Mexican Movement of 1968

Student activism in Mexico was traditionally largely confined to issues dealing with their circumstances while studying at university. There were two strikes at the National Polytechnic Institute in 1942 and 1956, as well as a strike at the National Teachers' School (Escuela Nacional de Maestras) in 1950, organized by the Federación de Estudiantes y Campesinos Socialistas de México (FECSUM).[3] In 1966, Díaz Ordaz intervened in a low-level protest in Morelia at the University of Michoacan over an increase in bus fare. The federal government saw in the protest Communists and "professional agitators involved with foreigners," and a student was shot dead. Demonstrators saw his death as "a victim of the government." Demonstrations increased, with demands for the removal of the governor of the state of Guerrero. Díaz Ordaz refused to negotiate and placed his Minister of the Interior Luis Echeverría in charge of the government intervention, occupying the campus. Although there was no evidence of outside agitators or violence on the part of students, the government ordered student residences searched and students evicted. Some students were arrested. A similar scenario occurred at the University of Sonora. In the traditional presidential speech to the legislature on September 1, 1966 just before the occupation of the Morelia campus, Díaz Ordaz made a threat against universities and students. "Neither claims of social and intellectual rank, nor economic position, nor age, nor profession nor occupation grant anyone immunity. I must repeat: No one has rights against Mexico!"[4]

In the 1960s, the Mexican government wanted to showcase its economic progress to the world by hosting the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. Economic growth had not been spread evenly, and students saw an opportunity to bring reforms and more democracy to Mexico.[5][6] Arising from reaction to the government's violent repression of fights between rival groups of preparatory students, the student movement in Mexico City quickly grew to include large segments of the student body who were dissatisfied with the regime of the PRI.[7]

Logo for the 1968 Mexico City Olympics

The 1968 Olympic Games took place in Mexico, making it the first developing country to host this event. The government saw it as an important way to raise Mexico's profile internationally because of the tourist attendees and international television coverage of the event, which could attract international investors. Large amounts of public funding were expended to build Olympic facilities at a time when there were other priorities for the country. Over the summer of 1968, opposition to the Olympics grew and there were major demonstrations against them. Students did not believe that the appearance of Mexico to the world was a priority. They wanted a revolution resulting in the reform of the country. "No queremos Olimpiadas, queremos revolución" (We do not want Olympic Games, we want a revolution).[8] The IOC threatened to move the Games to Los Angeles if the situation deteriorated.[9][8] The government of Díaz Ordaz wanted the Games to go forward no matter how much repression was required.

Strike Council members Cabeza de Vaca and Perelló at a press conference. (Mexico, 1968)

Following the protest march led by UNAM's rector, students from several institutions formed the National Strike Council (Consejo Nacional de Huelga or CNH), which organized all subsequent protests against the Díaz Ordaz government.[18] The CNH was a democratic delegation of students from 70 universities and preparatory schools in Mexico; it coordinated protests to promote social, educational, and political reforms.[19] At its apex, the CNH had 240 student delegates and made all decisions by majority vote, had equal representation by female students, and reduced animosity among rival institutions.[20] Raúl Álvarez Garín, Sócrates Campos Lemus, Marcelino Perelló, and Gilberto Guevara Niebla served as the four de facto leaders of the CNH.[21] As the world focused on Mexico City for the Olympics, the CNH leaders sought to gain peaceful progress for festering political and social grievances. Sergio Zermeño has argued that the students were united by a desire for democracy, but their understanding of what democracy meant varied widely.[7]

The movement began to gain support from students outside the capital and from other segments of society, which continued to build until that October. Students formed brigadas (brigades), groups of six or more students who distributed leaflets about the issues in the streets, markets, and most often on public buses.[22] These organizations, the smallest units of the CNH, decided the scope and issues which the student movement would take up. These included both rural and urban concerns.[23] The brigadistas boarded buses to speak to the passengers about the government's corruption and repression, while others distributed leaflets and collected donations.[24] Eventually, the passengers and bus drivers began to sympathize with the students’ demands for democracy and justice, and the students collected increasing amounts of money.[25] But the aggressive militancy among the students began to disillusion some bus drivers about the students’ motives, and they suspected the youths of seeking power for its own sake.[21]

Science students' contingent, August 13, 1968.

