By Julie Etra

Journalists
We recently made a trip to the state of Michoacán, Mexico, specifically to the monarch butterfly reserve at ‘El Rosario’ (which was a magical amazing experience), and then on to Morelia, the capital of the state. After spending a few days in Mexico City, we hired a driver to take us on the three-hour drive to the reserve. From the reserve to Morelia required an initial ‘taxi’ ride in two small pick-up trucks (to accommodate the four of us and our luggage) to the central bus terminal in Zitácuaro where we took the very comfortable 3.5-hour bus ride to Morelia.

We were traveling with friends, and I did not tell them until the trip was over that Zitácuaro was recently featured in the Sunday N.Y. Times magazine section as one of the most dangerous places to be a reporter in all of Mexico. Mexico follows the Ukraine in being the second most dangerous place in the world to be an investigative reporter.

According to the article, under the Presidency of Felipe Calderon, starting in 2006, and his ineffective crackdown on drugs, at least 128 reporters have been killed in Mexico, 13 of them last year alone. The article focused on the founder and lead reporter of the local media outlet Monitor Michoacán, Armando Linares, who was dedicated to exposing corruption in Zitácuaro, hinting at the connection of the mayor to cartels. We were highly unlikely to be exposed to that sort of risk, being uninvolved foreigners, during our two hours at the central bus terminal. Nonetheless, I recalled the article, as it was on my mind during our departure from the reserve, our few hours in Zitácuaro, enroute through the town, and then on to Morelia.

Avocados
Avocados (Persea americana), a fruit and not a vegetable, most likely originated in the vicinity of Puebla, Mexico, about 10,000 years ago (similar to the domestication of corn). The English word avocado is derived from the Spanish word aguacate, which the Spaniards derived from the Nahuatl word ahuacatl (meaning testicle). It is called oon in Maya, and palta in Quechua. In the United States of America (US) avocado trees were first planted in Florida in 1833 and then in California in 1856.

Although the US lifted its 83-year import ban in 1997, shipments to California were not allowed at the time due to concern over competitive lower priced Mexican avocados and supposed fear of foreign pests. California finally began imports in 2007, as the state, with limited suitable growing conditions, simply could not meet the demands of this increasingly popular fruit. In 1985, Americans ate 436 million pounds of avocados per year. By 2020, that number exploded to 2.7 billion pounds.

Avocado consumption in the US peaks during the Superbowl, although the average consumption is said to be seven lbs. of avocados /year. I can attest that in our Huatulco household we average eight avocados per week. This seemingly excessive consumption is vastly curtailed when back in the US due to cost and sometimes quality. Even with the peso at 16.3:1 US dollar as of this writing, one avocado averages 90 cents in Huatulco as opposed to an average of $1.50 per avocado at the bargain outlets in the US and as high as 2.98 for one organic avocado.

Michoacán produces more avocados than any other state in Mexico, as the small trees thrive in well drained soils of volcanic origin, and sunny climates. It is followed by Jalisco and the Estado de Mexico. Mexico (the country) exports about half of the avocados consumed worldwide. In 2022 this was valued at just under 3.5 billion in US currency, with the US being by far the biggest consumer estimated at 3 billion, receiving 86% of Mexican exports (95% of these are Hass avocados).
From Mexico City to the reserve, in the vicinity of the reserve, and on our way to Morelia we certainly noticed all the monocultures of avocado orchards. There is concern that deforestation and land use conversion to avocado orchards is destroying the oak/pine woodlands, increasing water demand, and the only sanctuary for monarch butterflies in the world, for which Michoacán is famous. A 2016 Associated Press report said that as many as 20,000 acres of forest was being converted to avocado orchards, with an estimated loss of one-fifth of the native forests from 2001 to 2017 and increasing dramatically since 2017.
Avocados consume 50 – 60 litres of water per day. In contrast, a native pine tree consumes roughly 11 liters of water per day. However, avocado trees are not particularly fertilizer consumptive. Irrigation can be reduced with inoculation of symbiotic mycorrhiza, a type of soil fungi that greatly increases uptake of phosphorus and water. One study I read concluded that the growth rate of inoculated avocado trees was a massive 250% higher than uninoculated trees. Producers of quality inocula are extremely reluctant to approach growers, for reasons addressed below.

Cartels and Avocados
Are cartels involved in this rapidly expanding agro industry? In August 2023 National Public Radio (NPR), a USA nonprofit radio network podcast, featured a story entitled: Caliber 60: The violent underbelly of the avocado industry (www.npr.org/podcasts/1162033047/caliber-60). It is well known that Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación has been involved in the industry, extortion and extreme violence being common practices.
In response, some communities in Michoacán have formed their own citizen self-defense groups like Pueblos Unidos, who, according to the podcast, turned out to be equally bad as the narcos. The title refers to the fact that at least 80% of the firearms in Mexico can be traced to the US.

While we were in Morelia, I picked up a local paper (February 29, 2024) that included an article about a meeting between the governor of Michoacan and the US ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar. The meeting focused on the US’s desire to only import avocados that have been grown on land that has not been illegally de-forested (I assume recently) and certified accordingly. Further, ‘This is consistent with both countries’ efforts to combat climate change and is in the interest of American consumers and members of the Indigenous communities of Michoacán and Jalisco who are at risk for defending their forests and water,” said Sen. Peter Welch, a Democrat from Vermont, alluding to organized crime.

Journalists
Full circle, back to journalists and journalism; Mexico can be a tough country. In 2021, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (aka AMLO), took aim, so to speak, at three reporters during his morning press briefing, including Ciro Gómez Leyva, a well-known T.V. anchor. Leyva subsequently barely escaped an assassination attempt; his car was protected with bullet-resistant glass windows.

As for the media outlet, the Monitor Michoacán, the cameraman was assassinated first, and the subject of the article, the founder and lead journalist determined to expose a link between the local government and the cartels, was murdered in his home 46 days later. From the NY Times article, the author wrote ‘Mexico is a hall of mirrors to any journalist. It is so hard to tell who is telling the truth because the line between crime fighter and criminal has become so blurred it often ceases to exist.’