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Mexico grows almost half avocados sold globally, nicknamed as 'green gold'

US sales have risen almost fivefold this century and have also surged in the UK

Almost all of Mexico's avocados are grown in fertile volcanic soil of Michoacán

Violent gangs have seized 35 per cent of the £1.9 billion sector in this state alone

One collective of 40 farmers is being forced to pay £500K a month to gangsters

When one distributor refused to pay 'protection' money, daughter was executed

Sergio was working in the avocado orchards when two men suddenly appeared and told him to accompany them to see their boss. Having already survived a kidnapping and execution threat, he knew this was bad news.

He was driven a few miles to another orchard, where a prominent drug cartel chief was sitting at a table surrounded by 15 heavily armed goons. Sergio was offered a glass of water, asked a few innocuous questions, then dismissed.

A few days later, the phone calls started. He was told to tell his boss to give the two men almost £100,000 - a huge sum in Mexico, where the average annual household income is about £6,600.

'The men said they were asking for a contribution because they had so many expenses and workers to pay,' he said. 'They said they were asking in a friendly way - but if we were not friendly, then they would take other measures.'

Sergio, a tall and amiable man, knew what this meant. Farmers have been disappearing and turning up dead in Michoacán, the fertile heart of Mexico's billion-pound avocado trade, ever since drug cartels discovered the humble green fruit could be as lucrative as heroin.

Sergio's bosses duly negotiated a lower sum and he delivered the agreed first instalment. Two days later came another call. 'They asked if this was a joke, saying it was not enough money and wanting the original amount.'

Then the farmers faced a barrage of menacing calls. They switched off their phones, but the gangsters turned up at their homes and hustled their families.

When I met Sergio, they had one more day to hand over the cash - or face death.

Such is the fragility of life in Michoacán. This state became one of the most blood-soaked parts of our planet after murderous cartels fought to control vast profits from cocaine, heroin and cannabis flowing through their country.

Now the price of heroin has crashed due to creation of synthetic opioid alternatives, cannabis is legal in much of North America - and violence has surged in Mexico with a record toll of murders as its savage gangs diversify into new areas.

How ironic that these symbols of health-consciousness in the West are suddenly at the centre of mass killings, kidnappings, torture, extortion and corruption.

Mexico grows almost half the avocados sold globally. The product has become so valuable that it is nicknamed 'green gold'.

US sales have risen almost fivefold this century and have also surged in the UK.

Celebrity chefs pushed them hard as they are one of the few fruits to contain hardly any sugar but are rich in vitamins, fibre and healthier monounsaturated fats.

Ella Woodward, of bestselling brand Deliciously Ella, whizzes them into breakfast smoothies while celebrity cook Nigella Lawson says avocado toast is 'part of the fabric of my life'.

I was returning to my hotel in the city of Uruapan after talking to Sergio's boss when I came across scores of heavily armed police and troops. As rain lashed down, soldiers trained guns and even grenade-launchers at cafes, shops and bars in the street.

Inside a small video arcade, there was carnage. Four gunmen had entered and, after asking for two local cartel leaders, sprayed about 65 bullets around the room without waiting for an answer.

Nine people lay dead, the floor was covered in blood. The youngest was Luis Sandoval, only 12 years old. 'They were just playing games in an arcade,' Ana, his aunt, later told me. 'All the victims were kids, good kids going to school from poor and humble families.'

Few of the terrified people who live in this 500-year-old city would argue with her next words. 'It is so difficult to live in these circumstances because you never know when something bad is going to happen.'

Uruapan has been hideously scarred by violence since an infamous day in 2006 when five severed human heads were hurled on a nightclub dancefloor, heralding the start of a reign of terror by cartels trafficking Colombian cocaine.

The cause of the latest horror is assumed to be a turf war between Los Viagras, a local gang that takes its name from the spikily erect hair of one of its founders, and rivals Jalisco New Generation, from a neighbouring state.

Six months ago, nine bodies were hung from a bridge alongside a banner threatening Los Viagras, with ten more corpses, mostly dismembered, dumped on the road below.

The day before the arcade killings, 11 bodies were found in a shallow grave. Last week, 24 more corpses, including those of five women, were found in a rural spot near the city, bearing signs of torture and execution.

Everyone, from wealthy doctors to struggling street taco-sellers, faces extortion - yet no one dares go to the police since many are in the pay of cartels and informers get killed.

One taxi driver told me that he and his colleagues must stump up a monthly sum in protection money equivalent to about one day's earnings. 'Los delincuentes [criminals] are expanding to steal from everyone. Every day I am afraid. The whole town will soon be empty as it gets dark. People all hide behind locked doors.'

Almost all of Mexico's avocados are grown in the fertile volcanic soil of Michoacán, which has lifted the region out of poverty - but at terrible cost. Initially, the cartels saw the avocado industry as a means to launder money but rapidly realised the potential for vast profits. 'They stopped seeing drugs as their main industry and moved into avocados as well as mining,' said one analyst.

Gabriel Castaneda, director of security policy in Michoacán, says the gangs, which are thought to have 200,000 members in his state alone, have seized 35 per cent of the £1.9 billion sector. 'They're taking control of the whole industry,' he said. 'It is replacing many of their former activities, including drug-trafficking. In many cases the takeovers are done by murder, extortion and kidnapping.'

Castaneda told how one collective of 40 farmers is being forced to pay £500,000 a month to gangsters, while up to four trucks carrying avocados are reportedly hijacked each day in the state. 'It is so profitable,' he said.

After one avocado distributor refused to pay 'protection' money, his daughter was executed on the company's doorstep as a warning to others.

Another grower was kidnapped from his orchard earlier this month and his body found days later.

According to a local source, 20 gangs contest this terrain. Yet the authorities' impotence was clear when I went to talk to Sergio's boss Tomás at his farm near a checkpoint run by the National Guard, an anti-cartel police force created last year.

Tomás clearly loves his land as he showed me round his orchards and plucked an avocado for me to taste - but he was also obviously under huge stress as talked about the struggle to find protection money.

'They have a lot of information about you. They know exactly how much land we all have. You pay off these people - but who knows if another lot will appear next week demanding money? They can get you any time, ask for any sum, steal any land.'

