The ''Halcones'' (Falcons) were a Mexican
paramilitary group created at the end of the
1960s
File:1960s montage.png, Clockwise from top left: U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War; the Beatles led the British Invasion of the U.S. music market; a half-a-million people participate in the 1969 Woodstock Festival; Neil Armstrong and Buzz ...
and led by Colonel Manuel Díaz Escobar, then deputy director of General Services of the Federal District Department. The group was responsible for the
Corpus Christi Massacre
The Corpus Christi Massacre or ''El Halconazo'' (, "The Hawk Strike", so called because of the participation of a government-trained paramilitary group known as '' Los Halcones'') was a massacre of student demonstrators during the Mexican Dirty ...
-also known as Halconazo- on 10 June 1971, in which nearly 120 people were killed during a student demonstration in
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
.
Background
The ''Halcones'' was organized in September 1968 by the
Partido Revolucionario Institucional
The Institutional Revolutionary Party ( es, Partido Revolucionario Institucional, ; abbr. PRI) is a political party in Mexico that was founded in 1929 and held uninterrupted power in the country for 71 years, from 1929 to 2000, first as the Nati ...
(PRI), the then dominant Mexican political party.
It was considered a semi-official group, directly operating under government authority.
It was composed of youths, who formed combat squads trained for the violent suppression of student protesters.
They were trained in martial arts at the government's ''Escuela de Policia'' (Police Academy).
Around 1,500 cadets received this training and received stipends.
The inception of Halcones was part of the overall aim of PRI to counter and repress socialism and communism.
Halconazo
On 10 June 1971, youth movements were in full swing as a reaction to a conflict in the University of Nuevo León.
Ten thousand students marched in Mexico City. The Halcones, which allegedly operated under the direction of Federal District officials, attacked the students with bamboo sticks, chains, and clubs, later attacking the students with M1 rifles, chasing them down through neighbouring houses, the Teachers' School (Normal de Maestros), nearby churches and even the Rubén Leñero Hospital, resulting to the injury and the death of at least 35.
A similar operation transpired on 4 November 1970, when members of the Halcones attacked students celebrating the victory of the Chilean socialist
President Salvador Allende.
Echeverría denied that Halcones was sanctioned by the government, maintaining that it was a natural outgrowth of the opposition to the left.
However, the considerable number of journalists and photographers attacked on June 10 by the Halcones forced Echeverría to admit their existence; as a result, the regent of Mexico City, Alfonso Martínez Domínguez, resigned.
See also
*
Luis Echeverría
Luis Echeverría Álvarez (; 17 January 1922 – 8 July 2022) was a Mexican lawyer, academic, and politician affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), who served as the 57th president of Mexico from 1970 to 1976. Previously, ...
*
Mexican Movement of 1968
The Mexican Movement of 1968, known as the Movimiento Estudiantil (''student movement'') was a social movement that happened in Mexico in 1968. A broad coalition of students from Mexico's leading universities garnered widespread public support f ...
*
Brigada de Fusileros Paracaidistas
The Brigada de Fusileros Paracaidistas (Parachute Riflemen Brigade) , also known as Chutes, is the Mexican Army premier airborne light infantry unit similar to the 75th Ranger Regiment and the British SFSG, the unit act as support for combat ope ...
*
Mexican Dirty War
The Mexican Dirty War ( es, Guerra sucia) was the Mexican theater of the Cold War, an internal conflict from the 1960s to the 1980s between the Mexican PRI-ruled government under the presidencies of Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, Luis Echeverría and J ...
References
Paramilitary organizations
Political repression
1971 in Mexico
Human rights in Mexico
Massacres in Mexico
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