Question: What major political events happened the same year that an English humanitarian and author was kidnapped and held hostage for four years?

Context paragraphs:
1987 in the United Kingdom: Events from the year 1987 in the United Kingdom.  At the beginning of the year, the Archbishop of Canterbury's envoy Terry Waite was kidnapped in Lebanon and remained a hostage until 1991.  The major political event of this year was the re-election of Margaret Thatcher in June, making her the longest continuously serving Prime Minister since Lord Liverpool in the early 19th century.  The year was also marked by a number of disasters — the sinking of the ferry MS "Herald of Free Enterprise", the Hungerford massacre, the "Great Storm", the Remembrance Day Bombing and the King's Cross fire.

The Dark Heroine: The Dark Heroine is a series of vampire-themed fantasy romance novels written by English author Abigail Gibbs, published by HarperCollins in 2012.  The first novel in the series, "Dinner with a Vampire," revolves around London-born Violet Lee, who is kidnapped and held hostage by a Royal Family of vampires known as the Varns.  The series is told from both Violet Lee and Kaspar Varn's perspective, the latter being heir to the Vamperic Throne in the novel.

William Prince Ford: William Prince Ford (January 15, 1803 – August 23, 1866) was a preacher and planter in pre-Civil War Louisiana.  He was the slave owner who first bought Solomon Northup, a free African-American, after Northup had been kidnapped in Washington, D.C., and sold in New Orleans.  Those events happened in 1841.

2016 in the United Kingdom: Events from the year 2016 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.  The major political events of this year were dominated by the European Union membership referendum and its aftermath (colloquially referred to as "Brexit").

Gilberto Echeverri Mejía: Gilberto Echeverri Mejía (31 July 1936 - 5 May 2003) was a Colombian electrical engineer and politician who on 22 April 2002 was kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - FARC-EP along with the then-Governor of Antioquia Guillermo Gaviria Correa among others while participating in a peace walk and held hostage until 5 May 2003 when he was murdered by the guerrillas during a botched rescue operation by government forces deep in the jungles.  A Liberal party politician, he had previously served as Ambassador of Colombia to Ecuador from 1975 to 1977 in the Administration of President Alfonso López Michelsen, Minister of Economic Development from 1978 to 1980 in the Administration of President Julio César Turbay Ayala, Minister of National Defence from 1997 to 1998 in the Administration of President Ernesto Samper Pizano, and was working as peace advisor to Governor Gaviria before he was kidnapped.

Kaohsiung Prison riot: The Kaohsiung Prison riot was a hostage situation that occurred at Kaohsiung Prison in Taiwan starting 11 February 2015.  Six inmates, whose ringleader was a member of Bamboo Union, seized weapons including assault rifles and took the warden hostage for a 14-hour high-profile stand-off which caught media attention nationwide.  The group of inmates eventually committed mass suicide.  The inmates protested that the former President of the Republic of China Chen Shui-bian, who jailed for 20 years for money laundering, was granted medical parole due to his status as a political prisoner while other prisoners were denied.  This is the first ever prison riot with officials held hostage in the history of Taiwan.

Christian Peacemaker hostage crisis: The Christian Peacemaker hostage crisis involved four human rights workers of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) who were held hostage in Iraq from November 26, 2005 by the Swords of Righteousness Brigade.  One hostage, Tom Fox, was killed, and the remaining three freed in a military operation on March 23, 2006.

List of earthquakes in 1971: This is a list of earthquakes in 1971.  Only magnitude 6.0 or greater earthquakes appear on the list.  Lower magnitude events are included if they have caused death, injury or damage.  Events which occurred in remote areas will be excluded from the list as they wouldn't have generated significant media interest.  All dates are listed according to UTC time.  Maximum intensities are indicated on the Mercalli intensity scale and are sourced from United States Geological Survey (USGS) ShakeMap data.  Like the previous year, 1971 had heightened seismic activity.  20 earthquakes exceeded magnitude 7 with 2 of those measuring above magnitude 8.  Both of the magnitude 8 events happened within a 12-day span in July in Papua New Guinea.  A fairly robust aftershock sequence followed which contributed to the number of magnitude 7+ events.  Chile, Russia and Indonesia had significant events during the year.  The deadliest earthquake accounting for the vast majority of the 1,290 fatalities occurred in Turkey in May.  1,000 died in this event coming not long after another deadly event elsewhere in the country.  In February, Los Angeles, California was jolted by one of its largest events resulting in 65 deaths.

List of earthquakes in 1931: This is a list of earthquakes in 1931.  Only magnitude 6.0 or greater earthquakes appear on the list.  Lower magnitude events are included if they have caused deaths, injury or damage.  Events which occurred in remote areas will be excluded from the list as they wouldn't have generated significant media interest.  All dates are listed according to UTC time.  In a stark contrast to 1930, many large and destructive earthquakes occurred during 1931.  The largest and deadliest event was the magnitude 7.9 earthquake which caused major devastation to China in August.  New Zealand saw its worst natural disaster in February.  Iran and Nicaragua had many deaths from earthquakes in the first half of the year.  Other interesting events happened in Texas and the United Kingdom with the largest quakes for these areas hitting this year.

Terry Waite: Terence Hardy "Terry" Waite {'1': ", '2': ", '3': ", '4': "} (born 31 May 1939) is an English humanitarian and author.

Supporting paragraphs: 1987 in the United Kingdom Terry Waite
Answer: the re-election of Margaret Thatcher