Template:On this day - February 15

Pedro Menéndez de Avilés

• 1009 – After a popular uprising in Córdoba (present-day Spain), the caliph Hisham II and his favorite, Abd al-Rahman ibn Sanchul (son of Almanzor), are driven from power, beginning the Fitna of al-Andalus, a civil war that would bring about the collapse of the Caliphate.
• 1519 – Birth of Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, Spanish military officer and seaman, founder of the city of San Agustín, and Governor of Florida and of Cuba (d. 1574).
• 1525 – Hernán Cortés orders the execution of Cuauhtémoc, the last Aztec emperor.
• 1547 – In Guanajuato (Viceroyalty of New Spain), the village of Irapuato is founded.
• 1728 – In Madrid (Spain), the Duke of Wharton founds the country's first Masonic lodge, named the Three Fleurs-de-Lis.
• 1803 – Death of Eugenio Larruga, Spanish economist and writer (b. 1747).
• 1819 – In Angostura (Venezuela), the second constituent congress is held, where Simón Bolívar delivers a famous Address.
• 1834 – Birth of Faustina Sáez de Melgar, Spanish writer and journalist (d. 1895).
• 1898 – In Havana Harbor, the cruiser Maine explodes, an event that gives the United States the excuse to declare war on Spain.
• 1901 – The United States refuses to accept the Cuban constitution and annexes the island, despite its promises to support independence.
• 1908 – Spanish troops occupy La Restinga (some 25 km from Melilla).
• 1930 – In Spain, the government of General Berenguer dissolves the National Consultative Assembly that had been established by General Miguel Primo de Rivera.
• 1941 – In Spain, King Alfonso XIII renounces his rights to the throne and cedes them to his son Juan de Borbón.
• 1948 – Elections are held in Paraguay, won by the representative of the Colorado Party, Natalicio González.
• 1966 – Without reciprocity, Spain allows German citizens to enter the country without a passport, though with an identity card, and for tourist purposes.
• 1976 – In Colombia, the president of the Confederation of Workers (CTC), José Raquel Mercado, is kidnapped and finally executed by the M-19, which accused him of being an "agent of the CIA".
• 1981 – The government of Costa Rica, under pressure from the United States and the Nicaraguan "contra", shuts down the Montonero project Radio Noticias del Continente, which had been broadcasting since 1979 and supported the Sandinista government.
• 1990 – In Cartagena de Indias, Presidents Bush of the United States, Jaime Paz Zamora of Bolivia, Virgilio Barco of Colombia and Alan García of Peru agree on a common strategy to fight drug trafficking.
• 1993 – In Madrid, the police break up a white slavery ring that had illegally brought more than 2000 Dominican women into Spain for prostitution.
• 2014 – Death of Federico Campbell, Mexican journalist, editor, essayist, translator and narrator (b. 1941).
• 2020 – Death of José Zalaquett, Chilean jurist and academic (b. 1942).
• 2021 – Death of Johnny Pacheco, Dominican musician, flautist, composer, arranger, director and producer of Cuban music and salsa (b. 1935).