Santa María Coapan, Puebla – Hundreds of women in Santa María Coapan turned a local tradition into a public statement for food sovereignty and cultural survival at the latest Tortilla Race in Puebla, a native corn defense event. The race, which drew women of all ages dressed in traditional costume, served as both a celebration of the tortilla-making lineage and a protest of broader pressures over genetically modified (GM) corn in Mexico’s food system. The gathering highlighted how deeply native corn is tied to identity, health, and rural livelihoods—against a backdrop of ongoing policy clashes with the United States over GM corn trade and cultivation.
Organizers framed the race as a defense, not just of a flatbread, but of the agricultural ecosystem underpinning it. Angelina Acevez Zamora, who helped coordinate the event, said the purpose was to honor women and farmers who persist in traditional planting cycles and to keep out chemically treated or prematurely ripened corn that, she warned, carries health risks. Mothers, she noted, pass knowledge to their daughters—teaching them how to evaluate corn by its cooking response, which kernels “break” properly, and which show signs of excessive processing or chemical alteration.
The town of Santa María Coapan is known for keeping those threads intact: at least 80% of its women are involved in tortilla making, using native corn to produce staples such as tortillas and atole, and to complement a wide array of regional dishes. Luisa Mercedes Nicolás Flores, a veteran racer who ran with more than 600 women, described the multigenerational effort—from planting and tending the milpa to drying and nixtamalizing the grain—as the slow work of survival and cultural transmission. She paid tribute to her grandparents for safeguarding corn cultivation practices, insisting that every step, from protecting the crop from birds to the final tortilla press, carries intentional care.
The symbolism of the race gained national resonance because it coincides with sharp policy debates over genetically modified corn. In late 2024 and into 2025, Mexico found itself in a trade standoff with the United States after its restrictions on GM corn imports were ruled inconsistent with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). A USMCA panel concluded that Mexico’s previous import ban lacked a scientific basis, compelling the government to rescind that specific restriction in early 2025.
Yet the dispute did not end there. In response, President Claudia Sheinbaum and the Mexican Congress pursued a constitutional reform to bar the domestic cultivation of genetically modified corn, enshrining native maize as an element of national identity. That amendment—approved in early 2025—prohibits planting GM corn in Mexico while still allowing imports under the trade ruling, underscoring a dual posture: compliance with international trade obligations on one hand and a hardline preservation of biodiversity and cultural heritage on the other.
The Tortilla Race in Puebla thus functions as an on-the-ground reflection of that tension. Participants are not only racing for tradition; they are racing for a future in which the tortilla remains rooted in native corn, not shaped by external agricultural models or chemically altered inputs. The event’s visibility amplifies the broader argument among many rural and indigenous advocates that food systems must prioritize local knowledge, biodiversity, and health over industrial standardization.
Economically, Mexico remains heavily linked to U.S. corn markets. Although the country is self-sufficient in white corn for human consumption, it has imported billions of dollars’ worth of corn—including largely GM yellow corn used for feed—in recent years. That dependence complicates any sharp break, even as political and cultural leaders push to protect native strains from genetic contamination and assert the tortilla’s place as a national symbol.
The race’s imagery—women balancing tortillas or symbolic weight while running—echoes broader narratives of stewardship. It reinforces the idea that defending native corn is labor-intensive, community-rooted, and female-led. That message arrives as Mexico charts its own course: accepting certain trade outcomes while doubling down domestically on the constitutional protection of its agricultural heritage.
For readers outside Puebla, the Tortilla Race is a useful barometer of how cultural traditions intersect with national policy and international commerce. The event shows that battles over food are not abstract—they unfold in dusty fields, in the hands of women teaching daughters how to feel the quality of a kernel, and in the momentum of hundreds running a race that carries both memory and resistance.
