Two U.S. Agriculture Department workers were attacked and briefly held by people in Michoacan, Mexico. Because of this, the U.S. has stopped checking avocado and mango shipments from there. Ken Salazar, the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, shared this news on Tuesday.
The workers were checking avocados when they were attacked. They’re no longer being held. These inspectors work for a part of the Agriculture Department called APHIS. They check Mexican avocados to make sure they don’t have diseases that could harm U.S. crops.
Salazar said they’ve stopped inspections in Michoacan until it’s safe. Michoacan is Mexico’s biggest avocado exporter.
The governor of Michoacan, Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla, said the inspectors were stopped by protesters on June 14. He didn’t think it was a big deal and said the state is now protecting avocado producers and packers.
Inspections in other parts of Mexico are still happening. The group representing avocado growers and packers in Mexico is working with both governments to start exporting from Michoacan again.
Many avocado farmers in Michoacan say drug gangs threaten them or their families unless they pay protection money. Sometimes this can be thousands of dollars per acre.
There have also been reports of criminals trying to sneak avocados from unapproved states through U.S. inspections.
This isn’t the first time inspections have been stopped. In February 2022, they were paused for about a week after an inspector got a threat.
Later in 2022, another state, Jalisco, was allowed to export avocados to the U.S.
This new pause won’t completely stop Mexican avocados from reaching the U.S. because Jalisco can still export, and there are already lots of Michoacan avocados on their way.
Ambassador Salazar plans to visit Michoacan next week to meet with the governor and avocado industry representatives.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.