1954 – First Indochina War: The Geneva Conference partitions Vietnam into North Vietnam and South Vietnam.
• 1959 – Elijah Jerry “Pumpsie” Green becomes the first African-American to play for the Boston Red Sox, the last team to integrate. He came in as a pinch runner for Vic Wertz and stayed in as shortstop in a 2-1 loss to the Chicago White Sox.
• 1960 – Sirimavo Bandaranaike is elected Prime Minister of Sri Lanka and becomes the world’s first woman prime minister.
• 1961 – Mercury program: Mercury-Redstone 4 Mission – Gus Grissom piloting Liberty Bell 7 becomes the second American to go into space (in a suborbital mission).
• 1969 – Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin become the first men to walk on the Moon, during the Apollo 11 mission.
• 1970 – After 11 years of construction, the Aswan High Dam in Egypt is completed.
• 1972 – Bloody Friday bombings by the Provisional IRA around Belfast, Northern Ireland – 22 bombs are detonated, killing 9 and seriously injuring 130.
• 1973 – In the Lillehammer affair in Norway, Israeli Mossad agents kill a waiter whom they mistakenly thought was involved in 1972′s Munich Olympics Massacre.
• 1976 – Christopher Ewart-Biggs British ambassador to the Republic of Ireland is assassinated by the Provisional IRA.
• 1977 – The start of the four day long Libyan-Egyptian War.
• 1983 – The world’s lowest temperature is recorded at Vostok Station, Antarctica at −89.2 °C (−129 °F).
• 1994 – Tony Blair is declared the winner of the leadership election of the British Labour Party, paving the way for him to become Prime Minister after the 1997 general election.
• 1995 – Third Taiwan Strait Crisis: The People’s Liberation Army begins firing missiles into the waters north of Taiwan.
• 1997 – The fully restored USS Constitution (aka Old Ironsides) celebrates her 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years.
• 2004 – The United Kingdom government publishes Delivering Security in a Changing World, a paper detailing wide-ranging reform of the country’s armed forces.
• 2005 – Four terrorist bombings, occurring exactly two weeks after the similar July 7 bombings, target London’s public transportation system. All four bombs fail to detonate and all four suspected suicide bombers are captured and later convicted and imprisoned for long terms.
• 2008 – Bosnian-Serb war criminal Radovan Karadžić is arrested in Serbia and is indicted by the UN’s ICTY tribunal.

• 1304 – Nace Francesco Petrarca, poeta y humanista italiano.

• 1810 – Tiene lugar en Santa Fe el suceso conocido como El Florero de Llorente que inicia el proceso independentista de la República de Colombia.

• 1903 – Muere León XIII, papa de la Iglesia católica desde 1878.

• 1656 – Led by King Charles X Gustav, the armies of Sweden and Brandenburg defeated the forces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth near Warsaw.
• 1927 – Five-year-old Michael became King of Romania upon the death of his grandfather Ferdinand.
• 1944 – Adolf Hitler survived an assassination attempt by German Resistance member Claus von Stauffenberg, who hid a bomb inside a briefcase during a conference at the Wolfsschanze military headquarters in East Prussia.
• 1951 – Abdullah I of Jordan was assassinated while visiting Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
• 1969 – The Apollo 11 lunar module landed on the Sea of Tranquillity, where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin (pictured) became the first men to walk on the moon six-and-a-half hours later.
• 2005 – The Civil Marriage Act received its Royal Assent, legalizing same-sex marriage in Canada