He said they did not have the cash so would have to cut down as much ripe fruit as possible - although payment for sales would take six weeks to come through - and then borrow from friends, family and loan sharks.

'I am frightened for my family - I don't want any of them to be harmed. If I was single, I would just go to Mexico City. But there is no way out. We can't just flee.'

Such is the suspicion that stalks this land that Tomás took me aside to talk away from his own workers. He is dismayed by the failure of the authorities to protect local people - but he is resisting, so far, calls for creation of a self-defence militia.

Later, in a nearby forest, I met a group of families of the indigenous Purépecha people who have armed themselves to fight off cartels trying to take their property.

Inside a wooden cabin, they showed me a sophisticated camera system that is scanning their 4,200 acres of pine-filled woods - and a hiding place for guns to fend off gangsters who want their land for avocados.

Their spokesman showed me scars on his fingers left by a machete during a clash with five criminals last October.

'We inherited this land from our grandfathers so we feel obliged to protect it,' he said.

I spoke also to an environmentalist whose forest has been stripped by gangsters who sell 'licences' to loggers for about £20 a day. He says his home, too, has been destroyed by police in league with the gangs. He estimated that 56,000 trees have been cut down in the 250-acre site and said that he had to dive for cover last year during an hour-long ambush by Los Viagras that left ten rival gangsters dead.

Little wonder, amid all this carnage and corruption, that some residents in Nuevo San Juan Parangaricutiro, a village five miles down the road from Uruapan, have taken the law into their own hands.

'Municipal Council' checkpoints, run by locals using walkie-talkies, ring the town. One man told me their weapons were stashed out of sight under a deal with the federal government but they possessed 2,000 rifles in this place of 15,000 people. A cattle trader said he did not like guns, but added: 'I have a few grenades if I need them.'

Another man in his 70s explained how the area had been under control of two gangsters who lived in the town. 'We had no freedom. There was a curfew at 10pm. These guys could do what they wanted, even taking young girls to rape.'

Two years ago, residents rose in revolt after the shooting of a local man. Grabbing their guns, they drove the main gangster out of town after killing his brother.

It is reminiscent of the Wild West. Cartel members are allowed to pass freely through the town - I saw three young armed toughs clad in black stroll into a shop from a pick-up truck without licence plates.

Armando Galindo Espinoza, the police chief, said his force had been reformed at the same time as the residents' revolt. 'Some left with the gangs because they were part of them. We fired a few officers to clean it up and replaced them with local people.'

As I entered his office, he shifted two semi-automatic rifles from my seat. Later, he showed me the small .223 bullets fired from his police guns and compared them with the far bigger ones used by gangsters, rattled out by automatic weapons with 75-bullet clips and able to pierce his heaviest protective vest.

'We're fighting an evil - and it was political negligence from the authorities that let this cancer grow,' he said.

Mexico's president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a veteran socialist and close friend of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, won power two years ago by promising to end violence with a focus on the economy and a naive policy of 'abrazos, no balazos' (hugs not bullets). But the economy has stagnated and violence worsened.

During my visit, his new National Guard was humiliated after an egg-throwing crowd supporting an arrested Viagras gang leader forced troops clearing road blocks into retreat.

One of the president's former senior party colleagues said it was vital that this force was given far greater powers to investigate and crush the cartels. 'The policy should be to protect the majority of the population, not to defend the human rights of gangs with no respect for other people.'

Back in Michoacán, the cartel did not turn up to collect the cash from avocado farmer Tomás on the appointed day.

Was this a relief, I asked? 'Not necessarily,' he replied wearily. 'You don't know when they will come back.'

Such is the tragic cruelty of this verdant land where our love of avocados means that a luscious fruit is valued more now than human lives.

Some names have been changed to protect identities.

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IAN BIRRELL on cartels realising avocados more profitable than drugs

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Mexico grows almost half avocados sold globally, nicknamed as 'green gold' US sales have risen almost fivefold this century and have also surged in the UK Almost all of Mexico's avocados are grown in fertile volcanic soil of Michoacán Violent gangs have seized 35 per cent of the £1.9 billion

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Earlier this month, Mexican officials discovered the body of a second murdered activist who worked at the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in the mountains of Michoacán.

Reports on the murders say clandestine avocado farms had something to do with the two deaths. Mexican drug cartels have broken into the lucrative avocado business in the state of Michoacán, where most of the avocados imported to the U.S. come from.

For several years, the cartels have been diversifying their portfolios to include a range of legal economies in addition to drugs, says Eduardo Moncada, an assistant political science professor at Barnard College.

"Avocados represent a major source of income in the state of Michoacán in Mexico," says Moncada, who is writing a book in part about extortion in Michoacán. "And as such, they've been mobilizing to try and capture money from that sector."

The cartel engages in extortion of avocado producers, transporters and packers to gain control over the sector. By taking over lands used to produce avocados, they become "informal owners" of the fields and profit from sales, he says.

The cartels are broadening their portfolios beyond avocados, too. Taking control of land - like the butterfly reserve - allows them to produce more agricultural goods, and the wood and timber there is also valuable, he says.

Mexico's war on drugs began in 2006 under the reign of former President Felipe Calderón. On top of the violence that the conflict unleashed, it also fragmented the country's handful of large cartels to many smaller ones, he says.

"In order to survive and thrive in that kind of context, the cartels began to diversify their portfolios in a way to try and gain resources," he says.

Many avocado growers initially welcomed the cartels, he says. That's because the cartels gave the growers services the state failed to provide for years, such as security for themselves, their land and products.

The cartels asked for a tax in exchange for these services, but Moncada says they became more predatory toward growers over time. Cartels stopped providing the growers with services but kept charging extortion fees, he says.

Michoacán is also one of the United States' primary sources for blueberries, strawberries and blackberries. Many berry producers are also being taxed by drug cartels as well, he says.

Despite the difficult situation many growers find themselves in, Moncada doesn't think Americans should feel like consuming avocados is contributing to the drug cartels. It's more complicated than that, in part because not all avocados coming from Mexico come from farms involved with the cartels, he says.

"Much like any commodity that we purchase from the phones that we use to the computers that we're reliant on, those commodity chains kind of moved back and forth between the legal and the illegal and the criminal and the formal," he says, "and avocados aren't an exception to that."
Lynn Menegon produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Todd Mundt. Allison Hagan adapted it for the web.

