The “city of the gods,” as the Aztecs called it, rose up round an unlimited temple advanced and two nice pyramids, the Sun and the Moon. The ancient metropolis is lengthy gone, buried beneath farm fields, small pueblos and the detritus of bygone civilizations. But the temple advanced and pyramids stay, which is why Teotihuacán is so central to Mexico’s cultural patrimony. But there is not a higher example of Wal-Mart de Mexico’s strategies than its conquest of Mrs. Pineda’s alfalfa field. In Teotihuacán, The Times found that Wal-Mart de Mexico executives permitted at least four completely different bribe payments — more than $200,000 in all — to build just a medium-size supermarket.
Teotihuacán’s plan, however, was quickly accredited and then despatched to the Government’s Gazette on Aug. 20. By early 2003, just as Mr. Ortiz’s agency was ending its work, Wal-Mart de Mexico had settled on Teotihuacán as a …