Luis Echeverría: The former president of Mexico died at the age of 100

Its former president of Mexico Luis Echeveria passed away at the age of 100, with current president Andrés Manuel López Obrador confirming the fact.

The former president assumed presidential duties in 1970promising a democratic opening for the country, but presided over six of the harshest years of the so-called “dirty war” against dissidents.

As a senior, Echeveria avoided attempts by Mexican prosecutors to charge him with genocide for his role in two notorious massacres of student protesters in 1968 and 1971 which defined an era of harsh state repression.

Bald and bespectacled, Echeverria denied any wrongdoing and said his conscience was clear. He refused to testify about crimes that have not been fully solved to this day.

His presidency (1970-1976) from the beginning tarnished by accusations that he ordered the military to open fire on thousands of students protesting peacefully in the Tlatelolco region of Mexico City on October 2, 1968 while serving as Minister of the Interior.

At the time, the government said just 30 people were killed and injured in the massacre, which took place just days before the start of the Olympics in Mexico City. Witnesses said several more bodies were removed from the scene.

Hundreds of students were beaten and jailed after the demonstration, which came as student uprisings had erupted around the world. A definitive death toll was never given.

Source: News Beast

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