Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said in a press conference Monday that the U.S. suspension of avocado shipments from Mexico has political or economic motivations.
On February 11, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service halted inspections of avocados in Michoacán, Mexico, so shipments of the fruit to the U.S. are temporarily suspended. USDA said an inspector received a threatening phone call.
USDA said Monday that the suspension will remain in place for as long as necessary until actions are taken to ensure the safety of APHIS staff working in Mexico.
The U.S. embassy said in a tweet that it is working with Mexican authorities to improve the situation.
Only avocados grown in the Mexican state of Michoacán are approved for export to the U.S., and gang violence there has been a problem for years but has more recently begun to affect the avocado industry.
According to Reuters, López Obrador said in his press conference that competition may have been a bigger reason for the suspension rather than threats of violence.
“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.
Last week the U.S. government also filed an environmental complaint against Mexico for failing to stop illegal fishing to protect an endangered porpoise.
“If it isn’t this one thing [the threatened inspector], it’s another thing, the vaquita marina, or the dolphins,” López Obrador said. “But the truth is there is always something else behind it, an economic or commercial interest, or a political attitude.”
