The President Adolfo López Mateos Urban Complex of Nonoalco Tlatelolco, also known as Tlatelolco, is a housing complex located in the center of Mexico City, designed under the precepts of the modern movement. The complex, as well as the historic area where it is located, are Cultural Heritage of Mexico City.[1].
Characteristics
This unit is located within the Cuauhtémoc mayor's office "Cuauhtémoc (Mexico City)") and is delimited by the following neighborhoods and avenues:
• - To the north along Axis 2 North, Manuel González; It borders the San Simón Tolnáhuac and Ex-Hipódromo de Peralvillo colonies.
• - To the south along Ricardo Flores Magón Avenue, previously known as Calzada Nonoalco; It borders the Guerrero neighborhood.
• - To the west along Avenida de los Insurgentes Norte; It borders the Atlampa neighborhood.
• - To the east along Paseo de la Reforma Norte; It borders the Morelos neighborhood.
History
Its construction began in 1960. It was designed by the architect Mario Pani, assisted by the architects Luis Ramos Cunningham") and Ricardo de Robina"), on 964,000 m² of extension that were vacant lots of the Railway Union and workshops of the La Consolidada company. Small warehouses belonging to the Buenavista station and some irregular homes were also located there.[2] The UNAM Engineering Institute participated in the study of the structures and foundations. Almost all buildings were designed using inverted concrete shells, with notable cost savings in foundations.
Originally, Pani contemplated regenerating what he identified as a “horseshoe of slums” that surrounded the city, relocating the marginalized into more than fifteen super blocks that would run from Avenida de los Insurgentes to San Lázaro ("San Lázaro (station)"). Several road axes would cross them in the direction of the Zócalo "Plaza de la Constitución (Mexico City)"). The three blocks that were completed were called La Independencia, La Reforma and La República, the names of the buildings in each alluding to these.
The construction of the Urban Center involved the elimination of around 1,000 homes located on land belonging to Mexican Railways. Houses in neighboring neighborhoods such as Guerrero, San Simón Tolnáhuac and Ex Hipódromo de Peralvillo were also affected. More than 7,000 people in total were displaced. Although the original project to recover the “slum horseshoe” contemplated the participation of those affected in the acquisition of housing at affordable prices through a credit program, the subsequent sales conditions prevented the displaced poor population from accessing this housing complex. Only 16 buildings were part of a social program reserved for ISSSTE officials. The authorities directed the rest of the newly built homes towards the middle sectors, which were sold as condominiums. In this way, “Tlatelolco presents the image of what the center of the city would have been, if the project to eradicate the belt of misery” or horseshoe of slums had been carried out.
Audit of old residential complexes
Introduction
The President Adolfo López Mateos Urban Complex of Nonoalco Tlatelolco, also known as Tlatelolco, is a housing complex located in the center of Mexico City, designed under the precepts of the modern movement. The complex, as well as the historic area where it is located, are Cultural Heritage of Mexico City.[1].
Characteristics
This unit is located within the Cuauhtémoc mayor's office "Cuauhtémoc (Mexico City)") and is delimited by the following neighborhoods and avenues:
• - To the north along Axis 2 North, Manuel González; It borders the San Simón Tolnáhuac and Ex-Hipódromo de Peralvillo colonies.
• - To the south along Ricardo Flores Magón Avenue, previously known as Calzada Nonoalco; It borders the Guerrero neighborhood.
• - To the west along Avenida de los Insurgentes Norte; It borders the Atlampa neighborhood.
• - To the east along Paseo de la Reforma Norte; It borders the Morelos neighborhood.
History
Its construction began in 1960. It was designed by the architect Mario Pani, assisted by the architects Luis Ramos Cunningham") and Ricardo de Robina"), on 964,000 m² of extension that were vacant lots of the Railway Union and workshops of the La Consolidada company. Small warehouses belonging to the Buenavista station and some irregular homes were also located there.[2] The UNAM Engineering Institute participated in the study of the structures and foundations. Almost all buildings were designed using inverted concrete shells, with notable cost savings in foundations.
