1999 Masters of Formula 3, Format changes
With an entry of 46 cars, race organisers changed the format of qualifying to allow every driver a shot at qualifying for the Marlboro Masters itself. The field would be split into two groups; one for even-numbered cars and one for odd-numbered cars. Then there would be a qualifying session for each group, with the top 14 drivers from each qualifying group automatically entered into the race, with the remaining drivers going into a qualifying race, as seen at the Macau Grand Prix. In the qualifying race, the top six finishers would progress to the Marlboro Masters, although Yudai Igarashi was barred from competing in the main race having been disqualified from the top six in the qualifying race.


1999 Matamoros standoff
On 9 November 1999, two agents from the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were threatened at gunpoint and nearly killed in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico, by gunmen of the Gulf Cartel, a criminal group based in the area. The two agents traveled to Matamoros with an informant to gather intelligence on the operations of the Gulf Cartel. As they cruised through one of the properties owned by the criminal group, they noticed several vehicles following them.


1999 Matamoros standoff
The agents were forced to a stop and were corralled by a convoy of eight vehicles, from which fifteen gunmen emerged and surrounded the agents' car. Some of them wore uniforms of the local police. Among the gunmen was the former kingpin Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, who recognized the informant and ordered the three of them to get out of their vehicle.


1999 Matamoros standoff
Fearing torture and interrogation, the agents agreed they would not allow the Gulf Cartel to take them alive. They decided their best chance of survival was to talk their way out of the incident. The agents repeatedly refused to comply with Cárdenas Guillén's orders and tried to reason with him that killing U.S. federal agents would result in a massive manhunt by the U.S. government. The incident escalated; profanities were exchanged and the gunmen prepared to shoot but Cárdenas Guillén ordered them to hold fire. One of the agents had a concealed handgun next to his thigh and was planning to kill Cárdenas Guillén if the gunmen opened fire. After twenty minutes, Cárdenas Guillén allowed the agents and the informant to return to Brownsville, Texas, U.S., and threatened to kill them if they ever returned.


1999 Matamoros standoff
The standoff triggered a massive law enforcement effort to crack down on the leadership structure of the Gulf Cartel. Cárdenas Guillén, who was previously regarded as a minor player in the international drug trade, became one of the most-wanted criminals in the world. The FBI and the DEA mounted numerous charges against him and issued a US$2 million bounty for his arrest. He was arrested in 2003 and extradited to the U.S. in 2007, where he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for drug trafficking, money laundering, and assaulting U.S. federal agents. He was also ordered to forfeit US$50 million, a small portion of what U.S. authorities believe he made in the Gulf Cartel. Several Gulf Cartel members involved in the standoff were also eventually arrested and convicted.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Background
The Gulf Cartel, a drug cartel based in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico, was founded in the 1930s by Juan Nepomuceno Guerra. It initially smuggled alcohol and other illegal goods into the U.S. but grew significantly in the 1970s under the leadership of kingpin Juan García Ábrego. By forming alliances with Colombian drug traffickers, García Ábrego coordinated marijuana and cocaine shipments into the U.S. and helped consolidate the Gulf Cartel as a multibillion-dollar criminal enterprise. In 1996, he was arrested and extradited to the U.S., where he was sentenced to eleven life sentences.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Background
Without a clear leadership, the Gulf Cartel underwent internal strife. Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, a low-level drug dealer, rose through the ranks of the cartel as other leaders were arrested or killed in the infighting. In mid-1999, Cárdenas Guillén ordered the murder of his friend Salvador Gómez Herrera (alias "El Chava"), the last man in line in the Gulf Cartel's leadership structure. With Gómez Herrera's death, Cárdenas Guillén consolidated himself as the top leader of the Gulf Cartel.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Background
To protect himself from rival gangsters and security forces, Cárdenas Guillén formed a private army known as Los Zetas, which consisted of former military officials. Unlike García Ábrego, Cárdenas Guillén did not enjoy the same level of protection and favoritism from government networks, and consolidated his power through the use of violence.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Background, Previous operations
In August 1996, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) launched an anti-drug investigation known as Operation Limelight that initially targeted Mexico's Juárez Cartel and Amado Carrillo Fuentes. During the operation's second phase dubbed Operation Impunity I in January 1998, the DEA focused on the Juárez Cartel's drug corridors in Tamaulipas and South Texas, where the Gulf Cartel was based. The DEA suspected Cárdenas Guillén was the leading crime figure in the Matamoros corridor and was working closely with the Juárez Cartel. In 1998, the DEA opened an investigation known as Operation Cazadores with the intention of arresting him.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Background, Previous operations
Undercover agents met Cárdenas Guillén in person at least twice. On 9 June 1999, Cárdenas Guillén threatened to kill Abraham Rodríguez, an undercover Cameron County Sheriff's Office investigator working with the U.S. Customs Service in Brownsville. The undercover agent refused to deliver a 988 kg (2,178 lb) load of marijuana on behalf of the Gulf Cartel.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Background, Previous operations
The Mexican and U.S. governments signed an agreement in 1998 prohibiting undercover work by U.S. officials in Mexican territory without the explicit approval and supervision of the Mexican government. Until then, most of the undercover operations in Mexico were often conducted by U.S. officials without the authorization or knowledge of the Mexican government. The agreement did not instruct U.S. officials how they should defend themselves when facing threats. One anonymous U.S. official confirmed the agents were armed during the standoff, although he stated that they never flashed or used their weapons. Other U.S. officials refused to comment on whether or not the agents were armed during the standoff. When the standoff occurred, it was illegal for the U.S. officials to conduct law enforcement operations or carry their firearms into Mexico.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Background, Previous operations
In 1998, Juan Raúl Bermúdez Núñez, a journalist from El Diario de Matamoros who accompanied the two agents in Matamoros, became an informant for the DEA and the FBI. He contacted the agencies and asked them to help him become a protected witness. Bermúdez Núñez had interviewed Cárdenas Guillén at his newspaper offices a few months before the standoff; in the interview, Cárdenas Guillén said he was the leader of the Gulf Cartel and threatened to kill Bermúdez Núñez. The journalist also wrote an article describing Cárdenas Guillén's ordering of the killing of Gómez Herrera.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Background, Previous operations
After the interview was published, Cárdenas Guillén gained the nickname "El Mata Amigos" (The Friend Killer). The Gulf Cartel had tried to bribe Bermúdez Núñez multiple times to prevent him from releasing articles about its organized crime activities. According to Bermúdez Núñez, the head representative of the newspaper, Mario Díaz, met with Cárdenas Guillén, his lawyer Galo Gaspar Pérez Canales, and Gulf Cartel member Víctor Manuel Vázquez Mireles to discuss bribery payments. They offered the newspaper US$500 a month to stop publishing about the Gulf Cartel. Bermúdez Núñez said he never accepted their money.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Background, Previous operations
In October 1999, a month before the standoff, federal agents confirmed the links between the Juárez Cartel and the Gulf Cartel, and extended their law enforcement efforts to both groups under Operation Impunity II, the third phase of Operation Limelight. Most of the operation's focus was in the border cities Reynosa and Matamoros, where the Gulf Cartel had a stronghold. They confirmed that Cárdenas Guillén had united remnants of the Carrillo Fuentes' organization and those who once reported to former Gulf Cartel leader García Ábrego. Operation Cazadores continued mostly as an undercover operation against Cárdenas Guillén; it included support from the U.S. Customs Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the DEA, the Cameron County Sheriff's Office, the Brownsville Police Department, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and Mexico's Attorney General's Office (PGR).


