( Spanish) — The former president of Mexico Luis Echeverría Álvarez died this Friday in the city of Cuernavaca and his body was transferred this Saturday to Mexico City.
The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, shared this Saturday on his Twitter account Twitter. his expression of sorrow for the death, he said that, on behalf of the Government, he sent respectful condolences to family and friends.
On behalf of the Government of Mexico, I send respectful condolences to the family and friends of Luis Echeverría Álvarez, president of Mexico during the six-year term from 1970 to 1976.
– Andrés Manuel (@lopezobrador_) July 9, 2022
Echeverría turned 100 years old on January 17, 2022 and as a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) he became president of Mexico in 1970 where he governed until 1976.
Echeverría escaped attempts by Mexican prosecutors to charge him with genocide for his role in two infamous massacres of student protesters in 1968 and 1971 that helped define an era of heavy-handed state repression.
Echeverria denied any wrongdoing and said his conscience was clear. He refused to testify about crimes that have not been fully clarified to this day.
A loyal son of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which ruled Mexico for 71 years until its ouster in the 2000 elections, Echeverría believed in the preservation of the all-encompassing party system that reached into all spheres of public life.
His 1970-1976 presidency was marred from the start by accusations that he ordered troops to open fire on thousands of students peacefully demonstrating in the Tlatelolco area of Mexico City on October 2, 1968 while serving as minister. inland.
At the time, the government said only 30 people had been killed and injured in the massacre, carried out days before the opening of the Olympics in Mexico City. Some witnesses said that many more bodies were removed from the scene.
Hundreds of students were beaten and jailed after the protest, which occurred as student uprisings broke out around the world. A definitive death toll has never been given.
With information from Reuters and Juan Paz
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