Originally, Pani contemplated regenerating what he identified as a “horseshoe of slums” that surrounded the city, relocating the marginalized into more than fifteen super blocks that would run from Avenida de los Insurgentes to San Lázaro ("San Lázaro (station)"). Several road axes would cross them in the direction of the Zócalo "Plaza de la Constitución (Mexico City)"). The three blocks that were completed were called , and , the names of the buildings in each alluding to these.
Tlatelolco realized what Carlos Monsiváis called “the utopia of Mexico without neighborhoods”: 11,916 apartments and 2,323 service rooms in 102 buildings with 688 commercial premises and 6 covered parking lots with 649 spaces. In addition, 22 schools were included (11 pre-primary, 8 primary and 3 secondary), daycare centers, 6 hospitals and clinics, 3 sports centers, 12 administrative office buildings, a telephone exchange, 4 theaters and a cinema designed by Julio de la Peña").[3].
The complex was inaugurated on November 21, 1964 by President Adolfo López Mateos.
It was planned on average for families with three and a half minimum wages of the time (the minimum wage in 1970 was 32 old pesos, which at the current interest rate would correspond to 174.96 pesos), with the cheapest being those in the first section and the most expensive being those in the third.
Regarding the hydrosanitary facilities, the water network was installed for dual use, based on a system that Pani himself called "vacumatic".
This macro-housing complex complies with the urban proposals made by the modern movement, with 1,000 inhabitants per hectare; 461,471 m², more than half of the original area, were left as free spaces (squares, walkways and gardens) and all services were integrated into the buildings. Planned for almost 15 thousand homes, distributed in multi-family buildings of different heights, Nonoalco Tlatelolco represented a high-density proposal with an exemplary character.
In the three super-blocks, separated by north-south axes, he planted an orthogonal composition of three types of buildings that correspond to three types of housing: low buildings, with four levels; the eight-story blocks, perpendicular to the previous ones, and the 14-story blocks, with shops on their lower levels. In the Central Axis and in Reforma, 20-story towers were built.
Through Administratora Inmobiliaria S.A., 84 were managed by the then Banco Nacional Hipotecario Urbano y de Obras Públicas (Banobras) and 16 by the ISSSTE, leaving two of the towers, called Suites Tecpan, on loan to the respective neighborhood associations.[4] On February 8, 1974, the residents of the Arteaga, Lerdo de Tejada and Jesús Terán buildings began a self-administration neighborhood association that the other buildings then follow.
One end of the complex is defined by the Plaza de las Tres Culturas, the archaeological zone of Tlatelolco and the Tlatelolco Tower, the work of architect Pedro Ramírez Vázquez for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs "Secretary of Foreign Affairs (Mexico)") and the current 25-story Tlatelolco University Cultural Center.
At the other end is the 25-story Insignia Tower, designed by Pani as headquarters for Banobras. At the top it houses a carillon donated in 1964 by the Belgian government.
On Avenida Insurgentes there is the Manuel González station of Metrobús Line 1 "Metrobús (Mexico City)"), which runs from Indios Verdes to the exit to Cuernavaca.
On Axis 1 West, Line 3 of the Metrobús was inaugurated, which runs from Tenayuca to the Narvarte neighborhood and Tlatelolco has a station of the same name.
Important facts
Treaty of Tlatelolco
Tlatelolco is known for having celebrated the Treaty of Tlatelolco in 1967, for the eradication of nuclear weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean, signed by the representatives of the 33 countries in the area, in addition to the United States, France, the United Kingdom, the People's Republic of China and some of the republics of the disintegrated Soviet Union.
Student massacre in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas
On the afternoon of October 2, 1968, days after the army left the UNAM and IPN campuses, thousands of people gathered in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Tlatelolco under the surveillance of the army. For their part, members of the Olimpia Battalion (whose members were dressed as civilians with a white scarf or glove on their left hand) infiltrated the demonstration until they reached the Chihuahua building, where the movement's speakers and several journalists were located.
