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Human Rights Violations in Mexico

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Human Rights Violations in Mexico
The two-decade conflict in 19th century in Mexico is considered a dirty war due to the human rights violations that occurred between the army and the citizens. Its impact still affects a number of people, especially those who survived from clandestine camps, including me.

The Mexican Dirty War started in early October of 1968, just days before our first Olympic Games. It began with a massacre took place in the Tlatelolco section of Mexican City and then spread throughout the whole country. During that time, Gustavo Diaz Ordaz, Luis Echeverria and Jose Lopez Portillo were the presidents of Mexico, who should take responsibility for the abuse of power of the army. They intentionally overlooked the fact that the army tortured the citizens to suppress the rebels. Known as guerrilla fighters, a group of people rose in order to fight against the army and to protect the Mexicans. I was a guerrilla fighter and I am proud that I revolted against violations although I had to separate from my family and my friends and live secretly. The picture above shows several other female prisoners and me at Santa Martha Acatitla prison in the 1970s. Personally, I am glad that there were many like-minded women who were not afraid of the army and were willing to devote them into the pursuit of equality and democracy.

Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI controlled the Mexican government in the 1960s. When a rising student movement occurred before the opening of Olympic Games because of Diaz Ordaz’s policy of favoring upper ruling class, PRI decided to open fire to peaceful protests because the country couldn’t afford to appear unstable or divided in front of other countries. As a result, hundreds of Mexicans were killed. However, the massacre didn’t stop the Mexicans who believed that a democratic country was close. I joined a couple of rebellions before I was captured and sent into a clandestine camp. Illegal detentions, torture and increasing disappearance occurred in those

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