US suspends avocado inspections in Mexican state of Michoacan due to threat
The United States says it has suspended all government operations in the Mexican state of Michoacan because of a “threat to U_S_ interests.”
ByMARIA VERZA Associated Press
August 5, 2026, 9:21 PM
MEXICO CITY –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
While the U.S. Embassy did not specify the nature of the threat in its security alert, Michoacan Gov. Alfredo Ramírez 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 and their suspension could disrupt exports
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 — designated as terrorist organizations by the Trump administration — operating in the region. Besides trafficking drugs, cartels also make money through extortion, including of the avocado industry
Michoacan State Security Secretary Antonio Cruz told The Associated Press that one of the arrests mentioned by the governor was of “El Poncho,” the alias of Alfonso Fernández Magallón, leader of a local cartel operating in the avocado-growing region around Los Reyes
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 Fernández Magallón’s arrest
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
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The governor said the priority was to “ensure the security conditions necessary for these operations to resume normally,” as has happened in the past
Mexico supplies approximately 80% of U.S. avocado imports – a product known in the region as “green gold.” Its cultivation generates around 200,000 jobs in Michoacán alone
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
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 have caused the U.S. to suspend inspections in the past