1999 Matamoros standoff, Standoff
At around 2:30 p.m. on 9 November 1999, DEA and FBI agents Joe DuBois and Daniel Fuentes traveled to Matamoros to gather intelligence on the operations of the Gulf Cartel. DuBois was based in the DEA office at the Consulate General of the United States in Monterrey, Nuevo León, and Fuentes worked at the DEA offices in Houston, Texas. They picked up their informant and collaborator, Bermúdez Núñez, at a restaurant close to the Gateway International Bridge. The agents drove a white Ford Bronco bearing diplomatic plates through the streets of Matamoros.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Standoff
The informant gave the two agents a tour of the houses where several Gulf Cartel members lived and of the stash houses they used to keep drugs before they were transported to the U.S. They reached La Aurora neighborhood, where Cárdenas Guillén lived, and tried to take pictures of his pink-colored mansion. Within moments, they noticed a Lincoln Continental, which was followed by a second vehicle, following them.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Standoff
The agents called the DEA offices in Houston using their mobile telephone and asked them to investigate the Texan license plates of a cherry-red Explorer, one of the vehicles that was following them. The DEA confirmed the vehicle was stolen. The persecution continued in Matamoros' streets but the agents' car was cut off by three vehicles and forced to stop. Within moments, they were surrounded by a caravan of eight vehicles.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Standoff
According to the federal agents, up to fifteen Gulf Cartel gunmen carrying AK-47s, AR-15s, and .45-caliber pistols left their vehicles and surrounded the agents. Some of them wore police uniforms, and the agents suspected that several of the gunmen were from the Matamoros Municipal Police or the Tamaulipas State Police. The incident occurred a few blocks away from the city's police station. The Gulf Cartel blockaded the road on which the agents were corralled while other men in police uniforms helped direct traffic in another direction.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Standoff
The agents tried asking Tamaulipas State Police commander Gilberto García Garza through their cellphone to call for backup, but they claimed the commander took no action even though he was reportedly monitoring the incident over the telephone. DuBois and Fuentes recognized they were outnumbered and surrounded; they briefly discussed the situation and agreed they would not allow the Gulf Cartel to kidnap them. "[Fuentes] and I decided, if we are going to die, we are going to die here", DuBois said in an interview.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Standoff
Both agents made this decision after considering their options and recognizing they would likely be kidnapped, tortured, and interrogated before being killed. "I knew what they'd do to me. I'd seen many pictures of the bodies [the Gulf Cartel] leave behind", DuBois said. They decided the only viable option was to try to talk their way out of the incident.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Standoff
Cárdenas Guillén stepped out of a white Jeep Cherokee and walked towards the agents' car. Cárdenas Guillén had a Colt pistol with a golden grip on his belt and was carrying a gold-plated AK-47. When he got to the car, he recognized the informant and ordered the agents to get out and hand him over. "Get off the car you sons of a bitches. I am going to kill you", Cárdenas Guillén yelled. The agents refused. Fuentes flashed his FBI badge but Cárdenas Guillén began slurring profanities at them and threatened to shoot them if they did not comply.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Standoff
At one point during the heated discussion, Cárdenas Guillén held his weapon to Fuentes' head. When the agents refused to concede, Cárdenas Guillén asked them to surrender the informant only, but the agents refused again. Cárdenas Guillén told the agents he did not care that they were U.S. federal agents, but DuBois told him he would regret his decision for the rest of his life if he decided to hurt them. "I told him, 'Think it over, man. There is no way that you will be able to hide anywhere. [ The U.S. government will] come get you'", DuBois said.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Standoff
He reminded Cárdenas Guillén of the manhunt that followed after DEA agent Kiki Camarena was killed by drug traffickers in Mexico in 1985. "You are fixing to make 300,000 enemies", DuBois said. The agents employed this strategy because they recognized appeals to morality would not work against Cárdenas Guillén, but appeals to self-preservation would likely persuade him to let them go. DuBois also did this to stand tough against Cárdenas Guillén and his henchmen, but also to prevent Cárdenas Guillén from having to face embarrassment in front of his men.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Standoff
DuBois and Fuentes had a second option in case the gunmen attempted to kill them. Fuentes had a handgun next to his thigh and was planning to kill Cárdenas Guillén if the gunmen decided to shoot them. "Unless they got [Fuentes] in a head shot, [Cárdenas Guillén] was coming with us", DuBois said. The gunmen raised their guns in firing position but Cárdenas Guillén told them to hold fire and allowed the agents and the informant to leave. "You fucking gringos," he yelled. "This is my town, so get the fuck out here before I kill all of you.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Standoff
Don't ever come back", Cárdenas Guillén told them. The gunmen and Cárdenas Guillén returned to their vehicles and the agents headed back to Brownsville, Texas. The gunmen followed the agents to the border. Once in the U.S., they telephoned top government officials from both countries, who were coincidentally in a meeting in Washington D.C. that day. The following day, Cárdenas Guillén celebrated the standoff by hosting a party with his henchmen at a local taco restaurant in Matamoros.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Manhunt
After the standoff, the U.S. government increased its law enforcement efforts to crack down on the leadership of the Gulf Cartel and made significant efforts to apprehend Cárdenas Guillén. Prior to the incident, he was a not regarded as a key player in the organized crime scene but his involvement in the standoff increased his notability. He was eventually placed on the list of the FBI and the DEA ten most-wanted list, and was accused of international drug trafficking and assault.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Manhunt
The DEA called the standoff one of the "most serious" incidents in Mexico since the murder of Camarena, and highlighted the vulnerabilities U.S. officials face in Mexico while on duty. They drew similarities with Camarena's murder because several policemen were also believed to have been involved in the standoff. Mexican officials stated that the involvement of the police in the standoff was not confirmed but that they were investigating the incident exhaustively. The DEA stated it was worried about the safety of its agents in Mexico and confirmed the Mexican government was working closely with it to apprehend the perpetrators. Days after the standoff, the DEA purchased several armored vehicles in the U.S. and sent them to Mexico for its agents stationed there.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Manhunt
The U.S. government also pressured Mexico to intensify its efforts to apprehend Cárdenas Guillén. Because the agents were nearly killed, the incident created tensions in Mexico–United States relations. Mexico's attorney general Jorge Madrazo Cuéllar and PGR anti-drug chief Mariano Herrán Salvatti met with the U.S. presidential cabinet hours later and discussed the incident. They did not recognize Cárdenas Guillén's name and asked another PGR anti-drug chief, José Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, for reports on his background. The records they retrieved stated he was a low-level criminal.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Manhunt
President Ernesto Zedillo (1994–2000) acted on the U.S.'s request and sent the Mexican Armed Forces to Tamaulipas to apprehend Cárdenas Guillén. They carried out operations in Matamoros, Reynosa, and Nuevo Laredo. Cárdenas Guillén, however, had abandoned Tamaulipas and relocated in the state of Nuevo León with several of his henchmen. He hid in a ranch known as Las Amarrillas in China, Nuevo León. He bought from ranch from Humberto García Ábrego via his lawyer Juan Jesús Guerrero Chapa.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Manhunt
U.S. authorities interviewed Cárdenas Guillén's father, one of his uncles, and his brother Homero Cárdenas Guillén, who they did not suspect was involved in organized crime activities. They eventually were able to wiretap several phone conversations between Cárdenas Guillén and his wife Celia Salinas Aguilar. They concluded in these conversations that Cárdenas Guillén was hiding in Monterrey with his wife and two children: Celia Marlén and Osiel Jr. As the investigation tightened, they discovered his family travelled in a Jetta, BMW, and an X Terra, and identified the schools their kids attended.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Manhunt
In their conversations, Cárdenas Guillén warned his wife that the phones they were using were probably wiretapped, and asked her to communicate with him through other lines. U.S. agents also researched Cárdenas Guillén's lovers and discovered that he had an affinity towards Colombian women. They interviewed a Colombian national who was dating him, Andrea Posadas Williamson. She confirmed the drug lord's whereabouts in Mexico City in September 2000.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Manhunt
A week after the standoff, the U.S. government gave Mexico several addresses that were linked to the Gulf Cartel. Mexican authorities carried out several raids in these properties but the information was outdated and the operations did not further the investigation. As the government increased its presence in Tamaulipas, several of Cárdenas Guillén's accomplices went for vacations in several resort areas. On 31 December 1999, Cárdenas Guillén hosted a party in Cancún with several of his henchmen. By the start of 2000, he refused to visit Matamoros under fear of being arrested. He preferred to stay in Mexico City and made only sporadic trips to Tamaulipas that year. Cárdenas Guillén stayed at multiple hotels throughout the year but eventually grew tired and bought a home in Bosques de las Lomas, Mexico City.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Manhunt, Reaction and identification of suspects
On 18 November 1999, DuBois and Fuentes met with a PGR head Héctor Daniel Dávalos Martínez in San Antonio, Texas, and told him what had occurred in the standoff. Dávalos Martínez showed the agents the pictures of several Gulf Cartel members the PGR had on file, and the agents recognized some of them as the perpetrators.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Manhunt, Reaction and identification of suspects
Those involved in the standoff were Cárdenas Guillén; Baldomero González Ruiz (alias "El Viejo Fox"); Juan Carlos de la Cruz Reyna (alias "El JC"); Vázquez Mireles (alias "El Meme Loco"); Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez (alias "El Coss"); José Manuel Garza Rendón (alias "La Brocha"); Adán Medrano Rodríguez (alias "El Licenciado"); Rogelio González Pizaña (alias "Z-2"); Alejandro Estévez García; Arturo Meléndez Reta; Saúl González López; Antonio Cárdenas Guillén (alias "Tony Tormenta"); Gregorio Sauceda Gamboa (alias "El Caramuelas"); and Rogelio García García (alias "El Roger").


