US suspends Mexican avocado imports after inspector receives ‘threatening phone call’

The avocado-producing state of Michoacán has been riven with violence between the Jalisco cartel and an alliance of smaller gangs

Recently harvested avocados at an orchard in Michoacán state, Mexico, October 2019 (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

The US has suspended all imports of Mexican avocados after one of its inspectors received a threatening phone call.

Mexico's agriculture ministry said on Saturday that the US had paused all inspections in Michoacán, the only state fully authorised to export the fruit to US markets, "until further notice".

"The US health authority made the decision after one of its officials, who was performing inspection work in Uruapan, Michoacán, received a threatening phone call to their official cell phone," the ministry said.

"An investigation is currently being carried out to evaluate the threat and determine what mitigation measures are necessary to guarantee the physical integrity of all its personnel working in Michoacán.

The surprise decision came on the eve of Sunday's Super Bowl, one of the biggest days in Mexican avocado exporters' calendars, although fruit eaten on the actual day would already have been shipped weeks ago.

The same day, the Mexican avocado growers' and packers' association unveiled its latest Super Bowl advert, part of a years-long tradition effort aimed cementing guacamole as a game day tradition.

The US is Mexico's biggest export market for avocados, with Michoacán exporting more than 135,000 tonnes of the fruit there in the past six weeks along.

Yet the state is also riven by violence between the Jalisco criminal cartel and a group of local gangs called the United Cartels, according to the Associated Press. Avocado farmers are often forced to pay protection money or else face kidnapping or death.

In 2019, inspectors from the US Department of Agriculture were "directly threatened" when gangsters robbed their truck at gunpoint. The following year, a Mexican Department employee was killed in what prosecutors said was a mistaken gang hit.

The US inspects all avocados imported from Mexico for pests and diseases that could spread to American crops, having previously banned such imports until 1997.