After a threat against a U.S. inspector in Mexico, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador presented the conspiracy theory.
The U.S. action was actually prompted by years of concerns that drug cartel violence in Michoacan, a western Mexican state where gangs threaten to kidnap or kill lime and avocado growers, had escalated to threats against U.S. officials.
Monday’s outlandish violence in Michoacan reached an all-time high when prosecutors announced that they were investigating the cause of what appears to have been the first civilian death due to landmines planted by warring drug gangs.
According to the state prosecutor’s office, the farmer aged 79 was killed when his pickup truck ran over an improvised explosive device. His son, 45 years old, was also injured.
The cartels trying to control Michoacan, the only state that exports avocados, have used tanks, pillboxes and homemade armored cars. Rocket-propelled grenades are also used by the cartels. Drones can be modified to drop small bombs.
Last week, an IED was planted on a roadway and disabled an army vehicle. Ten soldiers were also injured by the mines or other weapons. This was the first successful use of IEDs against an enemy military target in Mexico.
Lopez Obrador downplayed violence and tried to do the exact same thing with avocado ban. He said Monday that avocados had been shipped north for consumption. He stated that the truth is that Mexican avocados had been exported at his daily news briefing. They have already enjoyed avocados.”
He said that producers who wanted Mexican products to compete or political factors played a part in the decision.
Lopez Obrador stated that there are many political interests in all of this. “They don’t want Mexican avocados getting into the United States. It would rule there because of its quality.”
Although he did not elaborate on his interests, he noted that “There are other countries interested in selling avocados as in the case with other farm products. So they lobby, look for senators and professional public (relations), people and agencies to block them.”
The United States actually grows half of the avocados it eats. To protect its domestic orchards against pests, inspectors inspect imported avocados. In recent years, nearly 90% of them came from Mexico.
The ban on Mexican avocados was in effect since 1914. It was lifted in 1997 to stop a variety of pests, weevils, and scabs from entering U.S. fruit orchards.
These inspectors are part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services.
After a threat message from a Mexican inspector, the U.S. government has suspended all imports of Mexican avocados until further notice.
Mexico’s Agriculture Department stated in a statement that the “U.S. The department stated that health authorities made the decision “after one of their officials was conducting inspections in Uruapan (Michoacan) received a threatening text message on his cellphone.”
Officials in the United States say that the suspension of security inspections does not necessarily mean that all exports will be suspended. According to the theory, avocados from Mexico that had been inspected before Saturday could be exported.
Mexican avocado growers have been victims of cartel turf wars and extortion in Michoacan (the only state in Mexico that is fully authorized to export to America). The USDA issued a warning to Mexico in 2019 after a similar incident. If the safety of the inspectors was not guaranteed, it would suspend the program.
The avocado ban was not the only sanction that was imposed on Mexican exports last week. It stemmed from the inability of the Mexican government to control illegal activities.
The U.S. Trade Representative’s Office filed a complaint against Mexico on Thursday for failing to prevent illegal fishing to save the critically endangered vaquita Marina, the world’s smallest Porpoise.
On Monday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that Mexican fishing boats from the Gulf of Mexico would be “prohibited” from entering U.S. ports. This was in response to the illegal poaching of red snapper by Mexican boats for years in U.S. Gulf waters.
Lopez Obrador dismissed these moves as part the same conspiracy.
Lopez Obrador stated, “If it’s not this one thing (the U.S. inspector threatened), then it’s another, the vaquita marina or the dolphins.” “But the truth of it is that there is always another reason behind it, whether an economic or commercial interest or a political attitude.”
Lopez Obrador has been accused in the past of having a skewed attitude towards environmental norms. He has also criticised foreign and non-profit environmental or civic organizations.
Lopez Obrador stated last year that “We don’t need foreigners telling our country what to do or putting sanctions on our country’s fishermen.”
