Hundreds of machete-wielding farmers protesting the government's plan to take their land for a new airport outside Mexico City prepared for a showdown with police, after taking seven hostages during clashes that left 30 people injured.
Some farmers had threatened to kill the hostages, who include local government officials, unless police free two of their leaders and 13 others arrested in violence on Thursday.
But protest leader Mr David Pajaro said yesterday the hostages would not be harmed.
"It's up to the government to solve this situation," he said. He also said his group was in negotiations with the government but refused to give details.
While riot police lined up in trucks outside the town of San Salvador Atenco, which lies beyond the capital's garbage dump about 18 miles outside of Mexico City, 200 people including old women and children carrying machetes chanted slogans in the town square.
The crowd was preparing to march on the capital yesterday afternoon, but the biggest activity in town was the unloading of two Coca-Cola trucks the farmers hijacked. The crowd guzzled soft drinks and saved the bottles to make Molotov cocktails.
The hostages were allowed to talk to reporters and said they had not been harmed. But state officials warned their patience was running out.
"Tolerance and prudence have their limits. They have committed crimes, they have kidnapped people," said Mr Manuel Cadena, interior minister in Mexico State, which circles the capital city and is home to the international airport project.
The federal government announced in October it would expropriate more than 10,000 acres of land to build the new international airport for Mexico City, sparking a string of protests by local farmers.