\n<\/p>\n
MEXICO CITY — <\/span>The United States announced Wednesday that it had suspended all government operations in the Mexican state of Michoacan because of a “threat to U.S. interests,” including a halt to the inspections of avocados required for their export<\/a>. <\/p>\n While the U.S. Embassy did not specify the nature of the threat in its security alert, Michoacan Gov. Alfredo Ram\u00edrez Bedolla said on social media that the temporary halt to inspections was intended to safeguard workers following recent arrests linked to extortion. The inspections are necessary for avocados to be shipped to the United States<\/a> and their suspension could disrupt exports. <\/p>\n The western state of Michoacan is the leading exporter of avocados to the U.S. and has a high level of organized crime activity with at least four cartels \u2014 designated as terrorist organizations by the Trump administration \u2014 operating in the region. Besides trafficking drugs, cartels also make money through extortion, including of the avocado industry.<\/p>\n Michoacan State Security Secretary Antonio Cruz told The Associated Press that one of the arrests mentioned by the governor was of \u201cEl Poncho,\u201d the alias of Alfonso Fern\u00e1ndez Magall\u00f3n, leader of a local cartel operating in the avocado-growing region around Los Reyes.<\/p>\n U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson welcomed the arrest, which came over the weekend. The U.S. government had offered a $5 million reward for Fern\u00e1ndez Magall\u00f3n\u2019s arrest.<\/p>\n Cruz said his department was unaware of any direct incidents involving the avocado inspectors. Nevertheless, 300 security personnel were deployed to the Los Reyes area as a preventive measure.<\/p>\n The governor said the priority was to \u201censure the security conditions necessary for these operations to resume normally,\u201d as has happened in the past.<\/p>\n Mexico supplies approximately 80% of U.S. avocado imports – a product known in the region as \u201cgreen gold.\u201d Its cultivation generates around 200,000 jobs in Michoac\u00e1n alone.<\/p>\n In 2025, Mexico sold $3.65 billion worth of avocados to the United States, and in the first four months of this year, those exports rose by 35% compared to the same period in the previous year.<\/p>\n The U.S. Department of Agriculture sends inspectors in Mexico to monitor plantations and packing houses to ensure that exported produce is free of pests. Threats and violence against the inspectors<\/a> have caused the U.S. to suspend inspections in the past.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n