39th anniversary of Tlateloco Massacre elicits nationwide protests

During the spring of 1968 the student movement in Mexico began to really pick up speed as it focused its mobilization efforts on protesting the egregious amount of money being spent by the government on hosting the upcoming Summer Olympics. After several protests in which dozens of students were left dead in the streets at the behest of the national government, a meeting was set to be held on October 2 in the Plaza of Tlataloco in which representatives of the student movement and of the government were to settle their differences, peacefully. As the sun began to set, the national army all of a sudden opened fire on the 5000 or more non-violent student and union protesters. With the exits closed off, the students had no way of avoiding getting beaten up and then taken away to jail by the hundreds of national troops stationed in the plaza. While the deaths of only a handful of protesters, whose names are etched on the memorial facing the plaza's central cathedral, have been officially confirmed by the government, other estimates place the number killed above 300.

An annual protest is planned for Mexico City and I've heard rumors that a rally is scheduled for the evening in Xalapa's central plaza facing the State Government Building. I'll be walking by on my way from here, the school for foreign students, to my house and will be sure to take some pictures of anything that might be happening at the time. Check out some of the articles in the right panel to learn more about the tragic history of the government's brutal repression of the student movement that, as a result, hasn't been able to achieve its level of organization that it developed in the 1960's.

Here's a great site with rare pics of the massacre and links to dozens of related articles.