Original subtitles

DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF CULTURAL DISSEMINATION

DEPT. OF CINEMA ACTIVITIES

Mexicans all united

we'll make our nation great...

UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR CINEMA STUDIES PRESENTS...

The repressions we repudiate

because they take away our freedom...

“THE CRY” MEXICO 1968

...and persecute us. That's what we'll eliminate.

TO THE FREE MEN OF ALL THOSE NATIONS

THAT STRUGGLE, SUFFER AND WHO WILL OVERCOME

JULY

They're Mexicans. They're quarrelsome, understand?

They're also fun.

This fighting is a kind of sport.

It's like a story about kids.

One fought with the other,

so the friend of one hit the other.

One of those petty fights.

So the principal calls the police.

The police arrive in a large deployment of trucks.

26 trucks,

a totally disproportionate deployment

for the number of lads fighting.

Of the 26 trucks,

only two or three stopped at the location of the fight.

The others went to the demonstration

that was developing at the opposite end of the city.

The policemen took the students

by surprise and began to beat them up.

The student movement began from that incident.

Because of that,

the students began their demonstrations

and repression followed each demonstration.

I feel bad, my mind's still confused.

But there's something that hurts more than pain.

that terrible pain in my shoulder, my lungs, my knees,

that does more damage than physical pain.

That damage is the nightmare that stays with me, pursues me.

One can stand physical pain, but not the nightmare.

It’s not the nightmare of the Vietnam war.

I saw horrific things in Vietnam.

I had tremendous battles, incredible dangers,

but it was different because I knew I was in a war.

You go to Vietnam and know you're in a war.

And war is where there are armed men on one side

and armed men on the other.

And you know there's shooting from both sides.

But what happened that day wasn't a war,

it wasn't the Battle of Dak To or the Battle of Da Nang,

or the various conflicts in the Mekong Delta

or in the confines of Cambodia or some far away hell.

It had nothing to do with the war,

that more or less all of us in this profession have seen as correspondents.

Do you understand?

It wasn't a war, and there was no reason for it to be a night of blood.

If I insist on this point

it's because I want to try to explain this nightmare

that goes around and around in my head at night.

Justice! Justice! Justice! Justice!

AUGUST

WHEN EVERY RIOT COP IS LITERATE, MEXICO WILL BE GREATER

THERE MUST BE SCHOOLS IN MILITARY BARRACKS,

NOT MILITARY BARRACKS IN SCHOOLS

MEXICAN STUDENT: THERE'S A MOUNTAIN

AND A CANYON WE STILL HAVE NOT TAKEN

RESPECT FOR AUTONOMY

THE STRUGGLE NEVER ENDS

ERNESTO CHE GUEVARA AUDITORIUM

DEATH TO CORONA DEL ROSAL

FORBIDDEN TO FORBID: THE PEOPLE

INTERVENTION OF THE “GLORIOUS” MEXICAN ARMY

WE WILL TRIUMPH! -PEOPLE POWER

AUTONOMY

Teachers, yes, riot cops, no! Teachers, yes, riot cops, no!

ENGINEERS

HE GAVE YOU A JAIL FOR EVERY CHILD

We are the agitators and we support Vietnam!

We are the agitators and we tell the truth!

Books, yes, tanks, no! Books, yes, tanks, no!

I want to begin

by indicating that due to the request

of many of the teachers and students

of the University

and to show once again

that we live in a democratic community,

our mobilization will spread

to the corner of Insurgentes and Félix Cuevas.

I want to say that I trust

that everyone knows and honors

the commitment we've made.

We need to show the people of Mexico

that we are a responsible community,

that we deserve autonomy,

but the reference to autonomy will not be

our only banner in this public expression.

It will also be the imperative demand

for the freedom of our imprisoned comrades.

Bravo!

The feeling of the repressions...

will also be for us

a source of satisfaction and pride

for students and teachers

of the National Polytechnic Institute,

shoulder to shoulder with our brothers,

who join us in this demonstration. Welcome.

JULY 26, 1968 MARTYRS

Without wishing to exaggerate, we cans say

the stakes today are not only

the fate of the Polytechnic University,

but also the most important, the most dear,

- to the people of Mexico. - Bravo!

And as much as we know how to demonstrate

that we can act energetically,

but always within the framework of the law,

so often violated, but not by us...

we secure not only autonomy

and the freedoms

of our cases, of higher education,

but also, fundamentally,

the libertarian causes of Mexico.

Let us express ourselves

and I need not repeat

that we are looking out for the action

of possible provocateurs.

I do point out today that there are provocateurs.

I hope, I trust, that they will not

be the object of repudiation

of the overwhelming majority of the university community.

And I say now that I will be the first to report this

to our university and public opinion. Thank you very much.

Dead students, compensation!

Dead students, compensation!

THE POLITICAL GAME IS NOT OLYMPIC

People of Mexico, we invite you to join the column!

Join in! Join in! Join in! Join in!

Justice! Justice! Justice!

People, I can't deny it now.

Long live our university!

Long live!

- Long live the Polytechnic! - Long live!

-Long live our sister institutions! -Long live!

But above all, long live Mexico!

Long live!

Comrades, letter will be read to you

sent by some farmers

and the parents of some students.

