Mexican Political Prisoners

To the Editors:

October 2, 1970, marks the second anniversary of the massacre at Tlatelolco, Mexico. During the 1968 Mexican Student Movement (immediately preceding the Olympic Games), police and soldiers descended upon a peaceful mass meeting in the Plaza of Three Cultures and shot and bayonetted to death an estimated 500 students, teachers, workers, and bystanders. Bodies were carried off unidentified, many of the wounded were killed rather than taken to a hospital, and doctors in hospitals helplessly watched many bayonetted victims bleed to death while the authorities refused to admit blood donations from friends.

During the entire 1968 Student Movement the police consistently terrorized real and suspected leaders of the movement. They were harassed, arrested, tortured, and even murdered. Over 150 political prisoners are still being held in Mexico City jails. Most of them have neither been tried nor sentenced. They have been imprisoned for over two years.

As a protest against this form of political repression, a boycott of Mexico and Mexican products has been called. There is also an international effort to organize acts of protest before the American embassies and consulates throughout the world. These demonstrations will appropriately take place on October 2, 1970.

The Mexican government is rather sensitive to world opinion. Political repression is not reported in Mexican newspapers, as almost all the dailies toe the government line. Even in the United States, coverage of the political prisoners in Mexico has been scant. October 2 is an attempt to embarrass the Mexican government and demand the release of its political critics.

Friends of the Political Prisoners
Mexico City