Luis González de Alba explains the choice of the place "because it is a very wide esplanade and is close to the polytechnic schools of the Casco de Santo Tomás. [...] Furthermore, in front of the square is the building Chihuahua*, on whose third floor, a very large terrace where the elevators stop, the sound and the tribune could be installed."*[5].
Around six in the afternoon, almost after the event, a helicopter flew over the square from which flares were fired, presumably as a signal for the snipers of the Olimpia Battalion to open fire against the protesters and soldiers guarding the place, to make the latter believe that the students were the aggressors. The soldiers, in their attempt to defend themselves, repelled the aggression, but due to the confusion, the shots were not directed at their attackers, but at the crowd of protesters who were in the square.
Many protesters who managed to escape the shooting hid in some apartments in the surrounding buildings, but this did not stop the army, which without a court order, broke into each of the apartments in all the buildings to capture the protesters. The exact number of dead and injured is still unknown. The Mexican government stated in 1968 that there were only 20 deaths. According to Paco Ignacio Taibo II, who in 1993 headed a Truth Commission on these events, on that tragic afternoon 15 thousand projectiles were fired and there were more than 300 dead, in addition to 700 injured and five thousand students detained.
29 years after the massacre, in October 1997, the Mexican Congress formed a committee to investigate the Tlatelolco massacre. The committee took testimony from several witnesses and political activists involved, including the former president of Mexico Luis Echeverría Álvarez (who at that time was Secretary of the Interior). Echeverría admitted that the students were unarmed and also suggested that the military action was planned in advance to destroy or weaken the student movement in Mexico in 1968.
As a reminder of this event, the phrase "October 2 is not forgotten" was coined and every year a march is held, made up mainly of students and unions, which begins in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas and culminates in the Zócalo of Mexico City.
1985 earthquake and collapse of two thirds of the Nuevo León building
One of the areas hardest hit by the 1985 earthquakes was Tlatelolco. The 1985 earthquake affected twelve buildings in the Nonoalco Tlatelolco Urban complex, the most notable of which was the Nuevo León building. The image of Nuevo León, a 15-story building with 288 apartments collapsed and with damage in four of its five sections, was one of the most representative of the 1985 earthquake.[6] The reconstruction of Tlatelolco was a delicate political and technical task, since even before the earthquake there was great political activism in the housing unit, motivated by the change of regime, administration fees and the lack of maintenance of the buildings.
The Democratic Reconstruction Plan of the Adolfo López Mateos Nonoalco Tlatelolco Unit (PRENT) was one of four unprecedented reconstruction programs in Latin America. Structures were reviewed and expert reports were carried out on the buildings. In the reconstruction of Tlatelolco, demolitions were carried out in twelve buildings, including the south module of the Nuevo Leon building, 32 buildings required re-ceiling and reinforcement works in addition to level reduction works in 60 of the remaining 90 buildings. At the beginning of PRENT, an approximate cost of $38,103.5 million pesos in 1986 was estimated.[7].
On the matter, Monsiváis wrote:
"In 1974 [...] the movement began by refusing to pay a 20% increase in maintenance fees. A payment strike was called and the residents of 70 buildings joined in and demanded an audit of the Asociación Inmobiliaria S.A. that controls the unit. In 1982 Fonhapo took charge of the unit, and the biggest problem was the Nuevo León building, whose aggravated conditions caused the general eviction for a few months. There was a fight over the recementation of the property. There is one in 1983, but it is of no use, on the contrary, due to poor materials and techniques. The authorities promise, but half-heartedly. For the neighbors there is only a summary of their attitude: 'it was a collective homicide.'"[8].
As a consequence of these earthquakes, in addition to the tragedy of the Nuevo León building, a total of eight buildings had to be demolished and another four reduced in height starting on July 26, 1986.
In the place where the Nuevo León building was located today you can see a sundial, where a line marks the time when the earthquake of September 19, 1985 occurred.
