Tens of thousand of Mexican farmers and farm activists marched through downtown Mexico City to protest tariff removal on traditional crops like corn and beans.
The tariff removal, as part of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), came into effect on Jan. 1 when a 15-year period of protection for Mexican farmers officially ended.
Demonstrators demanded that the government reinstate the protection tariffs. They said the country "does not exist without corn" and that they were in no position to compete with the U.S. farmers who receive more government support.
Demonstrators burned a tractor, and some led cows into the pasture outside the Mexico Stock Exchange and let them graze there, witnesses said.
Mexican officials said that during the 15-year phase-in period of the NAFTA, the government had provided help to the farmers. But activists argued that the help mainly benefited owners of big farms, while the vast majority of small farmers are still vulnerable.
Source: Xinhua
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