Gangsters in this western Green Zone, armed with automatic rifles, use automatic saws and immediately cut trees day and night. Collapsed trees resonate throughout the virgin forest. When local people protest, explaining that these forests are protected from logging, they are threatened with weapons to keep calm. In fact, stealing the wood was a prelude to a more ambitious plan.

New Arrivals

The newcomers are members of a criminal group, called Viagras, and are cutting down forest trees to replace them. In fact, they did not plant marijuana, or any other crop favored by Mexican drug cartels, but another more lucrative crop, avocado.

Production in Avocado, in the Mexican state of Michigan, has become the main target of Mexican gangs, who seize farms and clean them from existing trees to grow the avocado vineyards, which locals call "green gold."

Dozens of criminal groups are struggling to control the avocado trade in and around Europe, taking advantage of the owners of the avocado groves, as well as the workers who pick them and drivers who bring the fruit to the United States. "The threats are always there from all sides," said Jose Maria Ayala Monteiro, who works for the Commercial Association, which has formed its vigilant army to protect farmers. », Up to $ 250 per hectare« protection fees ».

Criminal groups compete

These criminal groups compete with each other. The rivals want the criminal group Galasico Neugenrachen to take control of the same area, which is dominated by Viagras, and the local population appears to be the victim of fierce conflict between the two groups. In May, a convoy of trucks loaded with Galacico gunmen arrived in the woods, and an hour-long battle broke out. Professor Juan Madrigal Miranda, 72, who runs a natural center in the area, was forced to lie on the ground, while bullets passed over his head during the battle. His fear turned into anger as criminals grew stronger, killing 10 people in the forest that day. "Across the country, criminal groups want land, forest and water, and now they are fighting for the basics of life," Madrigal said.

Increased consumption

Between 2001 and 2018, US avocado consumption increased. The state of Michukan, with heavy rains and rich volcanic soil, has become the ideal place to grow avocados. It is the only state in Mexico allowed to export avocados to the United States, which banned the import of fruit from Mexico until 1997, for fear of insects growing on fruit.

The avocado business in Michoacan boomed to about $ 2.4 billion last year, bringing a state of prosperity to the state. Modern car dealers have proliferated, avocado land has grown, and profitable. Maiko Sega, 28, who spent his childhood in California, says he leads a team of avocado pickers and earns good wages. Finally, they were summoned to a farm, only to find out that they belonged to a criminal group. “They forced us to work under the threat of pistols for seven hours, without giving us any pay,” he said. In other cases, other gangs were preventing his team from working, so that the supply of avocado to the market would be slightly reduced, increasing the profits of these gangs, who control the avocado farms.

Dozens of criminal groups seek to control the avocado trade in and around Europe, taking advantage of the owners of orchards, as well as the workers who pick it, and the drivers who transport the fruits to the United States.

The avocado business in Michoacan boomed to about $ 2.4 billion last year, bringing the state of prosperity to the state. Modern car dealers have spread, avocado land has grown, and profitable for everyone.