Ancient City of Teotihuacan a Modern Battleground

A sign of the times?

SAN JUAN TEOTIHUACAN, Mexico - A WalMart store rising near the 2,000-year-old pyramids of the Teotihuacan Empire has ignited the wrath of Mexican conservationists and nationalists, who say the U.S. retailer is destroying their culture at the foot of one of Mexico’s greatest treasures.

Since news broke last May of Wal-Mart’s plan to construct a 71,902-square-foot store near the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon 30 miles northeast of Mexico City, the entranceway of the primordial city has turned into a carnival of demonstrators, most protesting the plans, though some welcoming the 180 jobs the store will bring.

Demonstrators wearing long feathered headdresses, bright indigenous costumes and loincloths dance around fires spewing incense and implore “gods” and the government to halt construction. Signs charge “Yankee Imperialism,” “Foreign Invasion, Get Out!” and “We’ll be here until victory.”