Veterans of '68 Protests Rise Again--in Office
MEXICO CITY — Thirty years have passed, but Salvador Martinez della Rocca recalls Mexico's 1968 student revolt with Kodachrome clarity. The heady anti-government marches. The sit-ins. His imprisonment, weeks before security forces shot to death hundreds of screaming protesters and crushed the movement.
With pride, he declares: "We were enemies of the state."
Today, Martinez della Rocca is the state. As a key official in Mexico City's government, the former protest leader is trying to put into practice the ideals he defended in 1968.
He is not alone. As Mexico engages in a lengthy commemoration of the student revolt, culminating today on the massacre's 30th anniversary, a number of '68 veterans are continuing their struggle--but within the system.
Of the 16 Mexico City delegates--roughly equivalent to borough presidents--Martinez della Rocca is one of three who took part in the 1968 protests against police brutality and government repression of dissidents. Another onetime student leader, Pablo Gomez, is a prominent federal legislator.
And the police, who once beat up left-wing protesters, are now under the command of the capital's first opposition mayor, leftist hero Cuauhtemoc Cardenas. He has declared today a day of mourning for the slain protesters, whose exact number is still unknown.
"This is sort of a vindication of the students," said columnist Jesus Silva-Herzog Marquez. "Five years ago, they were leaders of organizations, teachers, members of small parties. They were on the margins."
Martinez della Rocca's case reflects how left-wing activists are entering government, contributing to the democratization of a country that spent nearly seven decades under one-party rule.
On Aug. 28, 1968, the student of physics was arrested following a huge demonstration outside the National Palace. Martinez della Rocca served 2 1/2 years in jail, then became a left-wing university professor.
He still looks the part. At 52, he has unruly gray-brown curls, no tie, and a corduroy jacket with elbow patches. He drags on a cigarette and quotes Lenin and sociologist Max Weber.
But he now runs Tlalpan, a borough with a population of 650,000. Martinez della Rocca was named a delegate after his Democratic Revolution Party won control of Mexico City's government last year. At the same time, the opposition for the first time gained a majority in the federal Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Congress.
