Auschwitz_Part_II
11-06-2004, 11:34 PM
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3986729.stm
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40494000/jpg/_40494671_walmart-ap203.jpg Shoppers flocked to the opening of the new store
Bargain-hungry Mexican shoppers have flocked to a new Wal-Mart supermarket that environmentalists claim will threaten one of the nation's treasures.
Around 200 shoppers queued for hours to be the first to enter the store, which is half a mile from the ancient Mexican pyramids at Teotihuacan.
[color=red]"People need the well-being of their families more than culture," said one.[/color]
[color=red]Environmental groups had argued that the store was too close to the ruins and would erode the local way of life.[/color]
While the Wal-Mart store was overflowing with shoppers on its opening day, a handful of local opponents kept a vigil outside the 2,000-year-old Teotihuacan pyramids.
They pledged to continue a protest that has drawn international attention and prompted a national debate.
Buffer zone
"It's like planting the staff of globalization in the heart of ancient Mexico," said Homero Aridjis, a writer and environmentalist who led a national drive to block the store.
"It is supremely symbolic."
Mexico's national anthropology institute that oversees the ruins - located outside Mexico City - has said that the store poses no threat.
The United Nations and the Paris-based International Council on Monuments and Sites also "signed-off" the store. It is located in a buffer zone that is part of the archaeological site, but where hundreds of other, mainly smaller businesses have sprouted in the past decade or more.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40494000/jpg/_40494671_walmart-ap203.jpg Shoppers flocked to the opening of the new store
Bargain-hungry Mexican shoppers have flocked to a new Wal-Mart supermarket that environmentalists claim will threaten one of the nation's treasures.
Around 200 shoppers queued for hours to be the first to enter the store, which is half a mile from the ancient Mexican pyramids at Teotihuacan.
[color=red]"People need the well-being of their families more than culture," said one.[/color]
[color=red]Environmental groups had argued that the store was too close to the ruins and would erode the local way of life.[/color]
While the Wal-Mart store was overflowing with shoppers on its opening day, a handful of local opponents kept a vigil outside the 2,000-year-old Teotihuacan pyramids.
They pledged to continue a protest that has drawn international attention and prompted a national debate.
Buffer zone
"It's like planting the staff of globalization in the heart of ancient Mexico," said Homero Aridjis, a writer and environmentalist who led a national drive to block the store.
"It is supremely symbolic."
Mexico's national anthropology institute that oversees the ruins - located outside Mexico City - has said that the store poses no threat.
The United Nations and the Paris-based International Council on Monuments and Sites also "signed-off" the store. It is located in a buffer zone that is part of the archaeological site, but where hundreds of other, mainly smaller businesses have sprouted in the past decade or more.