"To the National Palace,

the President of the Republic,

Gustavo Díaz Ordaz.

We ask and beg you

to not keep putting up a barricade

at the pavilion, saying...

the student are the ones in violation.

Pretexts won't work.

Those doing the trampling

are you and your government.

And dismantling all kinds of laws

stipulated by the martyrs of the Revolution.

What you do not want is to support their ideals

for you are not the nation's father,

you are an executor of the State.

That's why...

That's why you want to propose slavery,

that's why there were deaths, killed by the police, young blood,

for asserting a right, you have your foot on our throats.

We are no longer the masters of our own interests.

With their high taxes,

Americans have guarantees.

For the poor Mexican,

sacrifice, what he works for,

is to sustain the many fatcat public servants

you have in your government.

So that you castigate, snuff out the articles

of the General Constitution of the Republic,

for you are unaware of them.

They are articles 8 and 9.

So,...

do not keep depriving the students and farmers

of their rights to freedom

and heed well article 145

of the Penal Code.

Remember the sacrifice

of the boy heroes of Chapultapec.

That is what you're doing

with the students of our nation.

If you are Mexican, grant them dialogue.

It's for the progress of Mexico.

They're carrying out the ideals of the martyr of Chinameca.

But it's a lie,

they only have him as a puppet

to hand over to scoundrels.

You don't want your unbeaten Mexicans to be betrayed.

Go with your American sons!

NO MORE THIEVES IN GOVERNMENT

WHY IS THE BAD GOVERNMENT AFRAID OF DIALOGUE?

I was impressed by those thousands of kids.

Because they were kids, you know?

13, 14, 16, 18...

At the most, 23 or 24 years old.

Poor kids too

because, of Mexican students,

only a small part were the children of the bourgeoisie.

Most are the children of country folk, laborers,

and most went to the Polytechnic.

The children of laborers and farmers go to the Polytechnic.

So you see these kids

that aren't like our students,

with their clean shirts, recently-ironed pants,

clean shoes, they're scruffy

and look like country folk

who go to town on Sunday, like you would see in Italy

twenty or thirty years ago, or maybe even today.

They're a little shy, full of passion, enthusiasm,

but shy, as country folk are.

I was moved to see all of them jumbled up there

all together.

POPULAR-STUDENT MEDICAL SERVICE

MEDICAL SERVICES

Now...

they turned out to be riot cops.

The sons of a gorilla

turned out to be riot cops

and another gorilla wants

the presidential chair...

Come together, people! Come together, people!

And if they ask me

who I'm tired of,

I tell them of Gustavo,

and Corona del Rosal.

I tell them of Gustavo,

and Corona del Rosal.

The Lecumberri jail

is full of the innocent.

The Lecumberri jail is full of...

"To public opinion,

to the teachers, students

and educational authorities.

Recent days have been anxious and tense for the Mexican people.

Violence and aggression

beset the National Polytechnic Institute

and the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

This situation was unleashed by the hysterical and absurd attitude

of a police force that is clearly anti-democratic,

discredited and disrespectful

due to its constant violations of the entire population

and thus have no moral authority

to impose any order.

We students didn't have a choice but to put reason against violence,

of which we have been the object.

It's not the first time that the riot cops

have savagely repressed the students.

Nor is it the first time that the Army

has trampled on our highest centers of education:

Morelia, Tabasco, Sonora, etc.

They act with great brutality and the authorities

disrespect the Constitution.

With every day, freedom is more reduced, more limited,

and we're being driven to a total and absolute loss

of the freedom to think, to have an opinion, to gather,

and the freedom of association.

We students are sick of the slander and the campaign of lies

by the major national press,

radio and television.

We're tired of this climate of oppression.

These situations are evidently leading,

in all senses,

to a progressive reversal of the country.

On the opposite side, the students active protests

are social criticism

that always entail justice and freedom,

for they are essentially true.

We want to underline that we know that reason and culture

always triumph over barbarity and oppression.

Galileo triumphed over the Inquisition and obscurantism.

Joliot-Curie bravely confronted

the fascist regime.

Belisario Domínguez fought encroachment and oppression

and gave us an example of steadfastness and civil courage.

We consider ourselves worthy successors of the finest tradition of

the defense cultural development and social justice.

and we demand judicial guarantees

for all the participants in this movement.

These latest events have shown

that the student body is here

and ready to not allow int his country

a climate of repression and violence to prosper.

We students demand of the corresponding authorities

the immediate solution of the following points.

One. Freedom for the political prisoners.

Two.

The dismissal of Generals Luis Cueto Ramírez and Raúl Mendiolea,

as well as Lt. Colonel Armando Frías.

Three. The termination of the corps of riot police,

the direct instrument of the repression

and for similar bodies to not be created.

Four.

The derogation of articles 145 and 145a

of the Federal Penal Code:

"The crime of social dissolution ,

the judicial instruments of the aggression.

Five. Compensation for the families of the dead

and the injured, victims of the aggression,

from July 26th onward.

Six. Demarcation of the responsibilities

for the acts of repression and vandalism by the authorities

through the police, riot police and army.

National Strike Board."

- What do we want for Vallejo? - Freedom!

- What do we want for Cangas? - Freedom!

