“Undesirable” Travelers: U.S. Radicals, Mexican Security, and the Cold War Summer of 1968

ABSTRACT

Two groups of U.S. travelers attempted but failed to reach Cuba in the summer of 1968. Traveling via Mexico City during the height of the Mexican student movement and in anticipation of the Olympics, both groups were detained by Mexican authorities and eventually deported back to the United States. Using oral histories and archival sources, this article explores the interaction between the New Left radicals and intelligence agencies in the U.S. and Mexico. Both sides sought to interpret and contextualize the other to fit and shape their own expectations of Cold War politics during the global Sixties. While there is a vast scholarship on 1968, at both a national and international scale, this story contributes to our understanding of the formulation of radical imaginaries of Cold War international surveillance and solidarity, as well as the construction of the transnational “outside agitator” narratives at the end of the decade.

KEYWORDS:

• Mexico City
• 1968
• New Left
• black Power
• Cold War
• surveillance
• paranoia
• solidarity

Acknowledgments

This article was made possible due to the generous and considerate feedback of its earliest iteration from folks at the Tepoztlán Institute for the Transnational History of the Americas— particularly Alaina Morgan, Nicole Fleetwood, and Alexander Aviña. I am also truly grateful to Waldo E. Martin Jr., Natalie Novoa, and the “Waldo reading group” at UC Berkeley, and particularly Aaron Hall, whose close reading and comments gave new life to this article. I received encouragement and guidance from Arash Davari, and colleagues at Whitman College helped with the final push. Finally, I would like to thank the editors and the anonymous readers at The Global Sixties for their insightful comments and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. FBI LHM Memo to Chicago, LA, NY, SF offices, “American Students Arrested in Mexico City, August, 1968,” 2 October 1968. National Lawyers Guild Records, Tamiment Library, [Hereafter TAM-NLG] Box 137 Folder 5, FOIA NLG, 1968.

2. Interview with Barry Winograd, Oakland, CA, 10/6/16.

3. Program of the NLG, adopted in LA Convention, July 4–6, 1968. TAM-NLG Box 24, Folder 40.

4. Roberts Bailey, “Progressive Lawyers;” Lund-Montaño, “Out of Order.”

5. Falciola, Up Against the Law.

6. Interview with Barry Winograd; Interview with Joan Andersson, Woodstock, NY, 7/31/16.

7. Rabinowitz, Unrepentant Leftist, 202.

8. Hunt, “How New was the New Left?;” Gosse, Where the Boys Are; Gosse, Rethinking the New Left; Gronbeck-Tedesco, Cuba, the United States and the Cultures of the Transnational Left; Rafael Rojas, Fighting Over Fidel.

9. For more on the critiques from figures like Robert Williams and Stokely Carmichael, see Benson, “Cuba Calls;” Guerra, “Poder Negro in Revolutionary Cuba”

10. Siedman, “Angela Davis in Cuba as Symbol and Subject.”

11. Iyengar, “The Venceremos Brigades;” Latner, Cuban Revolution in America; Lund-Montaño, “Out of Order;” Falciola, Up Against the Law.

12. However, one of the other black students, Willard Sylvester Anthony, included in his travel plans Mexico, Brazil, and Cuba. Perhaps this raised some of the early red flags. FBI LHM Memo to Chicago, LA, NY, SF offices, “American Students Arrested in Mexico City, August, 1968,” 2 October 1968. TAM-NLG, NY, NLG 191, Box 137 Folder 5, FOIA NLG, 1968.

13. For a comprehensive history of the Black Panthers, see Bloom & Martin, Black Against Empire; Joseph, Waiting Til the Midnight Hour.

14. For more on the trial, see Pearlman, The Sky’s the Limit.

15. Sean Malloy, Out of Oakland.

16. Bloom & Martin, Black Against Empire, 21.

17. Landon Williams, “Panthers in Mexico,” The Black Panther, 5 October 1968, 12.

18. Williams, “Panthers in Mexico.”

19. Barbara Rhine Diary entry, “The Mexico Trip.” In author’s possession.

20. Iber, “Managing Mexico’s Cold War,” 11.

21. Ibid.

22. Ibid.

23. Collado Herrera, “La Guerra Fría, el movimiento estudiantil de 1968 y el gobierno de Gustavo Díaz Ordaz,” 170.

24. Aguayo, La charola, 102.

25. Iber, “Paraíso de espías.”

26. Aguayo, La charola, 102.

27. For more on the history of Mexican intelligence agencies, see Aguayo, La charola; Padilla and Walker, “In the Archives: History and Politics;” Keller, Mexico’s Cold War.