1999 Matamoros standoff, Manhunt, Reaction and identification of suspects
DuBois also recounted the incident to Kevin C. Whaley, former head of the DEA offices in Houston, telling him the reason they did not leave their vehicle when Cárdenas Guillén ordered them to do so. He told Whaley the agents would likely have been killed if they had done as Cárdenas Guillén asked them. He said he accepted the possibility of his death in the vehicle in front of several eyewitnesses, which DuBois said had deterred the gunmen from killing them. He also stated that their refusal to follow orders confused the gunmen because they rarely have people stand up against them.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Manhunt, Reaction and identification of suspects
Bermúdez Núñez also traveled to San Antonio to give his account of the incident and explain what he knew of the Gulf Cartel. He told law enforcement he had known Cárdenas Guillén since 1998, and that he knew the Gulf Cartel was supported by members of the Matamoros Municipal Police and the Tamaulipas State Police. A total of 29 policemen who were collaborating with the Gulf Cartel were mentioned by him; six were from the local police and twenty-three were from the state police force. Bermúdez Núñez also stated that Cárdenas Guillén received support from policemen stationed at General Lucio Blanco International Airport in Reynosa, and that policemen acted as his armed squad to carry out executions on the Gulf Cartel's behalf, and aided its international drug trafficking operations.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Manhunt, Reaction and identification of suspects
On 28 July 2000, during the 48th Annual Awards Ceremony of the U.S. Department of Justice, DuBois and Fuentes were recognized by the U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno for their "exceptional heroism". In the ceremony, Reno highlighted the two agents' calmness and refusal to comply with Cárdenas Guillén's demands to surrender their informant and step out of the vehicle. She stated that the agents reminded Cárdenas Guillén of the consequences of his actions and showed "professionalism and courage" despite being outnumbered and facing life-threatening circumstances.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Aftermath, Indictments and sanctions
To formally build a case around Cárdenas Guillén, the U.S. government filed several indictments against him. His charges dated from 1998 to 2002, and included conspiracy to import cocaine and marijuana to the U.S. from Mexico, money laundering, and assault against U.S. law enforcement. On 14 March 2000, Cárdenas Guillén and several of his aides were indicted by a grand jury of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas in Brownsville; they were charged with two drug trafficking offenses and two assault counts against U.S. law enforcement officers.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Aftermath, Indictments and sanctions
The first assault charge was for the June 1999 offense against the undercover agent from Cameron County. The second assault charge was for the standoff in Matamoros in November 1999. On 14 December 2000, U.S. Department of State assistant deputy Wendy Chamberlin announced a US$2 million bounty for Cárdenas Guillén, Garza Rendón, and Medrano Rodríguez. This announcement was made alongside an indictment issued in Brownsville charging Cárdenas Guillén and seven of his associates of drug trafficking and assault against federal agents. "We are sending a clear and strong message that no one can threaten or harm a federal agent with impunity," DEA chief Donnie R. Marshall said in the press release. U.S. officials stated that they believed Cárdenas Guillén was hiding in Reynosa or Matamoros.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Aftermath, Indictments and sanctions
Law enforcement pressure against the Gulf Cartel and Cárdenas Guillén was also extended to their financial networks. On 1 June 2001, Cárdenas Guillén was sanctioned under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act) after President Bill Clinton considered him a "significant" international drug trafficker. The sanction was also extended to 11 other suspected drug traffickers across the world, including Álvarez Tostado, Sher Afghan, Miguel Caro Quintero, Chang Ping Yun, Joseph Gilboa, Joaquín Guzmán Loera, Jamiel Hamieh, Ismael Higuera Guerrero, Nasir Ali Khan, Óscar Malherbe de León, and Alcides Ramón Magaña. As a result of the sanction, Cárdenas Guillén's U.S.-based assets were frozen and U.S. citizens and companies were prohibited from engaging in business activities with him. It also revoked the visas of his family members who benefited from his illicit funds.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Aftermath, Indictments and sanctions
In October 2001, the U.S. Customs Service placed Cárdenas Guillén on its list of top-ten most-wanted international suspects. He was the third Mexican national to be included on this list; previously, Juárez Cartel leader Juan José Álvarez Tostado and Tijuana Cartel leader David Garzón Anguiano were on the list. In the report, Cárdenas Guillén was described as an armed and dangerous criminal who could be identified by a birthmark on the right side of his face and a tattoo on his left shoulder. On 9 April 2002, Cárdenas Guillén, along with nine associates, was indicted again for cocaine trafficking and continuous criminal enterprise activities.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Aftermath, Arrests
At around 9:45 a.m. on 14 March 2003, Cárdenas Guillén was arrested in Matamoros by the Mexican Army after a large shootout with his gunmen. There were three different shootouts during the operation; the first one occurred inside a house in Satélite neighborhood, where Cárdenas Guillén had been hiding for several months. The shootout there lasted about half an hour, during which Cárdenas Guillén's bodyguards were outnumbered and surrounded by the Army. When the military entered the house, Cárdenas Guillén tried to escape through a backyard wall but was apprehended.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Aftermath, Arrests
As he was taken into custody, a second shootout broke out outside the house after his gunmen tried to prevent his arrest. The third shootout broke out near Matamoros International Airport when a group of gunmen tried to rescue Cárdenas Guillén and prevent the military from transporting him to Mexico City. Once in Mexico City, he was handed over to the PGR and sent to Campo Militar 1, a military installation. He was then transferred via helicopter to the Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 1 (previously known as "La Palma"), a maximum-security prison in Almoloya de Juárez, State of Mexico.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Aftermath, Arrests
Three military men were wounded in the shootouts; at least one Gulf Cartel gunmen was killed and six more were wounded. Two uninvolved civilians were also injured in the attacks. After the third shootout, the military erected checkpoints and carried out vehicle inspections on the highways connecting Matamoros with Reynosa, Ciudad Victoria, and Playa Bagdad.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Aftermath, Arrests
The arrest was a significant event in the anti-crime efforts of President Vicente Fox (2000–2006). It also marked a radical shift in modus operandi of organized crime groups in Mexico; a shootout of this scale had not been seen in previous arrests of high-profile drug lords. The arrest came after six-month investigation that included undercover work. It was a combined effort by the Mexican government, the FBI, DEA, and the U.S. Customs Service, and was dubbed Operation Golden Grips.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Aftermath, Arrests
The arrest was planned in nearly absolute secrecy; the only Mexican officials aware of Cárdenas Guillén's capture were Fox, the Secretary of Defense Ricardo Clemente Vega García, and Attorney General Rafael Macedo de la Concha. The Mexican Army discovered Cárdenas Guillén's whereabouts about a week before the arrest and notified Fox, who approved the order to apprehend him. The Mexican government stated that tracing his whereabouts was a difficult task; during the investigation, they discovered he had at least 300 individuals working under him and protecting him from law enforcement in various parts of Mexico.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Aftermath, Arrests
In a press conference, Fox praised the efforts of the Army, which stated it would investigate the identity of Cárdenas Guillén's successor. In Mexico, Cárdenas Guillén had three outstanding arrest warrants for drug trafficking, money laundering, and organized crime charges; one in Mexico City and two in Tamaulipas. The PGR notified the U.S. government of the arrest because of the outstanding charges Cárdenas Guillén had in the U.S; it confirmed, however, that he would face trial in Mexico before an extradition request from the U.S. government was considered. The U.S. was enthusiastic about the arrest and recognized the efforts of the Fox administration.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Aftermath, Arrests
In addition to Cárdenas Guillén, other Gulf Cartel members involved in the standoff were arrested and convicted. Garza Rendón turned himself in to U.S. authorities in Pharr, Texas, on 5 June 2001 after fearing for his life; he was sentenced to nine years in prison in the U.S. that year. He was deported to Mexico in 2009, where he was re-arrested on additional charges. Medrano Rodríguez was arrested on 28 March 2002 in Matamoros; he was sentenced to 44 years in prison on 12 May 2006. He was released after 2012.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Aftermath, Arrests
Vázquez Mireles was arrested in Veracruz on 1 April 2003; as of 2013, he was in prison without a conviction after a court annulled his 12-year sentence. González Pizaña was arrested in October 2004; he was given a 16-year conviction in 2014, but was released later that year after his conviction was reduced to time he had already served. De la Cruz Reyna was arrested in Polanco, Mexico City, on 30 August 2007; he was extradited to the U.S. on 31 December 2008, and sentenced to 11 years in prison on 10 October 2012. Costilla Sánchez was arrested in Tampico, Tamaulipas, in 2012; he was extradited to the U.S. in 2015.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Aftermath, Imprisonment and extraditions
While in prison, Cárdenas Guillén continued to lead the Gulf Cartel and created an alliance with Tijuana Cartel leader Benjamín Arellano Félix. Cárdenas Guillén and Arellano Félix orchestrated plans to destabilize La Palma, and were placed under 24-hour surveillance with limited visits from family members. In October 2003 Cárdenas Guillén planned a hunger strike with other inmates after complaining that prison authorities were limiting the availability of water for their daily showers. In December 2003, Mexican authorities discovered he had smuggled a cellphone into his prison cell.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Aftermath, Imprisonment and extraditions
In April 2004, he sponsored a nationwide gift delivery during Children's Day and gave money to a church. In August 2004, investigators discovered Arellano Félix and Cárdenas Guillén were planning to escape from prison with outside help from their henchmen; Cárdenas Guillén was reportedly planning to use Los Zetas to break in and free him. In January 2005, authorities also discovered that Cárdenas Guillén was depositing money into the bank accounts of several inmates and their family members to gain their favor.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Aftermath, Imprisonment and extraditions
The same month, he ordered the execution of six prison guards in Matamoros; according to investigators, the attack was intended to show the government he was still capable of instigating violent acts. On 31 December 2005, high-ranking Sinaloa Cartel leader Arturo Guzmán Loera was killed in La Palma; investigators suspected Cárdenas Guillén may have planned the attack.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Aftermath, Imprisonment and extraditions
The Mexican government grew frustrated of Cárdenas Guillén's actions behind bars and decided to extradite him to the U.S. The extradition occurred on 19 January 2007, along with that of 14 other suspected criminals. He was one of the four major drug cartel leaders extradited that day; the other kingpins were Ismael and Gilberto Higuera Guerrero, former leaders of the Tijuana Cartel, and Héctor "El Güero" Palma, a former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Aftermath, Imprisonment and extraditions
The extradition came a few days after the inauguration of President Felipe Calderón (2006–2012); U.S. officials lauded Cárdenas Guillén's extradition and said they were optimistic about the new administration. U.S. officials had tried to have Cárdenas Guillén extradited to the U.S. during the Fox administration but they believed the Mexican government was reluctant to extradite criminals who faced crimes punishable with death penalties or life imprisonment; Mexico does not issue these sentences.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Aftermath, Imprisonment and extraditions
On 24 February 2010, Cárdenas Guillén was sentenced to 25 years in prison without possibility of parole. He was also fined US$100,000 and ordered to forfeit US$50 million; a small portion of what U.S. officials believed he generated as a leader of the Gulf Cartel. Upon his release in 2035, he will be placed in supervised release for five years. Though most of the trial was held behind closed doors, the U.S. government confirmed he pleaded guilty to threatening U.S. agents, money laundering, and drug trafficking.


1999 Matamoros standoff, Aftermath, Imprisonment and extraditions
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Cárdenas Guillén led a vast criminal empire that supplied multi-ton shipments of cocaine and marijuana from Mexico to the U.S., resulting in millions of dollars in drug proceeds. They also found him guilty of using violence and intimidation to further his drug conspiracies. "The successful prosecution of Cárdenas Guillén underscores the joint resolve of the United States and Mexico to pursue and prosecute the leadership of the drug trafficking cartels, dismantle their organizations and end the violence and corruption they have spawned", the prosecution said.


1999 Maui Invitational Tournament
The 1999 Maui Invitational Tournament was an early-season college basketball tournament that was played, for the 16th time, from November 22 to November 24, 1999. The tournament, which began in 1984, was part of the 1999–00 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The tournament was played at the Lahaina Civic Center in Maui, Hawaii and was won by the North Carolina Tar Heels. It was the first title for both the program and for its head coach Bill Guthridge.


1999 Maui Invitational Tournament
The field consisted of four teams which would make the 2000 NCAA tournament.


1999 Mauritian riots
The 1999 Mauritian riots were national-scale rioting and protests in Mauritius following the death of the popular "seggae" musician Joseph Réginald Topize, better known by his stage name "Kaya", in police custody. The rioting lasted for four days from 21 to 25 February 1999. Four civilians and one police officer were killed in the riots with hundreds of people suffering injuries. It was the first incidence of mass rioting in Mauritius since the country's 1968 riots. The riots resulted in a majority of the island's police stations being sacked by protesters with 250 prisoners escaping prison. Many businesses were looted and substantial property damage was done with over 200 vehicles being set on fire.


1999 Mauritian riots, Background
Following independence and a period of ethnic riots shortly before independence, Mauritius experienced a thirty year period of peace and rapid economic growth. This, along with the efforts by Mauritian political and bureaucratic leaders to be inclusive of representatives of minority communities in policy-making, had the effect of reducing ethnic tensions. During this period the Hindu majority in Mauritius gained dominance within the government. The period of high economic growth also lead to significant wealth disparities despite overall increasing living standards for all Mauritians. The education system, although free and universal, was highly competitive and reliant on additional private tutoring; this resulted in widening economic inequalities by limiting access to higher education for poorer, often Creole, Mauritians. In the 1990s, this phenomenon of exclusion became known as Malaise Créole.


1999 Mauritian riots, Background
The popular Mauritian Creole seggae musician Joseph Topize (Kaya) was arrested on 18 February 1999 for smoking marijuana at a rally for its decriminalisation which had been organised by Rama Valayden at Edward VII Square, Rose-Hill. Kaya was a vocal proponent of Creole rights and was viewed as an important voice of the Creole community. On 23 February, three days after Kaya's arrest, he died in police custody. The fracturing of his skull led protesters to assume his death was the result of police brutality. The government denied allegations of brutality and blamed Kaya's death on meningitis. Mauritian prime minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam promised a full inquiry to investigate the incident. At the time accusations of police brutality by the Mauritius Police Force was common with many vagrants being registered as having died whilst in police custody.


