Subscribe to our Newsletter and receive the content that interests you in your email.On June 10, 1990, Alberto Fujimori, a son of Japanese immigrants, became president of Peru after defeating the famous novelist Mario Vargas Llosa.After a decade in power (1990-2000) he was accused of corruption, human rights violations and crimes against humanity.Fujimori, however, obtained resounding achievements such as his fight against terrorism, where the capture in 1992 of the leader of the Shining Path, Abimael Guzmán, and the rescue of hostages from the residence of the Japanese ambassador in 1997 stand out.After 27 years of being a prisoner, the leader of the movement that wanted to end the apartheid racial segregation system in South Africa, Nelson Mandela was released on February 11, 1990. On May 10, 1994, Mandela is elected president of South Africa, becoming in the first black man in the history of that country to get that position and end the authoritarian regime.Mandela was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.Socialism begins to crumble in favor of freedom: On October 3, 1990, East and West Germany were reunited after 45 years of German division, one of the most representative symbols of the Cold War.Once reunited, Berlin returned to being the only capital of the country.In another historic change in Europe during this decade, the figure of Lech Walesa emerged, co-founder of Solidarity, the first free trade union in the Eastern Bloc, who assumed the presidency of Poland from 1990 to 1995.On February 26, 1993, in a sinister precursor to September 11, 2001, the United States was the victim of one of the worst terrorist attacks in its history, after a homemade bomb exploded in an underground garage in the Torres Twins from New York.The explosion collapsed generators, elevators and power lines.It left six dead and more than a thousand injured in what the FBI called "the heaviest and most powerful improvised bomb" they had identified so far.December 25, 1991 was the last day of the existence of the Soviet Union (USSR).Days before its dissolution, representatives of 11 of the 15 countries that were part of the USSR met in the city of Alma-Atá, in order to express their resignation and announce that they would become independent states, as well as the three countries Baltics Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.This historic event, along with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain, brought the Cold War to an end.On October 3, 1995, after 252 days of trial, OJ Simpson was found not guilty of fatally stabbing her ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman.Despite the evidence against the football star, his lawyers created a controversial strategy that convinced the juries to acquit him.The trial and final verdict was followed on television by more than half of the American population.President Bill Clinton announced in 1993 the policy called "Don't ask, Don't tell, Don't pursue", which prohibited all military personnel from discriminating against or violating homosexuals or bisexuals who served in the military, since until then only heterosexuals were allowed to serve in the Armed Forces.However, by insisting that an individual's sexual orientation not be disclosed, the law actually supported discrimination and was thus officially revoked in September 2011 on the grounds that it violated "American principles of fairness and equality."On March 20, 1995, the apocalyptic Japanese sect Aum Shinrikyo (meaning “supreme truth”) made headlines for a deadly sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, killing 13 people and poisoning hundreds of thousands.The judicial processes, open since 1996, have left many aspects of the plot unclear, including the motivation for the attacks.The truth is that what happened in Japan has reevaluated the feeling of security in mass transportation around the world.The birth of Dolly on July 5, 1996, the first mammal successfully cloned from an adult cell, relaunched the controversy over stem cell experimentation.The ethical questions that were raised related to embryonic cells grown in the laboratory.The technique used for livestock purposes was adopted in several countries but not in Europe.Dolly paved the way for futuristic DNA control, but she also aroused many fears of manipulating human genetic codes.In 1998, intimate details of a sexual relationship between President Bill Clinton and 22-year-old White House intern Monica Lewinsky were leaked.Clinton initially denied having a sexual relationship with Lewinsky.News of this extramarital affair and the resulting investigation eventually led to President Clinton's perjury impeachment trial by the US House of Representatives. Clinton was exonerated of all charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in a 21-day trial. by the Senate.On June 26, 1997, writer Joanne Rowling released the first book in the acclaimed universe of witchcraft and wizardry, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.His magic worked beyond the pages of the book: A survey carried out in 2006 reported that 51% of series readers between the ages of 5 and 17 said that they had not read for pleasure before Harry Potter, but that then he did.The estimated value of the Harry Potter brand is $15 billion and includes books, films and theme parks.On August 31, 1997, Princess Diana died in a car accident in Paris, giving rise to rumors and speculation of plots to assassinate her.Her driver, Henri Paul, and her boyfriend, Dodi Al-Fayed, died with her.However, in 1999 a French judge concluded, based on official reports, that the cause of the accident was caused by the driver Henri Paul, who after having consumed alcohol and antidepressants lost control of the car when accelerating to avoid the paparazzi.Diane was 36 years old.The "Dot-Com Boom" between 1995 and 2000 refers to the speculative investments in the Internet that fueled a seemingly unstoppable growth of the Stock Market based on the millions of dollars invested in any organization that ended in ".com".Then came Y2K, a software error caused by programmers, since they represented the year with only the last two digits.What does this mean?That the year 2000 became indistinguishable from 1900, causing errors in devices programmed to display dates and times of the year and causing panic among those who thought such errors would cripple an infrastructure totally dependent on technology.After Sildenafil, better known as Viagra, was patented in 1996, in 1998 the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of the drug on the market to treat erectile dysfunction in men.The huge success of Viagra was practically instantaneous.In the first year alone, the pills garnered about a billion dollars in sales.An estimated 30 million men in the United States suffer from erectile dysfunction.Two new symbols of the