What do we want for the political prisoners?

MEXICO '68 YEAR OF THE REPRESSION

Mexican, wake up!

...18, 20, 22, 24,

26, 28, 30...

Press sold out! Press sold out!

Press sold out! Press sold out!

...compensation!

Dead students, compensation!

Dead students, compensation!

Long live Che Guevara!

Free Vallejo! Free Vallejo!

...the Americans can't handle him.

Fidel! Fidel! What does Fidel have

that the Americans can't handle him?

Fidel, I bet you make the Yankees sweat!

Che, Che, Che Guevara! Che, Che, Che Guevara!

I'm a gorilla, I've got my rifle,

for this slogan I have to die.

And if they tell me there'll be democracy,

I'll have to stop it by force of bombs.

I'm supported by Chase Manhattan

and Wall Street too.

If the White House orders it,

I'll bend over and serve.

I'm willing to sell out my people,

as soon they show me those dollars.

So I declare a new manifesto:

"Gorillas of the world,

unite and conquer".

I'm very well trained,

I learned my lesson well,

I can get on all fours

even if a battalion passes by.

I'm very sure of my future,

gorillism need not succumb.

While the Yankees rule the world,

for now, I don't have to die of hunger.

If you, foreigner, do not want

to admit my truth,

ask Mister Johnson,

he'll have to convince you.

I'm a gorilla, I've got my rifle,

EMPTY COFFIN! THE ARMY HAS INCINERATED THE BODIES

And if they tell me there'll be democracy...

GOVERNMENT EXPIRED

A doctor for us...

A doctor

gave us valuable testimony.

Our friend, Héctor Samuel Fuentes,

son of the engineer Samuel Fuentes,

was indeed wounded by a bayonet.

He is 70.

The bayonet

entered his back, in the right lumbar region.

It went between the lung, kidney and spinal cord.

He operated on him.

His father died of a heart attack brought on by the news.

At the same time, another friend called Fuentes

was murdered,

and the doctor tells us

he is not Hector's blood brother,

but his brother in the cause.

- Listen. - What?

BOURGEOISIE=SHIT

How poor we all are,

with no bread to eat,

for our daily bread is spent by the boss

to his pleasure.

While he has clothes

and palaces and money,

we run around naked

and we live

in squalid shacks.

We suffered everything,

exploitation and war,

and they call us thieves

because we ask for the land.

We sow everything

and we reap everything,

but all the harvest

is for the good of masters.

And then the priests

excommunicate us,

they almost think that Christ

was like the bosses.

Companions of the plough

and of all the tools,

we have only one road left:

to grab a .30-30...

AUTONOMY AND FREEDOM

Who goes there?

The PRI.

The PRI.

And who is that man?

The thieving cricket.

The elections are drawing near,

you have to vote fast.

We either vote for the PRI

or they'll take our bread away.

The candidate's really good,

they feed him on barely.

And I laugh at those who say

that the PRI is pure imposition.

For those who didn't know it,

we have opposition.

And though it's not that great,

they have their reputation.

There are the delirious who think

that Mexico has a dictatorship.

The false traitors lie,

there is bitterness all around.

From El Tapado to the lapdogs,

they are suppurating tumors.

And with this I say goodbye,

I'm running away from here.

The riot cops came,

you have to vote for the PRI.

I swear I will not be obliged,

I do my... servile duty.

It's necessary to clarify...

against whom or against what

the students are fighting.

They've come along saying

that this is a Communist plot.

They've dome along saying

that the students are unruly

and only want to cause chaos,

that they're unpatriotic.

No, people,

the student movement

was a clear, conscious response

to the aggressions of the repressive government bodies.

There is no other reason

that we students would've hit the streets

to face it,

but for this...

the good Government of Mexico

has unleashed a campaign

that goes from slander in the papers

to threats and coercion.

This government is so rotten

that within it,

when there are people with a shred of dignity

who refuse to participate in this campaign

against the students,

they are beaten and harassed.

Specifically, we accuse here

one of the civil servants

in the Department of Social Action

who, when a group of his aides quit

because they didn't agree with

the campaign against the student

and this group gather to talk

and try to get in touch with the students,

they were savagely beaten and perhaps killed by the police.

They don't mention this in the newspapers.

We found out about this

because it's impossible for the Government to conceal

so many crimes and so much else.

They're called "the Latin Mothers".

Oh, Latin America,

how can you bear

that they kill your men,

those who want to free you?

Poor thing,

she has been raped

by the "corrupted sword".

Your children are falling

like a badly-injured phoenix.

Give birth,

Latin mothers,

give birth to more guerillas.

They will sow gardens

where there were trash heaps.

To the foreigners

and compatriots

who come to exploit us

with weapons in their hands

we will answer.

From the mountains of Bolivia,

Venezuela and Bogotá

the blood comes roaring

in pursuit of liberty.

Give birth,

Latin mothers,

give birth to more guerillas.

They will sow gardens

where there were trash heaps.

Those who with their work create the wealth of Mexico,

in both the factories and the fields,

have seen how popular strength

organized on this student campus

is able to sweep to one side

the false representatives

who have thrived at their ease

in the climate of corruption in which the Republic lives.

