Mexico’s avocado exports to the United States have resumed after an eight-day security alert that shut down operations in Michoacan, the country’s main avocado-producing state, but workers and producers warn that the underlying threats from organized crime remain firmly in place.
US authorities fully lifted the restrictions that had forced packing plants to seal their doors and left some 200,000 people employed by Michoacan’s avocado industry in limbo. By the weekend, orchards were operating again, packing plants were running at full speed, and US Department of Agriculture inspectors had returned to certify fruit before it enters the United States.
Extortion as a Daily Cost of Business
Authorities did not specify what threat triggered the alert, but in a state where four cartels designated by the Trump administration as terrorist organizations operate, the possibilities are extensive. Some growers have come to view extortion as an unavoidable production cost. One producer told the AP that he pays one peso per kilo exported in extortion fees and ships about 90 metric tons a day, amounting to more than 5,000 dollars in daily payments. In March alone, Mexico shipped nearly 4,800 tons of avocados a day to the United States.
Trucks loaded with avocados are sometimes robbed on roads in western Michoacan, and farmworkers have reported being stopped and beaten by armed men near the border with Jalisco. US inspectors have also been assaulted and temporarily detained in the past, triggering similar export suspensions.
Workers Celebrate, But Tensions Remain
Avocado picker Francisco Isidro returned to work the morning after the alert was lifted, climbing trees and filling boxes with fruit bound for the United States. But industry businessperson Valentin Rodriguez offered a more cautious view: we will be safe for a while, we will see what happens next.
The deployment of more than 1,500 soldiers to protect Michoacan’s avocado-growing region and recent arrests of people allegedly involved in extortion have eased concerns, but only partially. Grower Luis Manuel Soto said that despite earlier convictions, threats have continued by phone and that armed men once left him a funeral cross and a written message giving him days to comply with extortion demands.
More than 80 percent of Mexican avocados are sold to the United States, making the export pipeline a critical economic lifeline for Michoacan. The industry generates billions in annual revenue, and thousands of tons of avocados cross the border daily, particularly in the months leading up to the Super Bowl when guacamole demand surges.
Sources: Associated Press; WBAL-TV; USDA
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