Mexicans battle over Wal-Mart-owned store being built near 2,000-year-old

[Kadie]

Mexicans battle over Wal-Mart-owned store being built near 2,000-year-old pyramids

MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer
Friday, September 3, 2004


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(09-03) 11:53 PDT MEXICO CITY (AP) --

A Wal-Mart-owned discount store rising a half-mile from the ancient temples of Teotihuacan has touched off a fight by a small coalition that doesn't want to see the big, boxy outlet from the top of the Pyramid of the Sun.

But with most people in the area supporting Wal-Mart, the group is waging a lonely battle for what it calls its defense of Mexico's landscape and culture.

The dispute in Teotihuacan -- a town built next to the ruins of the 2,000-year-old metropolis -- illustrates how the allure of low prices and U.S. lifestyles often wins out in Mexico, leaving traditionalists struggling to draw a line in rapidly shifting cultural sands.

"We'd rather not have Mickey Mouse on top of the Pyramid of the Moon," says Emmanuel D'Herrera, a business owner in Teotihuacan, 30 miles north of Mexico City.

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