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Why Avocados Attract Interest Of Mexican Drug Cartels

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Earlier this month, Mexican officials discovered the body of a second murdered activist who worked at the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in the mountains of Michoacán. Reports on the murders say clandestine avocado farms had something to do with the two deaths.

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SAN JUAN PARANGARICUTIRO, Mexico -- Small-scale avocado growers armed with AR-15 rifles take turns manning a vigilante checkpoint to guard against thieves and drug cartel extortionists in this town Michoacan state, the heartland of world production of the fruit locals call "green gold."

The region's avocado boom, fueled by soaring U.S. consumption, has raised parts of western Mexico out of poverty in just 10 years. But the scent of money has drawn gangs and hyper-violent cartels that have hung bodies from bridges and cowed police forces, and the rising violence is threatening the newfound prosperity. A recent U.S. warning that it could withdraw orchard inspectors sent a shiver through the $2.4 billion-a-year export industry.

Some growers are taking up arms. At the checkpoint in San Juan Parangaricutiro, the vigilantes are calm but attentive. They say their crop is worth fighting for.

"If it wasn't for avocados, I would have to leave to find work, maybe go to the United States or somewhere else," said one of guards, Pedro de la Guante, whose small avocado orchard earns him far more than he would get from any other legal -- or illegal -- crop.

Luis, another guard who asked that his last name not be used out of fear of reprisals, lists the problems that came to the town with the avocado boom: extortion, kidnappings, cartels and avocado theft. "That is why we are here: We don't want any of that."

While Mexican avocado growers have for years lived in fear of assaults and shakedowns, the situation went international in mid-August when a U.S. Department of Agriculture team of inspectors was "directly threatened" in Ziracuaretiro, a town just west of Uruapan in Michoacan. While the agency didn't specify what happened, local authorities say a gang robbed the truck the inspectors were travelling in at gunpoint.

"For future situations that result in a security breach, or demonstrate an imminent physical threat to the well-being of APHIS personnel, we will immediately suspend program activities," the USDA wrote in a letter, referring to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

Such a move could block shipments and devastate the industry that supplies U.S. consumers hungry for guacamole and avocado toast. It was only in 1997 that the U.S. lifted a ban on Mexican avocados that had been in place since 1914 to prevent a range of weevils, scabs and pests from entering U.S. orchards.

The Michoacan-based Avocado Growers and Packers Association published the warning letter from the USDA -- an unusual move that some in Uruapan interpreted as a gesture aimed at making criminals aware they risk killing off the state's biggest money-making industry if U.S. inspectors stop approving exports. Neither the avocado association nor the USDA responded to requests for comment.

The police chief in a town in western Mexico's avocado belt describes what life is like with the Viagras cartel. The chief asked that his name not be used. The Viagras are so thoroughly present that he doesn't venture into nearby Uruapan without a phalanx of armed bodyguards. The Michoacan-based cartel derives its unusual name from their founders' habit of combing so much gel into their hair that it stands up on end.

"They've done everything -- extortions, protection payments. They've flown drones over us," said the chief. "They come in and want to set up (drug) laboratories in the orchards."

But the Viagras are now also the hunted. The vicious Jalisco New Generation cartel is trying to move into Michoacan on several fronts. In August, the cartel hung nine bodies from an overpass in Uruapan, and left 10 more corpses hacked up or dumped by the road. On the overpass they hung a banner saying: "Be a Patriot, Kill a Viagra."

Farther south, in the hotter, lime-growing region of Michoacan, Jalisco cartel gunmen ambushed and killed 13 state police officers in mid-October. The attack so terrified police that when they went to collect the dead officers' burned vehicles, they worked so hastily they left behind a crushed, charred, bullet-perforated skull.

Cartels, police and vigilantes alike are spooked by the Jalisco cartel onslaught.

In the cattle-ranching town of Tepalcatepec, which lies on the border with Jalisco state, heavily armed vigilantes -- apparently in the employ of a local gang -- mount a 24-hour guard in a sniper post atop a hill guarding against incursions by the Jalisco cartel. One vigilante with an assault rifle slung over his shoulder, who refused to give his name, came down from the hilltop to scare away a news photographer. "Clear out of here! Don't you know you have a .50-calibre (rifle) aimed at your head?"

As in much of Michoacan, the violence is largely hidden by a wave of apparent prosperity brought by fruit: miles of chain-link fencing enclose seemingly endless groves of avocado trees with limbs hanging heavy with the harvest. New packing plants seemingly go up overnight.

But Hipolito Mora, who founded the state's civilian armed self-defence movement in 2013, said appearances are deceptive. The new fruit packing plants had already been robbed at gunpoint three times in one week by thieves who apparently knew exactly when they would have cash on hand to pay farmers.

"If the business owners were to close their plants, the region's economy would come crashing down," said Mora, who is also a lime grower.

Mexico supplies about 43% of world avocado exports, almost all from Michoacan. The USDA has a near-permanent delegation of inspectors posted in Mexico.

A few weeks after the incident with the USDA inspectors, an avocado orchard manager and a worker were kidnapped at gunpoint in Ziracuaretiro, allegedly by municipal police. Seven officers are under investigation in the case, and the Ziracuaretiro police department was essentially disbanded.

Today, heavily armed state police patrol Ziracuaretiro and Mayor Jose Rodriguez Baca is worried. He has seven town policemen in jail, illegal loggers felling pine trees in his township and a potential economic crisis on his hands.

"This has everyone worried," Rodriguez Baca said of the U.S. warning and violence in his town. "If they close the door on us in the United States, everything would come crashing down."

His township shows the shortcomings of state and federal anti-crime strategies, in which police, the army and National Guard often come into troubled towns, make a show of force for a few weeks and then leave. State police had been assigned to patrol Ziracuaretiro earlier this year, before the U.S. inspectors were assaulted, but were withdrawn in July to attend another hotspot.

Avocado growers are feeling scared, alone and caught in the middle.

Carlos Martinez is a third-generation avocado grower whose 2.5-hectare (6-acre) grove in Ziracuaretiro can produce as much as 50 tons of avocados in a good year, worth about $100,000.

