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Thousands march to protest tortilla prices

12:19 H | Topics: Activism - Food - Mexico

The anger felt by Mexicans for the past few weeks over the skyrocketing price of tortillas reached a boiling point yesterday, when over 75,000 people took to the streets in Mexico City to demand that the government do something about the crisis:

During Wednesday's march, protesters carried one banner that read "Calderon stole the elections, and now he's stealing the tortillas!" Others waved handfuls of the flat corn disks and chanted "Tortillas si, Pan no!" a play on the initials of Calderon's National Action Party, the PAN, which also means "bread" in Spanish.

In a press statement, Calderon's office said the president shares the protesters' concerns and pledged to "continue taking all necessary actions to maintain price stability for basic goods and services, (and) punish all types of hoarding and speculation in the markets."

As was to be expected, ex-candidate for the Mexican presidency Andrés Manuel López Obrador wanted to get in on this as well, but the protest organizers weren't having it:

But it was also a setback for his archrival, leftist leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who protest organizers prevented from speaking at the demonstration in Mexico City's Zocalo plaza. He held his own rally afterward, and most of the crowd stayed to hear him.

Protesters say that they don't want AMLO to make it all about him, and if he supports the cause he needs to do it from the sidelines:

Corn farmer Servando Olivaria saw it another way. "This is a spontaneous people's movement, with no political affiliation," Olivaria said. "Lopez Obrador can participate, but he should not head the march. He should not even speak about it."

Meanwhile, President Felipe Calderón's office issued a statement saying "he does not want to return to direct price controls enforced by many former Mexican presidents."

Meanwhile, average Mexicans will end up spending up to a third of their total income on tortillas. Thanks a lot for defending the free market, Mr. President.

Via / Comcast

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