What happened at Tlatelolco in Mexico City on 2 October 1968?
Tlatelolco, 2 October 1968
El 2 de octubre de 1968: Tlatelolco
2 October 1968. In the summer of 1968, with Mexico City about to host the Olympic Games, a clash between schools and the police grew into a student movement demanding the…
Where: Mexico, Mexico City
What happened
In the summer of 1968, with Mexico City about to host the Olympic Games, a clash between schools and the police grew into a student movement demanding the release of political prisoners, the repeal of the crime of 'social dissolution' and dialogue with the government. On the evening of 2 October a rally of several thousand gathered in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Tlatelolco. As the speakers announced that the planned march was cancelled, a helicopter dropped a flare and shooting began; soldiers and the plain-clothes Batallón Olimpia fired on the crowd and arrested students in the surrounding flats. The number of dead was never established. The Games opened ten days later; no one was ever punished, and 2 October became the date Mexicans say they will not forget.
Say it
El 2 de octubre de 1968 el ejército disparó contra los estudiantes en Tlatelolco.
On 2 October 1968 the army fired on the students in Tlatelolco.
Why it matters
Tlatelolco broke the trust between the Mexican state and a generation, began the slow opening of the one-party system, and gave Spanish one of its most repeated political phrases: '2 de octubre no se olvida'.
Read about it
Connected
- The Mexican Revolution begins (20 November 1910–1920)
- The coup of 11 September 1973 in Chile (11 September 1973–11 March 1990)
- The Mexico City earthquake of 1985 (19 September 1985)
- The Mexico City earthquake of 1985 (19 September 1985)
- Before: The Association of Academies of the Spanish Language
- After: García Márquez wins the Nobel: the Boom
Sources
- Movimiento estudiantil de 1968 — INEHRM
- #AGNRecuerda el Movimiento Estudiantil de 1968, a 50 años del 2 de octubre — Archivo General de la Nación (gob.mx)