The farmers demanded the government take measures to guarantee prices for their crops that will enable them to make a living. They condemned delays by officials in paying out promised subsidies.

Carrying banners that read, "[President Vicente] Fox means misery," the small farmers called for modifying parts of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) covering the imports of grains and other products. They said the current trade pact exposes them more directly to competition from U.S. agricultural imports sold at lower prices than what farmers in Mexico can offer.

The protesters, many of whom had traveled into the city on crowded trucks, held rallies outside the buildings housing the agriculture, treasury, and interior ministries. Organizers of the action reported a turnout of 15,000 people from 16 of the country's 31 states.

Actions were held simultaneously in the states of Chiapas, Morelos, Nayarit, and others. In the state of Hidalgo protesters blockaded the streets of Pachuca de Soto, the state capital. In recent months peasants across the country have carried out a number of actions, including occupations of oil refineries, highway toll booths, and government buildings.

The protesters in Mexico City stressed the damaging impact of low-priced U.S. imports. "Fox promised change that would improve things for Mexicans, not a change that would increase misery," said Francisco Zazaleta, a coffee farmer from the southern state of Oaxaca.

He described warehouses in his region full of unsold coffee. "There are Mexicans dying of hunger. As much as they work, they can't earn enough to provide for their families," he said. World prices for coffee have dropped, devastating small farmers in Mexico as well as drought-stricken Central America.

Corn farmers explained that imports from the United States have increased by nearly 15 percent each year since the 1994 signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which opened up Mexican agriculture to greater competition from the United States and Canada.

Sugar cane growers, their problems compounded by a drought in northern Mexico, have been hit by Washington's protectionist measures and by imports of corn syrup sweeteners from the United States. Many peasants have been forced to leave their land and to look for work in factories in the cities or in the United States. About one-quarter of the population of Mexico makes their living from farming.

The protest marked the 122nd anniversary of the birthday of Emiliano Zapata, the central leader of the Mexican revolution of 1910–20. A key component of Zapata's revolutionary democratic program was a thoroughgoing land reform.

"Fox sees the values of the revolution as history, the past," said Constantino Canstaneda, a 36-year-old tomato farmer who took a 10-hour bus ride from Zacatecas to join the action. "But I see the revolution in the land I work every day," he said, "and in the faces of my children, who will grow up to be farmers and have even less than I have now."

Fox has echoed the big-business argument that the reason small farmers go under is their own "poor management," while appealing to farmers to view themselves as businessmen with a stake in capitalism.

Speaking at a gathering of pro-government landowners in Mexico City, Fox downplayed the impact of the peasant demonstrations. He stated he would pay more attention to farmers who work to improve their returns than to those who organize protests. He advised farmers to invest in alternative crops and new technologies as a way out of their problems, and called for "an entrepreneurial attitude in the countryside."

At the same time, Fox blamed the crisis on unfair competition from "developed countries," which, he pointed out, subsidize their agricultural exports to the tune of billions of dollars. "This is no longer a local problem, but a world problem," he said, "one that we plan to bring up, as a country, before the World Trade Organization." Not only peasants but wealthier farmers in Mexico have been affected by the ravages of trade competition with imperialist agribusiness.
 
 
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