Tlateloco Massacre Essay

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Tlatelolco Massacre One of the most tragic and heartbreaking events in Latin American History on record was the Tlatelolco Massacre, which took place on October 2, 1968. This event is important in Mexican history because government police and army forces shot down hundreds of unarmed Mexicans, mostly student protestors. An estimated 300 deaths, thousands injured and jailed, and many disappeared This time period was the beginning of the Olympics in 1968 with Mexican president Gustavo Diaz Ordaz in office. During that time many student and labor union protests were erupting around the country. President Ordaz wanted to put México’s best foot forward. But movements by labor unions and college students made it hard to maintain a stable environment for the Olympics. President Ordaz wanted to present Mexico in a positive light to the whole world and not filled with domestic issues giving problems to the upcoming Olympics. Students were protesting because of the poor way the government was handling the issue of fights between the rival gangs and their unnecessary use of violence. The movement quickly spread and on October 2nd over 5,000 protestors had gathered to show their support of the students. Labor unions weren’t getting the proper care in the work place were also showing their dislike in the form of protesting. All the protests were starting to put pressure on the government and something had to be done. On the day of October 2, many students marched throughout the capital, and around nightfall some 5,000 of them gathered at the Plaza de Las Tres Culturas in the district of Tlatelolco for what was scheduled as one more peaceful rally. However the riot did at one point get out of hand when protestors burned a bus. Armored cars and tanks quickly surrounded the plaza, and the police with snipers in surrounding buildings began firing into the crowd. Some of the
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