Breathe
By Sofía Guadarrama Collado
In August 1966, the Continental Organization of Latin American Students was founded in Havana, with the objective of "promoting the solidarity of the students of the continent in the struggle against imperialism, as well as to consolidate the ties of union with the peasants and workers".
In 1966 the rector of the UNAM, Ignacio Chávez, was forced to resign due to the demonstrations against the university reforms that eliminated the automatic pass and implemented the selection exam for all applicants regardless of whether or not they were graduates of the university's baccalaureate.
Shortly after, the creation of the University Student Council was announced... And its closeness to the Mexican Communist Party.
After the resignation of Ignacio Chávez,Javier Barros Sierra, who during the six-year term of Adolfo López Mateos had been Secretary of Public Works and had had several disagreements with the then Secretary of the Interior, Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, was appointed Rector of UNAM.
According to the official story, Barros Sierra solved all the students' demands that had provoked Chávez's resignation. That is to say that there was no longer any reason to demonstrate in the streets.
If universal history has shown anything, it is that great tragedies do not happen by themselves, much less by chance. There is always someone pulling the strings. And the students were just their puppets.
On July 22, 1968, students from Vocacional 2 of the Instituto Politécnico Nacional and Preparatoria 1 of the UNAM started a street fight after a soccer match. The IPN authorities requested the support of the police, which resulted in a severe act of repression against the young people.
Tension increased as the days went by. At the request of the regent of the Federal District, Alfonso Corona del Rosal, on July 29, light tanks, jeeps with bazookas and mortars arrived in the capital.
The Army stationed itself in front of Preparatoria 1 (currently the San Ildefonso Museum), under the command of General José Hernández Toledo, and fired a bazooka shot at the door. Grenadiers and soldiers apprehended the students.
José Barros Sierra and Agustín Yáñez, head of Public Education, agreed to temporarily close the high schools and vocational schools.
While it is true that in 1968 student unrest had become a phenomenon from West Germany, Europe, the United States and Latin America, it was not enough to reach the level of the demonstrations in Mexico.
Any type of demonstration requires recruitment of participants, organization and some method of financing.
If an impartial comparison is made with the present, many similarities can be found with the demonstrations that demanded the return of the 43 students of Ayotzinapa during the six-year term of EPN. As far-fetched as it may seem, and as hard as it may be to admit, those mobilizations were financed and supported by the left. Along with them marched the CNTE unions, the SNTE, the now defunct Luz y Fuerza and many more.
It is worth remembering that the parents of the 43 traveled to the United States and Europe to demonstrate before international organizations. It is reasonable and objective to question where they got money just to live if they spent most of their time demonstrating. Moreover, why did the demonstrations of the 43 disappear as soon as AMLO won the elections? Now only the families and a few protesters remain.
It is easy to imagine twenty indignant students who, with the power of persuasion alone, managed to attract one hundred thousand people (to give a figure). But the reality is different. It is necessary to promote "the movement", to convince people to abandon their daily activities to march in the streets with banners.
In the last days of December 2018 and on January 2, 2019, one hundred people demonstrated outside the National Palace for unjustified dismissals at SAT. One hundred! Only one hundred people, out of more than 2500 dismissed. Where were the other 2400? Lack of interest? Lack of call? Lack of funding or support from any political party?
We can ask the same question about the victims of the 2017 earthquake at the Rebsamen School in Tlalpan. Why did the parents' demonstrations demanding justice not prosper? Lack of convocation? Lack of funding or support from any political party?Would it be because making noise was not going to affect Enrique Peña Nieto but the delegate of Tlalpan, future candidate for Mexico City's head of government, and now president-elect Claudia Sheinbaum?
But... If the demonstration benefits, in this case, the interests of MORENA or those of AMLO, the story is very different.
Today, social media is a great communication tool. But in September 1968 the only way to reach people was through newspaper spreads, flyers, banners, wall ads and volunteers. Lots and lots of volunteers. Hundreds. And all that cost thousands of pesos. (Today, a spread in El Universal costs over 200,000 pesos) Somebody had to finance all that.
Who would be interested in financing and promoting the '68 movement? History left us with several clues.
Javier Barros Sierra had been Secretary of Public Works during the six-year term of Adolfo López Mateos and adversary of Gustavo Díaz Ordaz in the presidential pre-candidacy. When Ignacio Chávez resigned in 1966 as Rector of UNAM, Díaz Ordaz accepted the appointment of Barros Sierra to smooth out the differences that had remained in 1963, when López Mateos appointed Díaz Ordaz and not Barros Sierra.
The UNAM rector's office has never been one hundred percent autonomous. For many years it was an extension of the PRI. A clear example is the closeness between former rector José Narro and Enrique Peña, who gave the Ministry of Health to Dr. Narro as soon as he finished his term as head of UNAM. State universities have the same convening power as unions and have demonstrated it many times. They can mobilize a whole city or the entire country. It is no coincidence that the porros continue to exist after so many years. Nor is it normal that the Justo Sierra Auditorium, inside CU, has been hijacked since 1999 by "activist groups". Why don't they get them out?
After the bazooka at High School 1, the rector had two options: calm the students or support them, which implied declaring war on the Presidency of the Republic. And he did it. He fueled the conflict with one objective: to remove Luis Echeverría from the presidential candidacy and launch the pre-candidate of the university students: Emilio Martínez Manautou, Secretary of the Presidency. Luis Echeverría was not going to stay with his arms crossed.
To be continued...
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
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