"It is a question of crime and that affects us as third parties, and our customers," Martinez said. "We just wake up each morning hoping it doesn't happen to us."

Martinez hasn't had any shipments of avocados stolen yet -- a common complaint in Michoacan -- but he said thieves often steal avocados from the orchards. He, like most growers, had to put up chain-link fences and hire a guard. But it is the fear of kidnapping or the phone call demanding protection payments that worry him most.

"I don't answer phone calls from numbers I don't know," Martinez said.

In San Juan Parangaricutiro, De la Guante is an example of how avocados have lifted many in Michoacan out of poverty.

He was an itinerant farmworker before he planted avocados on a hectare (2.4 acres) of sandy land 11 years ago. That relatively small plot now yields as much as 10 tons of avocados. This year he was lucky to sell in August, when prices were high, at 40 pesos ($2) a kilogram. That means De la Guante earned at least $15,000 this year.

Adriana Villicana, a professor at Univa Catholic University in Uruapan, said the avocado boom has lifted thousands out of poverty.

"There are a lot of women working at packing plants, and a majority of them describe themselves as single mothers or single," Villicana said.

However, the rising tide hasn't lifted all boats. The region's 15,000 or so avocado pickers earn an attractive wage for the region, but the job is seasonal and the physical demands of climbing trees with long poles to get the avocados mean few can work beyond age 45.

Villicana, who also sits on the Uruapan citizen's safety advisory board, says the region's crime problem will be worse if the avocado industry collapses.

"If there were no avocados, where are they going to work?" Villicana asked. "The most likely things is that they would hire themselves out to work for the criminals."

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In Mexico, avocado industry brings both riches and violence

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SAN JUAN PARANGARICUTIRO, Mexico -- Small-scale avocado growers armed with AR-15 rifles take turns manning a vigilante checkpoint to guard against thieves and drug cartel extortionists in this town Michoacan state, the heartland of world production of the fruit locals call "green gold." The region's avocado boom, fueled by soaring U.S.

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Every day, avocado producers are victims of robberies and lose an average of four loaded trucks of around 12 tons (26,448 pounds) on the state's highways, during the journey from the orchards to the packing zones.

MICHOACÁN Mexico. (TYT) - Packers and exporters of avocado in Michoacán are desperate and ask for the immediate intervention of the government of López Obrador who according to them, "has not moved a finger against organized crime".

Every day, avocado producers are victims of robberies and lose an average of four loaded trucks of around 12 tons (26,448 pounds) during the journey from the orchards to the packing zones on the state's highways. They ask the authorities to stop the criminal gangs, which threaten the economic activity and the lives of the workers.

In an ad that began to circulate this week in the national press, the guild, grouped in the "Association of Export Producers and Packers of Avocado from Mexico" (Apeam), the "Union of Packers and Traders of Avocado of Michoacan" (Udecam) and the "Association of Packers of Periban", launches a warning: "if a truck loaded with this product is stolen on the way from the orchard to the packing area, instead of full price, the producer only gets paid 15 pesos per kilo".

They claim that taking these measures is extremely painful but necessary, since they cannot longer sustain the losses. and they assure that not stopping the theft of trucks will have an irreparable impact on the avocado industry.

In the text, avocado packers and exporters denounce that there has been a worsening of the situation of insecurity since the arrival of the López Obrador's government and they suffer daily during the transfers.

"Apart from theft and kidnapping of the units and drivers, we expose our physical integrity given the prevailing insecurity on the roads we must travel to reach the destination with the product already packed". They expose.

That is why they demand that the authorities of the three orders of government, federal, state and municipal, undertake an effective fight against crime.

"Given the inability and opacity of all authorities to stop this violence and deal with crime, we respectfully communicate that it is impossible to continue to face losses, as well as the strong economic impact that this generates". In the text, the packing and exporting guild also addresses the producer members, to whom they ask for their understanding and support.

The production of avocado, known as "green gold" originates in the fertile lands of Michoacán and is exported practically all over the world.

Producers and exporters of avocado have to share the territory with the activities of different groups of organized crime that dispute both the production, distribution and transfer of drugs, as extortion and theft from various industries of the entity. The latter are dedicated to the production of various basic foods for the diet of Mexicans, mining and the transfer of goods.

The British newspaper, "The Guardian" addressed the situation of insecurity affecting the avocado growers. It recalled that Michoacán was the testing ground for Mexico's military war on drugs launched in 2006.

Falko Ernst, Mexico's senior analyst for the "International Crisis Group" points out: "There are at least 20 illegal armed groups violently competing for territories and markets in that entity. However, none has been able to establish dominance over the others. That means the war has become perpetual and extremely costly for the criminal groups". He explained.

"The avocado sector, a billion-dollar industry, is, after all, too attractive (for the armed groups) to pass up, and producers and exporters bear part of the cost" Falko Ernst said.

"The Association of Export Producers and Packers of Avocado from Mexico" or Apeam in Spanish, was founded in 1977 and its main task is to promote the export of Mexican fruit.

It is the only association recognized before the Mexican and U.S. agricultural authorities for the export of Mexican avocado. It is also in charge of the promotion of the fruit in other countries under the brand "Aguacates de México".

The association has 26,234 producers, 58 packers and in the 2017-2018 season exported 869,057 tons to the United States, according to data from that group.
Sources: La Jornada, Exportadores de Aguacate de México (Apeam), The Guardian, International Crisis Group.
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Mexican avocado in grave danger due to organized crime

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Every day, avocado producers are victims of robberies and lose an average of four loaded trucks of around 12 tons (26,448 pounds) on the state's highways, during the journey from the orchards to the packing zones. MICHOACÁN Mexico.

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Avocado growers in Michoacán are taking up arms against drug cartels that demand extortion payments and gangs of thieves that steal their valuable crop known colloquially as "green gold."

A report published by the Associated Press on Wednesday said that violent cartels and gangs are threatening the prosperity of avocado-growing regions of the state.

Demand for avocados in the United States has helped lift thousands of Michoacán residents out of poverty since 1997, when U.S. authorities lifted a more than 80-year ban on the fruit that was designed to present pests from reaching orchards north of the border.

At a checkpoint in the avocado-producing town of San Juan Parangaricutiro, small-scale growers who double as heavily-armed community guards told the Associated Press that their crops are worth fighting for.