We are certain that, to teach our people,

so they might triumph and survive,

it is necessary for us to triumph

and survive by fighting.

With the triumph of this movement,

we find ourselves with the chance

to begin the popular struggle

for democratic freedoms.

CONSTITUTION VIOLATED

We keep alive the confidence of the people,

not just the students,

but in our chances of success.

Now, what do we understand by success?

The acceptance of the authorities

of the petition of the six clauses,

a demand that it is not just a student demand

but one that is eminently popular,

as shown by this grand assembly of the people.

We'll all end up understanding

that these are not abstractions, the might of the people

and the interests of the people.

We will all understand

that it's not enough to be right,

it's not enough to make just proposals,

what's required, what's indispensable,

is that all Mexican workers

make these demands theirs

and defends them accordingly.

For this,

to triumph, to survive,

it's indispensable to have an immediate success,

the acceptance of the petition

of the six clauses.

If the Government of the Republic

has any basic sensitivity,

this petition of the six clauses,

backed by this crowd,

should be accepted at once

and the problem would end.

We parents have come together

after having deserted you for so many years

and we are ashamed.

We are even more ashamed to see

that in the press

they've dared to tell us

that these congressmen

were going to guide us with respect to conduct

and that we should make our children follow.

We must remember

that they never thought about the education of the people

to come and tell us now

what it is we have to do.

We parents,

and particularly the mothers,

in the maternal sense

of the word "femininity",

have felt this like a slap in the face.

These congressman don't even know

the true feeling of the people.

The proof that they don't know

is that they should've answered our children

from the very beginning.

Where is this exalted democracy

they make such a show of?

I ask these gentlemen,

representatives of the people,

if they're at home now

comfortably watching some TV show,

for here we'd give them

a social spectacle,

a human spectacle,

where we mothers have come with little children

to ask you, Mr. President:

How many more children that we bring will fall?

We want to ask

if we're all agreed

that the discussions, the debate with the authorities,

might be public, with the participation of...

Yes!

STUDENTS

Let's vote! Let's vote! Let's vote! Let's vote!

Comrades,

we want this assembly

to vote democratically...

Yes!

Money! Money! Money!

Comrades...

POLITICAL PRISONERS

...in this grand assembly

of public debate.

We shall meet in the Zócalo

on September 1st at 10 in the morning.

Now!

Now! Now! Now! Now!

My friends!

Comrades...

Comrades, do you agree?

Beside Constitution Square

on September 1st

- at 10 in the morning? - Yes!

No soldiers!

- No tanks! - Please. Look, comrades.

It's been agreed

that a permanent guard is to be kept

at this place until the 1st.

- Yes! - Yes!

Consequently, there will be comrades

on guard day and night

because this is our square and we're not leaving.

No!

Comrades, please.

We're going to ask everyone,

with great respect,

on the count of three, to sing

our glorious national anthem.

One, two, three.

Mexicans,

at the cry of war

make ready the steel and the bridle,

and may the Earth tremble at its core

at the resounding roar of the cannon.

May the Earth tremble at its core

at the resounding roar of the cannon.

Gird, O Fatherland,

your temples with olive

by the peace

of the divine archangel,

for in Heaven

your eternal destiny

was written by the finger of God.

if, however,

a foreign enemy would dare to profane

your ground with his sole,

think, O beloved Fatherland, that Heaven has given you

a soldier in every son,

a soldier in every son.

Mexicans,

at the cry of war

make ready the steel and tbe bridle,

and may the Earth tremble at its core

at the resounding roar of the cannon.

May the Earth tremble at its core

at the resounding roar of the cannon.

- Long live Mexico! - Hurrah!

- Long live the Constitution! - Hurrah!

Long live the revolutionary opposition!

Hurrah!

- Long live the people of Mexico! - Hurrah!

NATIONAL POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE MEDICAL SCHOOL

PRISONERS

DEAD STUDENTS

MURDERER!

MURDERER, FACE THE MUSIC

Unfortunately,

everything confirms that constitutional order

is broken...

as of the night of August 27th,

when the Army patrolled the streets of the city.

Individual guarantees were suppressed

de facto and I consider,

as a teacher at the Polytechnic University,

that the open dialogue we've been asking for,

demanding, since the start of the conflict

will be able to solve the problem.

One can see the means,

but by the way the authorities have responded,

dialogue cannot be established.

We cannot hold a dialogue in a fistfight.

I consider that the aggression

of which I was the object last night...

is a grave error by the authorities

which shows...

their rejection of dialogue

as human beings with arguments,

and not with fists.

I have no other weapons but ideas,

these I can fight with.

If they assault me again, I will surely be defeated again.

Yes, on arriving home

to analyze the problems of the day

I was arrested at my car door

by an individual who told me to accompany him.

At once, two or three others got out of their car.

I said: "Where's the arrest warrant?".

They tell me: "We didn't bring it.

Our superior will tell you about that."

So I said: "Look,

we live in a country ruled by a Constitution.

I'm not going with you because you don't have

the proper documents."

Then I got out of my car and the beating started.

So I ran off,

I went to the rocky part of Colonia Romero de Terreros,

and waited in a cave for about two hours

until I saw that they were looking for me somewhere else

and I began an arduous pilgrimage

because I was very badly hurt.

