Will John Dowdy and Marshall Fisher claim that if you buy avocados, you are supporting the Mexican Drug Cartels? It seems the cartels are diversifying their portfolios. The Los Angeles Times engaged in a sudden bout of journalism last week and reported:
Mexico’s multibillion-dollar avocado industry, headquartered in Michoacan state, has become a prime target for cartels, which have been seizing farms and clearing protected woodlands to plant their own groves of what locals call “green gold.”
More than a dozen criminal groups are battling for control of the avocado trade in and around the city of Uruapan, preying on wealthy orchard owners, the laborers who pick the fruit and the drivers who truck it north to the United States.
“The threat is constant and from all sides,” said Jose Maria Ayala Montero, who works for a trade association that formed its own vigilante army to protect growers.
After seizing control of the forest in March, the Viagras announced a tax on residents who owned avocado trees, charging $250 a hectare in “protection fees.”
But they had competition. Rivals from the Jalisco New Generation cartel wanted to control the same stretch of land — and residents were about to get caught in the middle of a vicious fight....
Homicides are at an all-time high in Mexico, which has long been home to the world’s most powerful and violent narcotics traffickers. Yet much of the killing today has little to do with drugs.
Organized crime has diversified.
In Guanajuato state, the homicide rate has nearly tripled over the last three years as criminals battle for access to gasoline pipelines, which they tap to steal and sell fuel.
In parts of Guerrero state, cartels control access to gold mines and even the price of goods in supermarkets. In one city, Altamirano, the local Coca-Cola bottler closed its distribution center last year after more than a dozen groups tried to extort money from it. The Pepsi bottler left a few months later.
In Mexico City, bar owners in upscale neighborhoods must pay taxes to a local gang, while on the nation’s highways, cargo robberies have risen more than 75% since 2016. Rest of excellent article.
It's pretty simple. Buy avocados, support the drug cartels. Under MBN logic, it's pretty simple.
20 comments:
Jackson is maybe a decade behind being just like this.
A few years ago limes went to $1.00 each. Word was that the cartel had taken it over. Don’t mess with my Vodka tonic
Just wait until the current breed of bananas suffers from the blight that killed the last few breeds. Same goes for cocoa beans. Pure Chocolate could someday be worth more per ounce than gold.
In five years our businesses will be completely legitimate.
Pedro Corleone.
It becomes about money. The cartels are little different from Standard Oil, U.S. Steel, Bank of America, etc. They are not in the drug business, they are in the business-business. They will hire accountants, marketing experts, money brokers, finance experts and all the rest, They will diversify. In years to come they WILL be the government. They have the money.
11:06 Are you kidding? They are not Jackson. Jackson is broke.
Fisher is reportedly out... allegedly Mark Baker is in.... from bad to worse
Hopefully Dowdy and Fisher won’t be around to have a say come January
Fisher et al should hire the cartels to administer the Drivers License Bureau.
"In five years our businesses will be completely legitimate." :
Pedro Corleone.
Laughing my ass off !
In the mean time, who would have thunk guacamole would be controlled by Mexican drug lords.
@12:17
Solid info?
12:10, Mexico is broke. The thugs are in charge of everything. What little government there is is controlled by the thugs. How is that different than what’s going on in Jackson?
7:10 The cartels have multi-millions at their disposal. They can buy businesses and control them. They can put their money where their mouths are.
THEY are not broke. Thugs YES. Broke thugs NO. How in the hell is that like Jackson?
To those who despise the federal government while calling themselves patriots: This is what a weak federal government looks like in practice.
11:06 you are correct and the Dump Ass city leaders will handle the problem just like Mexico’s Governor, passing out hugs not bullets. Hugs are the answer. The only thing in Jackson is crime.
3:45.
1st premise, yes.
2nd premise, no.
But hey, what's wrong with a good rumor for the day? Evidently 12:17 believes in that theory
I know you think it’s ridiculous but there is 100% criminal involvement in the avocado trade, much like most Ag industry in Mexico. There is an episode of the Netflix show “rotten” that dives into the subject.
I still say we need a "Clear and Present Danger" type of response but on a grander scale.
The Mexican cartels operate in over 50 countries across the Americas, Asia, Australia, and Europe and have highly sophisticated means to communicate, and move people and goods across the globe. They have evolved from the drug runners to para military groups with higher levels of capability than some standing armies. Designating them terrorist groups (which they are), gives the USG and our partners additional tools to cripple them financially.
So you're saying the avocado-toast eating elites are supporting narco-terrorists? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
They have evolved from the drug runners to para military groups with higher levels of capability than some standing armies.
Which standing armies? Name them.
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