"If it wasn't for avocados, I would have to leave to find work, maybe go to the United States or somewhere else," said Pedro de la Guante.

Another guard identified only as Luis said the avocado boom has brought a range of problems to San Juan including extortion, kidnappings, cartels and avocado theft. "That is why we are here. We don't want any of that," he said.

Cartels operating in Michoacán's avocado-growing regions have threatened farmers for years but in the middle of August, a team of inspectors from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) was also caught up in the pervasive violence.

The USDA team was "directly threatened" by a criminal gang in Ziracuaretiro, another avocado growing town just west of Uruapan. Local authorities said the gang robbed the truck that the inspectors were traveling in at gunpoint.

Another group of USDA inspectors were robbed and their vehicle was stolen in the same town in early September. Seven municipal police are under investigation in connection with the crime.

The agriculture department subsequently threatened to suspend its avocado certification program, a move that the Associated Press said, "sent a shiver" through the US $2.4-billion industry.

"For future situations that result in a security breach, or demonstrate an imminent physical threat to . . . personnel we will immediately suspend program activities," the USDA said in a letter.

If the United States government withdrew its near-permanent agriculture personnel from Michoacán - the source of almost all avocado exports to the U.S. - shipments of the fruit north of the border could cease.

The Mexican Avocado Producers and Packers Association published the USDA letter, a move that some people said was aimed at making criminals aware that their activities could kill off Michoacán's biggest industry.

A police chief in an avocado-producing municipality, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of repercussions, told the Associated Press that the Viagras crime gang has such a strong presence in the region that he won't go into nearby Uruapan without a large entourage of bodyguards.

"They've done everything - extortions, protection payments. They've flown drones over us. They come in and want to set up [drug] laboratories in the orchards," he said.

However, the Viagras gang faces a threat from the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), with whom it is engaged in a turf war in the state.

Ten people were killed in a shootout between the CJNG and Los Viagras in Uruapan in May, a series of confrontations between the two warring cartels left at least nine people dead on a single day in June and in early August nine bodies were left hanging from an overpass in Uruapan. Then followed the discovery at two locations of 10 more bodies, many of which had been mutilated.

The CJNG claimed responsibility for killing the 19 people in August. A message left with the bodies read in part: "Kind people, go on with your routine. Be patriotic, and kill a Viagra."

However, the Associated Press noted that violence in Michoacán is largely hidden by the prosperity brought by avocados. Orchards spread out across the state and new packing plants often appear in new locations.

But Hipólito Mora, founder of a self-defense force that took up arms against the Caballeros Templarios cartel and other criminal groups in 2013, said that appearances are deceptive.

He said that new packing plants have been repeatedly robbed by thieves who knew that there would be cash there to pay farmers.

"If the business owners were to close their plants," Mora said, "the region's economy would come crashing down."

Adriana Villicaña, a professor at Univa Catholic University in Uruapan, said that if the avocado industry were to collapse, crime in Michoacán would become even worse as some 15,000 avocado pickers would be out of a job.

"If there were no avocados, where are they going to work? The most likely thing is that they would hire themselves out to work for the criminals," she said.
Source: The Associated Press (sp)

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Avocado growers in Michoacán take up arms against cartels

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Avocado growers in Michoacán are taking up arms against drug cartels that demand extortion payments and gangs of thieves that steal their valuable crop known colloquially as "green gold." A report published by the Associated Press on Wednesday said that violent cartels and gangs are threatening the prosperity of avocado-growing regions of the state.

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During my first year of university, I went to the supermarket to buy an avocado and (it's with great shame that I confess this) I came back home with a mango. Considering the sheer number of avocados that I eat today - in salads, on toast, as guacamole, you name it - it bewilders me that just a few years ago I did not know what an avocado looked like from the outside. Realising that my friends and family have also gone from ignoring them to loving them in just a few years, I decided to embark on a mission to find out as much as possible about the social and environmental impact of making avocados a staple in one's diet. Here's what I found.

Where are avocados grown?

Mexico is the largest avocado producer on Earth - but competition is rising. In 2017, Mexico was responsible for 33% of global production - within Mexico, the Michoacàn region is the most productive. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation Corporate Statistical Database, Mexico is followed by Dominican Republic, Peru, Indonesia, Colombia, Brazil, and Kenya. It makes sense that most of the top producers are South American countries - avocados have been a staple food in South American diets since around 500 B.C.

Global production has spiked over the past couple of decades, bringing many other countries to scale up or trial production. In 2016, the world produced 2.6 times as many avocados as it did in 1997. In 2016, Mexico alone produced the equivalent of the overall world avocado production of 1997!

How much avocado is consumed each year?

Although Europe still consumes four times less avocado than the US - 500 thousand tonnes per year, which is around one kilo per capita per year - the European import value of avocados almost tripled in the period between 2013 and 2017. The main supplier to the European market is Peru, followed by Chile, South Africa, Israel, Mexico and Kenya.

Where avocados are grown in Europe

Spain is the main producer of avocados within Europe and, in an attempt to grow local markets, pilot programmes are being run in Portugal, Italy, and Greece - with production in these countries climbing year over year.

Learn what causes avocado bruising and food waste.

Impact of avocado production on the environment & communities

This intensification has come with consequences. Several journalistic and institutional reports have investigated the consequences of increased avocado production, in particular in Mexico. Respectively in 2014 and 2016, articles published in the Wall Street Journal and the Guardian claimed that rising avocado prices fuelled both illegal deforestation and farmers' extortion in Michoacàn by criminal organisations such as Los Caballeros Templarios (The Knights Templar). Avocados were compared to Africa's "blood diamonds".

A report by the FAO also highlighted the weakness of small farmers in Michoacàn, who often lack resources to pack and transport their fruit, and who also lack legal documentation, without which payment is not guaranteed. The result is an economy that rewards middle-men with little skin in the game. The people who make significant profits are in fact not the farmers, but those who take care of transport and packaging.

Water footprint of producing avocados

Use and accessibility of water in avocado production also has an impact on surrounding habitats and communities. The 'average' avocado water footprint is a rather abstract measure, considering that avocados grown in different parts of the world require incredibly different amounts of 'applied water' to grow. 'Applied water' means irrigation water - not the rainfall or natural moisture in the soil. Since avocados can adapt to a wide variety of soils, from dry to moist, farmers will apply different amounts of water depending on the season (avocados grow all year, although peak season is in the summer), and farmers from warmer or drier climates will apply more water than those from cooler or more humid environments.