The Tlatelolco University Cultural Center
The Tlatelolco University Cultural Center (CCUT) is a strategic project of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). The architectural complex that for almost four decades occupied the Ministry of Foreign Affairs "Secretaría de Comunicación Exterior (Mexico)") (SRE) was incorporated into the university real estate heritage in November 2006, with the exclusive purpose of creating a large cultural space that encourages and enriches, through various cultural projects, the community life of the northern area of the country's capital, expanding the scope of the institution's academic programs and fulfilling one of the most important principles of the university spirit.
In commemoration of the centenary of the Autonomous University of Mexico, the Tlatelolco University Cultural Center covers its exterior with geometric figures in red and blue colors, called “The Xipe Tótec Lighthouse,” a lighting installation by Thomas Glassford, inspired by Aztec mythology. This work called Xipe Tótec venerates the Aztec god, who according to legend, after there was a famine, this god skinned himself to offer his skin as food to humans and thus rise again. This architectural complex is the work of the Mexican architect, Pedro Ramírez Vázquez.
In the second section of the unit, there is the "Doctors for Peace" Garden, where there are basketball courts, walkways with motifs alluding to world peace and the "agora" where various cultural and artistic events are held.
The CCUT is located on the southeastern side of the Nonoalco-Tlatelolco Housing Unit, in the quadrangle delimited to the north by the archaeological zone of Tlatelolco and the Plaza de las Tres Culturas; to the south, along Avenida Ricardo Flores Magón; to the west, by the Lázaro Cárdenas Central Axis, and to the east, by service areas of the housing unit itself.
in culture
Cinema
• - Part of the movie Red Dawn, was filmed in the Chihuahua building and its common areas in 1989. Each scene was not filmed more than twice and the interiors of the apartment were filmed in a warehouse, which served as a forum and where the details of one of the building's apartments were recreated. This warehouse was located on López Mateos Street #50, near the Azteca Stadium.
• - In the film The Kings of the Wheel") (1965), the protagonists Capulina and Viruta move with their adopted daughter to one of the complex's apartments. This was the first film formally filmed in the housing complex, barely a year after it had been inaugurated.
• - The Plaza de las Tres Culturas and the Chihuahua building can be seen in the film The Bride and Grooms (1971), starring Silvia Pinal and Julio Alemán.
• - The film Shipwreck "Shipwreck (film)") (1978) uses the corridors of the housing unit and the subway station as its main setting.
• - The film Duck Season (2004), directed by Fernando Eimbcke, was filmed in the Niño Héroes building, located on the side of Lerdo Street and behind the IMSS Hospital 27. The story takes place almost entirely within a small apartment, where two teenagers spend an apparently monotonous Sunday that little by little becomes a reflection on friendship, isolation and urban melancholy. The architecture and spaces of the housing complex not only function as a backdrop, but also reinforce the feeling of confinement and the slow passage of time, becoming another character within the narrative.
• - The television series Brothers and Detectives "Brothers and Detectives (Mexican television series)") (2009) has as its main setting a building of the housing unit, as well as the Plaza de las Tres Culturas.
• - For the film Delete from memory"), from 2010, the events of October 2, 1968 were recreated, using special effects to return the buildings of the housing complex to their original state with the marcolite facades.
• - In Tlatelolco, summer of '68 (2013) the student movement of 1968 is also addressed, culminating on October 2 on the esplanade of the Plaza de las Tres Culturas. The Garden of Santiago also appears and even a scene referring to Red Dawn in the Chihuahua building.
• - In the biographical film Gloria "Gloria (2014 film)") (2014), based on the life of Monterrey singer Gloria Trevi, a scene was filmed in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas and in the Chihuahua building.
• - The series A strange enemy (2018) addresses the student conflict from the perspective of Fernando Gutiérrez Barrios and the Cabinet of Gustavo Díaz Ordaz; The last episode takes place in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas recreating the afternoon of October 2nd.
• - In the 2021 film Ok, Okay, a film by Gabriela Ivette Sandoval, it was filmed in Tlatelolco precisely in the Chihuahua building and its surroundings.
• - In the series I have to die every night "I have to die every night (TV series)")(2023), inspired by the book by Guillermo Osorno, scenes were filmed in the Jardín de Santiago and the third section of the housing unit.
