MEXICO CITY — Two employees of the United States Department of Agriculture were attacked and temporarily held by assailants in the Mexican state of Michoacán, prompting the US government inspections of avocado and mango shipments will be suspendedthe US ambassador to Mexico said Tuesday.
Ambassador. Ken Salazar said in a statement that the attack occurred while employees were inspecting avocados in Michoacán. He said they were no longer detained.
US officials confirmed the pause in inspections on Monday citing security concerns.
Employees work for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). Because the United States also grows avocados, U.S. inspectors work in Mexico to ensure that exported avocados do not carry diseases that could harm American crops.
“To ensure the safety of our agricultural inspection teams, APHIS has suspended avocado and mango inspections in Michoacán until these safety issues have been resolved,” Salazar said.
Michoacán is the largest exporter of avocados in Mexico.
Inspections in other Mexican states are not affected, Salazar said.
The Mexican Growers and Packers Association said in a statement Tuesday that it was working closely with Mexican and U.S. government officials to resume avocado exports from Michoacán.
He said the incident that led to the suspension was “unrelated to the avocado industry.”
Many avocado growers in Michoacan say drug gangs threaten them or their family members with kidnapping or death unless they pay protection money, which sometimes amounts to thousands of dollars per acre.
There have also been reports that organized crime is bringing in avocados grown in other states that are not approved for export and trying to pass them through U.S. inspections.
Michoacán Governor Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla told reporters on Monday that Mexican authorities were in talks with their American counterparts to quickly resolve the situation.
In February 2022, the US government Inspections of Mexican avocados suspended “until further notice” after a safety inspector at a US plant in Michoacán received a threatening message. The suspension was lifted after about a week.
Later that year, Jalisco became the second Mexican state authorized to export avocado to the US.
The new pause in inspections will not block shipments of Mexican avocados to the United States, because Jalisco is now an exporter and there are many Michoacan avocados already in transit.
Salazar said he will travel to Michoacán next week to meet with Bedolla and the producers and packers association.
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