"In the Philippines, where it rains a lot and there is very high humidity, they will have to barely irrigate," claims Dr Mary Lu Arpaia, Subtropical Horticulturist at the University of California, Riverside, "but in Chile or California, areas of South Africa, Israel, Spain and other areas with a mediterranean climate, you will end up applying more water."

Environmental and social issues arise when an extremely dry climate is matched with ruthless production. Petorca belongs to the region in Chile from which we typically import avocados - and it is known to be a very, very dry region. Here, it takes about 1,280 litres of applied fresh water to produce one kilogram of avocados - so it takes about 320 litres of applied water to grow one single avocado (against the average 70 litres!).

To get around this problem and ensure access to fresh water, the owners of some big avocado plantations in Petorca have installed illegal pipes and wells to divert water from rivers to irrigate their crops. In doing so, they caused a regional drought. Small farmers with shallow wells are left with no water, and residents often have to use contaminated water delivered by truck to cook, clean, or wash themselves. Cases like this one highlight that the avocado water footprint is much more complex than a simple number, and has direct consequences on entire communities.

What you can do

Finding out about water footprint, illegal piping, drug cartels, lack of payments, and deforestation helped me realise that picking avocados is not just about finding the perfectly ripe. It's about fairtrade.

1. Look for Fairtrade Labels

These guarantee that producers were paid at least the Fairtrade minimum standard, and earned the Fairtrade Premium to invest in their communities and ecosystems - for example by starting reforestation and preventing water contamination.

2. Find Ethical Producers

Browsing to find ethical producers (spoiler alert: it's not that easy) I also came across the Global Social Compliance Program (GSCP) launched by the Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative, a robust programme which benchmarks and recognises sustainability standards, providing buyers and suppliers useful information to identify supply chains that are socially and environmentally responsible.

3. Consume in Moderation

We could apply a broader and perhaps simpler principle: moderation is best. Lowering the demand might help to stabilise the supply - and even though this is not a sure outcome, as consumers we have more power than we sometimes think. Especially because we love this weird and wonderful fruit, we could cherish it by eating it in moderation, thanking nature for each avocado that ends up on our plate - and always reminding ourselves that not even the best guacamole is worth the suffering.

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During my first year of university, I went to the supermarket to buy an avocado and (it's with great shame that I confess this) I came back home with a mango.

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EU risks buying "illegally produced" Mexican avocados as imports surge 70% in 2019

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Criminal groups now "embedded in the entire supply chain" of production in Michoacán where violence, extortion and illegal land clearing are rife Mexico's avocado heartlands are being infiltrated by criminal groups seeking to cash in on its global popularity and this is leaving international consumers increasingly exposed to buying "illegally produced" fruit.

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Mexico avocado war: Cartel seeks to control fruit trade

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Dr Paul Rexton Kan

Drug cartel violence in Mexico took an ominous turn late last year. Mexican authorities captured Oxidio Guzman Lopez, the son of imprisoned Sinaloa drug cartel kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, but were forced to release him after the cartel unleashed a wave of violence in the city. Heavily armed cartel enforcers took soldiers hostage, attacked the living quarters of their family members, torched vehicles and took over roads while prisoners in a nearby penitentiary rioted and escaped. The daylong siege left eight dead and gave a black eye to Mexico's new president. A few short weeks later, a different drug cartel ambushed an American Mormon family in northern Mexico, killing six children and three women.

The increase in the scope and intensity of the violence in Mexico has led to stronger calls to label drug cartels as foreign terrorist organisations. US President Donald Trump said that he would "absolutely" designate Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organisations. "You know, designation is not that easy, you have to go through a process, and we are well into that process," Trump said in a November radio . President Trump is not alone. Ioan Grillo, a journalist and longtime observer of Mexico's drug violence agrees that drug cartels have crossed over into terrorism: "[Cartels] kill innocent civilians for broader goals, including pressuring the government and controlling political ." Although President Trump ultimately decided against designating Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organisations, 2019 was not the only time that there was momentum for labeling drug trafficking organisations as terrorist groups. In 2011 and 2012, bills were introduced in the US House of Representatives seeking to designate seven Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organisations.

In the face of rising violence and strong political pressure, the labeling of drug cartels seems to be a logical step. However, there are significant differences between drug traffickers and terrorists that cannot be overlooked. A term like "terrorism" creates policy options and strategic choices that are different from those that would be responses to "criminality." Ignoring these differences and conflating criminal violence with political violence will create policy confusion to the benefit of drug cartels.

At first glance, violent organised crime groups and terrorist organisations share a number of organisational and operational characteristics.

1. They are involved in illegal activities and frequently need the same supplies;

2. They exploit excessive violence and the threat of violence;

3. They commit kidnappings, assassinations and extortion;

4. They act in secrecy;

5. They challenge the state and the laws (unless they are state funded);

6. They have back up leaders and foot soldiers;

7. They are exceedingly adaptable, open to innovations, and are flexible;

8. They threaten global security;

9. Quitting the group can result in deadly consequences for former .

Despite this similarities, the arguments for designating drug cartels as terrorist groups fail to be convincing because their inability to answer a number of fundamental questions. The first set of questions surround the origins of cartel violence in Mexico. If cartels are akin to terrorists, what are their grievances and what political or social goals are they fighting to achieve assuaging these grievances? In short, what is the "rallying cry" for their constituency? The current outbreak of cartel violence is a continuation of the Mexican cartel wars of the 1990s, which were primarily motivated by new trafficking opportunities, the breakdown in the political-criminal nexus, and improved border security. The successes that cartels have had in penetrating the political realm of Mexico or purging local communities of mayors and police through bribery, extortion, and coercive violence have all been to ensure the smooth operation of cartel profit making activities in the illicit drug trade. In these instances, they have not overthrown the state to implement a social or political agenda, but have sought to get the state out of the way. For example, according to the trial testimony of former Juarez police captain Juan Fierro Mendez, cartels seek to control plazas "to maintain order over the local, state and federal agencies then to have free reign to continue trafficking drugs without any ." Terror groups have constituents that they are trying to sway with their violence while cartels have clients for their products and services that they are attempting to satisfy by circumventing or undermining the . Unlike terrorists, the cartels in Mexico are not motivated to create a homeland to call their own, substitute their ideology for the existing one, or to achieve any other sort of political goal that is routinely associated with armed groups who instigate social upheaval.

