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Massacre of Tlatelolco, Mexico Posters

 Collection
Identifier: PICT-2022-007

Content Description

Portfolio of protest posters from the Massacre of Tlatelolco, which unfolded in Mexico City's Plaza de las Tres Culturas in 1968. Primarily serigraphs, the protest iconography called attention to the violent governmental repression of social mobilization under the regime of Gustavo Díaz Ordaz. Seen within the visual pieces are symbols from the Olympic Games and military suppression during the Cold War, the messaging calling attention to international complicity of the Pax Priista.

Dates

  • 1968

Biographical / Historical

As the posters illustrate, the protests organized by the Consejo Nacional de Huelga ("National Strike Council") to draw the 1968 Mexico Olymic Games' international attention to national issues under the Pax Priista. The Mexican PRI government, under President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, violently repressed the protests as subversive acts that threatened national security, and to stifle the movement General Gustavo Díaz Ordaz ordered Operation Galeana to be unfolded by security groups, which resulted in the Massacre of Tlatelolco. Located in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas, the Olimpia Battalion began the assault on protesters, the ensuing confusion and violence- students were slaughtered in public protest, families' in nearby apartments murdered for attempting to harbor the fleeing protesters, approximately 3,000 captives being tortured in the Plaza's neaby church- still leaving unresolved questions. Many protesters were disappeared or taken to jail, many were killed and inhumanely disposed, yet the organizers were taken to Military Camps. The serigraphs in the collection were used to engage in the urban public sphere, and because of governmental suppression, the protesters creating the public iconography had to act clandestinely. Labelled communists and subversives in the Cold War, the artists acted under anonymity seeking protection within the underground collectivity.

Extent

6 items (1 folder) : 2 small posters; 3 medium posters; 1 large poster.

Language of Materials

Spanish; Castilian

Abstract

Collection of protest posters from the Massacre of Tlatelolco in Mexico City, 1968.

Related Materials

Asamblea de Artistas Revolucionarios de Oaxaca Pictorial Collection (PICT 2010-005) Grabados del Taller de Gráfica Popular: 23 grabados y litografías de cada uno de los componentes de TGP Folio (PICT-999-020) Latin American Ephemera Pictorial Collection (PICT 2012-002) Chilean Ephemera Collection (PICT 2012-011) Sam L. Slick Collection of Latin American and Iberian Posters (PICT 000-674)
Title
Finding Aid of the Massacre of Tlatelolco Mexico Posters, 1968
Status
In Progress
Author
Gisselle Lydia Salgado
Date
©2024
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Spanish

Repository Details

Part of the UNM Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections Repository

Contact:
University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-6451