El Halconazo

Background

In the early years of his presidency, Luis Echeverría Álvarez announced intentions to reform Mexican democracy, allowing exiled student leaders from the 1968 movement to return and releasing political prisoners. In 1971, a conflict at the University of Nuevo León over university autonomy and government control led students at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) to call for a solidarity rally on June 10, 1971. Although the governor of Nuevo León resigned on May 30 and a new law resolving the university conflict took effect by June 5, students proceeded with plans to march. In the days before the demonstration, police vehicles were observed making regular runs near the Casco de Santo Tomás, one of the IPN's main campuses.

The Massacre

The march began at the Casco de Santo Tomás and was intended to proceed toward the Zócalo. Police and riot police blocked the route near Maestros Avenue. A paramilitary shock group known as "los Halcones," reportedly trained by the Federal Security Directorate and the CIA, arrived in grey trucks and vans and attacked the students, first with sticks and then with high-caliber rifles, after riot police opened their blockade to let them through. Police did not intervene, having been ordered not to. The attack, which lasted several minutes, was supported logistically by additional vehicles, including civilian cars, police vehicles, and an ambulance from Cruz Verde. Injured demonstrators taken to Rubén Leñero General Hospital were reportedly pursued and killed there by Halcones, including some still in operating rooms. Nearly 120 protesters were killed, among them a 14-year-old boy.

Aftermath

That night, army units guarded the National Palace, and President Echeverría announced an investigation and promised to punish those responsible. Mexico City governor Alfonso Martínez Domínguez and attorney general Julio Sánchez Vargas initially denied the existence of the Halcones, while police chief Manuel Díaz Escobar blamed extremist student groups. A week later, Escobar acknowledged the Halcones' existence but denied their involvement in the killings. Numerous journalists and photographers who were beaten or arrested by the Halcones helped contradict the official government account. Martínez Domínguez resigned on June 15, reportedly believing the protesters had been provoked to give the government a pretext to remove him from office; he was subsequently associated with the nickname "Halconzo" in reference to the massacre.

Los Halcones

The Halcones were a paramilitary group formed in the late 1960s, led by Colonel Manuel Díaz Escobar, then deputy director of General Services for the Federal District Department.

Legacy

The massacre discouraged some student activism but radicalized others, some of whom later formed urban guerrilla organizations. The event has since been referenced in Mexican cultural works, including the film El Bulto, the 2018 film Roma, and the 2021 novel Velvet Was the Night.