The Chronicle Of The Events of the Three Cultures Square

By Archivo General de la Nación - México

Luis González de Alba was one of the main leaders of the 1968 student movement and was an elected representative of the National Strike Council on behalf of the philosophy and literature faculties of UNAM University.

On October 2, 1968, in the Three Cultures Square, González de Alba was captured on the third floor of the Chihuahua housing complex in Tlatelolco. It is officially known that the Operation Galena had been put into motion, with the objective of stopping the leaders of the student council from escaping. This operation was led by the army and the Olimpia battalion, whose marker was a white glove.

Hundreds of other young people, mostly students and professors who'd formed part of the movement, were imprisoned in the Lecumberri Preventive Prison. Following the Tlatelolco events, González de Alba was charged with social dissolution and sentenced to 16 years in prison, of which he only served two. From 1970 onward, the President at the time, Luis Echeverría Álvarez, released several political prisoners, as part of his "democratic openness."

While imprisoned, González de Alba took upon the task of reconstructing in his own words, the events that took place from July to October 1968. He also wrote down the experiences of his fellow companions and cellmates. This would later on become the first body of work that detailed the 68 student movement, "The Days and Years" would be published in February 1971.

These sheets represent a draft of what González de Alba's experiences, and would later on be integrated into the final part of his memoir, "The Days and The Years."

Relato de los acontecimientos en la Plaza de las Tres Culturas el 2 de octubre de 1968. (1968) by Luis Gonzáles de AlvaArchivo General de la Nación - México

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Luis González de Alba
1968
México
AGN, Archivos particulares, Luis González de Alba, caja 1, exp.24

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