It took me five and a half hours

to reach the University, cross country,

hiding from the spotlights

coming from a Valiant van that was searching for me.

When I got onto the territory of the University,

territory in the sense that here

is where we're keeping watch

so that our Magna Carta might be the document

that rules the country's fate.

And I believe that this struggle

must take this direction.

We demand, through all the media within our reach,

that our new Constitution become operational.

For this I also pledge to the young members

of the National Strike Council

my unconditional solidarity

with their way of requesting public dialogue

so that the problem is solved.

We are aware that this movement

to move ahead in Mexico

will open democratic perspectives

for the life of the country

and we will contribute, as citizens,

to improving the conditions

in which the people can really express themselves

in the instruments of power.

And so we might let out people know...

the courage of their strength

and the strength of their courage.

One of the questions I asked the chief of police was:

"Does the Mexican Constitution permit demonstrations or not?"

He told me yes,

"but there are rules, you'll understand,

to get the proper authorization".

Then I said: "Very well,

and is this authorization generally granted?"

And he answered me: "Yes, it's always granted,

but each permit is accompanied by an annulment of the permit,

understand? This is Mexico."

That's what the chief of police said.

So this is the game:

the students get the permit for the demonstration and they gather,

then the police arrive with the annulment of the permit

and start in with the beatings.

Sheep! Sheep!

SEPTEMBER

Let's see now...

aspects that are much discussed

but not written about much,

referring to the people who have been harmed,

sometimes gravely,

entails wealthy truck drivers

or modest members of the road transport system,

whose heritage is the bus,

with parts of the rights on it,

the owners of large and small businesses

that were victims of destruction and looting,

the truck drivers,

food and drink deliverers,

whose goods were snatched from them.

The factories, and the workers and peasants organizations,

attacked violently.

Houses daubed with paint

and their windows broken.

the silent rage

of so many thousands of drivers

stopped to be asked for money for the cause

or their windows, antennae or tires destroyed.

The thousands of passengers obliged to depend

on public transport vehicles.

The economic disturbance

of those for whom 50 centavos

means a lot in the weekly budget.

The worker or the bureaucrat who suffer pay cuts

for the delay in getting to work.

The lawyers, the doctor, the engineer, the housewife

who arrive late to the court, hospital, worksite,

business or household

because a large area is congested,

making transit in the city difficult.

The hardships of people who were totally uninvolved

and taken hostage.

So many peaceful passers-by abused,

humiliated or hurt

who had to resign themselves to the strength of numbers

and not compromise their future

in an absurd and vulgar quarrel.

So many women profanely insulted

who, as well as suffering their own shame,

have filled with indignation a father,

a mother, a husband,

a brother or a son,

and who may also have been the wife, mother,

sister or daughter.

The dilemma is irreducible:

should the police intervene or not?

Debauchery has come

in the use of all the means of expression and dissemination.

Great freedom and guarantees have been enjoyed

to carry out demonstrations,

ordered, in certain aspects,

but against the express text

of Article 9 of the Constitution.

We've been tolerant up to reprehensible excesses,

but everything has a limit and we cannot...

But everything has a limit

and we cannot now permit

the unforgivable smashing

of public order

as the eyes of the world has seen taking place.

We have the unavoidable duty

to stop the destruction of the basic formulas

under whose protection we live together and progress.

In the same line,

to exhaust the media that advise good judgment

and experience,

I will exercise, always when it is strictly necessary,

the power contained in Article 89, section 6,

of the General Constitution of the Republic,

that says:

"Article 89.

The powers and duties of the president are the following.

Six.

Having available the entire standing Armed Forces,

that is, the Army,

the Navy and Air Force

for internal security

and the external defense of the federation".

In the name of the nation,

I express public recognition of our soldiers...

Modest and heroic and who,

without the economic advantages

or the privileges of education that others enjoy,

fulfill quietly and obscurely

the thankless task of leasing their lives

so that the rest of us might live in peace.

When the Mexican Army

intervenes in the work of maintaining internal order,

it must make itself be respected,

for it has the weapons entrusted to it by the nation,

for it does so fulfilling the basic functions

for which it was created

and because, for many long years

and on many occasions

it has been required by the civil powers.

I cite deliberately here the expression of Ponciano Arriaga,

the illustrious constituent of 1857:

"The Army has limited itself

to keeping or reestablishing order

without exceeding the constitutional functions

assigned to it".

Our Armed Institute takes no side,

neither for or against, conflicting persons or groups,

nor tends to favor one or the other.

It guarantees the order that,

in turn, enables the free working of institutions

so that, under their protection,

within the law, the problems

can be solved that have given rise

to the conflict that demands its intervention.

All of Mexico knows that when the Army intervenes,

it is to safeguard tranquility, not to oppress the people.

Comrades, taking the floor,

comrade Consuelo Hernández

of the National Strike Council,

who's going to read the response to the presidential report.

Bravo!

Students, teachers,

people in general,

Mr. President of the Republic...

...for over a month and a half,

since we've been the target

of endless calumnies from

those who wished to undermine us,

often saying we are guilty

of acts that have nothing to do with us.

This is why now, gathered here,

we must reaffirm our position of struggle

and not cease our fight.

