Mexico's Dirty War

Massacres, death flights, torture and assassinations during the Cold War era

Mexico's Dirty War

Massacres, death flights, torture and assassinations during the Cold War era

By Sheryl Losser

The Tlatelolco Massacre, Historical Archive of UNAM, Credit: Jorge León

The Tlatelolco Massacre occurred just ten days prior to the opening ceremony of the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. Many see this as the official beginning of Mexico’s Dirty War. The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) had been in power for years and a clash had been brewing. Activist groups formed to challenge the political and social repression of the ruling party PRI and Presidents Gustavo Diaz Ordaz (1964 – 1970) and Luis Echeverria (1970 – 1976).

Often overlooked in Mexican history books, the conflict pitted the Mexican government and its security forces against a variety of guerilla groups, student activists, labor unions, peasant groups fighting for agrarian rights, LGBTQ leaders, teachers, and others who sought social and political reform and challenged PRI’s hold on power. The movement started by labor unions and farmers fighting to improve their conditions quickly attracted others also unhappy about the unchecked power of PRI. President Ordaz was struggling to maintain public order during a time of rising social tension.