workingclasshistory:

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”. Many people were angry at the huge cost of staging the Olympics, as well as police repression. 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, 5000 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 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”. More info and background in this short people’s history of Mexico: https://libcom.org/history/1867-2000-a-people-s-history-of-mexico https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1224978041020677/?type=3