We heard last September 1st

the fourth presidential report,

a report that is

weak and lacking true political foundation,

for in this,

far from giving full satisfaction to our problems,

we've been blackmailed in a dirty fashion,

they've given us crumbs,

believing that we students

will fall into their game.

They've tried to entangle us

in a series of arguments

that are alarmist, wordless and cheap.

Yes, Mr. President.

This is to make clear that we have never

had any intention of intervening

in the celebration of the Olympic Games

and if they do not end up being held,

it will not be the responsibility of the National Strike Council

and will, on the other hand, be the Government's fault entirely,

for in its hands is the rapid solution

and conclusion of this movement.

We also remember that in your report you speak

of so many insulted and offended women.

And I'll tell you that, indeed,

our women have felt offended

and that, in truth, the people are indignant,

but not because of the students

and not because of we who have just demands,

not we who fight with a petition,

not we who have awoken the people

from their long lethargy

so they might claim along with us

their rights and freedoms.

This is not why they feel offended and humiliated,

but because of the unjustified intervention of the police,

and other repressive bodies.

The people are shocked by the death of their children

at the hands of the "brave" Army.

The answer to whether

the army should intervene or not,

is definitive and resounding.

These repressive bodies must vanish,

for it has been seen that

any student demonstration or celebration

is peaceful while it does not intervene,

while its gorillas keep away.

We must remind you, Mr. President,

that when you express

your full recognition of the army in the name of the nation,

you are usurping a term that does not belong to you

because the nation itself

that is protesting against them.

In addition, you make mention

of the instant and easy means

of propagandistic expulsion.

To which we will answer, let's make a deal:

You give us half the means of dissemination you have,

including radio, press and television,

and we'll give you all of our megaphones and recorders.

We commit ourselves

to not painting on signs or on trucks again,

but meanwhile,

the city awaits the end

of the killing of our mobilizations.

We've exercised our rights in the street

and we're not willing to let them be snatched away.

We Mexicans have learned that democracy is not a gift,

but a struggle,

and we're willing to carry it on

until the definitive victory.

CREATE TWO, THREE...

Let's see what they think.

...LOTS OF JERKS

Hear those laments,

young American,

that come from the East

crushed by your hand.

Young and old,

it doesn't matter,

they beg you to stop,

they want you to stop

the war in Vietnam.

Take off the blindfold,

refuse to fight,

oppose the laws

made to kill

and say that heaven exists,

as is written here.

Think of it first

before firing.

In the sad weeping

of lonely children

left orphans by

your vile mercenaries.

There are women alone

wandering homeless

who cry out, begging you to stop the massacre.

Do not be immoral.

Black and yellow,

they are your brothers.

Do not kill them,

have compassion for them,

for if with blood

you make your history,

that same river

will be your end.

NO MORE AGRESSION!

AHEAD!

NATIONAL STRIKE COUNCIL

66,

National Conservatorium of Music,

67,

Dance Academy.

68,

"Hope" cultural school.

69,

Art School.

70, Specialized Training School.

71, popular contingent.

72...

Comrades, be very alert

because...

Student demonstration

passing Chapultepec.

...police are sent

with the aim of sabotage.

I also remind you

that in front of the American Embassy

there's likely to be an attack.

So we're going to avoid it...

May it be very clear

that the political blow of this demonstration

will be absolute silence, comrades.

Tell me, tell me!

- Workers and students! - United we will win!

Workers and students, united we will win!

We're seeing a light

denied for many years.

We must look after this light,

don't let ourselves be dazzled

because, if that happens,

we will lose the step forward

and it will be that moment

that our enemy will use

to gag us again and put chains on us.

But something they cannot achieve,

the burnt blindfolds

will not be put on our eyes again

for we've gained something important.

We've gained

the awareness of action.

Now we argue

about how to break the chains,

not about if they can be broken.

No one thinks now

that it doesn't matter if you're bound.

We've experienced freedom in the streets,

we've experienced

democracy in thousands of assemblies,

meetings and demonstrations.

And when one knows sweet liberty,

you never forget it

and you fight tirelessly

to never stop seeing it,

because it's the essence of man,

because man is only fully realized

when he is free.

And in this movement,

thousands of us have been free, truly free.

In these circumstances,

the National Strike Council

had to solve several problems

with a key action:

showing that we're united,

that there is no division.

that our awareness of struggle has not been dented.

Showing...

...show that there is discipline,

order and willingness for the fight.

Showing all our decision

to persist in the fight

until the final triumph of our demands.

Showing...

...firmness in the principles

and flexibility of methods.

All this with a combative action

that thwarts the maneuver in one blow.

All this and more we've achieved

in this great silent march.

Order, discipline and combativeness

have been visible for everyone.

The silence in which we've marched

is our powerful cry of protest.

This silence is much more eloquent

than the words violated yesterday

by the bayonets.

At the silence of the authorities who pretend not to listen,

this march is the answer.

In silence, with rage held back,

which is a product of injustice.

Of injustice and arrogance.

Our march

is the responsible answer

and the demonstration of the real reason for our cause.

We are conscious of our strength

and of our weakness as well.

Our power

lies in the justice of our demands,

in the support of the workers,

and in the rights that are historically therein.

