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Yes, you read the headline right. Due to an inspector at a United States-owned avocado plant in the Mexican state of Michoacán receiving a threatening phone call, the U.S. has suspended all avocado imports from Mexico.
United States Issues Avocado Suspension
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During the Super Bowl this year, the company Avocados from Mexico ran a Super Bowl commercial. However, at the same time, U.S. imports of Mexican avocados had been suspended "until further notice."
The reason? Well, a plant safety inspector from the United States, while in Mexico, was threatened over the phone. "U.S. health authorities ... made the decision after one of their officials, who was carrying out inspections in Uruapan, Michoacán, received a threatening message on his official cellphone," Mexico's Department of Agriculture explained.
Just a few hours later, a United States government official confirmed the suspension, hoping it will only be temporary. "[F]acilitating the export of Mexican avocados to the U.S. and guaranteeing the safety of our agricultural inspection personnel go hand in hand," a statement from the United States Embassy read. "We are working with the Mexican government to guarantee security conditions that would allow our personnel in Michoacán to resume operations."
Of course, not everyone is happy with the news! After all, many people pick up from the grocery store come from Mexico...
No More Avocado Imports From Mexico
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For those who don't know, the southwestern state of Michoacán remains the only Mexican state that can export avocados to the United States. However, in recent years, drug cartels have started infiltrating the avocado trade. Officials have caught cartels carrying out everything from extorting farmers to stealing avocado trucks and holding them for ransom. Even worse, some of these crimes have even ended in terrible murders. This is not even the first time an inspector from the United States has been threatened! In 2019, cartels robbed a group from the U.S. Department of Agriculture at gunpoint.
"There are at least 20 illegal armed groups violently competing for territories and markets in the state," Falko Ernst, who works with the International Crisis Group, explained last year. "Yet not a single actor has been able to establish dominion over the others. This means war has become perpetual and extremely costly...The avocado sector, a billion-dollar industry, after all, is too attractive [for armed groups] to pass up on, and producers and exporters are bearing some of the cost."
However, if you love avocados and guacamole, do not worry. Both the United States and Mexico are working hard to get Mexican avocados back in grocery stores. Michoacán's governor Alfredo Ramirez and U.S. officials have already started planning meetings. There they will discuss how to resume shipments as soon as possible. Hopefully, it all works out soon! Thankfully, avocados come from many other places, including California.
Sources: CNBC, Food And Wine, NBC
