U.S. fully resumes avocado inspections in Mexico's Michoacán

Mexico deployed 1,500 troops to protect avocado orchards

The U.S. Embassy in Mexico announced Thursday that all U.S. government activities in Michoacán have resumed, including the agricultural inspections required to certify new avocado shipments bound for the United States. U.S. Ambassador Ronald Johnson said the trade restart followed additional security measures implemented by Mexican authorities and an evaluation by U.S. officials that the situation was secure.

Johnson announced the decision on X, writing: “U.S.-Mexico cooperation delivers results: Full resumption of U.S. government activities in Michoacán.” The embassy cautioned, however, that Michoacán remains under a Level 4 “Do Not Travel” advisory — the most restrictive designation in the State Department’s travel advisory system.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture temporarily halted inspections and certification of new avocado shipments on Aug. 5 after the embassy issued a security alert. The alert cited what U.S. authorities characterized as an imminent threat to U.S. interests and to agricultural inspectors amid systematic extortion by organized crime targeting Michoacán’s agricultural sector.

Rapid negotiations between the embassy and the Mexican government produced a joint plan that allowed operations to resume this week, according to Mexican newspaper El Universal. Mexico deployed 1,500 members of the Army and National Guard to protect producing orchards, escort cargo trucks and safeguard farmworkers, transporters and USDA inspectors.

After the deployment, the United States authorized inspections and packing operations to restart Monday at 45 packing facilities in designated areas of Michoacán. More than 60 other packing plants remained under evaluation until Thursday’s announcement of the full resumption.

The resumption provides relief to local producers whose livelihoods depend on avocado cultivation, harvesting and packing. Mexico is the world’s largest avocado producer and supplies 92% of the avocados imported by the United States, meaning an extended disruption could have affected U.S. supplies and prices.

USDA statistics show the United States imported 730,395 metric tons of avocados during the first half of 2026, up 17% from the same period in 2025. Mexico supplied 670,026 metric tons of that total, a 34% year-over-year increase, according to Mexican newspaper La Jornada.

The Mexican government made security in Michoacán a top priority in November after the killings of Uruapan Mayor Carlos Manzo and citrus growers’ leader Bernardo Bravo. Both had publicly denounced pressure and extortion by criminal groups operating in the state.

Mexican Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch said Tuesday that the government’s “Michoacán Plan for Peace and Justice” had resulted in 950 arrests, according to digital news outlet El Heraldo de México. García Harfuch said the security operation has prioritized combating criminal groups involved in extortion and the collection of illegal protection payments from avocado and lime growers, packers and transporters.

Among the most significant arrests were 12 suspected extortionists linked to a remnant of the Knights Templar cartel and Ramón Ángel “N,” known as “El R1.” Authorities have identified El R1 as the suspected mastermind behind the killing of the former Uruapan mayor and as a major source of violence targeting the region’s agricultural sector.