The 1968 Student Movement and the Occupation of Casco de Santo Tomás

The occupation of Casco de Santo Tomás in 1968 was a brutal military crackdown on student protests in Mexico. The government's use of excessive force resulted in numerous casualties and disappearances.

The 1968 Student Movement and the Occupation of Casco de Santo Tomás
Members of the Army in a prone position during the confrontation in Casco de Santo Tomás. Credit: AGN

1968. The year that brought us the first human heart transplant, the Apollo program gearing up to land on the moon, and of course, the Mexican government committing one of the most controversial acts of state violence in the country’s contemporary history. Yes, I’m talking about the student movement of 1968, and if you think it was just about rebellious kids raising a ruckus for the sake of being rebellious, think again.

In what is now remembered as a series of tragic and bloody events, the Mexican government effectively launched an all-out war on its own students. That climaxed, most infamously, on October 2, 1968, at the Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Tlatelolco. What happened? Hundreds were killed. No one knows the exact number because people were being disappeared as if they were keys you swear you left on the kitchen counter, only this time, they never reappeared. Casual strolls into history were followed by brutal crackdowns, and a suffocating authoritarian regime made sure those footsteps vanished.