1999 Mauritian riots, Violence
Following the announcement of Kaya's death riots erupted in the predominantly-Creole Roche-Bois neighbourhood of Port Louis, where Kaya was from. Riots and protests quickly spread across the island. Numerous shops, public buildings, police stations, and vehicles were looted and set on fire by rioters whilst 250 prisoners were released by rioters from a local prison. Protesters and rioters blocked roads with burning tires. The death of another Roche Bois musician, Berger Agathe, after he was shot 92 times by the police, further enraged rioters. Agathe was shot whilst appealing to police for calm. An estimated 2,000 rioters participated in the disturbances.


1999 Mauritian riots, Violence
Misinformation and rumours were rife. Instigators spread rumours of temples, mosques, and churches being attacked. Rumours were also spread of ethnic groups from Creole regions coming to attack other communities. This resulted in Creoles and Asian youths engaging in sporadic ethnic clashes in the streets. A number of homes where Creoles were in minority were burnt down and their occupants chased out of the area in sporadic acts of ethnic cleansing.


1999 Mauritian riots, Violence
Following a judicial inquiry the court found that three officers have used excessive force disproportionate to the events and in breach of the Standing Orders of the Police Force and recommended sanctions against the three police officers involved. The family of late Berger Agathe was represented by counsel Dick Ng Sui Wa.


1999 Mauritian riots, Response by authorities
For several days after the riots broke out there was a lack of centralised response by the authorities. There was no swift reaction from the relatively young Prime Minister, who had been elected in 1995 and was about to face general elections within a few months of the riots. As the riots worsened, the absence of the head of security forces was felt; Commissioner of Police André Feillafé was overseas on holidays in Hawaii as his part of his pre-retirement celebrations.


1999 Mauritian riots, Response by authorities
Feillafé had been promoted as Commissioner of Police after the dismissal of former Commissioner of Police Raj Dayal who was the main subject of a Commission of Enquiry led by Judge Bernard Sik Yuen. Sik Yuen's enquiry focussed on allegations of fraudulent practices with the Mauritius Police Force during the purchase of breathalysers and renovation of the main gates of police headquarters (Line Barracks). There was confusion within the police regarding who was in charge. Eventually, it was the intervention of the President Cassam Uteem on Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation television that seemed to calm down spirits.


1999 Mauritian riots, Legacy
Following the riots the Mauritian government established a Rs 500 million (around US$ 20 million) Trust Fund for the Social Integration ofVulnerable Groups that amounted to 1.8% of the government's total budget for the financial year 1999-2000. The purpose of the fund was to fund micro-projects for people in poor regions of the country to facilitate national reconciliation and social integration.


1999 Mauritian riots, Legacy
The riots and resulting inter-ethnic conflict increased Hindu militancy. Some members of the Hindu community argued that intellectuals and church leaders were to blame for the riots for talking too much about the 'exclusion' of Creole Mauritians from broader Mauritian society, thereby misleading them about the real causes of the Malaise Créole. The Mauritian Hindu religious and political leader Harish Boodhoo and 3,500 other Mauritian Hindu religious leaders founded the All Mauritius Hindu Conference (AMHC). The AMHC denounced perceived social criticism of Hindus and alleged that Roman Catholic Church was solely responsible for the problem of Creole exclusion. The AMHC rejected calls for dialog issued by the Catholic Church. The majority of Mauritian Creoles are Roman Catholics and the church is often seen as expressing grievances on behalf of that community.


1999 Mauritian riots, Legacy
A monument to the riot and Kaya's death, depicting two crossed guitars, stands at the entrance to the Roche-Bois neighbourhood of Port Louis.


1999 Mayo County Council election
An election to Mayo County Council took place on 10 June 1999 as part of that year's Irish local elections. 31 councillors were elected from seven electoral divisions by PR-STV voting for a five-year term of office.


1999 McDonald's All-American Boys Game
The 1999 McDonald's All-American Boys Game was an All-star basketball game played on Wednesday, March 24, 1999 at the Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa. The game's rosters featured the best and most highly recruited high school boys graduating in 1999. The game was the 22nd annual version of the McDonald's All-American Game first played in 1978.


1999 McDonald's All-American Boys Game, 1999 game
The game was telecast live by ESPN. During the halftime break, the jersey number 23 was retired in honor of Michael Jordan. Casey Jacobsen was the last player to wear 23 during a McDonald's All-American Game. The 1999 game saw several records: it was the highest scoring game in the event history, and Jonathan Bender broke Jordan's record of 30 points by scoring 31, 18 of which in the first half. Bender also had 10 rebounds, recording a double-double.


1999 McDonald's All-American Boys Game, 1999 game
Other players that starred were Carlos Boozer and Casey Jacobsen, who scored 22 points each; Jason Williams, who scored 20 points; DerMarr Johnson, who scored 19; and Marvin Stone, who recorded 13 points and 10 rebounds. Of the 21 players, 15 went on to play at least 1 game in the NBA. The dominant performance convinced Bender to skip college, despite having committed to play for Mississippi State, and declare for the 1999 NBA Draft: he was drafted out of high school with the 5th overall pick.


1999 McDonald's Championship
The 1999 McDonald's Championship took place at the Fila Forum in Assago, near Milan, Italy. It was the final tournament.


1999 Meath County Council election
An election to Meath County Council took place on 10 June 1999 as part of that year's Irish local elections. 29 councillors were elected from five electoral divisions by PR-STV voting for a five-year term of office.


1999 Meath Intermediate Football Championship
The 1999 Meath Intermediate Football Championship is the 73rd edition of the Meath GAA's premier club Gaelic football tournament for intermediate graded teams in County Meath, Ireland. The tournament consists of 15 teams, with the winner going on to represent Meath in the Leinster Intermediate Club Football Championship. The championship starts with a group stage and then progresses to a knock out stage.


1999 Meath Intermediate Football Championship
This was St. Michael's first year in the Intermediate grade since 1989, after 9 years in the Senior grade since being regraded in 1998.


1999 Meath Intermediate Football Championship
Drumree were promoted after claiming the 1998 Meath Junior Football Championship title.


1999 Meath Intermediate Football Championship
On 7 November 1999, Syddan claimed their 2nd Intermediate championship title when they defeated St. Patrick's 2-11 to 1-10 in the final.


1999 Meath Intermediate Football Championship
This year, automatic promotion and relegation were introduced to the Meath SFC and IFC. This means that clubs in the top two grades can no longer afford to lose a few championship games without putting their status in serious peril. In bygone times, when clubs had to apply for demotion, the championship had stagnated, leading to the non-fulfillment of fixtures as the competitions meandered towards their conclusions. St. Brigid's Ballinacree and St. Ultan's were the first clubs to feel the wrath of relegation. St. Brigid's Ballinacree were relegated after 5 years in the Intermediate grade while St. Ultan's were relegated after 9 years as an Intermediate club.


1999 Meath Intermediate Football Championship, Team changes
The following teams have changed division since the 1998 championship season.


1999 Meath Intermediate Football Championship, Group stage
There are 2 groups called Group A and B. The 2 top finishers in each Group will qualify for the semi finals. The teams that finish last in their groups will be relegated. In the event of two teams being level on points and only one qualification spot available, a playoff will be conducted to determine final placings.


1999 Meath Intermediate Football Championship, Knock-out Stages, Finals
The teams in the quarter-finals are the second placed teams from each group and one group winner. The teams in the semi finals are two group winners and the quarter final winners.


1999 Meath Senior Football Championship
The 1999 Meath Senior Football Championship was the 107th edition of the Meath GAA's premier club Gaelic football tournament for senior graded teams in County Meath, Ireland. The tournament consists of 16 teams, with the winner going on to represent Meath in the Leinster Senior Club Football Championship. The championship starts with a group stage and then progresses to a knock out stage.


1999 Meath Senior Football Championship
St. Peter's Dunboyne were the defending champions after they defeated Oldcastle in the previous years final, however in this year's campaign they failed to progress past the group phase. They were chosen to represent Meath in the 1999 Leinster Senior Club Football Championship as the Meath SFC was still ongoing by the first round of the Leinster Club SFC at the beginning of November.


1999 Meath Senior Football Championship
Blackhall Gaels were promoted after claiming the 1998 Meath Intermediate Football Championship title, their first Intermediate win and hence their first period as a Senior club.


1999 Meath Senior Football Championship
On 21 November 2000, Skryne claimed their 11th Senior Championship title with a 1-12 to 0-8 win over Dunshaughlin in the final. Mick O'Dowd raised the Keegan Cup for Skryne while All-Star Trevor Giles claimed the 'Man of the Match' award.


1999 Meath Senior Football Championship
This year, automatic promotion and relegation were introduced to the Meath SFC and IFC. This means that clubs in the top two grades can no longer afford to lose a few championship games without putting their status in serious peril. In bygone times, when clubs had to apply for demotion, the championship had stagnated, leading to the non-fulfillment of fixtures as the competitions meandered towards their conclusions. Carnaross and Slane were the first clubs to feel the wrath of relegation. Carnaross were relegated after 6 years in the senior grade while Slane were relegated after 15 years as a senior club.


1999 Meath Senior Football Championship, Team changes
The following teams have changed division since the 1998 championship season.


1999 Medic Drug Grand Prix of Cleveland
The 1999 Medic Drug Grand Prix of Cleveland was the ninth round of the 1999 CART FedEx Champ Car World Series season, held on June 27, 1999, at the Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland, Ohio.


1999 Medic Drug Grand Prix of Cleveland, Report, Race
Pole Sitter and championship leader Juan Pablo Montoya led the early stages of the race until it was struck by a heavy rain shower on lap 33. Multiple cars crashed into the wall or spun, and the race ran under caution while the rain stopped, with Montoya leading from Paul Tracy and Gil de Ferran. When the race went green, de Ferran passed Tracy and then Montoya to take the lead. After the drivers changed to slick tires, Montoya came back at de Ferran and passed him on a restart on lap 69. He was able to pull away and win, the race being stopped on the 2-hour time limit. De Ferran finished second, and Michael Andretti third after a slow second pitstop for Tracy.


1999 Meistriliiga
The 1999 Meistriliiga was the ninth season of the Meistriliiga, Estonia's premier football league. Levadia won their first title.


1999 Meistriliiga, League table, Relegation play-off
Lelle won 4–2 on aggregate and retained their Meistriliiga spot; however, Lelle ceded their league entry to FC Valga both being associate clubs of Flora


1999 Meistriliiga, Results
Each team played every opponent four times, twice at home and twice on the road, for a total of 36 games.


1999 Melbourne Cup
The 1999 Melbourne Cup was the 139th running of the Melbourne Cup, a prestigious Australian Thoroughbred horse race. The race, run over 3,200 metres (1.988 mi), was held on Tuesday, 2 November 1999 at Melbourne's Flemington Racecourse.


