Mexico City – In 2007, massive impromptu street protests threatened the popularity of Mexican President Felipe Calderón. But it was not drug violence or kidnappings that prompted the outcry. It was the price of corn tortillas.
Now the Calderón administration faces a repeat scenario. High corn prices are threatening to put Mexico’s staple out of reach for those who depend on it most for the bulk of their daily caloric intake.
Earlier this month, tortilla makers said that prices could rise by 50 percent. An increase of the same amount led to the so-called “tortilla riots” of 2007. At that time, the Monitor attended marches with protesters angrily gripping onto cobs of corn and chanting, “Without corn, we aren’t a country.”
The government blasted the price-increase threats and set off on an inspection spree to make sure tortilla shops have not raised their prices. But most unusual – and perhaps a sign of how important the image of affordable tortillas are in a country that once worshipped corn gods – is the announcement it has purchased a form of corn insurance to safeguard prices into next year, reported the Financial Times.
The futures, announced by Economy Minister Bruno Ferrari, should allay consumer concerns, he says. “The prices are guaranteed,” he said to the local media. “The supply necessary until the third quarter of next year is covered.”
Concerns about tortilla prices sparked after the president of the National Tortilla Industry Union, Lorenzo Mejia, announced in a press release earlier this month that prices for a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of tortilla could rise to 12 pesos, or just under one dollar, and then continue to rise. The national average is currently at about 9.88 pesos. In Mexico City, it is 8.65 pesos.
Mexico’s Economy Ministry immediately responded, saying that tortilla price hikes are not justified because production of white corn, used to make tortillas, has been sufficient for satisfying domestic demand. The ministry also announced it would work alongside Mexico’s consumer watchdog to protect against price gouging.
David Mendoza, a tortilla seller in a downtown Mexico City food market, was selling tortillas for 8.5 pesos a kilo. He says the consumer watchdog came two weeks ago to inspect their prices and that he expects to have to raise his prices at some point next year.
Corn futures rose earlier this week to a 29-month high, in part because of dry weather in Argentina, a major producer.
Back in 2007, with Mexicans pulling out more pesos, the government threatened to sue hoarders, increased corn quotas for import, and capped prices. It even led to more talk about breaking up monopolies in Mexico that many blame for unfair prices.
Brenda Mendoza, who works at a food stall in a Mexico City market, says “I was worried when I heard prices would go up, because everything is more expensive. But the government did not authorize it, thankfully.”
As far as the new announcement about these futures contracts go, this is apparently not the first time such protection has been purchased to control prices. It’s just the first time, according to Reuters, that it has been made public.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy