![]() And people singing, Que Vivan los Estudiantes, ta-ri-ra-ra-ra-ra. We had these big, big meetings at the campus. FERNANDEZ VIOLANTE: And so we got together, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds. ANTONIO AZUELA (Former Student): You have the middle class with eyes closed, and a group of students saying this was not a democracy and this is not working. AGUAYO: It was, in a symbolic way, the clash of a new Mexico and an old Mexico. Many of us were wearing very long hair and listening to loud music like rock and roll. HUERTA: We were urban-middle-class, low-middle-class bunch of young people. He believed that he had to protect the country's stability against everybody, and in particular against longhaired, bearded, mini-skirted, bell-bottom-trousered students who represented everything that he was against. CASTANEDA: This was a president who wanted at all cost to keep control of things out of principal. You could not go and express you dissent. I mean, it was forbidden to demonstrate in the center of Mexico City, in the heartland of the country. Presidents were the equivalent of monarchs. AGUAYO: In the '60s, we were still a country where the government controlled everything. President GUSTAVO DIAZ ORDAZ (Mexico): Señores miembros del Senado… HUERTA: Gustavo Diaz Ordaz was president from 1964 to 1970. Unidentified Reporter #4: Mexico's President Diaz Ordaz, one of Mexico's most successful leaders. Even though, in the reality of those days, things were not as happy as they appear. ALEJANDRO ALVAREZ BEJAR (Former Student): The government was talking of the Mexican miracle. This was Mexico's entry onto the world scene. CASTANEDA: The first time a sporting event like the Olympics is held in an underdeveloped or developing country. For the government, the Olympics are the opportunity to show the world Mexico is no longer a small and backward nation. The streets are jammed with traffic, sidewalks packed with people. Unidentified Reporter #3: This is downtown Mexico City. ELISA RAMIREZ (Former Student): We were so civilized, so Americanized, and we had the Olympic Games. Unidentified Reporter #2: Enclavado en la bella zona residencial al sur de la ciudad, muy cerca de la glorieta Rivera. (Soundbite of vintage Mexican news broadcast in Spanish) So, this was a time of peace and prosperity. Opportunities were being generated, mainly in the city, but just about everywhere in the country. CASTANEDA: In 1968, economically speaking, these were very good times for Mexico. ![]() Unidentified Reporter #1: Mexico City, the capital of the Republic of Mexico, is a modern, bustling metropolis with a population of nearly six million. PERELLO: To understand Mexico, we are obliged to understand what occurred in '68. I was just one among many other students in the students' movement. DAVID HUERTA (Former Student): My name is David Huerta. MARIO NUNEZ MARIEL (Former Student): Mario Nunez Mariel. MARCELA FERNANDEZ VIOLANTE (Former Student): My name is Marcela Fernandez Violante. JORGE CASTANEDA (Historian): Jorge Castaneda. SERGIO AGUAYO (Historian): My name is Sergio Aguayo. MIGUEL BRESEDA (Former Student): My name is Miguel Breseda. MARTA ACEVEDO (Former Student): Well, my name is Marta Acevedo, and I was 28 years old in 1968. I was a leader of the '68 student movement in Mexico. MARCELINO PERELLO VALS (Former Student Leader, Consejo Nacional de Huelga): My name is Marcelino Perello Vals. Independent producers Joe Richman and Anayansi Diaz-Cortes of Radio Diaries brought us this story of what happened and the 40-year search for the truth. The students had been protesting against Mexico's authoritarian government. In doing so, Fox cracked open the door to exploring one of the darkest episodes in Mexican history - the massacre of university students in Mexico City in October 1968. ![]() Vicente Fox's election ended 70 years of one-party rule, and he promised to usher in a new era of democracy and openness. Eight years ago today, a new president was inaugurated in Mexico. From NPR News, this is All Things Considered.
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