1999 Melbourne Cup
The race won by Rogan Josh, trained by Bart Cummings and ridden by John Marshall.


1999 Melbourne Cup, Field
This is a list of horses which ran in the 1999 Melbourne Cup.


1999 Melbourne Storm season
The 1999 Melbourne Storm season was the second in the club's history. Coached by Chris Anderson and captained by Glenn Lazarus, they competed in the National Rugby League's 1999 season, finishing the regular season in 3rd out of 17 teams. Melbourne reached the 1999 NRL Grand Final and defeated the St George Illawarra Dragons, claiming their first premiership.


1999 Melbourne Storm season
Stability in playing talent and continued off-field support from Melbourne's core supporters, produced a continued improvement in 1999. Injury took away Scott Hill and Robbie Kearns for much of the season. Melbourne's fullback Robbie Ross, winger Matt Geyer and front-row forwards Rodney Howe and Glenn Lazarus were all selected to play for New South Wales in the 1999 State of Origin series.


1999 Melbourne Storm season
In their final home game at Olympic Park, the Storm lost to the North Sydney Bears and having had a bye in the last round and they had no opportunity to lift their form before fronting the St. George Illawarra Dragons in their first final. The Storm ultimately lost this game to the Dragons by 34-10 and looked set for a repeat of the 1998 exit.


1999 Melbourne Storm season
Despite lacking confidence, Melbourne Storm outlasted the Canterbury Bulldogs by 24–22 to reach the preliminary final against Parramatta Eels. The Eels had let a place in the Grand Final slip out of their grasp in the same match in 1998, and were tipped to be much hungrier for a win than the Storm. Parramatta took a hold on the match, but the Storm did not relent and thanks to some last-ditch tackling stayed in the game. A late try to the Storm saw them win by 18-16 and secure a re-match against the Dragons for the title.


1999 Melbourne Storm season
The Storm had lost twice to the Dragons already in 1999 and by the time Melbourne was behind by 0–14 at half time, it was more than apparent that St. George - Illawarra were going to take the premiership in their first ever season. There was nothing in the Storm's performance to indicate that a comeback was possible.


1999 Melbourne Storm season
But Melbourne Storm recovered from their poor start with inspiring efforts from Paul Marquet, Brett Kimmorley and Tawera Nikau. Into the final minutes of the game the Dragons led 18-14 but were forced to drop out from their own line. On the fifth tackle Kimmorley kicked high into the Dragons' corner. As the Storm's winger Craig Smith caught the ball over the try-line he was knocked unconscious in a head-high tackle by Jamie Ainscough and lost the ball.


1999 Melbourne Storm season
Referee Bill Harrigan deferred to the video referee and the replay clearly showed that if not for the illegal tackle Smith would have scored a try. A penalty try was awarded giving the Storm's Matt Geyer a conversion from in front of the posts to take Melbourne Storm to a 20-18 lead and the title.


1999 Melbourne Storm season, Season Summary, Jerseys
During the 1998 season, Melbourne struck an apparel sponsorship agreement with Fila to manufacture and merchandise a range of club apparel. The home jersey was redesigned, maintaining the same colours as the 1998 version, but with white thunderbolts in a purple chevron. The gold trim and collars remained, and Honda continued with their sleeve advertisement.


1999 Melbourne Storm season, Season Summary, Jerseys
A striking gold jersey was also designed as the club's clash colours; with that jersey worn in rounds 10, 15, 17, and 23.


1999 Melbourne Storm season, Representative honours
This table lists all players who have played a representative match in 1999.


1999 Melbourne Storm season, Statistics
This table contains playing statistics for all Melbourne Storm players to have played in the 1999 NRL season.


1999 Melbourne Storm season, Feeder Team
Melbourne Storm reserve players again travelled to Brisbane each week to play with Queensland Cup team Norths Devils. Backing up the successful 1998 season by finishing second on the ladder, Norths Devils fell one game short of the 1999 Queensland Cup Grand Final, losing to eventual runners-up Redcliffe Dolphins in the Preliminary Final.


1999 Melilla Assembly election
The 1999 Melilla Assembly election was held on Sunday, 13 June 1999, to elect the 2nd Assembly of the Autonomous City of Melilla. All 25 seats in the Assembly were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with regional elections in thirteen autonomous communities and local elections all throughout Spain, as well as the 1999 European Parliament election.


1999 Melilla Assembly election, Electoral system
The Assembly of Melilla was the top-tier administrative and governing body of the autonomous city of Melilla. Voting for the Assembly was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over eighteen, registered and residing in the municipality of Melilla and in full enjoyment of their political rights, as well as resident non-national European citizens and those whose country of origin allowed Spanish nationals to vote in their own elections by virtue of a treaty.


1999 Melilla Assembly election, Electoral system
The 25 members of the Assembly of Melilla were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with a threshold of 5 percent of valid votes—which included blank ballots—being applied. Parties not reaching the threshold were not taken into consideration for seat distribution.


1999 Melilla Assembly election, Electoral system
The Mayor-President was indirectly elected by the plenary assembly. A legal clause required that mayoral candidates earned the vote of an absolute majority of members, or else the candidate of the most-voted party in the assembly was to be automatically appointed to the post. In case of a tie, a toss-up would determine the appointee.


1999 Melilla Assembly election, Electoral system
The electoral law provided that parties, federations, coalitions and groupings of electors were allowed to present lists of candidates. However, groupings of electors were required to secure the signature of a determined amount of the electors registered in Melilla. Concurrently, parties and federations intending to enter in coalition to take part jointly at an election were required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within ten days of the election being called.


1999 Memorial Cup
The 1999 Memorial Cup took place from May 15–23 at the Ottawa Civic Centre in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was the 81st annual Memorial Cup competition and determined the major junior ice hockey champion of the Canadian Hockey League (CHL). Participating teams were the host Ottawa 67's, the Belleville Bulls, winners of the Ontario Hockey League, the Acadie-Bathurst Titan, winners of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and the Calgary Hitmen, Western Hockey League champions. The host 67's won their second Memorial Cup, the first being in 1984. The 67's, who had lost in the second round of the OHL playoffs to the Bulls were able to win the Cup defeated those same Bulls in a Cup semi-final. The 67's then defeated the Hitmen in the final, an overtime thriller where Matt Zultek scored the winning goal.


1999 Memorial Cup
The 1999 Memorial Cup set a record for attendance (since the round-robin format was first used in 1972) with a total of 84,200 people in eight sell-out games. It was the first Memorial Cup to be shown on CTV Sportsnet, having moved from TSN. The championship game was shown on the CTV network, where it had last been shown in 1989.


1999 Memorial Cup, Background
At the beginning of the 1998–1999 season, Ottawa's new owner, Jeff Hunt vowed to bring home the Memorial Cup that season. The awarding of the Cup tournament to Ottawa was a big factor in the team more than doubling the attendance from the previous season. That was definitely taken into consideration when Ottawa was chosen as the host of the 1999 Cup, as every game would be sold out in the 10,525 seat Ottawa Civic Centre. Ottawa had previously bid for the 1996 Memorial Cup but lost the bid to the Peterborough Petes.


1999 Memorial Cup, CHL All-time team
During the 1999 Memorial Cup, the CHL unveiled its "All-time team" at the Civic Centre, with notably two 67's on the team. Special banners were raised in their honour, and except for Parent and Lemieux, the team attended the event. The team was as follows;


1999 Memphis Tigers football team
The 1999 Memphis Tigers football team represented the University of Memphis in the 1999 NCAA Division I-A football season. Memphis competed as a member of the Conference USA and were coached by Rip Scherer. The Tigers played their home games at the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.


1999 Men's African Volleyball Championship
The 1999 Men's African Volleyball Championship was in Cairo, Egypt, with 6 teams participating in the continental championship.


1999 Men's British Open Squash Championship
The 1999 Eye Group British Open Championships was held at the Aberdeen Exhibition Centre, with the early rounds and qualifying at the Aberdeen Squash Rackets Club, from 6–12 December 1999. Jonathon Power won the title defeating Peter Nicol in the final. Nicol was forced to retire at one game all due to illness. He spent three days on a drip at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary after suffering from food poisoning. The illness was caused by Nicol ordering a take-out pasta dish in his home town.


1999 Men's EuroFloorball Cup Finals
The 1999 Men's EuroFloorball Cup Finals took place in Switzerland from December 27 to December 31, 1999. Warberg IC won the EuroFloorball Cup after defeating Haninge IBK 7-5.


1999 Men's EuroFloorball Cup Finals
The tournament was known as the 1999 Men's European Cup, but due to name implications, is now known as the 1999 Men's EuroFloorball Cup.


1999 Men's EuroFloorball Cup qualifying
The 1999 Men's EuroFloorball Cup Qualifying rounds took place over 11 Novemberth to 13 Novemberth, 1999 in Prague, Czech Republic. The top 2 teams advanced to the 1999 Men's EuroFloorball Cup Finals where they had a chance to win the EuroFloorball Cup for 1999.


1999 Men's EuroFloorball Cup qualifying
The tournament was known as the 1999 Men's European Cup, but due to name implications, is now known as the 1999 Men's EuroFloorball Cup.


1999 Men's EuroHockey Nations Championship
The 1999 Men's EuroHockey Nations Championship was the eighth edition of the Men's EuroHockey Nations Championship, the quadrennial international men's field hockey championship of Europe organized by the European Hockey Federation. It was held in Padua, Italy from 1 to 12 September 1999.


1999 Men's EuroHockey Nations Championship
The two-time defending champions Germany won a record-extending fifth title by defeating the Netherlands 8–7 in penalty strokes after the match finished 3–3 after extra time. England won the bronze medal by defeating Belgium 7–2.


1999 Men's EuroHockey Nations Championship qualification
The 1999 Men's EuroHockey Nations Championship qualification was the sixth edition of the qualifying round for the Men's EuroHockey Nations Championship. It took place from 5 to 12 July 1998 in three different venues with 17 teams playing for five quotas at the 1999 European Championship.


1999 Men's EuroHockey Nations Championship qualification, Dundee
The first qualifying tournament was played in Dundee, Scotland from 6 to 11 July 1998 with five teams participating.


1999 Men's EuroHockey Nations Championship qualification, Alicante
The second qualifying tournament was played in Alicante, Spain from 6 to 12 July 1998 with eighth teams participating.


1999 Men's EuroHockey Nations Championship qualification, Prague
The third and last qualifying tournament was held in Prague, Czech Republic from 9 to 12 July 1998 with four teams participating.


