An earlier post from this week's blog touched on the human rights debacle, known as the Tlatlelco Massacre, during the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. This week the BBC interviewed a British journalist, Robert Trevor, that was on the scene as the events unfolded, in what he calls “the most terrifying night of my life”. He explains that crowds gathered peaceably before the games started, and demanded the resignation of then president Diaz Ordaz, in addition to better basic social services (housing, education, food). All of a sudden, gun shots erupted on the crowd of 3,000 students.
Journalists were either forced from the scene or arrested. People outside the square hardly knew what happened. After the attacks finished, the police claimed 7 of their own had been killed by angry mobs, and 30 civilians were affected by the violence. In contrast, human rights groups and the protest organizers documented more than 300 innocent civilians were killed. One of the most chilling aspects was the sheer denial from the police system at the time. Robert Trevor recalls interviewing a mother that went to a police station to inquire about her son, only to be told there was no proof that he ever existed. As Alejandro mentioned in his previous blog post, those responsible for the massacre and police violence were never brought to justice. Mexico is now just beginning to recognize the tragedy.
TLATELOLCO TIMELINE (courtesy of the BBC):
“2 Oct 1968: Soldiers spray bullets on demonstrators, number killed unclear. Figures vary between 30 and 300
1990s: After years of official silence, calls for investigations grow
Feb 1998: Legislative commission blames Luis Echeverria, then interior minister and later president. He says the army acted on orders of President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz, who died in 1979
2002: Federal investigation ordered
2007: Mr Echeverria's trial on genocide charges suspended due to lack of evidence
2008: 40 years on, families of victims and disappeared still calling for justice, demanding to know who ordered the massacre and exactly how many died”
George Washington University in Washington, DC contains an excellent national security archive by Kate Doyle that has compiled information about the massacre. It lists newly declassified documents from both the US and Mexico. Importantly, President Vicente Fox signed a freedom of information act into Mexican law in 2002, which is now shedding light on the abuses.
