Mexicans stage tortilla protest

About 75,000 people marched through Mexico City on Feb. 1 in protest of the economic policies of Felipe Calderon, Mexico's new president, and the rising prices of basic foods. The price of the flat corn bread, the main source of calories for many poor Mexicans, recently rose by over 400 percent. Calderon has said the government will clamp down on hoarding and speculation to ease the problem. The recent tortilla price rises have been the worst in decades, sparking fears that some could face malnourishment. For many of Mexico's poorest people the tortilla is a staple of their diet, with as much as a third of their wages being spent on the bread. Veronica Velasco, a Mexican television announcer, called for "a new social pact" to increase jobs and wages and reduce Mexico's dependence on food imports. One banner at the protest read "Calderon stole the elections, and now he's stealing the tortillas!" Since taking office on Dec. 1, Calderon has been criticized for failing to control the largest spike in tortilla prices in decades and is felt to favor agribusiness industries over the millions of poor in Mexico. Calderon has said he does not want to return to the direct price controls enforced by many former presidents. Calderon has ordered his agriculture secretary to import corn to try to ease the problem. Earlier this month he signed a pact with a number of business groups that they would cap the price of tortillas at 77 US cents per kilogram, but many have chosen to ignore the agreement, which is not legally binding. But some blame the rise on demand for corn to make environmentally-friendly biofuels in the United States. Under the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, Mexico used to get cheap corn imports from the US, but Mexico's Economy Minister Eduardo Sojo has said that with more US corn being diverted into ethanol production, supply is dwindling.