Mexico ’68 and the Tlatelolco Massacre

In 1968, Mexico City was preparing to host the Olympics. It was the first time that a Latin American country would host the Games, and the government was hoping to show off the new, modern, Mexico.

At the same time, student protests were regularly sweeping through the streets of Mexico City. And just 10 days before the Olympics were to begin, on October 2, the Mexican army fired on a peaceful student demonstration in the Tlatelolco neighborhood. The official announcement was that four students were dead, but eyewitnesses said they saw hundred of dead bodies being trucked away. The Tlatelolco Massacre is one of the darkest episodes in Mexican history. Over the years, the death toll isn’t the only thing the government has covered up.