US suspends Mexican avocado imports after inspector threatened

(CMR) The United States government has suspended all imports of Mexican avocados after a US plant safety inspector in Mexico was threatened.

The surprise suspension was confirmed late Saturday on the eve of the Super Bowl, the biggest sales opportunity of the year for Mexican avocado growers, AP reported.  However, avocados for this year’s Super Bowl had already been exported in the weeks before the event.

Mexico’s Agriculture Department said the US suspended all imports of Mexican avocados “until further notice.”

“US health authorities … made the decision after one of their officials, who was carrying out inspections in Uruapan, Michoacan, received a threatening message on his official cellphone,” the department wrote.

According to AP, the ban came on the day that the Mexican avocado growers and packers association unveiled its Super Bowl ad for this year. Mexican exporters have taken out the pricey ads for almost a decade in a bid to associate guacamole as a Super Bowl tradition.

US inspectors work in Mexico to ensure exported avocados don’t carry diseases that could hurt the US's own crop of avocados.

In August 2019, a US Department of Agriculture team of inspectors was “directly threatened” in Ziracuaretiro, and the truck the inspectors were traveling in was robbed at gunpoint, AP reported. The USDA had warned then about the possible consequences of attacking or threatening inspectors.

Drug gangs in the region have also threatened avocado farmers or their family members with kidnapping or death unless they pay protection money, sometimes amounting to thousands of dollars per acre.

According to AP, the avocado ban was just the latest threat to Mexico’s export trade stemming from the government’s inability to rein in illegal activities.

On Thursday, the US Trade Representative’s Office filed an environmental complaint against Mexico for failing to stop illegal fishing to protect the critically endangered vaquita marina, the world’s smallest porpoise.

AP reported that the office asked for environmental consultations with Mexico, the first such case filed under the US-Mexico-Canada free trade pact. Consultations are the first step in the dispute resolution process under the trade agreement, which entered into force in 2020. If not resolved, it could eventually lead to trade sanctions.

Also, in response to years of Mexican boats illegally poaching red snapper in US waters, Mexican fishing boats prohibited from entering US ports will be denied port access and services.