The August 27 student demonstration on Juárez Avenue.

On September 9, Barros Sierra issued a statement to the students and teachers to return to class as "our institutional demands… have been essentially satisfied by the recent annual message by the Citizen President of the Republic."[21] The CNH issued a paid announcement in the newspaper, El Día, for the Silent March on September 13; it invited "all workers, farmers, teachers, students, and the general public" to participate in the march.[21] The CNH emphasized that it had no "connection with the Twentieth Olympic Games…or with the national holidays commemorating [Mexico's] Independence, and that this Committee has no intention of interfering with them in any way.[21] The announcement reiterated the list of six demands from the CNH.

With the opening of the Olympics approaching, Díaz Ordaz was determined to stop these demonstrations. In September, he ordered the army to occupy the UNAM campus. They took the campus without firing a bullet, but beat and arrested students indiscriminately. Barros Sierra resigned in protest on September 23.

The Silence March was a silent demonstration that took place on September 13, meant to prove that the movement was not a series of riots but had discipline and self-control.[21]

Students began to prepare for defensive operations in other institutions. They put on a much stronger resistance when the police and the army tried to occupy the Polytechnic campuses of Zacatenco and Santo Tomas. The battle lasted from 17:00 hours on September 23 to the early hours of September 24.[21] The physician Justo Igor de León Loyola wrote in his book, La Noche de Santo Tomás (Saint Thomas' night): "Today I have seen bloodier fights, unequal battles: Both sides are armed... but what a difference in the weapons, .22 caliber handguns against M-1 military rifles, bazookas against Molotov cocktails."[26][27]

The Polytechnic students held their campuses against the army for more than twelve hours, which aroused strong opposition by the government. The French journal L'Express stated that 15 people died in the battles and that more than one thousand bullets were fired; the government reported three dead and 45 injured people.[27] Students from the Santo Tomás campus who were arrested in the occupations later said that they had been concentrated for defense in the entry lobbies. The military shot students at random and some of their friends did not survive.

The movement was permanently repressed by the government and finally tried to annihilate on the Tlatelolco massacre on October 2, 1968. The massacre was planned and executed under the code name Operation Galeana, by the paramilitary group called Olimpia Battalion, the Federal Security Direction (DFS), then the so-called Secret Police and the Mexican Army simulating a shooting in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas after the conclusion of a concentration of the CNH. One year after, in 1969, president Gustavo Díaz Ordaz –also a CIA's informer assumed the responsibility of the massacre. On October 2, 1968, at 5 PM in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Tlatelolco, a neighborhood of Mexico City, almost 10 thousand men, women and children stood waiting for a meeting to start. However, when the leaders of the several student organizations and movements arrived, policemen and the military, sent by president Díaz Ordaz and commanded by Luis Echeverria, decided to dissolve the meeting. A student claims that at about 6:10 a helicopter dropped three flares over the plaza, quickly followed by the first gunshots. Students were kidnapped, tortured, and killed by the government.[28][29]

During the presidency of Vicente Fox (2000-2006), his administration created a commission to investigate the Mexican government's activities during the so-called dirty war. The report, Informe Documenta sobre 18 años de "Guerra Sucia" en México, written by the Fiscal Especial: Responsabilidad del Estado en Cientos de Asesinatos y Desapariciones, was digitally published in draft form.[30] The report documents the multi-pronged strategy by President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz and his Minister of the Interior Luis Echeverría to contain, control, and suppress the student protests.  Government agents infiltrated universities and schools to gain information about student organizations and leaders, their action plans, and were at times agents provocateurs, promoting acts that could then be used as reasons for government violence.  The government also co-opted organizations that could act as mediators, silencing dissent, and controlling their functions.  Members of police and other organized government units posed as students, inciting them to act criminally, then hiding their identity in prosecutions, skewing the judicial system.  Outright government force was also used.  The government created paramilitary organizations to destroy their opponents, perpetrating human rights violations.  The government used the Mexican army as the last resort.[30] The Tlatelolco massacre is the most prominent example of the government's repression.