US Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar announced on Friday that avocado and mango inspections by U.S. Department of Agriculture personnel in Michoacán, a state in western Mexico, would “gradually” resume.
It’s unclear when that will happen. And Mr. Salazar seems to suggest that Security concerns led to the suspension last weekend has not yet been fully resolved.
“Security still needs to be ensured before full operations are achieved,” he said in a statement.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico said two employees of its Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service were assaulted and detained while traveling to Michoacán, where they were conducting an investigation. closely monitor avocado orchards and packing plants – a necessary step to ensure that fruit exported to the United States is pest-free.
The embassy confirmed that the employees were later released. However, the incident prompted the United States to temporarily suspend inspections of avocados and mangoes imported from Mexico “until the security situation is reviewed and procedures and safeguards are put in place,” a statement said. USDA spokesman told The New York Times.
Earlier this week, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico promised to improve safety measures for inspectors, adding that “an agreement is being sought”.
But he complained that the United States is sometimes quick to take “unilateral measures,” such as the recent suspension. “We are convincing them to act differently, but this takes time,” he said.
The move has raised concerns among producers in Michoacán, the state responsible for 73% of Mexico’s avocado production. Jalisco, the other Mexican state allowed to ship the fruit, accounts for 12% of production. Together, two states provide about 90% of all U.S. avocado imports.
“We don’t know yet what measures the authorities will take to prevent this from happening,” Juan Carlos Anaya, general director of an agricultural consulting group in Mexico, said in a radio interview this week. out again”.
This is not the first time the United States has raised security concerns regarding its USDA inspectors in Michoacán, where criminal groups have sought to infiltrate the avocado industry, a lucrative export market.
Meet growing US demand for avocados as cartels get involved high cost: Threats, kidnapping and killing, as well as widespread deforestationdevastated Michoacán.
In 2022, United States Temporarily banned avocados from Mexico after plant safety inspectors in Michoacán received threatening text messages. The ban has been lift up shortly thereafter, allowing exports to resume.
Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla, governor of Michoacán, also announced on Friday, the gradual recovery of USDA inspections.
“We will continue to work to comply and ensure safe conditions in carrying out their work,” he said. “We hope that there will be positive news soon and that the export of avocados and mangoes, on which Michoacán communities and families depend, will be reactivated.”
