Template:On this day - April 19

José Echegaray

• 1013 – Berber troops under the command of Sulaiman al-Mustain enter the Andalusi city of Córdoba (present-day Spain) and sack it for several days.
• 1528 – At the Cortes of Madrid, Prince Philip II is sworn heir to the Kingdoms of Spain.
• 1587 – In the south of Spain, the English corsair Francis Drake attacks the port of Cádiz.
• 1593 – In the Viceroyalty of Peru (in the north of present-day Argentina), the Spanish captain Francisco de Argañarás founds San Salvador de Velazco in the Valley of Jujuy.
• 1810 – In Caracas (Captaincy General of Venezuela), a popular rebellion overthrows Governor Vicente Emparan and the Supreme Governing Junta takes power, declaring itself "protector of the rights of Ferdinand VII of Spain".
• 1825 – In Uruguay, the landing of the 33 Orientals under the command of Juan Antonio Lavalleja takes place to begin the struggle for independence against the Empire of Brazil.
• 1832 – Birth of José Echegaray y Eizaguirre, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize in Literature in 1904 (d. 1916).
• 1880 – In Madrid (Spain), Mateo Sagasta founds the Liberal-Fusionist Party.
• 1898 – The government of the United States sends that of Spain an ultimatum to leave the island of Cuba within 48 hours.
• 1902 – In the Quetzaltenango Department (Guatemala), an earthquake of 7.5 on the Richter scale lasts two minutes. Between 800 and 900 people die.
• 1917 – In Spain, the Count of Romanones presents the resignation of his cabinet to King Alfonso XIII.
• 1924 – In Madrid (Spain), the National Telephone Company is constituted, the predecessor company of today's Telefónica.
• 1925 – At the port of La Ceiba (Honduras), U.S. marines land to protect their citizens during an armed uprising.
• 1928 – The training ship Juan Sebastián Elcano (A-71) sets out on her first voyage.
• 1929 – The positions of the Mexican rebels in the so-called "war of the Cristeros" are bombed.
• 1930 – In Spain, the sound film La bodega premieres, starring Conchita Piquer, based on a novel by Blasco Ibáñez and directed by Benito Perojo.
• 1931 – In Spain, Victoria Kent is appointed director general of prisons.
• 1937 – During the Spanish Civil War, the dictator Francisco Franco signs the Decree of Unification, which dissolves all political parties.
• 1941 – In the University City of Madrid (Spain), the Museum of the Americas is created to house the collections of American archaeology, art and ethnography that until then were in the National Archaeological Museum.
• 1953 – In Venezuela, the National Constituent Assembly proclaims General Marcos Pérez Jiménez president.
• 1961 – At Playa Girón (Bay of Pigs) on the south coast of the island of Cuba, the Bay of Pigs Invasion comes to an end, a failed military operation involving paramilitary troops of Cuban exiles backed by the government of the United States.
• 1961 – Spain adopts European working hours, allowing the continuous working day.
• 1969 – Death of Juan Modesto, a prominent Spanish Republican soldier during the Spanish Civil War (b. 1906).
• 1970 – In Colombia, the urban guerrilla group 19th of April Movement proclaims its "birth and principles".
• 1972 – Death of Manuel Gómez Morin, Mexican lawyer and politician, founder of the National Action Party and rector of the National University of Mexico (b. 1897).
• 1991 – The people of Puerto Rico are awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for Letters 1991 for their "exemplary defense of the Spanish language, which has been declared the country's only official language".
• 1998 – Death of Octavio Paz, Mexican writer, Nobel Prize in Literature in 1990 (b. 1914).
• 2005 – In Buenos Aires, the former Argentine officer Adolfo Scilingo is sentenced to 640 years in prison for the crimes against humanity committed in Argentina during the dictatorship of General Videla.
• 2018 – Death of Raymond Carr, British historian, professor and Hispanist (b. 1919).
• 2018 – In Havana (Cuba), Miguel Díaz-Canel takes office as President of Cuba, succeeding Raúl Castro.