National: Commemoration of Tlatelolco Massacre

@La Lista

On October 2^nd, 2022, the annual march in commemoration of the student massacre was held in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas of Tlatelolco on the same date in 1968 in Mexico City. With the slogan “Neither Forgive nor Forget”, the protesters recalled what happened the night in which students from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) were repressed by the Army.

More than five decades later, the demands are still valid; and to these are added trials for the genocides of the massacre of 1968, no to militarization and an end to impunity. “From here we are emphatically opposed to the Mexican Army assuming public security tasks, to carrying out an unconstitutional and non-binding citizen consultation, that is, a simulation that legitimizes militarization”, was the position of the 68 Committee ‘Prolibertades Democraticas’. “We are consistent in insisting that the Mexican Army has repeatedly and systematically committed serious human rights violations, persecution and extrajudicial detention, forced disappearance, torture and cruel and inhuman treatment, rape and execution. They are the common denominator of a long list of grievances against the people”, it said.

It is worth mentioning that on September 14^th, 2022, the Mexican Chamber of Deputies approved a reform that extends the participation of the Army and the Navy in citizen security operations until 2028, amid complaints about a growing militarization of the country. Civil society, such as La Montaña Tlachinollan Human Rights Center and Human Rights Watch, strongly criticized the militarization of public security for threatening human rights.

The government of Mexico City registered no incidents in the concentration of 4,000 people for the 54^th anniversary of the student struggle. However, it was reported that a group of protesters, who identified themselves as supporters of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, kicked Denise Dresser out of the march. The political scientist is known for her public opposition to Lopez Obrador’s policies, who even regularly mentions her in his morning press conferences and identifies her as his opponent. The day after the march, the President refused to condemn the aggression experienced by the political scientist, questioning whether she had turned the situation into an attack on “freedom of expression.”

For more information in Spanish:

En protesta del 2 de octubre exigen rechazar la militarización del país (Proceso, 2 de octubre de 2022)

La marcha en memoria de la masacre del 2 de octubre de 1968 en Ciudad de México, en imágenes (El País, 2 de octubre de 2022)

Marcha 2 de octubre: ¡Ni perdón, ni olvido! Conmemoran 54 años de la masacre de Tlatelolco de 1968 (Animal Político, 2 de octubre de 2022)

Un grupo de manifestantes echa a Denise Dresser de la marcha del 2 de octubre en el Zócalo (El País, 2 de octubre de 2022)

CDMX reporta saldo blanco en marcha del 2 de octubre; hubo 4 mil manifestantes (Proceso, 2 de octubre de 2022)

México: La militarización de la seguridad pública amenaza los derechos humanos (Human Rights Watch, 26 de agosto de 2022)

Militarización ante los visos de la ingobernalidad (Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Montaña Tlachinollan, 15 de agosto de 2022)

AMLO rechaza condenar agresión a Denise Dresser: «Hay que dejar de lado la hipocresía» (Animal Político, 3 de octubre de 2022)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Nacional: Enfrentamientos dejan seis heridos en el 52 aniv. de la matanza de Tlatelolco (4 de octubre de 2020)

Guerrero: Ayotzinapa: 8 años sin verdad ni justicia (30 de septiembre de 2022)