After a week in suspense, the United States Government has once again allowed the importation of avocado from Mexico. The US ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, has reported on the “immediate resumption” of the work of US inspectors on shipments of Mexican fruit that will be destined for his country, so as of this Saturday it is expected that the first shipments can leave for the northern border. “I thank you for working with my security colleagues at the United States Embassy to enact measures to ensure the safety of our APHIS inspectors. [Departamento de Inspección Sanitaria en EE UU] in the field,” he said. Exports of the so-called green gold They were suspended last week by the Joe Biden administration after one of the phytosanitary agents who works in the fields of Michoacan was threatened by telephone. After this incident, the United States was blunt: not one more shipment from Michoacán would be received until the security conditions for its compatriots were guaranteed.
The seven days of impasse They have caused an increase in the price of the fruit in the American market and losses for Mexican farmers of at least 50 million dollars. Faced with the urge to send the avocado already cut and not to stop one of the vital commercial arteries for Michoacán, in the middle of this week the Mexican government, together with the producers, presented a security proposal to the United States. The plan implies the creation of an intelligence and security unit in the avocado areas. The US government has delayed a couple of days, but has finally given its approval to the initiative. Salazar has emphasized the rapid response and cooperation of the governor of Michoacán, the federal government of Mexico and the Mexican Association of Producers and Exporters of Avocado (APEAM).
More than 80% of Mexican exports of this fruit are destined for the United States, its main trading partner and the largest market on the planet, shipments valued at some 3.5 billion dollars, according to the producers’ association. For 25 years, Michoacán has been the only state in the country that has been endorsed by the United States to export. Paradoxically, the only international route for Mexican avocados is also a land mined by drug traffickers: with the rise of the so-called green gold also came the attention of the drug cartels in the region and the tensions between producers from other states. For years, businessmen and farmers have denounced extortion, kidnappings and constant threats from these criminal groups, a scale of violence that put shipments of thousands of tons of avocado daily on the ropes.
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