European Union emerged in the 1990s: The Channel Tunnel was completed in 1994 and connects Folkestone in the UK with Coquelles in France.At 31 miles (50 kilometers) long, it is one of the longest underwater tunnels on the planet.Then, almost at the end of the decade, the use of a single type of currency was defined in Europe and finally on January 1, 1999, the euro became the official currency of 11 European countries.In August 1992, Hurricane Andrew, the most destructive to hit the US to date, left more than 25,000 houses completely destroyed in Miami-Dade County, Florida;65 people died and the total damage to the affected regions exceeded $26 billion.Six years later, in 1998, Mitch hit Central America, leaving more than 11,000 dead and hundreds of thousands of houses destroyed.Governments and the media reported a "massive migration to the north" as a result of the devastating passage of the hurricane.The Human Genome Project (HGP) was a worldwide scientific research project that focused on analyzing the entire structure of human DNA and determining the locus of the estimated 100,000 human genes.The project was founded in 1990 by the Department of Energy in collaboration with the US National Institutes of Health.The initiative involved more than a thousand researchers, including 16 institutions from six different nations, including the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Japan and China.John Paul II visited the communist nation in January 1998. "Let Cuba open up to the world with all its magnificent possibilities and let the world open up to Cuba," asked the pontiff, who during his five days on the island celebrated mass in four provinces and the Plaza de la Revolución in Havana.As a reminder of the trip, President Fidel Castro accepted a request from the Pope: that December 25 be a holiday in Cuba.Christmas has not been celebrated as a holiday in Cuba since 1969.The 90's left several tragic deaths.Among them that of the versatile rock singer Freddie Mercury, in 1991, a victim of AIDS.In 1994, Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna would die after his car crashed at the San Marino Grand Prix in Italy.In 1997, a few days after the death of Diana of Wales, the death of Mother Teresa of Calcutta was announced;and in 1999, the disappearance of one of the great visionaries of cinema, Stanley Kubrick, of a heart attack.In 1997, one of the highest-grossing films in the history of cinema would arrive.Titanic, with a budget of $200 million, grossed over $28 million in its opening weekend, and has grossed nearly $660 million to date.The famous film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet was awarded 11 Oscars.In the same decade, films such as Pulp Fiction (1994), Silence of the Lambs (1991), Forrest Gump (1994) and The Matrix (1999) were released, among other classics.The 90s marked in Latin America the development of alternative forms of cinema and new cinematographic movements such as the New Argentine Cinema, among the outstanding directors, Lucrecia Martel and Adrián Caetano.In Mexico, filmmakers like Alejandro González Iñárritu and Alfonso Cuarón revitalized the national film industry and achieved success abroad as well.Artists of the stature of León Ferrari (Argentina) Carlos Cruz-Diez (Venezuela) and painters such as the Colombian Fernando Botero and the Ecuadorian Oswaldo Guayasamín also emerged and consolidated.Ballads conquered the world of the 90s.Songs like Whitney Houston's “I Will Always Love You,” Toni Braxton's “Unbreak My Heart” and Sinead O'Connor's “Nothing Compares 2 U” dominated the Billboard charts.Shakira, Laura Pausini, Mecano, Alejandro Sanz and Maná, among others, shone on behalf of Ibero-American music, with great songs that are still heard on the radio and in nightclubs.There were also hits like “Livin' la Vida Loca”, by Ricky Martin.By 1990, great technological improvements made communication easier and skyrocketed the popularity of telephones and other cellular devices.The companies targeted families and motorists as sales targets.In 1995, SMS and data services became available, and GSM subscribers exceeded 10 million people worldwide.In 1996, prepaid SIM cards were launched;towards the end of the decade, in 1998, the number of GSM subscribers exceeded 100 million, setting the standard for cellular technology.In 1998, baseball fans eagerly followed the battle for the most home runs in a season between Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals and Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs.Both competed to break Roger Maris' achievement of 61 home runs.It was McGwire who caught up first, on Sept. 8, finishing the season with 70 runs and Sosa with 66. Although the competition captivated the nation, allegations of steroid use marred both players' accomplishments.In November 1999, Elián González, the 5-year-old 'Cuban rafter' whose mother dies trying to reach the United States, is rescued in Florida waters.His father, Juan Miguel, backed by Fidel Castro himself, claims him from Cuba.His relatives in Miami refuse to return the boy to the communist regime.After five months of negotiations and demonstrations in the US and Cuba, federal agents raided the house where 'Eliancito' lived and the boy was returned to his father.He subscribe to our Newsletter and receive information on home and family, relationship advice, technology and more.Join AARP and save on hotels, car rentals, cruises and flights.We are a nonprofit, nonpartisan association that helps people over the age of 50 improve the quality of their lives.You are leaving AARP.org to visit the website of one of our trusted providers.That provider implements its own terms, conditions, and policies.For information on other benefits, return to AARP.org.You are leaving AARP.org to visit the website of one of our trusted providers.That provider implements its own terms, conditions, and policies.For information on other benefits, return to AARP.org.You are leaving the AARP.org website and going to a website that is not operated by AARP.It will be governed by a separate privacy policy and terms of service.Your email address is now confirmed.You'll start receiving the latest news, benefits, events, and programs related to AARP's mission to empower people to choose how they live as they age.You can also manage your communication preferences by updating your account at any time.You will be asked to register or log in.In the next 24 hours, you will receive an email to confirm your subscription to receive emails related to AARP volunteering.Once you confirm that subscription, you will regularly receive communications related to AARP volunteering.In the meantime, please feel free to search for ways to make a difference in your community at www.aarp.org/volunteerJavascript must be enabled to use this site.Please enable Javascript in your browser and try again.