"Blood Avocados: The Dark Side of Your Favorite Superfood "

When people think about crime that crosses borders, they often think of drug smugglers, human traffickers, and people who illegally sell weapons. But there's another type of crime that's not as well-known but growing quickly in South America and Mexico: smuggling avocados. This business has affected many Mexicans and costs American consumers more than they realize.

The Rise of Legal Marijuana and Healthy Foods. 

In the last ten years, two big changes in the United States have affected the whole world. First, more states have made marijuana legal for adults, with 18 states allowing it by 2022. This change has created a legal marijuana market that's expected to make over $25 billion in sales by 2025. Second, Americans have become very interested in "superfoods," like avocados, because they're seen as very healthy. Since 2010, how much avocados are eaten in the US has almost doubled, and most of those avocados come from Mexico.

Economic Changes in Mexico. 

The legalizing of marijuana in the US has really hurt Mexican drug gangs' business. They used to make a lot of money smuggling marijuana into the US illegally. With that business not making as much money anymore, they've started to focus on avocados, especially in Michoacan, where 80% of Mexico's avocados come from. Now, these gangs are fighting each other for control of avocado farms, workers, and the roads and things like gas and water they need. This fighting has made the murder rate go up three times in Michoacan, with about 1,500 murders in 2019 alone. People say that about four truckloads of avocados are stolen every day.

The Human Cost. 

In places where a lot of avocados are grown, there's been a lot more crime, and the local police aren't strong enough to deal with all of it. For example, Uruapan, the main city in Michoacan, only has 130 police officers to deal with many different gangs. One gang, called the Cártel de Jalisco Nuevo Generación, is very violent and does terrible things like showing the bodies of people they've killed in public.

Local Militias and More Violence. 

Because the Mexican government hasn't been able to protect people, the people in Michoacan have made their own armies, paid for by avocado farmers. These militias were meant to protect people, but some of them now threaten the farmers they were supposed to help, which makes the violence and corruption worse.

Avocado Business Keeps Growing. 

Violence has become a powerful tool for gangs to get more land to grow avocados and make more money. Drug gangs work with rich people and government officials to do this. The gangs move people out of their homes and cut down forests so they can grow more avocados. Rich people then start new avocado farms, and the government helps them by giving them permission to use the land. Stopping this illegal cutting down of forests needs big changes to stop the government from being so corrupt and not doing a good job.

Cutting Down Forests and Losing Animals and Plants. 

We have proof that this is hurting the environment: from 1976 to 2000, Michoacán lost over 521,000 hectares of forests, while farms grew by 247,000 hectares. From 2001 to 2018, even more forests were cut down, and they were mostly changed into grasslands and farms. Looking at maps from 1992 to 2018 shows how the forests went away and were replaced with farms in the towns that grow the most avocados. Only growing avocados, instead of many different kinds of trees, means losing lots of animals and plants. Cutting down forests and using the land differently hurts the special trees that monarch butterflies need to live in.

Soil and Water Problems. 

Growing so many avocados in one place makes the dirt worse because it doesn't have enough natural stuff in it and washes away easier. Avocado trees need a lot of water, which causes fights between people and some people digging illegal wells. In Uruapan, 77% of the water under the ground is used to grow avocados, and some of that water has chemicals in it from farming, which makes it bad for people to drink.

From Dangerous Avocados to Safe Ones: Is It Possible? 

People are starting to see how growing avocados can hurt people and the world around them and how gangs and bad government help this happen. People think that making the best farms get awards, stopping people from other places from putting in money, and making special markets that show where food comes from can help. Rules to use land in a good way, helping towns to make their own choices, and keeping forests safe are all really important. Even though we worry about cutting down forests, getting certified to send avocados to the US and doing it in a way that helps the world could make the people who grow avocados in Michoacán care more about what's happening there.

What Should Happen Now? 

The United States needs to talk about how to help Mexico make less crime and a more fair government. The ways that gangs take control of avocado farms work well and might happen in other places. As long as the US buys things from places where the rules aren't fair, this kind of crime will keep happening. The "Avocado Wars" show how hard it is when legal and illegal markets mix together. To fix this, we need people from all over the world to work together and make strong rules.

Source material is here and here. 

1. Cause and Effect: How do you think the legalization of marijuana in the United States has contributed to the rise of avocado smuggling in Mexico? Discuss the economic and social factors involved.

2. Environmental Concerns: Considering the deforestation caused by avocado farming, what strategies could be implemented to mitigate its impact on biodiversity and local ecosystems in Michoacan?

3. Social Implications: In your opinion, how effective are local militias in Michoacan in combating crime associated with avocado smuggling? What are the ethical and practical challenges they face?

4. Global Responsibility: What role should international governments and organizations play in addressing the issues caused by avocado smuggling, both in terms of crime and environmental degradation? Discuss potential collaborative approaches.

5. Policy Recommendations: If you were advising policymakers in Mexico and the United States, what policy measures would you propose to balance economic opportunities from avocado farming with environmental conservation and social stability?