The cartels' use of sophisticated weaponry, the proficiency of their violence, and their operational prowess against the Mexican police and army cannot be denied. But, equipment and tactics do not exist in isolation. The improved tactics, skills, and weaponry of cartels are not a substitute for a strategic political objective which tactics are intended to serve. Having better weapons does not compensate for a cause. It would be as if J. Edgar Hoover declared Al Capone and his gang to be terrorists because they had machine guns while local police merely had pistols. Indeed, cartels have aimed their violence at political targets. Even violent acts by the cartels and gangs that have been directed at government targets are meant to signal the government to retreat from its confrontational stance; they are to intimidate the government rather than to serve as a political . Mexican cartels seek to intimidate the state to protect their economic interests, keep themselves out of jail, and to remove their families from harm's .

In fact, like any profit-motivated organisation, Mexican drug cartels have diversified their business portfolios. For example, several cartels have expanded into Mexico's lucrative avocado industry. They have demanded monthly "protection" fees from farmers and have hijacked truckloads of . They have also used similar tactics against Mexico's oil industry. All of this, once again, reveals their profit-centric goals. Cartel members are shaking down money-rich industries rather than entering politics as candidates.

The inability to successfully address questions regarding the origins and motivations of drug cartel violence significantly affects the critical questions about how to end such violence in Mexico. What would "winning" look like? Most terrorist groups have goals that are negotiable, because, once again, these goals are generally political in nature. Because the violence in Mexico is not low-intensity conflict, any sort of negotiations with the cartels in Mexico would have distorted contours. The criminal nature of their enterprise would forestall the willingness of the government or cartels to find the common ground needed to begin a "peace process" that would lead to the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of cartel and gang +members. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had suggested the idea of granting pardons and amnesties for cartel leaders and gang members. However, such an approach was seen as unworkable. Even if such an offer were made, a drug cartel would be unlikely to accept any offer if it undermined its ability to make money through illicit activities. Such an offer would be an invitation to go out of business.

Outside of successful peace negotiations, terrorism has ended in a variety of different ways. Insurgent and terror groups have been unable to pass the cause on to the next generation; they have lost popular support; they have transitioned into legitimate political avenues; they have been successfully repressed by the established authority; their leaders have been captured or . Many organised crime groups have ended similarly, but they have also been defeated by financial strangulation. Terrorist groups support their armed struggles in a number of ways. For example, states can sponsor them, so can charities, sympathetic communities, and even other armed groups. They have also themselves engaged in organised crime activities. But-because a drug cartel is a profit seeking entity at its core-governments that have focused long-term campaigns directed at a cartel's finances have often caused it to disintegrate.

The promise of government power in tackling drug cartels also creates the question of what happens to bilateral relations between the US and Mexico should the US at any time in the future designate cartels as terrorist groups. As of now, the Mexican government stands opposed to any terrorist label for criminal groups. US policy makers should refrain from officially designating cartels as foreign terrorist organisations for a number of important reasons. First, doing so could put a strain on relations between the US and Mexico because the Mexican government is vehemently opposed to labeling the cartels as terrorist groups. In fact, Mexico's Senate majority leader, Ricardo Monreal, called President Trump's initial desire, "inadmissible." If the US labeled the cartels as terrorists without an agreement from Mexico, it would represent a step beyond where the Mexican government is willing to go. Second, doing so may raise the profile and prestige of the cartels, giving them more prominence than they merit. Once again, this may create a rift with Mexico. Finally, the cartels are already vulnerable to a vast array of criminal punishments-"anti-terror measures would not have any practical effect against them in terms of US law enforcement." Simply put, classifying cartels as terrorist groups would add very little to current counter-cartel efforts.

Labeling drug cartels as terrorist groups would nonetheless have legal implications...for US citizens. The debate over Mexican drug violence often serves to obscure the huge demand for narcotics in the US that drug traffickers are seeking to supply. Once again, drug cartels have customers, not constituents. This begs the question, if drug cartels are officially labeled as terrorists, could American drug users be charged with supporting terrorism whenever they buy a dose? If so, US Federal courts would become paralyzed with the volume of cases that were once municipal offenses, but are suddenly raised to the level of national security crimes.

As seen by the events in latter part of last year, drug violence affects both the U.S and Mexico. Finding the appropriate level and combination of resources, legal tools, and political will to reduce the power of Mexico's drug cartels is an ongoing process of statecraft between the US and Mexico, and will likely be one for the foreseeable future. Although drug violence and terrorism are different, defeating both will require some shared characteristics-namely, balanced strategies and thoughtful decision-making. However, confusing drug traffickers with terrorists does little to boost efforts that will reduce criminal violence in Mexico
About the author
Paul Rexton Kan is Professor of National Security Studies at the US Army War College. He is the author of the books, Drug Trafficking and International Security, Drugs and Contemporary Warfare and Cartels at War. He is also the author of numerous articles on the intersection of drug trafficking, crime and modern forms of armed conflict. In February 2011, he served as the Senior Visiting Counternarcotics Adviser at NATO Headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan and he has provided advice to the US Office of National Drug Control Policy (also known as the Drug Czar's office). He has also briefed the Pennsylvania Attorney-General's Office on drug cartel activity in the state. The views expressed are his own and do not represent those of the U.S. government.

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El Chapo Bin Laden? Why Drug Cartels are not Terrorist Organisations - ICCT

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Drug cartel violence in Mexico took an ominous turn late last year. Mexican authorities captured Oxidio Guzman Lopez, the son of imprisoned Sinaloa drug cartel kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, but were forced to release him after the cartel unleashed a wave of violence in the city.

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The world's top avocado exporters are Mexico, the Netherlands, and Peru.

Mexico has been the global leader since 1994 and represented 50 percent of the world's exports in 2016. From 2011 to 2016, exports rose 167 percent, and 43 percent from 2014 to 2016.

