Question

In Mexico's Tlatelolco massacre, why were the demonstrators protesting?

Answer 1

A mixture of socio-economical reasons.

Explanation:

Several factors:

• Labor unions had been heavily suppressed by the government.
• Some officials from the previous govt. had tried to improve several of the public services in Mexico, something the new government saw as a way to give too much power to the people, and going on to arrest those officials on the grounds of attempting "social dissolution".
• The govt. was trying to get as much control as possible over the market.
• As with most regimes we now look at in pity/fear, the government also tried to heavily influence education or, more appropiately, tried to destroy it. This could be seen in one of the precursors to the massacre itself, where the 'granaderos' (riot police) was sent into a school and started attacking and arresting students on a very weak ground, this being to 'stop the fights between rival student gangs'. Some of the 'granaderos' later said that they were paid for every student sent to jail.