• - For the series Every minute counts") (2024), whose central axis is the 1985 Mexico earthquake, scenes were recorded in the three sections of the housing unit, enabling the Chihuahua building to simulate the missing Nuevo León building.
Literature
• - The book José Trigo, by the writer Fernando del Paso, is based on the railroad struggle of the 60s, which had the train station located in Nonoalco Tlatelolco as the setting.
Music
• - The cover of the album Música libre "Música libre (album)") by Los Búnkers was photographed in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas.
• - Mario Pani Darqui.
• - Presidente Alemán Multifamily.
• - Pedro Ramírez Vázquez.
• - Plaza of the Three Cultures.
• - Tlatelolco Tower.
• - Flagship Tower.
• - M68 Memorial of '68 and Social Movements.
• - Wikimedia Commons hosts a multimedia category on Nonoalco Tlatelolco Urban Complex.
References
[1] ↑ México, Secretaría de Cultura de la Ciudad de. «Declaratoria de Patrimonio Cultural a Tlatelolco, como sitio emblemático de la Memoria Histórica de la Ciudad de México Discurso del Secretario de Cultura Eduardo Vázquez Martín». Secretaría de Cultura de la Ciudad de México. Consultado el 22 de septiembre de 2020.: https://cultura.cdmx.gob.mx/comunicacion/nota/D-021018
[2] ↑ "Tlatelolco, la autoadministración en unidades habitacionales" de Rubén Cantú, IPN / Plaza y Valdés, 2001.
[3] ↑ Ídem.
[4] ↑ "Ciudad Tlatelolco, crónica de un magno proyecto urbanístico", de Gerardo J. Nava Ciprés [s.p.i.].
[5] ↑ Los días y los años, Luis González de Alba, Ediciones Era.
[8] ↑ Entrada libre: Crónicas de la sociedad que se organiza, Ediciones Era.
La Independencia
La Reforma
La República
The construction of the Urban Center involved the elimination of around 1,000 homes located on land belonging to Mexican Railways. Houses in neighboring neighborhoods such as Guerrero, San Simón Tolnáhuac and Ex Hipódromo de Peralvillo were also affected. More than 7,000 people in total were displaced. Although the original project to recover the “slum horseshoe” contemplated the participation of those affected in the acquisition of housing at affordable prices through a credit program, the subsequent sales conditions prevented the displaced poor population from accessing this housing complex. Only 16 buildings were part of a social program reserved for ISSSTE officials. The authorities directed the rest of the newly built homes towards the middle sectors, which were sold as condominiums. In this way, “Tlatelolco presents the image of what the center of the city would have been, if the project to eradicate the belt of misery” or horseshoe of slums had been carried out.
Tlatelolco realized what Carlos Monsiváis called “the utopia of Mexico without neighborhoods”: 11,916 apartments and 2,323 service rooms in 102 buildings with 688 commercial premises and 6 covered parking lots with 649 spaces. In addition, 22 schools were included (11 pre-primary, 8 primary and 3 secondary), daycare centers, 6 hospitals and clinics, 3 sports centers, 12 administrative office buildings, a telephone exchange, 4 theaters and a cinema designed by Julio de la Peña").[3].
The complex was inaugurated on November 21, 1964 by President Adolfo López Mateos.
It was planned on average for families with three and a half minimum wages of the time (the minimum wage in 1970 was 32 old pesos, which at the current interest rate would correspond to 174.96 pesos), with the cheapest being those in the first section and the most expensive being those in the third.
Regarding the hydrosanitary facilities, the water network was installed for dual use, based on a system that Pani himself called "vacumatic".
This macro-housing complex complies with the urban proposals made by the modern movement, with 1,000 inhabitants per hectare; 461,471 m², more than half of the original area, were left as free spaces (squares, walkways and gardens) and all services were integrated into the buildings. Planned for almost 15 thousand homes, distributed in multi-family buildings of different heights, Nonoalco Tlatelolco represented a high-density proposal with an exemplary character.
