The tortilla outlets selling that brand established their prices according to the association's recommendations.

Tortilla manufacturers and sellers retained their membership in industry associations, through which these unlawful horizontal agreements were maintained.

The so called tortilla crisis, which led to protests in Mexico City in January, foreshadows what we can expect.

But that isn t enough to propel people from a tortilla factory to a software company, to create a broad middle class, and thus to assure social mobility.

A popular food item, the breakfast burrito, draws from all three, having a soft flour tortilla wrapped around bacon and scrambled eggs or other hot, cooked fillings.

The association contended that it and the tortilla sellers were a single entity, but that argument was rejected by the competition agency and ultimately by the courts.

The private virtual monopolies in telecommunications (Telmex), television (Televisa), cement (Cemex), bread and tortilla manufacturing (Bimbo and Maseca, respectively), banking (Banamex Citigroup and Bancomer Banco de Bilbao) may face competition abroad, but not at home.

In one case, a business association was responsible for coordinating the activities of farmers, millers and manufacturers of tortilla corn dough and was the head of a programme whereby the sale of tortillas was accomplished under a single brand.