A recent attack on two US Department of Agriculture employees led to temporarily suspend safety inspections of avocados and mangoes, which could disrupt a $2.4bn trade between Mexico and the US.
In a press release, Ambassador Ken Salazar stated that two officials were attacked and briefly held hostage by attackers while inspecting avocados at a farm in Michoacan state in Mexico.
Later, the officials were released. They are US Department of Agriculture employees of Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
Salazar stated that “to ensure the safety of APHIS agricultural inspection teams in Michoacan, APHIS suspended the avocados and mango inspections until these security issues have been resolved.”
Since the United States grows avocados as well, US inspectors are working in Mexico ensuring that exported avocados do not carry diseases which could harm US crops.
Michoacan, Mexico is the largest exporter of avocados.
Alfredo Ramirez Bedolla, the governor of Michoacan, told Mexico’s Radio Formula on 14th June that residents from Aranza (western Michoacan) had stopped the inspectors in protest. He played down the situation and suggested that they were never in danger. He claimed that the US Embassy was contacted the next day, and that state security forces were protecting the avocado producers and packers in the state.
He said that he hoped to hear good news about a possible resumption in inspections.
In a Tuesday statement, the Mexico producers and packers’ association stated that they were working closely with officials of Mexico and United States government to resume avocado exports out of Michoacan.
The incident that prompted the suspension “is unrelated to the avocado sector”, it said.
The organization warned previously that its members were a frequently targeted by violence and threats, from organized crime groups looking for protection money.
It has also been reported that organized crime is bringing avocados from other states, which are not allowed for export. They try to pass US inspections.
Bedolla, a Mexican official, told reporters on Monday that the Mexican authorities are in contact with their US counterparts about resolving this situation quickly.
In February 2022 the US government temporarily suspended inspections of Mexican Avocados after an inspector for plant safety in Michoacan had received a threat.
Jalisco was the second Mexican state to be authorized to export avocados into the US.
The new pause will not immediately stop shipments of Mexican Avocados to the United States because Jalisco has become an exporter, and many Michoacan Avocados are already in transit.
Salazar announced that he will travel to Michoacan to meet with Bedolla, the producers and packers’ association and Bedolla next week.
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