In the three super-blocks, separated by north-south axes, he planted an orthogonal composition of three types of buildings that correspond to three types of housing: low buildings, with four levels; the eight-story blocks, perpendicular to the previous ones, and the 14-story blocks, with shops on their lower levels. In the Central Axis and in Reforma, 20-story towers were built.
Through Administratora Inmobiliaria S.A., 84 were managed by the then Banco Nacional Hipotecario Urbano y de Obras Públicas (Banobras) and 16 by the ISSSTE, leaving two of the towers, called Suites Tecpan, on loan to the respective neighborhood associations.[4] On February 8, 1974, the residents of the Arteaga, Lerdo de Tejada and Jesús Terán buildings began a self-administration neighborhood association that the other buildings then follow.
One end of the complex is defined by the Plaza de las Tres Culturas, the archaeological zone of Tlatelolco and the Tlatelolco Tower, the work of architect Pedro Ramírez Vázquez for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs "Secretary of Foreign Affairs (Mexico)") and the current 25-story Tlatelolco University Cultural Center.
At the other end is the 25-story Insignia Tower, designed by Pani as headquarters for Banobras. At the top it houses a carillon donated in 1964 by the Belgian government.
On Avenida Insurgentes there is the Manuel González station of Metrobús Line 1 "Metrobús (Mexico City)"), which runs from Indios Verdes to the exit to Cuernavaca.
On Axis 1 West, Line 3 of the Metrobús was inaugurated, which runs from Tenayuca to the Narvarte neighborhood and Tlatelolco has a station of the same name.
Important facts
Treaty of Tlatelolco
Tlatelolco is known for having celebrated the Treaty of Tlatelolco in 1967, for the eradication of nuclear weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean, signed by the representatives of the 33 countries in the area, in addition to the United States, France, the United Kingdom, the People's Republic of China and some of the republics of the disintegrated Soviet Union.
Student massacre in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas
On the afternoon of October 2, 1968, days after the army left the UNAM and IPN campuses, thousands of people gathered in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Tlatelolco under the surveillance of the army. For their part, members of the Olimpia Battalion (whose members were dressed as civilians with a white scarf or glove on their left hand) infiltrated the demonstration until they reached the Chihuahua building, where the movement's speakers and several journalists were located.
Luis González de Alba explains the choice of the place "because it is a very wide esplanade and is close to the polytechnic schools of the Casco de Santo Tomás. [...] Furthermore, in front of the square is the building Chihuahua*, on whose third floor, a very large terrace where the elevators stop, the sound and the tribune could be installed."*[5].
Around six in the afternoon, almost after the event, a helicopter flew over the square from which flares were fired, presumably as a signal for the snipers of the Olimpia Battalion to open fire against the protesters and soldiers guarding the place, to make the latter believe that the students were the aggressors. The soldiers, in their attempt to defend themselves, repelled the aggression, but due to the confusion, the shots were not directed at their attackers, but at the crowd of protesters who were in the square.
Many protesters who managed to escape the shooting hid in some apartments in the surrounding buildings, but this did not stop the army, which without a court order, broke into each of the apartments in all the buildings to capture the protesters. The exact number of dead and injured is still unknown. The Mexican government stated in 1968 that there were only 20 deaths. According to Paco Ignacio Taibo II, who in 1993 headed a Truth Commission on these events, on that tragic afternoon 15 thousand projectiles were fired and there were more than 300 dead, in addition to 700 injured and five thousand students detained.
29 years after the massacre, in October 1997, the Mexican Congress formed a committee to investigate the Tlatelolco massacre. The committee took testimony from several witnesses and political activists involved, including the former president of Mexico Luis Echeverría Álvarez (who at that time was Secretary of the Interior). Echeverría admitted that the students were unarmed and also suggested that the military action was planned in advance to destroy or weaken the student movement in Mexico in 1968.
As a reminder of this event, the phrase "October 2 is not forgotten" was coined and every year a march is held, made up mainly of students and unions, which begins in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas and culminates in the Zócalo of Mexico City.
