The U.S. has suspended all government operations in Mexico's Michoacán state, including the inspections required for avocados to be exported to American grocery stores, citing an unspecified "threat to U.S. interests."

The U.S. Embassy announced the suspension Wednesday, Aug. 5, without detailing the nature of the threat in its security alert. Michoacán Gov. Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla said on social media that the temporary halt was intended to safeguard workers following recent arrests linked to extortion in the region. Michoacán State Security Secretary Antonio Cruz told the Associated Press that one of those arrests involved "El Poncho," the alias of Alfonso Fernández Magallón, the leader of a local cartel operating in the avocado-growing region around Los Reyes. U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson welcomed that arrest, which took place over the weekend.

Why Michoacán Matters So Much to the Avocado Supply

Michoacán is the only Mexican state currently authorized to export avocados to the United States, and Mexico as a whole supplies roughly 80% of all U.S. avocado imports, a product referred to locally as "green gold." The industry generates more than 200,000 jobs in the state alone. In 2025, Mexico sold $3.65 billion worth of avocados to the U.S., with exports climbing 35% in the first four months of this year compared to the same period a year earlier. According to Mexico's agriculture ministry, Michoacán producers exported more than 135,000 tons of avocados to the U.S. in the six weeks leading up to the suspension.

The USDA sends inspectors to monitor plantations and packing houses in the region to ensure exported produce is free of pests, a requirement for the fruit to legally enter the U.S. market. The region's location near the Pacific coast, where much of the crop is grown and shipped from, has also made it a site of ongoing turf conflict between at least four cartels operating in the area, all of which have been designated as terrorist organizations by the Trump administration. Beyond drug trafficking, those cartels also generate revenue through extortion, including of the avocado industry itself.

A Recurring Problem for Avocado Exports

This isn't the first time violence has disrupted the flow of avocados north. In June 2024, the U.S. suspended avocado and mango inspections after two USDA employees were assaulted and briefly held by assailants while inspecting avocados in Michoacán. That pause lasted more than a week, cost Mexican growers tens of millions of dollars, and temporarily sent U.S. avocado prices soaring by as much as 40%, according to the analysis firm RaboResearch Food & Agribusiness.

Mexican local and state police are now working alongside the USDA to help resolve the current suspension, and Mexican authorities are coordinating with the U.S. Embassy in hopes of resuming inspections as soon as possible. As of this report, no timeline has been given for when normal inspection activity, and avocado exports, might resume.

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