1999 Men's European Volleyball Championship
The 1999 Men's European Volleyball Championship was the 21st edition of the event, organized by Europe's governing volleyball body, the Confédération Européenne de Volleyball. It was hosted in two cities in Austria – Wiener Neustadt and Vienna – from September 7 to September 12, 1999.


1999 Men's European Water Polo Championship
The 1999 Men's European Water Polo Championship took place in Florence, Italy from September 2 to September 11, 1999. It was organised by the Ligue Européenne de Natation.


1999 Men's Hockey Asia Cup
The 1999 Men's Hockey Asia Cup was the fifth tournament to date in Hockey Asia Cup for men. It was held from November 18 to November 28, 1999 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The winner of this tournament qualified for the 2002 Men's Hockey World Cup in Malaysia. South Korea defeated Pakistan 5-4 in the final to win their second title.


1999 Men's Hockey Champions Trophy
The 1999 Men's Hockey Champions Trophy was the 21st edition of the Hockey Champions Trophy men's field hockey tournament. It took place from 10–20 June 1999 in the State Hockey Centre in Brisbane, Australia. It was the third time in the history of the annual six nations tournament that the event was combined with the Women's Champions Trophy.


1999 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships
The 1999 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships was the 63rd such event sanctioned by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). Teams representing 41 countries participated in several levels of competition. The competition also served as qualifications for group placements in the 2000 competition.


1999 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships, World Championship Group B
Played at Odense and Rodovre, Denmark April 8–17. The top three teams at the end of the tournament advanced to the qualifying round for the 2000 IIHF World Championship. The Germans, after failing to qualify for Group A, lost their final game to Kazakhstan and finished fourth. The twentieth place overall was by far the worst finish in their history.


1999 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships, World Championship Group B, Final Round 17–24 Place
Denmark, Great Britain, and Kazakhstan all advanced to the qualifiers for the 2000 IIHF World Championship. Hungary was relegated to Group C.


1999 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships, World Championship Group C
Played at Eindhoven and Tilburg, Netherlands April 5–11. While eight teams had qualified for the Group C tournament, the host Dutch government had suspended diplomatic relations with Yugoslavia, due to the Kosovo War, and did not allow the Yugoslavian team to participate in the tournament.


1999 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships, World Championship Group C, Final Round 29–32 Place
No team was relegated, with Yugoslavia resuming their place in 2000 the tournament was played with nine teams.


1999 Men's NORCECA Volleyball Championship
The 1999 Men's NORCECA Volleyball Championship was the 16th edition of the tournament, played from 7 to 12 September in Monterrey, Mexico. The top 2 teams qualified for the 1999 FIVB World Cup.


1999 Men's NORCECA Volleyball Championship, Pool standing procedure
Match won 3–0: 5 match points for the winner, 0 match points for the loserMatch won 3–1: 4 match points for the winner, 1 match point for the loserMatch won 3–2: 3 match points for the winner, 2 match points for the loser


1999 Men's South American Volleyball Championship
The 1999 Men's South American Volleyball Championship was the 23rd edition of the event, organised by South America's governing volleyball body, the Confederación Sudamericana de Voleibol (CSV). The final round was hosted in Córdoba, Argentina from September 7 to September 11, 1999. Brazil and hosts Argentina were automatically qualified, Venezuela and Uruguay each won their preliminary round.


1999 Men's World Open Squash Championship
The 1999 PSA Men's World Open Squash Championship is the men's edition of the 1999 World Open, which serves as the individual world championship for squash players. The event took place in Giza, Cairo in Egypt from 10 September to 17 September 1999. Peter Nicol won his first World Open title, defeating Ahmed Barada in the final.


1999 Men's World Team Squash Championships
The 1999 Men's Al-Ahram World Team Squash Championships were held in Egypt and took place from September 17 until September 22, 1999.


1999 Men's World Team Squash Championships, Results, Pool D
Note*Scotland were missing the world champion Peter Nicol and world semi-finalist Martin Heath who both refused to play quoting lack of financial assistance.


1999 Merano Open – Doubles
Lucas Arnold Ker and Jaime Oncins win the title by defeating Marc-Kevin Goellner and Eric Taino 6–4, 7–6(7–1) in the final.


1999 Merano Open – Singles
Fernando Vicente defeated Hicham Arazi 6–2, 3–6, 7–6(7–1) in the final to secure the title.


1999 Merano Open – Singles, Seeds
The text in italics indicates the round in which that seed exited the tournament.


1999 Mercedes Cup
The 1999 Mercedes Cup was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts at the Tennis Club Weissenhof in Stuttgart, Germany and was part of the Championship Series of the 1999 ATP Tour. The tournament was held from 19 July until 25 July 1999. Unseeded Magnus Norman won the singles title.


1999 Mercedes Cup, Finals, Singles
Magnus Norman defeated  Tommy Haas 6–7(6–8), 4–6, 7–6(9–7), 6–0, 6–3


1999 Mercedes Cup, Finals, Doubles
Jaime Oncins /  Daniel Orsanic defeated  Aleksandar Kitinov /  Jack Waite 6–2, 6–1


1999 Mercedes Cup – Doubles
Olivier Delaître and Fabrice Santoro were the defending champions, but both players decided to rest after competing in the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup. However, Santoro competed in the singles tournament, losing in first round to Jiří Novák.


1999 Mercedes Cup – Doubles
Jaime Oncins and Daniel Orsanic won the title by defeating Aleksandar Kitinov and Jack Waite 6–2, 6–1 in the final.


1999 Mercedes Cup – Singles
Gustavo Kuerten was the defending champion, but retired against Magnus Norman in the second round due to fatigue.


1999 Mercedes Cup – Singles
Norman went on to win the title, defeating Tommy Haas 6–7(6–8), 4–6, 7–6(9–7), 6–0, 6–3 in the final.


1999 Mercedes-Benz Cup
The 1999 Mercedes-Benz Cup was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor Hard at the Los Angeles Tennis Center in Los Angeles, United States that was part of the World Series of the 1999 ATP Tour. It was the 72nd edition of the tournament and was held from 26 July through 1 August 1999. Second-seeded Pete Sampras won the singles title, his second at the event after 1991, and earned $46,000 first-prize money.


1999 Mercedes-Benz Cup, Finals, Doubles
Byron Black /  Wayne Ferreira defeated  Goran Ivanišević /  Brian MacPhie 6–2, 7–6(7–4)


1999 Mercedes-Benz Cup – Doubles
Patrick Rafter and Sandon Stolle were the defending champions, but Rafter did not compete this year. Stolle teamed up with Wayne Black and lost in the semifinals to Byron Black and Wayne Ferreira.


1999 Mercedes-Benz Cup – Doubles
Byron Black and Ferreira won the title by defeating Goran Ivanišević and Brian MacPhie 6–2, 7–6(7–4) in the final.


1999 Mercedes-Benz Cup – Singles
Andre Agassi was the defending champion, but was defeated in the final to Pete Sampras with a score of 7–6(7–3), 7–6(7–1). By reaching the final, Sampras completed his 271st week at the world No. 1 ranking in his career, surpassing the previous record of 270 weeks established by Ivan Lendl.


1999 Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council election
The second election to Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council following the re-organization of local government in Wales was held on 6 May 1999. It was preceded by the 1995 election and followed by the 2004 election. On the same day the first elections to the Welsh Assembly were held as well as elections to the other 21 local authorities in Wales.


1999 Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council election
Labour lost thirteen seats and their majority on the council.


1999 Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council election, Overview
All council seats were up for election. These were the second elections held following local government reorganisation and the abolition of Mid Glamorgan County Council. The ward boundaries for the new authority were based on the previous Merthyr Tydfil Borough Council.


1999 Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council election, Results, Dowlais (four seats)
Pritchard had been elected as a Labour candidate in 1995.


1999 Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council election, Results, Gurnos (four seats)
Labour won all four seats in 1995 when Phillips had been elected as a Labour councilor for the Park ward.


1999 Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council election, Results, Park (three seats)
Labour won all three seats in 1995 but one of the sitting members joined Plaid Cymru while another stood as an Independent candidate in the Gurnos ward.


1999 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament
The 1999 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament took place from May 21–23, 1999. The top two regular season finishers of the league's two divisions met in the double-elimination tournament held at Dutchess Stadium in Wappingers Falls, New York. Siena won their fourth tournament championship and earned the conference's automatic bid to the 1999 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament.


1999 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament, Seeding
The top two teams from each division were seeded based on their conference winning percentage. They then played a double-elimination tournament.


1999 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Men's Ice Hockey Tournament
The 1999 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 1st championship since the founding of the ice hockey conference in 1997. It was played between March 13 and March 20, 1999. Quarterfinal games were played at home team campus sites, while the final four games were played at the Hart Center in Worcester, Massachusetts, the home venue of the Holy Cross Crusaders.


1999 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, Format
The tournament featured three rounds of play with each round being single-elimination. In the first round, the first and eighth seeds, the second and seventh seeds, the third seed and sixth seeds, and the fourth seed and fifth seeds played with the winner advancing to the semifinals. In the semifinals, the highest and lowest seeds and second highest and second lowest seeds play with the winner advancing to the championship game. The tournament champion does not receive an automatic bid to the 1999 NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey Tournament.


1999 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, Conference Standings
Note: GP = Games Played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PTS = Points; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against


1999 Metro Manila Film Festival
The 25th Metro Manila Film Festival was held in Manila, Philippines starting December 25.


1999 Metro Manila Film Festival
Once again, GMA Films received most of the awards for the film Muro-Ami, which won thirteen awards in the 1999 Metro Manila Film Festival including the Best Picture, Gatpuno Antonio J. Villegas Cultural Awards and Best Director for second consecutive time winner Marilou Diaz-Abaya among others. Meanwhile, Viva Films' Bulaklak ng Maynila received five awards including the Best Actor for fifth-time winner Christopher de Leon, Best Actress for Elizabeth Oropesa and the Second Best Picture Award. The Third Best Picture Award goes to Regal Films' Sa Piling ng mga Aswang while the Best Float during the festival's parade goes to Millennium Films' Pepeng Agimat.


1999 Mexican referendums
A series of unofficial referendums on native rights and good governance was held in Mexico on 21 March 1999. It was organised by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), who proposed the government function in the interests of the people, that the country demilitarize in order to promote peace, that indigenous Mexicans be fully included in national life and have their rights recognized in the constitution. While all these measures passed overwhelmingly, only around 2.5 million people voted in the referendum, while 37 million people voted in the general election the following year.