The Netherlands, even though it doesn't produce avocados, receives shipments and exports to several European countries. For 2016, the value of these exports reached $608 million, representing 11 percent of the total avocado exports in metric tons. From 2011 to 2016, these "re-exports" increased 136 percent, and grew 56 percent from 2014 to 2016.

As the third top exporter, Peru's shipments were valued at $396 million in 2016. Peruvian exports have surpassed Chile, beginning back in since 2013 in the midst of continued growth.

From 2011 to 2016, avocado sales to foreign markets rose by 138 percent. However, from 2014 to 2016, such sales grew only 8 percent due to flooding in growing regions. Other up-and-coming export countries include Colombia and the Dominican Republic.

Destination markets
The top export destination of Mexican avocados is, as mentioned previously, the United States (with 75 percent of total exports). The rest are sent to Europe, Central America, and China. Peru and Chile export mainly to the Netherlands; in 2016, Peru shipped 41 percent and Chile shipped 39 percent to the Netherlands.

Each also exports to the U.S. market: Peru sent 28 percent of production and Chile 27 percent in 2016, with Peru reserving 1 percent and Chile 12 percent of exports to China for the year.

The U.S. avocado market is served by both imports and domestic production. California is the top supplier of Hass avocados, and Florida produces green-skinned varieties. To keep the country well supplied, Mexico exports avocados all year, with peaks in the months of December and January, and the least in June and July.

Mexico's production cycle contrasts with U.S. supply, with domestic high production occurring from April to July, with imports from Peru, Chile, and the Dominican Republic augmenting supply.

Peru supplies the U.S. market from May to August, and both Chile and the Dominican Republic from of October to April. This provides a window opportunity for Peruvian and U.S. producers to earn higher prices in the U.S. market from June to August, when Mexican production is low.

The majority of avocados consumed in the United States are transported by truck from Mexico and California, which represents 90 percent of total supply. The rest is transported from Peru and Chile by boat (at 9 percent), and by air (at 1 percent).

This is an excerpt from the most recent Produce Blueprints quarterly journal. Click here to read the full article.

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The world's top avocado exporters are Mexico, the Netherlands, and Peru. Mexico has been the global leader since 1994 and represented 50 percent of the world's exports in 2016. From 2011 to 2016, exports rose 167 percent, and 43 percent from 2014 to 2016.

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Mexico's political establishment has been shaken by claims that three former Mexican presidents and an all-star cast of lawmakers and aides may have been involved in alleged acts of corruption.

The accusations were leveled by Emilio Lozoya, the former head of Mexico's state oil company Pemex, and will boost efforts by the country's current president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, to portray himself as an anti-corruption crusader.

López Obrador, a 66-year-old nationalist, swept to power in 2018 pledging to rid Mexico of corruption and unseat the "mafia of power" he claimed had seized control of Latin America's No 2 economy.

In a leaked 63-page deposition, Lozoya, who was extradited from Spain in July to face corruption charges of his own, dragged some of Mexico's best-known politicians into a rapidly unfolding scandal.

According to the newspaper El Universal, the former Pemex chief implicated Enrique Peña Nieto, Mexico's president from 2012 until 2018, in multimillion-dollar bribes and illegal campaign financing.

Reuters said Lozoya also claimed that Felipe Calderón - president from 2006 until 2012 - and Carlos Salinas - from 1988 to 1994 - had committed "acts possibly constituting crimes".

Lozoya worked as international relations coordinator of Peña Nieto's 2012 election campaign, and was later appointed to run Pemex.

"He was one of the masters of the universe," said Rodolfo Soriano-Núñez, a sociologist in Mexico City. "He was appointed to that position because he was part of Peña's most intimate circle."

Lozoya was arrested in Spain in February and extradited to face charges he received more than $4m in bribes from the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht.

On Thursday morning López Obrador, who is widely known as Amlo, told reporters he believed the leaked document was genuine but had not read it all because he "wouldn't want to have nightmares".

Reporters gather around a car, part of a convoy believed of transporting Emilio Lozoya after his extradition from Spain, in Mexico City last month. Photograph: Luis Cortes/Reuters

Amlo has previously said he hoped Lozoya's extradition would contribute to the "purification" of Mexican public life.

Calderón hit back on Twitter claiming Mexico's president was seeking to weaponize the former oil boss and his "ridiculous accusations" as "an instrument of revenge and political persecution". "He's not interested in justice but in a lynching," Calderón said.

Neither Peña Nieto nor Salinas responded immediately to the allegations.

Few doubt the extent to which corruption has permeated elite Mexican politics. During Peña Nieto's six-year term a series of eye-watering political scandals caused public outrage, helped pave the way for Amlo's landslide election and saw Mexico slide dramatically down Transparency International's corruption index.

But Calderón is not alone in suspecting that Amlo is using the investigation to eliminate powerful political opponents and bolster his corruption-fighting credentials.

Some have likened the Mexican president's campaign to a high-profile anti-corruption drive waged by China's Communist party leader, Xi Jinping. That crackdown allowed Xi to jail several prominent rivals, including China's former security chief Zhou Yongkang and the Communist party heavyweights Bo Xilai and Sun Zhengcai.

"This is not a trial, it is a telenovela," said Carlos Bravo Regidor, a political analyst in Mexico City.

"Some of the things Lozoya says might be true [and] given the position he is in and the improper way in which this has been handled, this will have a tremendous political impact. But no justice will be done."

Others question the timing of the revelations, suspecting they may be a deliberate distraction from the coronavirus crisis currently playing out in Mexico.

Mexico now has the world's third highest death toll, after the US and Brazil, and is set to surpass 60,000 deaths in the coming days.

"[The leak] distracts from everything else," said Esteban Illades, editor of the Mexican magazine Nexos. "The economy is in tatters, nearly 60,000 people have died and there's not a single thing going right as of this moment. But by creating a political circus there's distraction."

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Mexico rocked by claims of corruption against three former presidents

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Mexico's political establishment has been shaken by claims that three former Mexican presidents and an all-star cast of lawmakers and aides may have been involved in alleged acts of corruption. The accusations were leveled by Emilio Lozoya, the former head of Mexico's state oil company Pemex, and will boost efforts by the country's current president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, to portray himself as an anti-corruption crusader.