Mexico's avocado militias

The avocado's wholesome image is being tarnished by the arson, threats and killings involved in its production in Michoacán, Mexico.

The country supplies around 80% of the avocados eaten in the US, and most come from the western state, which also provides nearly a third of global supply, so if you eat an avocado there's a good chance it's from "one of the most violent and complex" places in Mexico, said Forbes.

'Blood diamonds'

Avocados have been consumed for thousands of years in the region, where the "temperate hillsides of porous volcanic soil offer optimal growing conditions", said the New York Times, but producing the berry "on an industrial scale" for export only began in the 1990s when the US opened up to the market.

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Internal US government reports warned that the approval of the Mexican state as a producer "would likely increase deforestation" in the area. This has proved correct, as a "combination of interests", including "criminal gangs, landowners, corrupt local officials and community leaders", started clearing forests for avocado orchards, said the New York Times, in some cases "illegally seizing privately owned land".

Using environmental geographers, satellite images and Mexican government estimates, the NGO Climate Rights International estimates that the area deforested for these plantations is between 16,000 and 28,000 hectares.

Meanwhile, illegal wells transport water to the new orchards through a "labyrinthine system" of plastic pipes that often "pilfer" the water supplies of farmers growing traditional crops like tomatoes or corn.

Attempts to stop these crimes have been met with some brutality. The NYT spoke to farmers, government officials and Indigenous leaders and discovered that local people fighting deforestation and water theft have become targets of "intimidation, abductions and shootings".

Five years ago, 19 people were found "hanging from an overpass, piled beneath a pedestrian bridge, or dumped on the roadside" in "various states of undress and dismemberment", said The Guardian. Experts believe the incident emerged from cartel clashes over the multibillion-dollar trade.

Then, in February 2023, the Indigenous leader and defender of the Purépecha forests of Michoacán, Alfredo Cisneros, was "shot and killed after reporting illegal logging", said El Pais.

This has led one Michelin star chef to describe avocados as "the blood diamonds" of Mexico. There are "a lot of issues with cartel involvement in the ownership" and also the "pressure placed on avocado farmers", JP McMahon told the BBC.

Highway thefts

Meanwhile, avocado shipments are being stolen in ever growing quantities. Last month, highway thieves stole 40 tonnes of avocados in Mexico, according to the attorney general's office.

Armed men stopped freight trucks in two separate robberies in Michoacan and around 20 tonnes of avocados were taken in each incident, as the robbers "transferred crates containing the fruit into a van and fled the scene", said Sky News.

Although avocado farmers have "long been targeted by drug cartel extortion demands" in the western state, and thefts of fruit straight from trees in avocado orchards are also known, hijackings of entire shipments had previously been "rare", said the broadcaster.

There is no end in sight for these problems because amid all this theft and violence, the avocado trade is expected to continue booming. A study last year predicted that the amount of land in Michoacán used for avocado crops could increase by more than 80% by 2050.