What is the current state of Mexico where avocado farmers organize armed vigilants in the face of drug cartel threats?
by
Avocado fruits are nutritious and have become popular around the world in recent years as salads and sauces. Mexico is the world's number one country in terms of avocado production and exports, and it is said that 45% of the avocados distributed in the international market are from Mexico, but the drug cartel that is expanding its power in Mexico is paying attention to avocado farmers. Farmers continue to resist, such as organizing armed avocados to protect themselves.
Cartels threaten to spoil avocados
https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2019/oct/27/cartels-threaten-to-spoil-avocados-2019/
Since 1914, the United States has banned avocado imports from Mexico for fear of pests and epidemics, but in 1997 it lifted the ban on avocado imports. Demand for avocado has increased in response to the avocado boom that has occurred in the last 10 years, and it is said that Mexico's annual export value now exceeds 2.4 billion dollars (about 260 billion yen). It is also called 'Fri)'.
Michoacan , located in the Midwestern part of Mexico, is a major cultivated area that produces nearly 90% of the avocados exported from Mexico, and the avocado boom is eliminating poverty in the region. However, increasing farmers' incomes due to growing demand for avocados have attracted violent drug cartels.
In San Juan Parangariktiro , a small village in Michoacan, small avocado farmers have organized a vigilant group, armed with M16 rifles and more. Members of the self-defense force take turns guarding checkpoints to prepare for attacks such as drug cartels and robbers. 'Without avocado, you would have to leave Mexico to find a job,' said Pedro de la Guante, an avocado farmer who is a member of the vigilant group, arguing that it is worth fighting to protect the avocado. bottom. Guante used to be a hired worker in agriculture, but since planting avocados on 2.4 acres of land 11 years ago, he has been able to earn a stable income.
by
Mexican avocado farmers have been exposed to the violence and intimidation of criminal organizations for many years, but in recent years they have been plagued by new problems. In August 2019, large cities and in the second in Michoacan Uruapan in the west of Shirakuaretiro in, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Bureau (APHIS) occur incidents inspectors team is attacked by robbers I did.
In response to the incident, the USDA commented, 'If the safety of APHIS personnel is threatened or poses an imminent physical threat in the future, we will immediately suspend the avocado orchard inspection program.' This move could lead to a suspension of avocado exports to the United States, and the loss of major export destinations would cause immeasurable damage to avocado farmers.
A police chief in western Mexico, where avocados are flourishing, says a cartel called Los Beergrass has done all sorts of wrongdoing, including extortion and kidnapping ransom demands. In addition, the conflict of the cartel to each other is also in intense, located in the northwest of Michoacan in August 2019 Jalisco based in Jalisco new generation of cartel members is Ross Beer Glass also killed more than 10 people, 'fellow There are also cases where the message 'Kill the members of Beer Glass' is left.
Of course, police officers, vigilants, and avocado farmers can be killed by cartels as well. Avocado farmers who do not respond to the cartel's request to 'pay a few percent of their sales as a deposit' may be killed in retaliation, and in October 2019, the cartel shot police officers and killed 13 people. There was also a murder case. Avocado farmers are also resisting this by organizing self-defense forces armed with weapons smuggled from the United States and setting up checkpoints at the entrance to the town.
by
Avocado orchards surrounded by vast fences and new packing factories stand out in Michoacan, but according to Hipolito Mora, who campaigned to establish a self-defense force in 2013, armed robbers still earn income from farmers. He says that he is constantly attacking the cash he has earned. 'If an employer closes an avocado packaging plant, the local economy will collapse,' Mora said, as the local economy relies heavily on avocado cultivation.
Police officers are often linked to criminal organizations, and in Siracaletiro there have been cases of avocado farm owners and workers being kidnapped by police officers. 'Everyone is worried. If the United States stops importing, everything will be destroyed,' said Jose Rodriguez Baca, mayor of Chirac Aletiro.
The Mexican and state governments have adopted an anti-crime strategy in which troops and border guards visit a troubled town, stay alert for a few weeks, and then head to another town, but the system is working well. There seems to be no. Evidence suggests that the attack on APHIS personnel occurred the month following the withdrawal of armed state police from Siracaletiro.
by
Carlos Martinez, who owns a 6-acre avocado plantation in Siracaletiro, says he can harvest as much as 50 tonnes of avocado in a good year, with an annual income of nearly $ 100,000. It will be. Martinez, who protects the farm with a wire mesh fence and hires security guards, says he refuses to answer unknown phone numbers for fear of threats from drug cartels. “We wake up every morning hoping that no attacks will occur,” Martinez said.
Adriana Villicana, a university professor in Uruapan, points out that the avocado boom has saved thousands of poverty. The avocado industry seems to be a good place to work for women, 'many women work in packing factories, many of whom are single mothers or single women,' said Vilicana. He argued that if the avocado industry collapsed, lost workers would be more likely to commit crimes and local crime would increase.
by Parée
Related Posts:
in Junk Food, Posted by log1h_ik