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Hundreds of students killed in the Tlatelolco Massacre of 1968
On October 2, 1968, ten thousand students gathered in La Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Tlatelolco, Mexico City. College and high students organized to protest the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) repression of social movements and their $1 billion dollar investment (today’s value) in the 1968 Summer Olympics the nation was set to host in a few days.
During their march they chanted – ¡No queremos olimpiadas, queremos revolución! “We don’t want Olympics, we want revolution!”. The protest was scheduled to listen to some speeches in the square peaceful when military forces opened fire into the crowds. Approximately 300-400 students, passersby, children, and journalists fell at the hands of the Mexican state.
The repression was carried out by a special force created in anticipation of the Olympics called the Brigada Olympica, or the Olympic Brigade. The Olympic Brigade was comprised of presidential guards who, as revealed by a 2001 investigation, were ordered to shoot upon the military forces following the student action to provoke them.
It was also revealed that the U.S. sent military radios, weapons, ammunition, and riot control training material to Mexico in response to the manifestations. The CIA outlet station in Mexico City also contributed reports on the university student movement.
Via teleSUR English
On this day, 2 October 1968, the Tlatelolco massacre took place in Mexico City when police murdered hundreds of students demonstrating peacefully, just prior to the start of the Olympic Games in the city.
At the time, many workers and poor farmers were fighting for better conditions, and the government responded with violent repression during what is known as the “dirty war”. People were angry at the huge cost of staging the Olympics, as well as police repression.
And so, on 2 October around 10,000 school and university students gathered in protest at the Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Mexico City, chanting: “We don’t want Olympics, we want revolution!”
A little after 6 PM, 5,000 troops surrounded the square and began firing into the crowd and nearby buildings. Throughout the night, soldiers and police officers went on a rampage, rounding people up, and beating and killing protesters, bystanders and local residents. Authorities and the media claimed that troops were defending themselves from sniper fire, but it was much later revealed that the snipers who began shooting were members of the Presidential Guard.
The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had been in close contact with Mexican authorities as it was concerned about protests against the Olympic Games, and the US military provided them with equipment, weapons and ammunition. Six days before the massacre, Mexican federal security told the CIA that “the situation will be under complete control very shortly”. https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.1819457841572691/2097587127093093/?type=3
