On April 22, 2000, 6-year-old Elián Gonzalez, who was the sole survivor of an abortive attempt by 13 other Cuban citizens to enter America as illegal immigrants, was taken by a S.W.A.T. team from his Miami relatives. Following a number of court battles, the child was returned to his father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez.
On April 23, 1898, Spain declared war on the U.S. after rejecting its ultimatum to withdraw from Cuba. Following the declaration, the American Asiatic Squadron, under Commodore George Dewey, engaged the Spanish Pacific squadron under Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasarón in the Philippines’ Manila Bay, and decimated the Spanish squadron.
On April 24, 1942, singer/actress/ film producer Barbra Joan Streisand was born in Brooklyn, New York.. Considered “the girl on the block with the good voice” in her youth, and determined to be a star, her breakthrough came with the lead role in the 1964 Broadway musical Funny Girl. In 1968, the movie version of the role earned her an Academy Award for Best Actress. To date, Streisand has sold more than 140 million albums and won 10 Grammys.
On April 25, 2006, Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that his country was happy to share its nuclear technology with other nations, during a meeting with the visiting Sudanese president. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice condemned the comments, and Iran’s top nuclear negotiator threatened to suspend its cooperation with the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog if the country was threatened with sanctions.
On April 26, 1928, Filipino immigrant Pedro Flores opened the Yo-yo Manufacturing Company in Santa Barbara, California. By November 1929, he was operating two additional factories in Los Angeles and Hollywood, which together produced 300,000 yo-yos daily.
On April 27, 1971, eight members of the Welsh Language Society were accused of conspiring to damage, remove or destroy English-language road signs in Wales.
On April 28, 1789, Fletcher Christian led a mutiny against William Bligh aboard the HMS Bounty and set him and 18 loyal crew members adrift in a 23-foot open boat, but the men survived a 47-day voyage to the Dutch East Indies and returned to England to report the mutiny. Christian and the rest of the crew eventually settled on Pitcairn Island and Tahiti.
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