28. Keller, Mexico’s Cold War, 24. For more on the DFS and the DGIPS, see Aguayo, La charola.

29. Keller, Mexico’s Cold War, 47, 24; also see Aguayo, La charola.

30. This led to some Mexican revolutionary organizations in the late Sixties, like the Movimiento de Acción Revolucionaria (Revolutionary Action Movement, MAR), to seek out the support and refuge elsewhere, namely China and North Korea. Oikión Solano, “El Movimiento de Acción Revolucionaria.”

31. For more on the different moments of political exile into Mexico, see Yankelevich, ed., Mexico, país refugio.

32. Schreiber, Cold War Exiles in Mexico.

33. Anhalt, A Gathering of Fugitives, 37.

34. Ibid., 37.

35. Cornell, “Citizens of Nowhere;” Saade Granados, “Inmigración de una ‘raza prohibida;’” Vinson III, Flight.

36. Saade Granados, “Immigración de una ‘raza prohibida’.”

37. Schreiber, Cold War Exiles in Mexico, ix. Elizabeth Catlett, who lived the rest of her life in Mexico, said that she moved to Mexico partly because it was “the nearest place without racism and segregation.” Quoted in ibid., 3.

38. “Negro Seeks Asylum in Mexico; Cites U.S. Racism,” Jet, June 8, 1967, vol. XXXII, No 9, 8. Archivo General de la Nación, Ciudad de México [Hereafter AGN], DFS, Version Pública “Embajada EEUU,” Legajo 1/8.

39. In January 1968, he went to the press stating his case but had not returned to the government offices. Reporte DFS, enero 23, 1968, AGN , DFS, Version Pública “Embajada EEUU,” Legajo 1/8.

40. The law was not modified until 2011 to include an administrative procedure for an initial hearing and limitations on detentions.

41. For a history of Article 33 and its uses, see Yankelevich, “Extranjeros indeseables en México (1911–1940).”

42. Pensado, Rebel Mexico, 40. While initially targeting fascists and amongst the opponents of the post-revolution government, by the late Fifties and Sixties the law was tailored to fit the new Cold War threat of communism.

43. Schreiber, Cold War Exiles in Mexico, 16–17.

44. Europe became a popular destination and some even ventured further east to the Soviet Union. In September 1960, the US News & World Reporter ran an article titled, “The Underground Railroad – to Russia,” describing Mexico as the necessary first leg of the journey. Anhalt, A Gathering of Fugitives, 184–85.

45. Gosse, Where the Boys Are; Gronbeck-Tedesco, Cuba, the United States and the Cultures of the Transnational Left; Rafael Rojas, Fighting Over Fidel.

46. Lovelace Jr, “William Worthy’s Passport,” 130.

47. Ibid.

48. Latner, “Take Me to Havana!” 16.

49. Ibid., 40.

50. Rodriguez, “De la Esclavitud Yanqui a la Libertad Cubana.”

51. Benson, “Cuba Calls,” 241.

52. Ibid., 244.

53. In Cuba, Williams created a network to bring more Black activists into Cuba via Canada. Reitan, “Cuba, the Black Panther Party and the U.S. Black Movement in the 1960s,” 224. Also see Rodriguez, “De la Esclavitud Yanqui.”

54. In a letter to his fellow staffers at SNCC, George Ware warned fellow staffers at SNCC, that “Mexican officials, if they let you back in [after going to Cuba] will confiscate any materials or written notes that you have and destroy them, as a personal favor to the United States.” George Ware, Report to SNCC Staff, September 1967, Digital Collection of the Civil Rights Movement Veterans, http://www.crmvet.org/docs/6709_sncc_ware_cuba.pdf. [Accessed August 12, 2018.] Also see Seidman, “Tricontinental Routes of Solidarity.”

55. Reitan, The Rise and Decline of an Alliance.

56. Ibid.

57. Siedman, “Angela Davis as Symbol and Subject.”

58. Zolov, The Last Good Neighbor; Keller, Mexico’s Cold War. For a description of different reactions to the revolution from the broader population, see Keller, “Fan Mail to Fidel.” For a comprehensive overview of the Mexican New Left, see Zolov, “Marking the Contours of a Mexican ‘New Left’ in the 1960s.”

59. Zolov, “Cuba sí! Yankees no!.”

60. For more on these policies, see Keller, Mexico’s Cold War. For popular support for the Cuban Revolution and rejection of the U.S. blockade, see Zolov, “Cuba sí! Yankees no!”

61. Keller, Mexico’s Cold War, Loaeza, “Gustavo Díaz Ordaz: Las insuficiencias de la presidencia autoritaria.”

62. Zolov, The Last Good Neighbor.

63. They also tightened visa policies. In September 1960, Mexican visa regulations for Cuban nationals changed to conform to U.S. State Department policies. All request to travel to Cuba had to go through the Ministry of the Interior. Keller, Mexico’s Cold War, 71.

