Farmers clog Mexico City in NAFTA protest
by Bulletin staff and wire reports - 2/2/2008


Thousands of farmers, peasants and union members are camping out in Mexico City to protest the rising prices of tortillas and increasing amounts of corn imports.


Mexico removed tariffs on corn imports Jan. 1 under the North American Free Trade Agreement, which protestors say will open the doors to more U.S. corn and put more Mexican farms out of business.

Farmers from across the country have made their way since Jan. 18 to the capital city for the protests, some walking for 1,000 miles, Bloomberg News reported. As tractors led a huge parade of protestors, a herd of cows, tended by dairy farmers angry over low milk prices, waited in a makeshift pen in a traffic circle.

Farmers and farm activists chanted, "Without corn, the country doesn't exist!" as they marched. Protestors want Mexico to keep its “food sovereigntyâ€