US Suspending Mexican Avocado Imports Until Inspector Security Guaranteed

The United States said Monday a suspension of avocado imports from Mexico will remain in place until the security of U.S. agricultural inspectors can be guaranteed.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services halted operations in Mexico’s Michoacan state on Saturday after an inspector received a threatening message.

“The suspension will remain in place for as long as necessary to ensure the appropriate actions are taken, to secure the safety of APHIS personnel working in Mexico,” said a USDA statement Monday.

FILE – Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador speaks during a press conference at the Palacio Nacional, in Mexico City, Jan. 17, 2022. On Feb. 7, 2022, Lopez Obrador denounced an upcoming auction of pre-Hispanic artifacts in France. (Handout photo)

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said his government is examining the situation, and suggested Monday there was a political motivation behind the suspension.

“In all of this there are also a lot of political interests and political interests, there is competition; they don’t want Mexican avocados to get into the United States, right, because it would rule in the United States because of its quality,” he said.

Michoacan is Mexico’s top avocado producer and has dealt with gangs that target avocado and lime growers.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

Mexican journalists shout 'enough' to the violence against press | outstanding | Spanish edition

Thousands of journalists from all the states of Mexico demonstrated Tuesday to demand justice for the recent murders of informants and the end of violence against the press in one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a reporter.

The national protest was in response to the most recent murder, that of journalist Lourdes Maldonado, shot next to her home in the city of Tijuana. She was under the Protection Program for Journalists in Baja California after a legal problem she had with former Governor Jaime Bonilla, of the ruling National Regeneration Movement.

She had attended the usual morning press conference of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in March 2019 for fear she could be killed.

The mobilizations took place in up to 47 cities throughout the country, filled with desperate cries in face of the incessant violence against journalists the country is experiencing and that has increased since the president’s arrival in office.

The demonstration in Mexico City was one of the largest, with hundreds of journalists protesting in unison in an unprecedented call in Mexico, and they did so in front of the building of the Interior Ministry.

According to data from Article 19, since the year 2000, 143 journalists have been murdered in the country, 28 of them during Lopez Obrador’s presidency.

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