64. Aguayo, La charola, 92, 100.

65. Ibid., 123.

66. Pensado, Rebel Mexico.

67. Chard, Nixon’s War at Home.

68. Barbara Rhine Diary.

69. Bobbie Hodges, “The Mexico Story” in Black Voices, September 1968. in TAM-NLG, Box 120, Folder 3, FOIA Jennie Rhine.

70. Williams, “Panthers in Mexico.”

71. “Panther’s Own Story of Deportation” in The People’s World, 17 August 1968.

72. Ibid.

73. Murray had a copy of John Gerassi’s book Venceremos! The Speeches and Writings of Che Guevara, as well as several copies of Mao’s Red Book. Ibid.

74. Ibid.

75. Phone conversation with Barbara Rhine, 4/26/18.

76. Interview with Barry Winograd, Oakland, CA, 10/6/16.

77. Sanders, “The Mexican Student Movement of 1968,” 78.

78. Ibid., 92.

79. Poniatowska, La noche de Tlatelolco; Carey, Plaza of Sacrifices.

80. Interviews Andersson, Rhine, Winograd. The Black Panther newspaper didn’t cover the student movement until March 1969.

81. Aguayo, La charola. For more on the trajectory of the student movement, see Pensado, Rebel Mexico.

82. Interview with Joan Andersson, Woodstock, NY, 7/31/16.

83. Phone conversation with Rhine, 4/26/18.

84. Hodges, “The Mexico Story.”

85. Interview with Andersson.

86. Letter to the Mexican Embassy, August 20, 1968, Carpeta “Extranjeros Indeseables,” 73–0/534/14, Archivo de la Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, CDMX, Mexico.

87. Angela Davis mentions her as a friend and comrade in one of her reading groups in 1969, and member of SNCC in LA. Davis, With My Mind on Freedom. An internal FBI Memo listed Hodges as a member of the BPP since 1967, and as of August 1968, was the Financial Secretary of the LA chapter of SNCC. FBI Memo, LA, CA, 6 September 1968, Racial Matters-SNCC. TAM-NLG, Box 137 Folder 5, FOIA NLG, 1968.

88. Hodges, “The Mexico Story.”

89. Rhine Diary.

90. Interview with Andersson.

91. Interview with Winograd.

92. Hodges, “The Mexico Story”

93. Rhine Diary.

94. Ávila Hernández, “La frustrada visita de los Panteras Negras.”

95. Rhine Diary.

96. Interview with Andersson.

97. Phone conversation with Rhine.

98. Interview with Andersson.

99. Interview with Winograd. Angela Davis also mentioned that Hodges had to travel through Paris. Davis, With my Mind on Freedom, 199.

100. “Group Blames U.S. for Mexico Arrests” New York Times, 20 August 1968.

101. Mexican newspapers also picked up the AP wire on the press conference: “Se quejan por haber ido a la Cuba roja,” Novedades, August 20, 1968. TAM-NLG, Box 215, Folder 12, FBI - Field Office Mexico. Unlike the U.S. newspapers, the Mexican press did include the accusation from one of the students that the Mexican government planted communist propaganda on him.

102. Letter to the Mexican Embassy, August 20, 1968, Carpeta “Extranjeros Indeseables,” 73–0/534/14, Archivo de la Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, CDMX, Mexico.

103. Ibid.

104. “Three Panthers Kidnapped,” by Capt. Crutch, The Black Panther, September 7, 1968, 10.

105. Williams, “Panthers in Mexico.”

106. LEGAT Mexico City to Director FBI, “American Students arrested in Mexico City,” 8/21/68. TAM-NLG, Box 137 Folder 5, FOIA NLG, 1968.

107. FBI Memo, August 19, 1968. TAM-NLG, Box 137 Folder 5, FOIA NLG, 1968.

108. LEGAT Mexico City to Director FBI, “American Students arrested in Mexico City,” 8/21/68. TAM-NLG Box 137 Folder 5, FOIA NLG, 1968. FBI Memo, August 15, 1968. FBI Memo, August 19, 1968. There was a cable to the Bureau from Mexico City on 15 August which included information received from CIA Station, classified SECRET. The rest of the memo is redacted. FBI Airtel August 19, 1968.

109. Memorandum, Mexico City to Director FBI, 9/10/68, AMERICAN STUDENTS ARRESTED IN MEXICO CITY AUGUST 1968.

110. FBI Memo, August 21, 1968. TAM-NLG Box 137 Folder 5, FOIA NLG, 1968.

111. From Embassy Mexico, “Review of Mexico City Student Disturbances” Department of State Airgram, October 24, 1968. TAM-NLG Box 137 Folder 5, FOIA NLG, 1968.

