Fight over Wal-Mart at Mexico ruins
/Burning incense and sounding a conch
shell horn, residents of an ancient Mexican city protested on Saturday
at the construction of a Wal-Mart store on the edge of the ruins. The
sprawling warehouse-style Bodega Aurrera, a unit of Wal-Mart in Mexico,
is due to open in December in Teotihuacan, a major archeological site
outside Mexico City. Opponents say it will ruin a way of life that
dates back centuries and have taken legal action to stop it, in a fight
that gives a grand dimension to the classic battle between big business
and small-town values. "What they are doing in Teotihuacan is
destroying Mexico's deepest roots for short-term interests like lower
prices," local teacher Emanuel D'Herrera told about a dozen protesters
outside Teotihuacan's town hall. "This is the flag of conquest by
global interests, the symbol of the destruction of our culture." [more 
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]- Teotihuacan Pyramids and Wal-mart Face to Face [more ]
