Reply #8: So sad the predators are able to exploit the poor's need for cheaper staples. So #### sad.

[Judi Lynn]

Was horrified to learn several years ago Walmart was building a mega-Walmart near the Pyramid of the Sun, so very old, irreplaceable, a priceless, vast, important landmark in Mexico.

The Dallas Morning News
Tuesday, November 9, 2004
Welcoming Wal-Mart to Mexico

Despite protests, millions flock to Mexico's No. 1 retailer

By BRENDAN M. CASE / The Dallas Morning News

SAN JUAN TEOTIHUACÁN, Mexico – When Wal-Mart de México SA began building a Bodega Aurrerá supermarket near two revered ancient pyramids, outraged activists rose to defend the hallowed ground.

Now locals are flocking to the recently opened supermarket, which is part of a Mexican chain that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. acquired in 1997.

"Almost everybody is in favor of the store because it has more products at lower prices," said Evangelina Enciso, 26, a graphic design student who previously had to travel 45 minutes by bus to the nearest supermarket. "We also need the jobs."

Mexican protesters have fought the expansion plans of U.S. multinationals from Wal-Mart to Costco Wholesale Corp. to McDonald's Corp. But the Teotihuacán skirmish spotlights another side of the battle: In a nation starved for jobs and strangled by high prices, some Mexicans think they need more Wal-Marts, not fewer.

More:
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/teotihuacan/retailer.htm

http://upload.wikimedia.org.nyud.net:8090/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d3/Teotihuac%C3%A1n.jpg/800px-Teotihuac%C3%A1n.jpg

Pyramid of the Sun as seen from the Pyramid of the Moon, Teotihuacan, near Mexico City.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com.nyud.net:8090/images/2004/09/27/international/MEXICO2.jpg

Wal-Mart vs. the World
By Luis J. Rodriguez,
Editor, Xispas Magazine

The news hit like when Columbus and his ships landed in Cem-Anahuak (the land of the Arawaks, to be precise) in 1492: Wal-Mart, one of modern capitalism's leading symbols of a consumer society and worker exploitation, is building one of its sprawling warehouse-style stores in the shadows of the magnificent pyramids of the great ancient Mexika-Tolteka city of Teotihuakan.

With the blessing of the Mexican government, Bodega Aurrera, a Wal-Mart affiliate in Mexico, has already broken ground, despite opposition by many people in the area, which includes a lawsuit. The store is slated to open in December of 2004, some forty miles north of Mexico City.

One local teacher said this decision "affects first of all our soul, our identity." Teotihuakan is home to some of the most significant pyramids on earth, including the Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon. It has not only been used as a ceremonial site by Mexican indigenous groups for years, but also by Native peoples from all across the Americas. In a recent solstice celebration, half a million people congregated at the Pyramid of the Sun to commemorate the vital importance of this site to Native culture and traditions throughout the hemisphere. Others have built Mexika indigenous schools near the site to re-claim and re-teach the ancient cosmologies, languages, and arts of the Mexika-Tolteka peoples with close to two thousand years of existence in Teotihuakan.

Although the Spanish destroyed most of the Mexika culture--including the priceless temples, schools, libraries, menageries, gardens, marketplaces, and also many of the people--when Hernan Cortez conquered the area in 1521, the Mexika and other indigenous traditions continued to thrive in Mexico for close to five hundred years. Within the last thirty years, indigenous people in Mexico have re-united and re-organized to demand their land, their survival, and their dignity. The most salient expression of this is the Zapatista insurgency in southern Chiapas, which awoke the world to the plight of indigenous people there and everywhere.

More:
http://www.xispas.com/archives/columbus/walmart.htm

http://cronkitezine.asu.edu.nyud.net:8090/Mexico/images/walmartquote.jpg

Wal-mart overtakes Mexican business
By Amanda Lee Myers

When Wal-Mart began construction last year on a store near some of Mexico's most famous Aztec ruins, protesters showed up by the thousands.

They said the store, about 25 miles outside of Mexico City, would be a desecration of the pyramids -- and of Mexico's culture.


The store was built anyway, and on opening day, the parking lot was filled with Mexican shoppers in search of bargains.

The battle over the Teotihuacan Bodega Aurrera, a Mexican subsidiary of Wal-Mart, made headlines around the world, but Wal-Mart won the real fight for Mexico long ago.

More:
http://cronkitezine.asu.edu/Mexico/walmart.html

~~~
Hope some country will discover a way to resist the easy money offered by these predators. They clearly exploit the poverty and desperation of the masses denied a fair chance in every society with politicians who are for sale.