Mexico City Comrades: CIA Misconceptions of the 1968 Student Movement in Mexico
Date
2011
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Haverford College. Department of History
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CPGC: Center Sponsored
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Thesis
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Award
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eng
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Haverford users only
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Abstract
My thesis examines the CIA Weekly Summary reports on the 1968 Student Movement in Mexico. In July of 1968 University students in Mexico began protesting against the ruling political party, the PRI, calling for greater government transparency, labor rights for the working-class, and education reform. With the Cold War at hand, the movement was written off by the CIA as communist-motivated. The movement began to grow just a few months before Mexico City was to host the 1968 Olympic Games. Mexico was the first developing nation to ever host the Olympics. Mexico hoped to maintain an image as modern and stable; however, the student protest challenged that notion. The Mexican government began exaggerating the role of communists within the Student Movement in an effort to appeal to U.S. anti-communist sentiment. I argue that the Mexican government intentionally misinformed the CIA about the motivations of the movement in order to delegitimize the students' efforts.