San Salvador Atenco, Mexico
Farmers fighting plans to build an international airport on their land captured 19 government officials and policemen and threatened to kill them during a tense, four-day standoff. The farmers freed the hostages only when the police released a dozen fellow peasants from jail. Farmers have been battling the government since October, when it announced it was expropriating 10,000 acres to make way for a $2 billion international airport to serve Mexico City. Mexico state Gov. Arturo Montiel called for a “constructive dialogue within the framework of the law,” but several protesters said there was nothing to discuss. “We’ve been on this land all our lives,” one woman said. “It doesn’t have a price.”
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