1999 Miami Dolphins season
The 1999 Miami Dolphins season was the team's 34th campaign, and 30th in the National Football League. It was the 17th and final season for Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino. Marino suffered an injury on October 17 against the New England Patriots, with Damon Huard taking over at quarterback. The team would go 4–1 under Huard, including a 17–0 victory over the Tennessee Titans. Marino would return on November 25, against the Dallas Cowboys, throwing five interceptions in the 20–0 loss.


1999 Miami Dolphins season
The Dolphins reached the midway point of the 1999 season with a 7–1 record, but in the second half of the year, the team struggled, finishing out the season 2–6, winning only one game after Marino's return. The team finished the season 9–7, beating out the Kansas City Chiefs for the AFC's second wild card spot via tiebreakers; Miami held a better record against common opponents, going 6–1 to the Chiefs' 5–3. In the Wild Card round, the Dolphins upset the no. 3 seed Seattle Seahawks 20–17. In the Divisional round, the Dolphins were humiliated by the no. 1 seed Jacksonville Jaguars, losing 7–62, the most lopsided playoff loss in the Super Bowl era.


1999 Miami Dolphins season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 1 at Denver Broncos
The Dolphins opened the season on the road against the defending Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos. The Broncos were without their longtime quarterback John Elway, who announced his retirement during the off-season. Brian Griese, son of former Dolphins quarterback Bob Griese, was Denver's starting quarterback, throwing a 61-yard touchdown pass to Ed McCaffrey early in the 1st quarter. Griese would play inconsistently for the rest of the game and was sacked twice, while Dan Marino was sacked zero times. In the 4th quarter, Griese fumbled the ball, with Jason Taylor recovering it and running it into the end zone for a touchdown.


1999 Miami Dolphins season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 2 vs. Arizona Cardinals
The Dolphins' defense picked off Cardinals quarterback Jake Plummer four times during the game. Arizona only scored one touchdown during the game, a 34-yard interception return by Rob Fredrickson in the 2nd quarter.


1999 Miami Dolphins season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 5 at Indianapolis Colts
The Dolphins were trailing 31–22 in the 4th quarter before staging a furious comeback with just under 3:30 left to play, scoring 12 unanswered points in the span of nearly 3 minutes. The run started with a 43-yard field goal from Olindo Mare with 3:20 left. With 1:54 left, Miami's defense forced Peyton Manning to run out the end zone, resulting in a safety. On the ensuing drive, Dan Marino led the offense down the field, capping it off with a 2-yard pass to Oronde Gadsden for the game-winning score. The Dolphins' defense sealed the game, with Terrell Buckley intercepting a Manning pass on the Colts' final drive of the game.


1999 Miami Dolphins season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 5 at Indianapolis Colts
Miami compiled 469 yards of offense and committed no turnovers. Marino threw for 393 yards while two players finished with over 100 yards receiving: Gadsden with 123 yards and Tony Martin with 166.


1999 Miami Dolphins season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 6 at New England Patriots
Dan Marino's only completion of the game was on a 8-yard pass that put him over 60,000 passing yards for his career. On Marino's second pass attempt, he was hit by Lawyer Milloy, with Andy Katzenmoyer intercepting the ball and returning it 57 yards for a touchdown. On the following drive, Marino would attempt a short pass that fell short of his intended receiver. Coach Jimmy Johnson would pull Marino from the game due to a possible shoulder injury; in the week heading into the game, Marino thought he might have injured his right trapezius.


1999 Miami Dolphins season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 6 at New England Patriots
Marino was replaced by Damon Huard, whose first pass was intercepted by Ty Law and returned 27 yards for a touchdown. Despite the rocky start, Huard would lead the Dolphins to a 31–30 comeback victory, throwing a 5-yard touchdown pass to fullback Stanley Pritchett with 23 seconds left in the game for the game-winning score.


1999 Miami Dolphins season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
With Dan Marino out due to injury, Damon Huard started at quarterback for the Dolphins, his first NFL start.


1999 Miami Dolphins season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 8 at Oakland Raiders
Damon Huard started at quarterback for the second week in a row. After having thrown a pick six in each of the previous two games, Huard took better care of the ball and committed no turnovers against Oakland.


1999 Miami Dolphins season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 9 vs. Tennessee Titans
The Dolphins' defense shutout the Titans, picking off Steve McNair three times. This was one of only three games that Tennessee would lose during the regular season.


1999 Miami Dolphins season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 10 at Buffalo Bills
Damon Huard struggled throughout the game, only completing 36% of his passes for 65 yards with no touchdowns and one interception. This was the only game of the season Miami would lose with Huard starting at quarterback.


1999 Miami Dolphins season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 11 vs. New England Patriots
Miami's defense picked off Drew Bledsoe five times. This was the last game of the season Damon Huard would start at quarterback, as Dan Marino would return for the following game four days later. Miami finished 4–1 with Huard as starter.


1999 Miami Dolphins season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 12 at Dallas Cowboys
Dan Marino's first game after returning from injury was a disaster. Marino threw five interceptions, one of which was returned 46 yards by Dexter Coakley in the 3rd quarter for the first score of the game. The Dolphins' defense tried to help keep the team in the game, shutting out the Cowboys' offense for three quarters. The game's only offensive score came in the 4th, with Troy Aikman throwing a 65-yard touchdown pass to Rocket Ismail.


1999 Miami Dolphins season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 13 vs. Indianapolis Colts
The Dolphins trailed 24–10 at halftime, but tied the game twice in the 4th quarter, including a 32-yard field goal from Olindo Mare with 0:36 left in regulation. However, Indianapolis kicker Mike Vanderjagt made a 53-yard field goal as time expired to give the Colts a 37–34 victory.


1999 Miami Dolphins season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 14 at New York Jets
The Dolphins had a 13–6 lead at the start of the 4th quarter, but the team collapsed in the final quarter of play. The Jets scored 22 unanswered points in the 4th quarter, including a 67-yard interception return by Omar Stoutmire.


1999 Miami Dolphins season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 15 vs. San Diego Chargers
Neither team managed to a score a touchdown during the game. The Dolphins' defense held the Chargers to 186 yards of total offense and forced one turnover. This was the last regular season game Dan Marino would win in his career.


1999 Miami Dolphins season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 17 at Washington Redskins
Dan Marino started at quarterback, but was pulled from the game and replaced by Damon Huard; Marino finished 11-of-24 for 118 yards with one interception. Despite the loss, the Dolphins still qualified for the playoffs as the Chiefs lost earlier in the day to the Raiders.


1999 Miami Dolphins season, Playoffs, AFC Wild Card Game: at (3) Seattle Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks played host to their first playoff game since the 1984 season. The Seahawks were dominated by the Dolphins defense, who held them to only 171 yards, with just 32 in the second half, and sacked Seahawks quarterback Jon Kitna six times, three by Trace Armstrong.


1999 Miami Dolphins season, Playoffs, AFC Wild Card Game: at (3) Seattle Seahawks
Although Seattle jumped out to a 17–10 lead in the 3rd quarter, the Dolphins would rally back behind quarterback Dan Marino, who threw for 196 yards and a touchdown, leading his team to their first road playoff win since 1972 in what ultimately proved to be the final game played at The Kingdome (the Seahawks moved into Husky Stadium for the 2000 season) and the final win of Marino's career.


1999 Miami Dolphins season, Playoffs, AFC Wild Card Game: at (3) Seattle Seahawks
The Dolphins were the only away team to win in the Wild Card round.


1999 Miami Dolphins season, Playoffs, AFC Divisional Playoff Game: at (1) Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jacksonville Jaguars shredded their in-state rivals the Dolphins with 520 total offensive yards in what became Miami quarterback Dan Marino's last game in the NFL and the most lopsided postseason contest since the Chicago Bears defeated the Redskins 73–0 in the 1940 NFL championship game. Their defense forced seven turnovers and held the Dolphins to 131 total yards. Marino was held to just 11 of 25 completions for 95 yards and 1 touchdown, with 2 interceptions and a fumble that was returned for a touchdown in his final game. Marino retired shortly after the season ended.


1999 Miami Dolphins season, Playoffs, AFC Divisional Playoff Game: at (1) Jacksonville Jaguars
This was also Jimmy Johnson's final game as an NFL head coach; Johnson resigned the day after the game.


1999 Miami Hurricanes baseball team
The 1999 Miami Hurricanes baseball team represented the University of Miami in the 1999 NCAA Division I baseball season. The team was coached by Jim Morris in his 6th season.


1999 Miami Hurricanes baseball team
The Hurricanes won the College World Series, defeating the Florida State Seminoles in the championship game.


1999 Miami Hurricanes baseball team, Hurricanes in the 1999 MLB Draft
The following members of the Miami baseball program were drafted in the 1999 Major League Baseball Draft.


1999 Miami Hurricanes football team
The 1999 Miami Hurricanes football team represented the University of Miami during the 1999 NCAA Division I-A football season. It was the Hurricanes' 74th season of football and ninth as a member of the Big East Conference. The Hurricanes were led by fifth-year head coach Butch Davis and played their home games at the Orange Bowl. They finished the season 9–4 overall and 6–1 in the Big East to finish in second place. They were invited to the Gator Bowl where they defeated Georgia Tech, 28-13.


1999 Miami RedHawks football team
The 1999 Miami RedHawks football team represented the Miami University in the 1999 NCAA Division I-A football season. They played their home games at Yager Stadium in Oxford, Ohio and competed as members of the Mid-American Conference. The team was coached by head coach Terry Hoeppner.


1999 Michigan State Spartans football team
The 1999 Michigan State Spartans football team represented Michigan State University in the 1999 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Spartans played their home games at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan. This was the last year for head coach Nick Saban, who left the program on December 5 to take the head coaching position at LSU. During the bowl game, the Spartans were coached by interim head coach Bobby Williams, who led the Spartans to a 37–34 victory in the 2000 Florida Citrus Bowl over the Florida Gators of the Southeastern Conference, with a last second, game-winning field goal by kicker Paul Edinger.


1999 Michigan State Spartans football team
This Spartan team featured the likes of Plaxico Burress, T. J. Duckett, and Renaldo Hill, and goes down as one of the best Spartan teams in the BCS era.


1999 Michigan State Spartans football team, Game summaries, Michigan
Bill Burke threw for a school-record 400 yards and two touchdowns while Plaxico Burress set a new mark with 255 yards receiving. Burke broke Ed Smith's record of 369 against Indiana in 1979 while Burress surpassed Andre Rison's 252 yards against Georgia in 1989. Michigan State was now 6-0 for the first time since the 1966 national championship season.


