Unconstitutional

f the world’s largest corporations.

But this week, contrary to the way things usually work out in Mexico, the big guys lost as the government imposed its largest ever anti-monopoly fines, totalling about $68 million, against Coca-Cola and dozens of its distributors and bottlers.

Even Raquel Chavez, 49, expected to lose when a Coke distributor told her to get rid of Big Cola, an upstart brand that arrived in Mexico recently from Peru, or risk having Coke stop selling to her.

“I told them, ‘You can’t refuse to sell to me. That’s unconstitutional’,” Mrs Chavez said. “I didn’t really know if it was unconstitutional, but I said it anyway.” […]

“I thought we were going to go out of business,” she said. Mrs Chavez was forced to buy Coke from wholesale centres and lug dozens of cases home in her elderly car.

“My husband just watched me,” she said, adding that he was angry with her for taking on such an impossible battle.