*The Tlatelolco Massacre* U.S. Documents on Mexico and the Events of 1968
For more information contact Kate Doyle: In Mexico: 5255 5574 7897 In Washington: 202 994 7000 kadoyle at gwu.edu
http://www.nsarchive.org/NSAEBB/NSAEBB99/index.htm
Washington, DC, 10 October 2003 – The National Security Archive at George Washington University, in collaboration with Proceso magazine, publishes today newly declassified U.S. documents in commemoration of the thirty-fifth anniversary of the Tlatelolco massacre in Mexico. Dozens of records from the CIA, Pentagon, State Department, FBI and the White House – many of them recently released in response to Freedom of Information Act requests filed by the Archive – chronicle what Washington knew and when it knew it about events leading to the shooting by Mexican security forces of student protesters on October 2, 1968.
The documents contain evidence that:
* Former President Luis EcheverrÃa created and headed a “Strategic Committeeâ€� of senior government officials to monitor and manage the student crisis immediately after the clash between students and police on July 26.
* In response to Mexican government concerns over the security of the Olympic Games, the Pentagon sent military radios, weapons ammunition and riot control training material to Mexico before and during the crisis.
* The CIA Station in Mexico City produced almost daily reports tracking developments within the university community and the Mexican government from July to October. Six days before the confrontation at Tlatelolco, both EcheverrÃa and head of Federal Security (DFS) Fernando Gutiérrez Barrios told the CIA that “the situation will be under complete control very shortly.
* The DÃaz Ordaz government “arrangedâ€� to have student leader Socrates Campos Lemus accuse dissident PRI politicians such as Carlos Madrazo of funding and orchestrating the student movement.
* In a review of contingency scenarios after October 2, the U.S. Embassy urged Washington to be prepared to grant financial assistance and economic support packages to Mexico in the event of continued or increased student violence, as a way of showing U.S. support for the regime.
Accompanying the documents is an analysis of the U.S. perspective on the Tlatelolco massacre by senior analyst and Mexico Project director Kate Doyle.
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-- Michael Pugliese