The Student Movement of 1968

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After the Revolution of 1910, the Mexican political system depended on tactics of repression, manipulation and coercion to control the actions of the opposition. In 1968 the government faced a movement that could not be controlled through the same tactics. The Student Movement of 1968 represented a changing in the political system where those who felt suppressed voiced their discontent, in spite of government suppression. Luis Echeverria, the president following the Student Movement, faced political turmoil and instability during his presidency; he instituted reforms that were considered “left” during his time. Although Echeverria did this because he felt the need to reform the political party from within, the political climate following the student revolt led to the inadvertent beginning of the end for the PRI Regime.

The 1968 Student Movement began when police intervention after a clash between two rival high schools culminated in violence. Students began to unite in protest to the unnecessary violence used by the police, and police continued to break up any protest by students. Initially, the movement had no ideological base; the cohesion that the movement had was based on the violence that they all experienced. Soon, the movement began to develop its ideological unity. The protesters focused on the upcoming Olympics, set to occur in Mexico, to persuade the government to comply with the protesters demands. President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz began to question whether the government would be able to control the movement by the Olympics of 1968.

The clash between students and government culminated at Tlatelolco on October 2, 1968, two weeks before the Olympic Games. The students planned on a peaceful demonstration, but the gove...

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...fied cohesion; it was beginning to develop factions within itself. These “leftist” factions that were developing within the party would be the ones that eventually cause the downfall of the PRI Regime.

Works Cited

Echeverria, Pedro V. "Movimiento Estudiantil Mexicano De 1968: ¿qué Pasó En Yucatán, ¿cómo Lo

Interpretó La Prensa?" Revista Latina De Comunicacion Social 13 (1999): 1-17. 1999. Web. 22

Oct. 2011. .

Hellman, Judith Adler. "The Echeverria Regime." Mexico in Crisis. New York: Holmes &

Meier, 1983. 187-215. Print.

Hellman, Judith Adler. "The Student Movement of 1968." Mexico in Crisis. New York: Holmes

& Meier, 1983. 173-86. Print.

Watt, Peter. "Mexico’s Secret Dirty War." Sincronia General Index. Sincronia, 2010. Web. 20

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