Mexico City.– Faced with the security crisis facing Michoacán’s lemon growers and the lack of results by the authorities in stopping extortionists, the priest of Apatzingán, Gregorio “Goyo” López, called on citrus growers to avoid paying taxes and pay for their own security.
In a message posted on social media, the religious leader and activist warned that he is seeking legal protection so that those affected by organized crime can avoid paying contributions and hire a qualified security force to prevent the payment of fees to criminal cells.
“I am calling on the Bar Association of Apatzingán, I would like to ask them to draft a legal protection against the Government, against the bad Government that is representing us or misrepresenting us in the State of Michoacán. It is necessary that all citrus growers seek protection so as not to pay the SAT, not to pay the Federal Electricity Commission, not to pay any renewal, no land ownership, not to pay absolutely anything to the government.
“That is why the law protects us, we need legal protection to avoid breaking the law, at least a thousand farmers are paying (taxes), adding up what is paid annually in the entire Tierra Caliente Valley, with about a billion, with a billion they can pay very well for their security, pay for a highly qualified police force; if the Government is failing to fulfill its duty to protect us against organized crime, we believe that we have every right to seek protection to pay for our own security,” he said.
He said that if the injunction is approved, he will deliver it next week to President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum so that she can “pressure” Governor Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla.
“This call is also for the lemon growers, all of them to join together as a group, to pay zero taxes on all services and everything that corresponds to the Government. If the Government is not fulfilling its constitutional duty to protect the integrity, security and development of individuals and peoples, we are not automatically obliged to pay a single cent,” insisted the priest, who is familiar with the extortions due to his closeness to the lemon growers.
This Thursday marks four days of strikes in at least 15 lemon packing plants in Apatzingán and others in an area of Buenavista, two of the main citrus producing municipalities in the Tierra Caliente region of Michoacán.
The state government confirmed that between 70 and 80 percent of lemon packing companies in the Apatzingán Valley and 20 or 30 percent in the Buenavista Municipality are paralyzed.
The strike arose after producers accused organized crime of asking them to pay double the quotas to allow trucks with the product to leave the packing plants.
In light of this situation, the Michoacán Civil Guard, the National Guard and the Army are carrying out patrols in that region.
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