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MEXICO:
Wal-Mart's Plans
for Indigenous Areas Under Fire
Diego
Cevallos
MEXICO CITY, (IPS) - The
U.S.-based retail giant
Wal-Mart, which last year opened
a store near the ancient
Teotihuacan pyramids of Mexico
despite loud protests from local
activists and small businesses,
is now seeking a repeat of its
earlier victory, this time in
two heavily indigenous areas.
But local opponents are set for
a pitched battle.
- This time we will definitely
keep Wal-Mart from continuing
its attack on Mexico's culture
and its people," said Lorenzo
Trujillo, head of the Civic
Front for the Defence of
Teotihuacan Valley, a coalition
made up of local residents and
shopkeepers from the
internationally renowned
archaeological zone.
ôWe will occupy public offices
and will do everything necessary
to impede Wal-Mart's cultural
plunder," the activist told IPS.
Trujillo is facing legal action
for the protests his
organisation held against the
construction of a Wal-Mart store
less than two kilometres from
the Teotihuacan pyramids.
Wal-Mart, which is now the
biggest retailer in Mexico, has
710 stores and fast-food
restaurants in this country of
104 million, with total revenues
of more than 13 billion dollars
a year.
Trujillo said he has already
begun to coordinate protests and
other actions with organisations
of local farmers and
shop-keepers in Pátzcuaro in the
state of Michoacán, home to the
Purépechas Indians, to keep
Wal-Mart from building one of
its superstores in the town.
The picturesque colonial town of
Pátzcuaro has a population of
48,000, 5,000 of whom speak
indigenous languages. It is
located on the banks of a lake
in the state of Michoacán, east
of the Mexican capital. The area
is famous for its typical
indigenous celebrations and
crafts.
Trujillo reported that his group
would also help organise the
resistance in the town of
Juchitán, in the southern state
of Oaxaca, where Wal-Mart also
plans to build a new store.
Juchitán is a largely indigenous
town of 3,500 where prehispanic
practices like bartering still
survive in the open-air markets.
"We are not going to let
Wal-Mart barge in with its
neoliberal trade practices to
sites of historical and cultural
importance in Mexico. We cannot
continue allowing this plunder,"
said Trujillo.
As during the earlier
construction of the hypermarket
near the pyramids - which
carries the name "Bodega Aurrera",
a Mexican chain that belongs to
Wal-Mart - representatives of
the retail giant did not respond
to IPS inquiries about the plans
for new stores and the
resistance put up by local civil
society groups.
When Wal-Mart built its
supermarket in Teotihuacan, with
the authorisation of the
National Institute of
Archaeology and History (INAH)
and several other government
agencies in Mexico, Trujillo's
organisation held a number of
protests, including the
occupation of INAH offices in
the Mexican capital. It is in
connection with that action that
Trujillo is facing charges of
ransacking and use of force.
Although those opposed to the
"Bodega Aurrera" store in
Teotihuacan received the support
of a number of academics and
historians, the superstore
opened its doors in late 2004.
By contrast with other Wal-Mart
stores, the hypermarket in
Teotihuacan is ochre-coloured
and has no loud colours or
signs. It is located near the
ancient citadel, within the
limits of San Juan Teotihuacan,
a town that has grown steadily
over the past 20 years to its
current population of more than
45,000.
The buildings and roads built in
the area where the original city
of Teotihuacan was located only
left the 263-hectare ceremonial
centre and part of a 200-hectare
"buffer zone" surrounding it
intact.
A number of small local
businesses in San Juan
Teotihuacan have closed in the
last few months, unable to
compete with Wal-Mart.
The store is barely visible from
the citadel of Teotihuacan,
which was built by indigenous
people at the dawn of the
Christian era and reached its
peak of splendour between the
years 450 and 600 AD, when it
was home to as many as 200,000
people.
Teotihuacan is the name given
the spot by the Aztecs, who
discovered the abandoned
buildings around the year 1300.
The Aztecs were so impressed by
what they found, they thought
the pyramids had been built by
giants with the help of the
gods, historians report.
The main ceremonial complex,
which is visited by more than
two million people a year, is
made up of the pyramids of the
Sun and the Moon, and numerous
temples and houses along the
Avenue of the Dead, which is
five km long and between 50 and
100 metres wide.
The Pyramid of the Sun is as
high as a 20-story building and
215 metres square. It is the
third largest pyramid in the
world and the largest at
Teotihuacan.
Activists predict that only the
ceremonial centre of Tollan
Teotihuacan, an indigenous name
that means "Where Men Become
Gods", will be left in 20 years.
According to Trujillo, ôif logic
and reason win out, someday in
the not-too-distant future" the
Wal-Mart supermarket near the
pyramids will be shut down and
demolished. ôTime will prove us
right," he argued.
The activist said the
transnational corporation would
continue facing resistance to
its plans for building new
stores in Pátzcuaro and Juchitán.
But local business sources said
Wal-Mart was going ahead with
its expansion plans and had not
run into any major hurdles.
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