1985 earthquake and collapse of two thirds of the Nuevo León building
One of the areas hardest hit by the 1985 earthquakes was Tlatelolco. The 1985 earthquake affected twelve buildings in the Nonoalco Tlatelolco Urban complex, the most notable of which was the Nuevo León building. The image of Nuevo León, a 15-story building with 288 apartments collapsed and with damage in four of its five sections, was one of the most representative of the 1985 earthquake.[6] The reconstruction of Tlatelolco was a delicate political and technical task, since even before the earthquake there was great political activism in the housing unit, motivated by the change of regime, administration fees and the lack of maintenance of the buildings.
The Democratic Reconstruction Plan of the Adolfo López Mateos Nonoalco Tlatelolco Unit (PRENT) was one of four unprecedented reconstruction programs in Latin America. Structures were reviewed and expert reports were carried out on the buildings. In the reconstruction of Tlatelolco, demolitions were carried out in twelve buildings, including the south module of the Nuevo Leon building, 32 buildings required re-ceiling and reinforcement works in addition to level reduction works in 60 of the remaining 90 buildings. At the beginning of PRENT, an approximate cost of $38,103.5 million pesos in 1986 was estimated.[7].
On the matter, Monsiváis wrote:
"In 1974 [...] the movement began by refusing to pay a 20% increase in maintenance fees. A payment strike was called and the residents of 70 buildings joined in and demanded an audit of the Asociación Inmobiliaria S.A. that controls the unit. In 1982 Fonhapo took charge of the unit, and the biggest problem was the Nuevo León building, whose aggravated conditions caused the general eviction for a few months. There was a fight over the recementation of the property. There is one in 1983, but it is of no use, on the contrary, due to poor materials and techniques. The authorities promise, but half-heartedly. For the neighbors there is only a summary of their attitude: 'it was a collective homicide.'"[8].
As a consequence of these earthquakes, in addition to the tragedy of the Nuevo León building, a total of eight buildings had to be demolished and another four reduced in height starting on July 26, 1986.
In the place where the Nuevo León building was located today you can see a sundial, where a line marks the time when the earthquake of September 19, 1985 occurred.
The Tlatelolco University Cultural Center
The Tlatelolco University Cultural Center (CCUT) is a strategic project of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). The architectural complex that for almost four decades occupied the Ministry of Foreign Affairs "Secretaría de Comunicación Exterior (Mexico)") (SRE) was incorporated into the university real estate heritage in November 2006, with the exclusive purpose of creating a large cultural space that encourages and enriches, through various cultural projects, the community life of the northern area of the country's capital, expanding the scope of the institution's academic programs and fulfilling one of the most important principles of the university spirit.
In commemoration of the centenary of the Autonomous University of Mexico, the Tlatelolco University Cultural Center covers its exterior with geometric figures in red and blue colors, called “The Xipe Tótec Lighthouse,” a lighting installation by Thomas Glassford, inspired by Aztec mythology. This work called Xipe Tótec venerates the Aztec god, who according to legend, after there was a famine, this god skinned himself to offer his skin as food to humans and thus rise again. This architectural complex is the work of the Mexican architect, Pedro Ramírez Vázquez.
In the second section of the unit, there is the "Doctors for Peace" Garden, where there are basketball courts, walkways with motifs alluding to world peace and the "agora" where various cultural and artistic events are held.
The CCUT is located on the southeastern side of the Nonoalco-Tlatelolco Housing Unit, in the quadrangle delimited to the north by the archaeological zone of Tlatelolco and the Plaza de las Tres Culturas; to the south, along Avenida Ricardo Flores Magón; to the west, by the Lázaro Cárdenas Central Axis, and to the east, by service areas of the housing unit itself.
in culture
Cinema
• - Part of the movie Red Dawn, was filmed in the Chihuahua building and its common areas in 1989. Each scene was not filmed more than twice and the interiors of the apartment were filmed in a warehouse, which served as a forum and where the details of one of the building's apartments were recreated. This warehouse was located on López Mateos Street #50, near the Azteca Stadium.
