My Brother Andrés

Mexico City, 1968. The Olympic Games are due to be held in October. Under the strict authoritarian presidency of Díaz Ordaz, Mexico is going up in flames. Rebellious school and pro-democracy university students are protesting and their demonstrations are threatening the Games.

Eighteen-year-old Andrés Serrano is among the demonstrating university students. Part Tarahumaran Indian, he is an outstanding distance runner. He’s been training all his life for the Olympics. Sixth in the 10,000 metres at the Olympic trials, he is selected as a reserve for the Mexican team.

His eight-year-old sister, Alicia, is a remarkable girl who faces life’s challenges and setbacks with courage, resilience and determination. She is highly intelligent and also a gifted athlete, helping Andrés in his quest. Her Tarahumaran mother, Suré, died a month after Alicia was born. She both grieves for the loss and develops a steely independence as a result of it.

They are both supported by their father Victor. Sent alone to Mexico from Spain in 1937 when he was twelve-years-old to avoid the turmoil of the civil war raging there, he never returned.

Twelve days before the Games, Andrés and Alicia attend a peaceful demonstration on the Tlatelolco Plaza. The Government reaction is ruthless. With the Olympics apparently under threat, armed soldiers are sent in to disperse the demonstrators. They fire on the crowd, killing hundreds, including children. It is a watershed in Mexico’s political history.

Andrés is shot in the left ankle and his foot has to be amputated. He faces enormous challenges as he recovers and reorients his life goals. Alicia supports him throughout, especially when he is selected by the German Ottobock company to test the latest orthotics, with a view to convincing the Olympic Committee to ratify them for the Paralympics in 2000.