We are aware that

governmental power can destroy us,

using its tanks and soldiers.

They can massacre the students and the people

but they'll never be able to subdue us,

they'll never be able to convince us

that living gagged and kneeling

is the way for our people!

Soldiers out, soldiers out!

Polytechnic, polytechnic!

Comrades, the Army is on Avenida de la Universidad.

Let them reach the park

and after a while...

Comrades, the Army is here,

in the parking lot...

...and we're starting to come out.

I was going out the other way and I met some friends in Philosophy,

and a girl said to me "Turn around, the Army's coming this way."

So I went out this way, on the side of the forecourt.

And the people in the council were already sitting,

surrounded by soldiers.

She said to me: "Go down into that basement,

there's no way outside."

I pulled the door and it was locked.

I got into the basement...

Then I heard the footsteps of the soldiers above the basement.

Then they started coming down to the basement.

I got between the pillar and the wall,

and I was sweating buckets.

My heart was like...

I thought the wall would smash.

So, before going out

I grabbed a cigarette first

and blew out some smoke to get some courage

because, sadly, I lost my strength.

I was walking along and straightened my gabardine.

I grabbed a newspaper there, put it under my arm

and started walking. As I passed the soldiers they said:

"You, identify yourself!"

"I don't have any ID with me."

"So, what are you doing here?" "I'm a worker

and I was showing them a movie", I said to them.

They emptied the auditorium,

I disconnected some things and then left.

"Alright, get going."

A taxi went by and the taxi driver said to me: "Get in, I know you."

I got into the taxi

and went back up here along Insurgentes.

"I told him I was there, I'd spoken", etc., etc.

"Get out", the soldier says to me.

I got out of the taxi

and the soldier got me out to the fence nearby.

"Well, get going and good luck"

I walked 50 metres at top speed.

"To the people and students of Mexico.

The taking of University City by the Army

was a grave political error of the Government who ordered it.

The counterproductive nature of this measure

has immediately backfired on the authorities,

who've shown themselves unable to understand the historical significance

of our movement, that is, in and of itself, irrepressible.

This outrage against university autonomy,

the student body as a whole and the people of Mexico

represents a real subversion of constitutional order

that has immediately garnered and energetic and democratic response.

The student had again exercised the full right

to take over the street.

Far from being intimidated by the Army's illegal presence

in their education centers

and by the brutal repression of which they were victims,

they have redoubled their combativeness

to higher forms of struggle

and political awareness.

The National Strike Council is not constituted

by isolated individuals,

as it is wished to be understood by the blindness of the bourgeoisie

and their choir masters,

but by the representatives of the express and direct mandate

of the student bases,

whose initiative is the movement's driving force.

Therefore, in the case of the repression stamps out

the current National Strike Council,

from the bases themselves the best direction always emerges

in accordance with the circumstances presented

for the obtaining of all the demands expressed

in our petition.

Faced with an ever more reactionary and discredited public power,

a struggle rises that is more and more popular

and resolute.

National Strike Council."

GOING BACK TO CLASS WITHOUT THE SOLVING OF THE PETITION

MEANS BETRAYING OUR DEAD COMRADES!

WE WILL NOT GIVE IN, EVEN IF YOU KILL US.

OCTOBER

I asked how things were going, if the police were there,

if an attack was expected. They told me no,

It seemed the demonstration was going to be peaceful.

In fact, on the terrace of School 7,

where the week before, another demonstration,

the one with the torches,

had seen constant riot cops

with machine guns at the ready,

there was no one, not even riot cops.

Meanwhile, the square was filling up incredibly.

In the period of ten minutes

I think 3 or 4,000 people arrived,

because at one point there were at least 6,000 people there.

As the square was filling up, Ángel arrived,

another of the heads of the General Strike Committee.

He looked troubled, and said:

"You know what? I'm late because almost the whole square,

from 3 or 4 kilometers around,

is surrounded by armored cars, trucks loaded with soldiers

with machine guns who aren't letting anyone through.

I had to go the long way around and that's why I'm late."

Then Sócrates went to the microphone

on this square that was still filling up and said:

"Comrades, we've changed our minds.

We wanted to hold the demonstration in front of the school,

but we're not because the Army is waiting for us with armored cars,

with bazookas.

Going there will be useless provocation.

That's why I ask you when our meeting is over

to disperse and go home."

Sócrates had barely spoken

when a helicopter began to fly over the square,

a green Army helicopter,

in concentric circles, getting lower and lower,

lower and lower.

It worried me and I said to Manuel:

"What's all this?" He told me not to worry.

The guys weren't worked up.

They were relaxed, still.

As we argued about the presence of the helicopter,

it fired two green flares.

After being in Vietnam

I know very well that when a helicopter

or airplane fires a flare

it's because it wants to signal the place to attack.

So I was worried and said to the guys:

"Look, they're firing flares.

And if they are, it means they intend to shoot."

But they didn't take me seriously

and since they knew that I'd been in Vietnam, they said:

"You see things like in Vietnam."

I hadn't finished speaking when there was a huge noise,

a thundering noise of trucks and tanks.

And the square was literally surrounded on four sides

because the building we were in,

the third floor with the students, looked onto the square.

