Tlateloco Massacre, 41 Years Ago Today

On October 2, 1968, the Mexican police massacred somewhere between 200 and 300 protesters in the Tlateloco neighborhood of Mexico City. It was 1968, the protesters were activists against a variety of issues, some of which were unique to Mexico, others part of the zeitgeist of that year. On a day when the Olympics were given to the first Latin American nation since Mexico held them in 1968, it's worth noting the connection. President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz was determined not to let protesters get in the way of Mexico's glorious Olympic triumph and ordered the massacre.

A friend who is a Mexican historian guided me around the neighborhood one day. At the time, most of the high-rise apartment buildings surrounding the plaza were government owned, with PRI (the dominant political party) placing government workers in them. According to my source, the presidential guards went into the apartments, told residents that if they'd lose their jobs if they said anything, and used their windows to set up snipers. The military on the ground and snipers in the apartment building began firing on the peaceful protesters.

The ensuing massacre completed the PRI's bankruptcy and the absolute end of any claims the Mexican government had to being a revolutionary state. In fact, I'd argue that the Mexican Revolution really wasn't revolutionary much at all after the mid 1920s. Sure, there were some important reforms put into place, but the PRI quickly institutionalized itself. By the 1940s, the one-party state became far more concerned with its own survival than with the stated goals of the 1917 Constitution. Not only was Diaz Ordaz heavily involved, but future Mexican presidents such as Luis Echeverria, who was charged with genocide in 2006, though he was later cleared. That this kind of massacre clearly does not meet any reasonable definition of genocide is besides the point, the man should live out his last years behind bars.

Of course, the Mexican government made an enormous tactical error by ordering the massacre. Not only did it permanently stain the PRI, something that it still has to deal with today, but it also stained the Olympics, which are more remembered today for the massacre and for the Black Power salute than anything that happened in the competitions. In fact, one might call the Mexico City Olympics the least successful ever, though Atlanta in 96 was pretty bad and obviously Berlin in 36 had some pretty serious issues.

Shame on You, John McCain, or," You of All People Should Remember 1968"

I can't make up my mind whether John McCain's gaffe on Reagan and the Prague Spring is laughable or depressing. I'd comment more, but former Alterdestinian Duss gives the "Reagan speaks and Communism falls" meme the proper treatment:

It’s the one where conservatives deploy a potted history of the Cold War — in which Reagan spoke and the walls came tumbling down — to cast international politics as a zero-sum contest between good and evil, and to cow progressives into a more aggressive rhetorical posture toward America’s adversary of the moment. It is usually hidden under the guise of “solidarity with captive peoples” and absent any genuine consideration of the practical effects on the peoples concerned.

Former President Zedillo part of Mexico's '68 student movement?

Mexico’s El Universal newspaper has an interesting online special on Mexico’s student movement of 1968. There are several online photo galleries that are worth looking at, even if you don’t read Spanish too well. (Once you are on the website, there are 5 red bullet points with links to the galleries on the left hand side of the page).

The ’68 student movement in Mexico had some profound consequences for present day politics in Mexico. While the Mexican state was authoritarian at the time, it was not known for being particularly repressive, but the arrival of the Olympics in 1968 seemed to have led the government to repress the students in order to show to the world that Mexico was a stable and orderly country. Most well known is the October 2, 1968 massacre of students at the Plaza of Tlaltelolco by the military and police. This massacre of the students was a key event in the slow push towards democracy in Mexico. It demonstrated that the ideals of the Mexican Revolution were bankrupt, and revealed to the world that Mexico’s electoral authoritarianism was really a sham. The number of students killed on that day is still a mystery, but in the last few years new information is coming to light on the state’s response to the movement as well as the subsequent dirty war the Mexican government fought against various radical groups throughout the country.

I’m certainly no expert on the events of this time, but I thought these photos were interesting to look at. While most Latin American countries were engaged in their own dirty wars in the 60s and 70s, Mexico’s repression is still somewhat shrouded in mystery.

I’d like to point out two photos in particular in part IV. The first photo is supposed to be Mexico’s president, Ernesto Zedillo (1994-2000) being attacked by the police when he was 17, and the second photo looks to be him as well, although he is only identified as a student of Mexico’s National Polytechnic Institute (IPN). This is the first time that I have ever heard that Zedillo was involved in the student movement, and I find the second photo to be a little questionable as the information I have found suggests Zedillo didn’t enroll in the IPN until 1969. If these photos are accurate, it’s somewhat ironic that Zedillo was a victim of the repression in 1968, then was president over the repression of Zapatista communities after the 1994 uprising. In both instances, the students and the indigenous Zapatistas were reacting against political exclusion, but it seems Zedillo had a selective memory.

Historical Image of the Day

Scene from Orangeburg Massacre, 1968

Historical Image of the Day

Edson Luis, an innocent high school student murdered by police during clashes between police and students at the restaurant where Edson worked, 1968