On this day in ... ... 1978 (30 years ago today) , led by Edén Pastora Gómez aka Comandante Cero, members of the Third Way faction of Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional held nearly thousands of officials hostage at the National Palace in Managua, Nicaragua. The seizure would last for 2 days and compel the government of President Anastasio Somoza to accede to many of "the rebels' demands, including the release of sixty FSLN guerrillas from prison, media dissemination of an FSLN declaration, a US$500,000 ransom, and safe passage for the hostage takers to Panama and Venezuela."
... 1991, a judgment issued in 2 consolidated cases, R. v. Seaboyer; R. v. Gayme, invalidated Canada's rape-shield protections. Grounding its holding in the 1982 Charter of Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the Canadian Supreme Court ruled "that the sexual history of rape victims may be offered as evidence in court at the trial judge's discretion." Writing on behalf of the 7-member majority was Justice Beverley McLachlin; the only other woman on th
e Court, Claire L’Heureux-Dubé, dissented on behalf of herself and a colleague. Years later, in R. v. Darrach (2000), the Court unanimously approved a revised rape shield law; among those voting were L’Heureux-Dubé and McLachlin, the latter by then Canada's Chief Justice. (credit for Canada Supreme Court photo)
e Court, Claire L’Heureux-Dubé, dissented on behalf of herself and a colleague. Years later, in R. v. Darrach (2000), the Court unanimously approved a revised rape shield law; among those voting were L’Heureux-Dubé and McLachlin, the latter by then Canada's Chief Justice. (credit for Canada Supreme Court photo) 
