Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has offered an official apology Wednesday for the massacre of students by the army in 1968, in one of her first acts after taking office.
“October 2nd will not be forgotten!” Sheinbaum, a former student activist who calls herself the “daughter of ’68,” declared on the anniversary of the massacre.
According to official figures, 30 people died when security forces opened fire at students holding a peaceful rally in the Tlatelolco district of Mexico City days before the country hosted the Olympic Games.
Relatives and activists say that around 400 people died.
Giving her first news conference after being sworn in Tuesday as Mexico’s first woman president, Sheinbaum said that a decree would be issued describing the killings as a crime against humanity.
Never again would the security forces be used “to attack or repress the people of Mexico,” she promised, hours before a planned protest in Mexico City to demand justice for the victims of the massacre.
