El Halconazo

*El Halconazo*
El Halconazo
Part of Dirty War
	Illustration of a member of the paramilitary group Los Halcones beating a demonstrator fallen on the ground, in the repression of June 10, 1971.
Location	Casco de Santo Tomás, Mexico City, Mexico
Coordinates	19°26′40″N 99°10′03″W / 19.44444°N 99.16750°W
Date	10 June 1971; 52 years ago
Attack type	Massacre
Deaths	120
Perpetrators	Los Halcones

Normal station of the Mexico City Metro

was the scene of The Halconazo, the name given to the Corpus Thursday Massacre in 1971 in Mexico City.

The Corpus Christi Massacre or El Halconazo (

Corpus Christi festival.^{[citation needed]} Nearly 120 protesters were killed, among them a 14-year-old boy.^[1]

Background

From his earliest days in office, President

National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) immediately responded and the students called for a massive rally in support of Nuevo León on June 10, 1971.^[1]

On May 30 the governor of

IPN's main campuses).^[1]

June 10

The march started at the Casco de Santo Tomás, and proceeded through Carpio and Maestros Avenues so the protesters could take the Mexico-Tacuba Causeway, and eventually end up at

tankettes

parked along Melchor Ocampo Avenue, near the military school, and riot police trucks in a large police contingent at the intersection of the Melchor Ocampo and San Cosme avenues. A shock group trained by the

CIA,^[1]

known as "los Halcones", who came in grey trucks, vans, and riot trucks, attacked students from streets near Maestros Avenue after the riot police opened their blockade. The shock group first attacked with bamboo and kendo sticks so the students easily repelled them. Los Halcones then attacked the students again, with high-caliber rifles, while students tried, unsuccessfully, to hide. The police did not intervene because they had been ordered not to. The shooting lasted for several minutes, during which some cars gave logistical support to the paramilitary group. The support included extra weapons and makeshift transports, such as civilian cars, vans, police vehicles and an ambulance from the Cruz Verde (an organization similar to the

Red Cross). The injured were taken to the general hospital Rubén Leñero, but to no avail, as the Halcones reached the hospital and killed them, while many were still in the operating room, and took the opportunity to scare the inmates. Nearly 120 protesters were killed, among them a fourteen-year-old boy.^[1]

That night army elements guarded the

Alfonso Martínez Domínguez, then-Mexico City governor, and Julio Sánchez Vargas [es

], attorney general, denied that there were Halcones and police chief Escobar blamed the students for creating extremist groups within their movement. A week passed before Escobar accepted that there were Halcones, but denied their involvement in the massacre. The high number of journalists and photographers hit and arrested by Halcones managed to contradict the government's official version. Martínez Domínguez tendered his resignation on June 15 to Echeverría because he was convinced that the protesters had been provoked, among other things, so the government had an excuse to get rid of him. Despite this, Martínez Domínguez was known for many years as "Halconzo", in reference to the Corpus Thursday Massacre.

The number of dead in the demonstration discouraged many students, but also led others to be radicalized, some of whom later formed urban guerrilla organizations. Students in 1971 especially demanded the democratization of education, control of the university budget by students and teachers, and that it represent 12% of the

GDP. They also demanded political freedom wherein workers, peasants, students, and intellectuals could enjoy real democratic freedoms and control the social system; quality education for everyone, especially farmers and workers; greater respect for cultural diversity; strict democratic transparency

; and support for the political union of the workers.

Los Halcones

The Halcones were a Mexican paramilitary group created in the late 1960s and led by Colonel Manuel Díaz Escobar, then deputy director of General Services of the Federal District Department.^[2]

Legal case

In 2005, there was discussion in

Luis Echeverría Álvarez pleaded guilty and was put on house arrest. In 2009 he was exonerated on the grounds that there was not sufficient evidence against him to support the charge of genocide.^[3]

In fiction

Mexican filmmaker Gabriel Retes produced, directed, and acted in a film titled El Bulto (The lump), where he portrays Lauro, a photojournalist, who was attacked by a Los Halcones member and left in a coma.[4]

The massacre is featured in the 2018 film Roma.^[5]

The massacre is depicted in the first chapter of the 2021 novel Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. One of the main characters, Elvis, is a member of Los Halcones.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Canal 6 de Julio, Halcones: State Terrorism
^ Castillo García, Gustavo (9 June 2008). "El halconazo, historia de represión, cinismo y mentiras se mantiene impune". La Jornada. Retrieved 10 June 2010.
^ Gutierrez, Norma (2009-04-09). "Mexico: Former President Cleared of Responsibility for 1968 Student Massacre | Global Legal Monitor". www.loc.gov. Retrieved 2019-06-12.
^ "El bulto (1992)". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2016-10-30.
^ Torrealba, Isabel (2018-11-21). "The Surprising Piece of Mexican (and American) History at the Center of Roma". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2019-02-19.

19°26′40″N 99°10′03″W / 19.44444°N 99.16750°W / 19.44444; -99.16750

[Halcones-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Canal 6 de Julio, Halcones: State Terrorism

[:0-2] Castillo García, Gustavo (9 June 2008). "El halconazo, historia de represión, cinismo y mentiras se mantiene impune". La Jornada. Retrieved 10 June 2010.

[3] Gutierrez, Norma (2009-04-09). "Mexico: Former President Cleared of Responsibility for 1968 Student Massacre | Global Legal Monitor". www.loc.gov. Retrieved 2019-06-12.

[4] "El bulto (1992)". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2016-10-30.

[5] Torrealba, Isabel (2018-11-21). "The Surprising Piece of Mexican (and American) History at the Center of Roma". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2019-02-19.

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