Thousands of farmers on foot and on lumbering tractors clogged Mexico City Thursday to protest the lifting of corn tariffs under a free trade agreement, which they say is hurting their pockets.
"No corn, no country" was the byword of the protest plastered in signs on tractors and buses, as the angry farmers, some of them leading herds of cattle through the streets, demanded equal treatment with farmers in the United States and Canada.
While it was mostly peaceful, there was some tension late Wednesday when a column of slow-moving tractors ground to a reluctant halt before a phalanx of anti-riot police that barred access
to the Zocalo, the city's main square.
Some 1,500 police have fanned out across the city to prevent any unrest stemming from the protest, as farmers from across the country have made their way here, some on foot for 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles), since January 18.
A provision of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) lifting tariffs on corn -- Mexico's staple food -- kicked in on January 1, 14 years after the agreement between the three neighbors came into being.
Full story... here
Importance: This article brings to life the disadvantages that farmers have to deal with via NAFTA. Mexican farmers can no longer live off their own crops and their income has been gradually been decreasing since the birth of of the agreement. This protest clearly shows that the farmers are significantly upset.
Grade this post!
"No corn, no country" was the byword of the protest plastered in signs on tractors and buses, as the angry farmers, some of them leading herds of cattle through the streets, demanded equal treatment with farmers in the United States and Canada.
While it was mostly peaceful, there was some tension late Wednesday when a column of slow-moving tractors ground to a reluctant halt before a phalanx of anti-riot police that barred access
to the Zocalo, the city's main square.
Some 1,500 police have fanned out across the city to prevent any unrest stemming from the protest, as farmers from across the country have made their way here, some on foot for 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles), since January 18.
A provision of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) lifting tariffs on corn -- Mexico's staple food -- kicked in on January 1, 14 years after the agreement between the three neighbors came into being.
Full story... here
Importance: This article brings to life the disadvantages that farmers have to deal with via NAFTA. Mexican farmers can no longer live off their own crops and their income has been gradually been decreasing since the birth of of the agreement. This protest clearly shows that the farmers are significantly upset.
Grade this post!
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