In a little-reported story last week, Mexico experienced some fearsome riots, with Sweetness & Light reporting that they were about opposition to a new Wal-Mart.

In San Salvador Atenco, in central Mexico state, not far from the capital, over 200 people were arrested, protesting a new Wal-Mart about to go up. One 14-year-old was killed, and President Vicente Fox has said over the weekend that the government overreacted.

Naturally, the Marxist Zapatistas showed up, led by blue-eyed, white-skinned, failed, wanna-be professor Subcommandante Marcos, who says he represents the Indigenous people.

But his opportunism (and he’s all about opportunism!) doesn’t obscure the fact that about a quarter of Mexico’s newly created jobs (CORRECTED, THANKS EDWARD!) are for Wal-Mart now (known as Wal-Mex). Can you imagine living in such a situation? There is nothing wrong with Wal-Mart but there ought to be room for more than Wal-Mart in a giant country of over 100 million people like Mexico. Wal-Mex is owned by a billionaire named Jeronimo Arango who’s worth over $10 billion in provable assets, according to Forbes. His wealth is not a problem but the fact that nobody else is wealthy signals that somebody is being shut out. This tells a lot about the opportunities and employment situation in that country.

The news media reports are notably absent of detail. Sweetness & Light was the first to point this out, and has an impressive photo gallery, trying to piece the pieces together. It’s likely to blow up again, given that the only reason it stopped was that riots always stop. The item is here.