Why are we wasting time and treasure on this garbage country with garbage people
Mexico produces 45% of the world's avocados. The state of Michoacán produces 80% of Mexico's avocados. And Michoacán is entirely controlled by drug cartels.
This isn't metaphorical. The Jalisco New Generation Cartel and the Knights Templar Cartel literally run the avocado industry. They extort avocado farmers for 10 to 15% of their revenue, about $150 million per year total. If you don't pay, they kill you or burn your orchards.
They've murdered environmental activists who opposed deforestation for avocado plantations. They've assassinated local officials who tried to regulate the industry. They control the packing houses, the distribution networks, and the export logistics.
In 2019, the US briefly banned avocado imports from Michoacán after a USDA inspector was threatened at gunpoint. The ban lasted one week before economic pressure forced them to back down. The cartels won.
Here's what makes it worse. Avocados require huge amounts of water in a region experiencing severe drought. Each kilogram of avocados needs 272 gallons of water. The cartels have been illegally diverting rivers and streams, drilling unauthorized wells, and draining aquifers to irrigate their plantations.
The deforestation is equally grim. Mexico loses 1,700 acres of forest per day, and avocado plantation expansion is a major driver. Pine and fir forests that took centuries to grow are being cleared for avocado orchards that will deplete the soil in 20 years then be abandoned.
The environmental regulations that exist are completely unenforced because the cartels control the local government. Nobody inspects anything. Nobody enforces water limits. Nobody stops the forest clearing.
Your avocado toast is funding organizations that murder people, destroy forests, drain aquifers, and bribe officials. But you put it on Instagram with # plantbased # sustainable and called it ethical eating.
The cows didn't kill anyone. The cartels growing your breakfast did.