1999 Michigan State Spartans football team, 2000 NFL Draft
The following players were selected in the 2000 NFL Draft.


1999 Michigan Wolverines football team
The 1999 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1999 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team's head coach was Lloyd Carr. The Wolverines played their home games at Michigan Stadium. That year Michigan Wolverines football competed in the Big Ten Conference in almost all intercollegiate sports including men's college football. The 1999 Wolverines finished the season with a 10–2 record (6–2 in the Big Ten) and defeated the Alabama Crimson Tide in the 2000 Orange Bowl. The team was ranked #5 in both the final coaches and AP polls. The team was led by All-American and Academic All-American Rob Renes and his co-captains Tom Brady and Steve Hutchinson.


1999 Michigan Wolverines football team, Statistical achievements
Marcus Knight tied Desmond Howard (1991) and Anthony Carter (1981) for the school record with three consecutive 100-yard reception games. Braylon Edwards would post four in 2003 and 2004. Tom Brady concluded his career by breaking his own single-game pass completions record with the current record of 34 against Alabama in the January 1, 2000 Orange Bowl. The game marked the tenth 4-touchdown passing performance in school history, a feat that is still unsurpassed by any Michigan quarterback. For the season, he tied his own single-season completions record (214) set the prior season and broken by John Navarre in 2002.


1999 Michigan Wolverines football team, Statistical achievements
He also set the single-season passing yards per game record of 215.5, surpassing Jim Harbaugh's 209.9 in 1986 and broken by Navarre in 2002. He broke Todd Collins' career 200-yard game record of 14 set in 1994 by one, a record broken by Navarre during his junior season in 2002. The team set the current NCAA single-season all-time home attendance record with an average of 111,175.


1999 Michigan Wolverines football team, 1999 team players in the NFL
The following players were claimed in the 2000 NFL Draft.


1999 MicronPC.com Bowl
The 1999 MicronPC.com Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game at Pro Player Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, between the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Virginia Cavaliers on December 30, 1999. This was the tenth edition of what had originally been the Blockbuster Bowl, and second year of sponsorship by MicronPC.


1999 MicronPC.com Bowl
The game was the final contest of the 1999 NCAA Division I-A football season for both teams, and ended in a 63–21 victory for Illinois. Illinois and Virginia had previously met in the postseason at the 1990 Florida Citrus Bowl, also won by Illinois, 31–21.


1999 MicronPC.com Bowl, Game summary
The Illini took advantage of the school's first bowl appearance in five years with an impressive 63–21 victory over highly touted running back Thomas Jones and the Virginia Cavaliers. In a game which pitted two evenly matched, 7–4 squads, the Illini dominated with 611 yards total offense and nine touchdowns. On the first drive of the game, Kurt Kittner led the Illini down field 71 yards and scored on a one-yard run. The Illini then rattled off 35 unanswered points, including a flea-flicker pass from wide receiver Brandon Lloyd to Kittner for 30 yards and a halftime score of 42–7. Kittner threw a school record 24th touchdown pass on a one-yard reception to Jameel Cook. The Illini broke 22 Illinois and Micronpc.com Bowl records that night and scored the second-most points in collegiate bowl history.


1999 MicronPC.com Bowl, Statistical summary
Rushing (Att.-Yds.-TD): UI—Harvey 10-122-2; Havard  15-75-2; Kittner 4-11-1; Johnson 3-5-1; UVA—Jones 23-110-1.


1999 MicronPC.com Bowl, Statistical summary
Receiving (No.-Yds.-TD): UI—Cook 4-88-2, Lloyd 3-57-0, Dean 2-42-0, Young 1-31-0, Kittner 1-30-1; UVA—Jones 5-31-0, McMullen 3-31-0.


1999 Micronesian parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in the Federated States of Micronesia on 2 March 1999. All candidates for seats in Congress ran as independents.


1999 Micronesian referendum
A four-part referendum was held in the Federated States of Micronesia on 1 July 1999. Voters were asked whether a constitutional convention should be called, whether they approved of a proposal on the distribution of revenues from the country's exclusive economic zone (EEZ), whether the amount of tax revenues distributed to the states should rise from 50% to 70%, and whether states should be given exclusive ownership of their natural resources. The latter three had originally been planned to be held alongside the parliamentary elections in March, but were postponed due to a lack of funds to print the ballot papers.


1999 Micronesian referendum
The referendum on holding a Constitutional Convention was held in accordance with Chapter XIV, Article 2 of the Constitution, which required a referendum every 10 years on convening a Convention. It required only a simple majority in favour. The other three referendums were all popular initiatives, and required 75% of voters to vote in favour in at least three of the four states.


1999 Micronesian referendum
The question on the EEZ proposed inserting a new article 23 in Chapter IX of the constitution:


1999 Micronesian referendum
The gross revenue derived from the living resources in the exclusive economic zone shall be divided equally between the national government and the state governments.


1999 Micronesian referendum
The question on natural resources proposed inserting a new article 2 to Chapter I:


1999 Micronesian referendum
Each State has the sovereign ownership over the natural resources within its boundaries, pursuant to each state's constitution, including the exclusive economic zone surrounding its islands.


1999 Micronesian referendum, Results
The proposal to hold a Constitutional Convention was approved by voters, whilst the other three proposals were rejected.


1999 Mid Bedfordshire District Council election
Elections to Mid Bedfordshire District Council were held on 6 May 1999. All 53 seats were up for election. The Conservative Party gained overall control of the council, increasing their number of seats from 22 to 34, whilst the Labour Party declined from having 20 seats in 1995 to 7.


1999 Mid Bedfordshire District Council election, Ward Results
Numbers of ballots cast and the percentage (to two decimal places) were given in the results published by Mid Bedfordshire District Council, but checked against results taken from Plymouth University's Elections Centre, which gives the number of registered voters, and the percentage turnout for each ward. Percentage change in turnout is compared with the same ward in the 1995 District Council election.


1999 Mid Bedfordshire District Council election, Ward Results
The percentage of the vote for each candidate was calculated compared with the number of ballots cast in the ward. Note that in a ward with more than one seat, voters were allowed to place as many crosses on the ballot paper as seats. The percentage change for each candidate is compared with the same candidate in the 1995 District Council election.


1999 Mid Bedfordshire District Council election, Ward Results
Candidates who were members of the council before the election are marked with an asterisk.


1999 Mid Bedfordshire District Council election, Ward Results, Flitwick East
Results published by Mid Beds District Council show 2,204 ballot papers cast, a 49.93% turnout of an electorate of 4,414. Results given by Plymouth University's Elections Centre show a turnout of 27.7% and an electorate of 4,147.


1999 Mid Sussex District Council election
The 1999 Mid Sussex District Council election took place on 6 May 1999 to elect members of Mid Sussex District Council in West Sussex, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative party gained overall control of the council from no overall control.


1999 Mid-American Conference Baseball Tournament
The 1999 Mid-American Conference Baseball Tournament took place in May 1999. The top three regular season finishers from each division met in the double-elimination tournament held at Ball Diamond on the campus of Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. This was the eleventh Mid-American Conference postseason tournament to determine a champion. The top seed from the west, Bowling Green, won their second consecutive, and second overall, tournament championship to earn the conference's automatic bid to the 1999 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament.


1999 Mid-American Conference Baseball Tournament, Seeding and format
The top three finishers in each division, based on conference winning percentage only, participated in the tournament. The top seed in each division played the third seed from the opposite division in the first round. The teams played double-elimination tournament. This was the second year of the six team tournament.


1999 Mid-American Conference Baseball Tournament, Results
* - Indicates game was suspended after 8 innings due to weather.


1999 Mid-American Conference Baseball Tournament, All-Tournament Team, Most Valuable Player
Sean Ryan won the Tournament Most Valuable Player award. Ryan played for Bowling Green.


1999 Mid-Continent Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
The 1999 Mid-Continent Conference Men's Basketball Tournament was held from February 28-March 2, 1999 at The MARK of the Quad Cities in Moline, Illinois. This was the 16th edition of the tournament for the Association of Mid-Continent Universities/Mid-Continent Conference, now known as the Summit League.


1999 Mid-Continent Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
Second seed Valparaiso defeated top seed Youngstown State 73–69 to earn an automatic berth into the 1999 NCAA Tournament.


1999 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders football team
The 1999 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders football team represented Middle Tennessee State University in the 1999 NCAA Division I-A football season.


1999 Midlothian Council election
Elections to Midlothian Council were held on 6 May 1999, the same day as the other Scottish local government elections and the Scottish Parliament general election.


1999 Midlothian Council election
Labour retained their dominance of the council, with the Liberal Democrats forming the second largest party on the council.


1999 Midwestern Collegiate Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
The 1999 Midwestern Collegiate Conference Men's Basketball Tournament took place at the end of the 1999–2000 regular season. The tournament was hosted by University of Illinois at Chicago.


1999 Midwestern Collegiate Conference Men's Basketball Tournament, Seeds
All Midwestern Collegiate Conference schools played in the tournament. Teams were seeded by 1999–2000 Midwestern Collegiate Conference season record, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records.


1999 Mieczysław Połukard Criterium of Polish Speedway Leagues Aces
The 18th Mieczysław Połukard Criterium of Polish Speedway League Aces was the 1999 version of the Mieczysław Połukard Criterium of Polish Speedway Leagues Aces. It took place on March 28 in the Polonia Stadium in Bydgoszcz, Poland.


1999 Mieczysław Połukard Criterium of Polish Speedway Leagues Aces, Heat details
m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance •  t - exclusion for touching the tapes •  x - other exclusion •  e - retired or mechanical failure •  f - fell •  ns - non-starter •  nc - non-classify


1999 Milan–San Remo
The 1999 Milan–San Remo was the 90th edition of the monument classic Milan–San Remo and was won by Andrei Tchmil of Lotto–Mobistar. The race was run on March 20, 1999, and the 294 kilometres (183 mi) were covered in 6 hours, 52 minutes and 37 seconds.


1999 Military World Games
The 1999 Military World Games was the second edition of the global multi-sport event for military personnel, organised by the International Military Sports Council (CISM). It was hosted in Zagreb, Croatia from 8 to 17 August.


1999 Military World Games
Mar del Plata, Argentina, was the original choice of host, but withdrew due to organisational problems. The opening ceremony was held at the Stadion Maksimir, which also served as a venue for the association football matches. Russia easily topped the medal table with 46 golds among its 112 medals. China was the next most successful with 29 golds in its haul of 66 medals, while Italy ranked third with sixteen gold medals. The hosts Croatia performed well given their comparative size, finishing fourth with eleven gold medals.