• - In the film The Kings of the Wheel") (1965), the protagonists Capulina and Viruta move with their adopted daughter to one of the complex's apartments. This was the first film formally filmed in the housing complex, barely a year after it had been inaugurated.
• - The Plaza de las Tres Culturas and the Chihuahua building can be seen in the film The Bride and Grooms (1971), starring Silvia Pinal and Julio Alemán.
• - The film Shipwreck "Shipwreck (film)") (1978) uses the corridors of the housing unit and the subway station as its main setting.
• - The film Duck Season (2004), directed by Fernando Eimbcke, was filmed in the Niño Héroes building, located on the side of Lerdo Street and behind the IMSS Hospital 27. The story takes place almost entirely within a small apartment, where two teenagers spend an apparently monotonous Sunday that little by little becomes a reflection on friendship, isolation and urban melancholy. The architecture and spaces of the housing complex not only function as a backdrop, but also reinforce the feeling of confinement and the slow passage of time, becoming another character within the narrative.
• - The television series Brothers and Detectives "Brothers and Detectives (Mexican television series)") (2009) has as its main setting a building of the housing unit, as well as the Plaza de las Tres Culturas.
• - For the film Delete from memory"), from 2010, the events of October 2, 1968 were recreated, using special effects to return the buildings of the housing complex to their original state with the marcolite facades.
• - In Tlatelolco, summer of '68 (2013) the student movement of 1968 is also addressed, culminating on October 2 on the esplanade of the Plaza de las Tres Culturas. The Garden of Santiago also appears and even a scene referring to Red Dawn in the Chihuahua building.
• - In the biographical film Gloria "Gloria (2014 film)") (2014), based on the life of Monterrey singer Gloria Trevi, a scene was filmed in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas and in the Chihuahua building.
• - The series A strange enemy (2018) addresses the student conflict from the perspective of Fernando Gutiérrez Barrios and the Cabinet of Gustavo Díaz Ordaz; The last episode takes place in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas recreating the afternoon of October 2nd.
• - In the 2021 film Ok, Okay, a film by Gabriela Ivette Sandoval, it was filmed in Tlatelolco precisely in the Chihuahua building and its surroundings.
• - In the series I have to die every night "I have to die every night (TV series)")(2023), inspired by the book by Guillermo Osorno, scenes were filmed in the Jardín de Santiago and the third section of the housing unit.
• - For the series Every minute counts") (2024), whose central axis is the 1985 Mexico earthquake, scenes were recorded in the three sections of the housing unit, enabling the Chihuahua building to simulate the missing Nuevo León building.
Literature
• - The book José Trigo, by the writer Fernando del Paso, is based on the railroad struggle of the 60s, which had the train station located in Nonoalco Tlatelolco as the setting.
Music
• - The cover of the album Música libre "Música libre (album)") by Los Búnkers was photographed in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas.
• - Mario Pani Darqui.
• - Presidente Alemán Multifamily.
• - Pedro Ramírez Vázquez.
• - Plaza of the Three Cultures.
• - Tlatelolco Tower.
• - Flagship Tower.
• - M68 Memorial of '68 and Social Movements.
• - Wikimedia Commons hosts a multimedia category on Nonoalco Tlatelolco Urban Complex.
References
[1] ↑ México, Secretaría de Cultura de la Ciudad de. «Declaratoria de Patrimonio Cultural a Tlatelolco, como sitio emblemático de la Memoria Histórica de la Ciudad de México Discurso del Secretario de Cultura Eduardo Vázquez Martín». Secretaría de Cultura de la Ciudad de México. Consultado el 22 de septiembre de 2020.: https://cultura.cdmx.gob.mx/comunicacion/nota/D-021018
[2] ↑ "Tlatelolco, la autoadministración en unidades habitacionales" de Rubén Cantú, IPN / Plaza y Valdés, 2001.
[3] ↑ Ídem.
[4] ↑ "Ciudad Tlatelolco, crónica de un magno proyecto urbanístico", de Gerardo J. Nava Ciprés [s.p.i.].
[5] ↑ Los días y los años, Luis González de Alba, Ediciones Era.