The former Mexican president Luis Echeverría (1970-1976) birthday this Monday 100 years with a dark legacy marked by state violence, repression and forced disappearances, as well as comparisons with the populism of the current president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Born on 17 of January of 1922 in Mexico City, Echeverría is known for his role in the so-called “dirty war” or “state terrorism”, when his government supported the Revolution of Cuba, Salvador Allende in Chile and Sandinismo in Nicaragua, but inside he persecuted left-wing and student movements.
“There are many contemporary problems that began in Echeverría’s six-year term, but Without a doubt, the most lasting legacy is the violence of the State”, the historian Adela Cedillo tells Efe, professor at the University of Houston.
Alleged genocide
Echeverría, of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), faced trials for genocide for his role in the massacre of October 2, 1968, when he was Secretary of the Interior of President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz (1964-1970) during the massacre in Tlatelolco of more of 300 students, according to figures from civil organizations , who were protesting against the Government.
Already as president, he is held responsible for the “halconazo” or the Corpus Thursday massacre of 01 June 1971, when paramilitaries organized by the Government, called “halcones”, attacked students who were they demonstrated and left dead.
“Ha sa I had enough documentation to clarify that it was something programmed and planned by the State, from the presidency”, says Cedillo.
Living legacy and weak memory
Despite the time, claims for episodes of violence by Echeverría remain alive, who appeared in public for the last time in April 2021 to receive your COVID-vaccine 19.
“The commitment above all is to non-repetition, to never again repress those who protest those who fight for transformations”, promised President López Obrador on last June by offering an apology from the State for the “halconazo”.
The current government created a Truth Commission last October to clarify the “dirty war” .
But the historian Cedillo considers that “it is a belated commission” and “condemned to irrelevance” by the Government itself, which should focus resources on find the disappeared.
He also points out that Echeverría officials hold government positions, such as the current Attorney General of the republic, Alejandro Gertz Manero, accused of leading Operation Condor during that six-year term, which although it officially sought to fight drug trafficking, was used to persecute activists and social movements with the support of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
“It is something that must be remembered, that finally this Mexico that we live in so violent, so broken, of State agents allied to organized crime, in collusion, receiving bribes, is one of the great legacies of that time”, exhorts Cedillo.
López Obrador: neoecheverrista?
President López Obrador has drawn comparisons with Echeverría, who “was the incipient initiator of populism in Mexico,” says Ulises Corona, professor of politics at the University National Autonomous Authority of Mexico (UNAM).
“Yes, it could be compared, it has many similarities. Populism is still in force as a form of government. The ‘mediocracy’, speaking of the media, continues to be a reference. It is a valid comparison that serves to explain social control”, he explains in an interview.
The academic warns that López Obrador shares a nationalist discourse with the PRIa, the use of the Armed Forces, a centralized power, a rebellious rhetoric and his style of governing.
But above all, economic policies such as “maintaining a closed economy” and “economic concentration”.
“At that time it was defending the Mexican miracle, closing the borders, nationalizations to All coast. And at this moment it is similar, oiling the economy, betting on the growth and abundance of oil, betting again on fossil fuels and, above all, doing all those versions for the people”, he explains.
During the Echeverría government, an “electoral use of social programs” began and populism grew “as the population’s needs advanced and to maintain political, economic and social control”, according to the academic.
Therefore, although half a century has passed since Echeverría’s presidency, “it was a legacy very important because to this day we continue to live it”, concludes Corona.
Pedro Pablo Cortés / Agencia Efe
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