Anywhere we looked

we saw trucks and tanks arrive.

At the end, facing the building,

there's a kind of flyover and they set up there.

The trucks opened up and soldiers came out already shooting,

but not in the air, shooting down.

They didn't aim their rifles up, they aimed them down.

For two or three minutes we were stunned,

appalled by all this.

It was like a nightmare, it was beyond absurd,

because nothing had happened that could justify

the arrival of these troops.

They were saying they wanted to start the hunger strike on Monday.

The guys started to run away.

Sócrates, who still hadn't realized

that they were really firing into the crowd,

went to the microphone and said:

"Comrades, stay calm!

This is a provocation, a provocation!"

But they kept running away, wanting to get away,

and at some point I started to see them fall, you know?

Like when you go past and the hares run,

like hares do,

they do a kind of cartwheel, then they stay still.

Ángel had already gone down to the first floor.

When he got there,

he ran into dozens and dozens of plain-clothes police

who shouted at them:

"Fucking bastard! Son of a bitch! Bitch!

Where are you going, you fuck?"

Then Ángel and the others said: "Down, down!"

Then they said: "Up, up!".

And they sent them upstairs.

I turned my back on the massacre that had started in the square

and saw them rain down, like in the movies,

40 or 50 men first, 60 men later.

Middle-aged men, in plain clothes.

They all wore white shirts,

a white glove,

or rather, a glove in a white handkerchief,

gun in their right hand, pointing at us.

They came in shooting.

They started shooting their guns everywhere,

not at people, at the floor. Everywhere,

containing the people.

Sócrates had disappeared, I didn't see Sócrates again.

Ángel had already disappeared too.

We were surrounded by police.

One guard grabbed me by ther hair, because my hair's long,

and kept the hair,

like in those cartoons of cavemen

who grab their women by the hair, you know?

He grabbed my hair,

some was left in his hand,

and started beating me and throwing me against the wall.

Naturally, I was stunned for a few moments.

Look, when I say it was worse than in Vietnam,

I mean that when you're in a battle in Vietnam,

you try to save yourself, to take cover.

You hide in a hole or get in a bunker,

shelter behind whatever,

but if a policeman pistol-whips you

and stops you,

then you can't find any refuge,

you couldn't get in any hole,

there was no bunker to shelter in,

and every time you tried to get

an inch away from that damned wall

which was the main target, what put us up against,

and you tried to use

the wall as some kind of protection,

the police, crouching on the floor, shot above you.

Do you understand?

With shots going in all directions, I said to them:

"Please, please,

let me come here! Let me come here!"

And I repeated it in English:

"Please, please, let me come here!

Please, please, here is too dangerous!

Too bad! Please!"

But they responded by aiming at me and firing against the wall.

Come, please, come for us!

Come for us, please! Come!

I put my hand to my back and noticed a huge swelling,

from the metal I had inside. But it wasn't bleeding.

I put my hand on my leg and there I did notice bleeding.

I started shouting in English:

"I'm wounded, I'm wounded! Please help me, I'm wounded!"

But no one took any notice of me.

Then I shouted in Spanish: "Wounded! I'm wounded!"

Help me, please, I'm wounded! I'm dying! Please! Wounded!

I began to cry and scream, to insult them, shouting:

"Murderers! Murderers!".

But my cries got lost in the crowd

because in the square the massacre was going on

and my shouts and those of others

were drowned out by machine gun bursts.

Sons of bitches!

As they dragged me down the stairs, they hit me on my chin,

everywhere, blow after blow.

I saw a hairy hand with square nails

and a green sleeve who took off my watch.

I saw him taking off my watch very well

but since I was semi-conscious

and I felt so bad,

I didn't care about him taking off my watch.

They dragged me down to the first floor by my hair

and threw me down on the floor

in a room that was flooded

because machine gun fire had broken the water pipes.

I kept asking for an ambulance.

There were ambulances there, but none were moving.

I then started shouting: "Journalist! Italian!"

Stop!

Meanwhile, Mexico City was preparing for the opening of the Olympic Games

in apparent happiness.

The police keep doing their job,

journalists describe the arrival of the Olympic flame.

Talk is of supremacy, stopwatches, athletes, dives,

jumps, medals.

Many cocktail parties are held to celebrate the representations,

to toast to sport, to the athletes.

The dead are so inconvenient,

People tire of them quickly, you know?

So that they might not be forgotten,

these glorious Olympics,

the Government had 400 comrades killed.

Oh, Tlatelolco Square,

how your bullets pain me,

400 hopes

treacherously snatched away.

What will the riot cops do

when they get home?

They will love their wives

with bloodied hands.

For these stains do not come out...

not with soap

or with water.

I ask you, riot cop,

what you think you'll use to wash them.

The Virgin of Guadalupe...

knows the killers,

they no longer light candles

for they are with the fallen.

You will not silence your conscience

with prayers or with wine.

The students walk

with truth in their gaze,

nothing can stop them,

neither flowers nor bullets.

To their dead they take

action, no more words.

Despite being so far away,

here is heard

the firing of

those brave soldiers

who shot them in the back.

So that it might not be forgotten,

this land of Mexico,

the Government had...

400...

comrades killed.