| |
| 1969, Sept.–Oct |
| |
| A recurrence of student protests was punctuated by bombings of public offices. Many activists took to guerrilla warfare as the only possible means of struggle against a repressive regime. Rightists also turned to more violent means, attacking and harassing dissidents. | 1 |
| |
| 1970, July 6 |
| |
| Luis Echeverría Alvarez, candidate of the PRI and former secretary of the interior, was elected president. In response to the bloodshed of the late 1960s, Echeverría changed the tone of government rhetoric to indicate that Mexico was undergoing a “democratic opening.” The labor movement was especially important to Echeverría since movements for union democracy were posing a strong challenge to government authority. | 2 |
| |
| 1971–74 |
| |
| In the aftermath of the 1968 riots, a series of guerrilla movements emerged in rural Mexico. In response, the Echeverría government dispatched troops to affected regions and suppressed most rural dissent. Echeverría also promised aid to Mexico's 6 million landless peasants, but in the end provided little help. More and more rural Mexicans moved to the slums of Mexico City and other urban centers, rapidly changing the face of Mexican society. | 3 |
| |
| 1974 |
| |
| The Mexican government announced the discovery of large oil reserves in the states of Tabasco and Chiapas, as well as offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. | 4 |
| |
| 1976, July 6 |
| |
| Amid widespread charges of fraud and corruption, PRI candidate José López Portillo was elected president. López Portillo was more conservative than Echeverría, but he did propose constitutional reforms that allowed opposition groups to have a greater voice in the Congress. | 5 |
| |
| Sept |
| |
| Deficit problems and economic stagnation led to a 60 percent devaluation of the Mexican peso vis-à-vis the American dollar. | 6 |
| |
| Nov |
| |
| Thousands of landless peasants seized privately owned lands in the Yaqui Valley in Sonora. Pres. Echeverría, with only a few weeks remaining in his term, stepped in to declare the seizures legal and granted the peasants 250,000 acres for development. | 7 |
| |
| Dec. 1 |
| |
| López Portillo took office amid optimism that recent oil discoveries in Mexico would lead to an era of prosperity. | 8 |
| |
| |
