Mexico, October 2, 1968: The Night of Tlatelolco; the Death of the Student Movement
Ernesto Páramo – Tlaxcala
Translation: Machetera
The events of the night of Tlatelolco are still concealed, 40 years later, by a cold, dense fog that obscures the identity of a multitude of secondary actors, who nevertheless played important roles in the tragedy. The main actors who took the decisions and had direct responsibility for the events that led to the slaughter were: the President of the Republic, Gustavo Díaz Ordaz; the Interior Secretary, Luis Echeverría Álvarez, the President’s Chief of Staff, Luis Gutiérrez Oropeza, the commander of the military operation in Tlatelolco, General José Herández Toledo, and the commander of the Olympia Battalion, Colonel Ernesto Gutiérrez Gomes Tagle, among others, along with those who dedicated themselves to sowing confusion as a strategy of disinformation in the days that followed the slaughter. All have remained beyond the reach of law and justice.
However, the blood of the young people and the tears of the adults are still fresh and painful.
The massive marches of more than 700,000 or 800,000 students, workers, housewives, and office workers that took more than three or four hours to arrive at the Zócalo from the Anthropology Museum, are still present and fresh in the memory of those who participated actively and those who formed a silent cordon along their path, to watch them march and lend their support. Continue reading
