Long-Hidden Photos Detail '68 Army Shootings of Students

By Kevin Sullivan
Washington Post Foreign Service

MEXICO CITY, Feb. 13 -- A leading newspaper here has published horrific photos, kept hidden for more than 33 years, that provide the most graphic
documentation ever of one of the most painful episodes in modern Mexican history.

More than a dozen black-and-white photos, published in El Universal beginning on Monday, show the corpses of young people who were shot, sliced with bayonets
and mangled nearly beyond recognition on Oct. 2, 1968, in a clash between students and soldiers long known here as the Tlatelolco massacre.

"These are the most horrible photos ever published in Mexico," said Homero Aridjis, a noted poet and activist. He said the photos are proof that former presidents
and other government officials lied for decades about the events at Tlatelolco square, which energized a generation of young activists and influenced the course of
Mexican politics.

Many believe the Tlatelolco massacre helped hasten the end of decades of authoritarian rule in Mexico. Popular support for the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or
PRI, steadily declined after the incident. Its 71-year grip on power ended with the election of President Vicente Fox in 2000.

The killings, by soldiers sent to avoid embarrassing disruptions on the eve of the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, became a rallying point for students,
academics and other pro-democracy activists. The massacre, and the government's refusal to acknowledge it, sparked the formation of several anti-government
guerrilla groups that dog the government to this day.

Throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s, the Mexican government engaged in a "dirty war" against anti-government activists, many of whom traced their anger
directly to Tlatelolco. Government officials recently acknowledged for the first time that at least 275 of the 532 people missing and presumed killed in that era were
last seen in the custody of Mexican soldiers or police.

Fox last month appointed a special prosecutor to investigate those incidents.

Roberto Rock, editor of El Universal, said in an interview that the photos were being published now because of the "new political environment" in Mexico. He said
the photos remained in a safe for decades because editors feared they were too graphic and could upset family members of the dead.

                              Mexican army troops escort arrested demonstrators in Mexico City, October 3, 1968, after a night of violence between the
army and student protestors during the 'Massacre of Tlatelolco.'

Rock said he and other editors in the past never believed that publication of the photos would be enough to force the government to admit the truth about Tlatelolco.
But he said the photos might be more useful now that Fox has begun looking into violent excesses by previous governments. He said the special prosecutor has
asked to review the photos and that they would be turned over.

Rock also noted that the Mexican Supreme Court recently ordered the federal attorney general's office to investigate the Tlatelolco incident. He said that publication
of the photos might encourage others with photographs or information to come forward.

Many Mexicans are skeptical of Fox's commitment to investigating the past and doubt that the special prosecutor will be able to find sufficient evidence to prosecute
those who abducted and killed activists. There is also little hope here that there will ever be a full accounting of the roles of the presidents who were in office during
the Tlatelolco massacre and the "dirty war" years, including Gustavo Diaz Ordaz (1964-70), Luis Echeverria (1970-76) and Jose Lopez Portillo (1976-82).

PRI governments have maintained that fewer than 30 people died at Tlatelolco, while most independent estimates put the death toll at between 200 and 300. The
truth has been difficult to document because the government has always refused to release records that would provide a full accounting, and security forces at the
time confiscated most news photos taken that day.

The photos being published in El Universal this week were taken by Manuel Rojas, a staff photographer who died several years ago. In stories accompanying the
pictures, the newspaper reported that Rojas managed to hide these photos from government security agents who confiscated his other photos and negatives.

                                               © 2002