Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday cited a "conspiracy" behind the U.S. suspension on avocado imports.

According to Associated Press, Lopez Obrador said the suspension is part of a conspiracy against Mexico by political or economic interests.

Lopez Obrador put forward the conspiracy theory even though the U.S. measure was because of years of worries about drug cartel violence in Michoacan state.

The U.S. suspended imports of Mexican avocados on the eve of the Super Bowl following a threat against an American plant safety inspector in Mexico.

"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... Because it would rule in the United States because of its quality," the Mexican president said.

López Obrador did not specifically mention what those interests were. But he noted that there were other countries interested in selling avocados.

"As in the case of other farm products, so they lobby, they look for senators, professional public (relations) people and agencies, to put up obstacles," López Obrador added.

According to reports, the U.S. grows about half of the avocados the Americans consume, and to protect their local fruit plantations from pests, they inspect imported avocados. In recent years, nearly 90 percent of the avocados Americans consume are from Mexico.

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Mexico's Avocados Ban Will Continue

A spokesman of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture said the suspension would remain in place for as long as necessary to ensure that appropriate actions were taken, Government Executive reported.

APHIS spokesman Lucero Hernandez added that this was also to secure the safety of APHIS personnel working in Mexico.

Hernandez said their agency is working with the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to allow avocados still in Mexico that were inspected and approved before the pause to be imported into the U.S.

U.S. Suspends Import of Mexico's Avocados Amid Threat to Inspector

On late Saturday, Mexico announced that the U.S. government had suspended all imports of Mexican avocados after one of its officers tasked to carry out inspection received a "threatening call."

The temporary suspension issued by the U.S. will affect the import of avocados from Michoacan state, which is the only Mexican state dully authorized to export avocados in the U.S. market.

"An investigation (by APHIS) is currently being carried out to assess the threat and determine the necessary mitigation measures to guarantee the physical integrity of all of its personnel working in Michoacan," Mexico's Agriculture Department said.

The suspension of Avocado import in the U.S. came a day after Mexican avocado growers and the packers association unveiled its Super Bowl 56 ad. This year's advertisement shows Julius Caesar and a bunch of rough gladiator fans enjoying guacamole and avocados outside the coliseum.

It is known that Guacamole and Avocados are traditionally present during Super Bowl celebrations. According to author and times Columnist Gustavo Arellano, the famous dip became a Super bowl tradition in the 1960s.

The U.S. Embassy in Mexico tweeted that it is working with the Mexican government "to guarantee security conditions that allow for our personnel in Michoacan to resume operations."

It noted that "facilitating the exportation of Mexican avocados to the U.S. and guaranteeing the safety of our agricultural inspection teams go hand in hand."

It was not the first time that avocados in Michoacan had been threatened as the state is currently being fought over by Mexican drug cartels.

The Jalisco cartel in Michoacan is fighting turf wars against an alliance of smaller cartels known as the United Cartels, which had the support of the Sinaloa Cartel. 

Many avocado growers in Michoacan say drug cartels threaten them or their family members with kidnapping and death unless they pay protection money.

In August 2019, a U.S. Department of Agriculture team was "directly threatened" in Ziracuaretiro, Michoacan. Authorities did not specify what happened, but local authorities said a gang robbed the truck inspectors were traveling in at gunpoint.

The avocado ban was the latest threat to Mexico's export trade, stemming from the government's inability to curb illegal activities.

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This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Joshua Summers

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