Avocado from Mexico still fills supermarket shelves in Chula Vista but now its importation has stopped.
The United States government temporarily suspended the entry of the so-called “green gold from Mexico”, after a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) official assigned to inspect avocado shipments in the state of Michoacán received threats in a telephone call.
The suspension is "until further notice”, according to officials.
The USDA did not report it in the United States, but its counterpart in Mexico, the Ministry of Agriculture, released a statement that confirmed the suspension.
"The health authorities of the United States decided on one of their officials, who was carrying out inspections in Uruapan, Michoacán, received a threatening message on their official cell phone," reported the Mexican secretary.
Neither party revealed what the threats consisted of.
The USDA and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services of the United States Department of Agriculture reported the suspension to avocado producers in Michoacán.
The Mexican government reported that in the last six weeks, producers from Michoacán exported more than 135,000 tons of avocado to the United States.
The Mexican avocado is the one that sells the most during the Super Bowl because the game coincides with the export season of the Michoacan avocado.
The state of Michoacán has seen an upsurge in armed clashes between rival cartels that also forced the displacement of at least 15,000 people to Tijuana seeking asylum in the United States last year.
Two rival cartels, Carteles Unidos and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), force avocado growers to pay cash fees for allowing them to use highways those groups control.