112. [“ … pertenecientes al grupo ‘Pantera Negra’ del ‘Poder Negro.’”] Report on “Problema Estudiantil” by Director Federal de Seguridad, Cap. Fernando Gutierrez Barrios, 13 August 1968. AGN, DFS Version Publica, Embajada EEUU, Legajo 1/8.

113. Others were described as holding a sign in the protest that said, “La redención del pueblo será total o no será.” [The redemption of the people will be absolute or none at all]. AGN, DFS, Embajada EEUU Version Pública, Legajo 1/8.

114. AGN, DFS, Anthony Willard, Version Pública, Legajo único.

115. For more on the Republic of New Afrika and Black separatism, see Peniel E. Joseph, Waiting ’Til the Midnight Hour. For the 1968 Convention controversy, see Rabinowitz, Unrepentant Leftist; James, The People’s Lawyers; Lund-Montaño, “Out of Order.”

116. For an overview of the relationship between the NLG and the BPP, see Falciola, Up Against the Law, and Lund-Montaño, “Out of Order;” James, The People’s Lawyers. For specific trials, see Garry, Streetfighter in the Courtroom; Kempton, The Briar Patch; Haas, The Assassination of Fred Hampton.

117. “Minister of Education Returns from Cuba,” The Black Panther, September 14, 1968, 5.

118. Latner, Cuban Revolution in America, 28. Although Andersson recalls she got to Havana through Canada. Phone conversation with Joan Andersson, 5/9/18.

119. Kazin, “Cuba, Que Linda Es Cuba?;” Cluster, “The Venceremos Brigade.”

120. Keller, Mexico’s Cold War, 211. Keller found headlines like: “Se ataca a Mexico desde el exterior; El titular de la SAG relaciona lo de aqui con el caso checo,” Excelsior, 5 Octubre 1968; “Banda extranjera de agitadores, causa de los disturbios,” El Heraldo de Mexico, 4 octubre 1968. Ibid., 212.

121. Telegrama Relaciones Exteriores a Embamex, Washington DC, July 29, 1968. Carpeta “Extranjeros Indeseables,” 73–0/534/14. Archivo de la Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, CDMX, Mexico.

122. Carey, Plaza of Sacrifices, 161, and 225, fn 24.

123. Los Angeles Times, 29 December 1968, page A. Based on the archives I have consulted, there are no references to her arrest and imprisonment.

124. Pensado, Rebel Mexico, 212.

125. Keller, Mexico’s Cold War, 208.

126. Even at the end of his tenure, he admitted that he never believed that there could be a communist takeover of Mexico. Loaeza, “Gustavo Díaz Ordaz: El colapso del milagro mexicano,” 127.

127. Ibid.

128. According to Herrera Collado, all agencies, except for the FBI, agreed that the claims foreign agents were infiltrating the movement were false. Herrera, “La Guerra Fría, el movimiento estudiantil de 1968 y el gobierno de Gustavo Díaz Ordaz,” 191–93.

129. Keller, Mexico’s Cold War, 212.

130. Morley, Our Man in Mexico.

131. Aguayo, La charola, 100. “The intelligence reports, when combined with prominent instances of genuine communist activity, were enough to convince Diaz Ordaz that his country was under attack. Increasingly, he resorted to violent repression, converting his critics into enemies.” Keller, Mexico’s Cold War, 195.

132. For a comprehensive collection of historical scholarship on Afro-Mexicans, see Vinson and Restall. Black Mexico. For an analytical and historiographical approach to Blackness and African-descended people in Mexico, see Cohen, Finding Afro Mexico.

133. Cohen, Finding Afro Mexico, 6.

134. Williams, “Panthers in Mexico.”

135. The Black Panther, 9 March 1969, 10–11.

136. See Witherspoon, Before the Eyes of the World; Bass, Not the Triumph but the Struggle. On the role of the Mexican delegation to boycott South Africa from the Olympics, see Rodriguez Kuri, “Geopolítica de la raza.”

137. See Ariel Rodríguez Kuri, “Geopolítica de La Raza;” Eric Zolov, “Showcasing the ‘Land of Tomorrow.’”

138. This was after 4 April, but it was clear that the report to the Olympic committee was referring to the riots when it described the potential for “disagreeable protests, riots and other forms of violent protest.” Rodríguez Kuri, “Geopolítica de La Raza,” 55–56.

139. The DFS did report a small demonstration in support of the Black liberation struggle in the United States earlier in the year. AGN, DFS, Versión Pública “Problema Estudiantil,” Legajo 2, foja 41.

140. Hodges, “The Mexico Story.”

141. Phone call with Rhine.

142. Rhine, Diary.