Bloody war in “The Green Gold” – NRK Urix – Foreign News and Documentaries

Lucila Fernanda Maciel Valencia is wearing her colorful wool poncho. It is cold in the morning here at 2000 meters of altitude.

– I love this job because I am not locked in an office. I am outdoors and without people, says her husband Edgar Ortiz Velasco with a big smile.

We are on one side of the valley a few miles from Urapan, in the Mexican state of Michoacán. The city has only 300,000 inhabitants, but is known as the avocado capital of the world. About half of the world’s avocados are grown in this area.

Edgar and his wife Lucila are here to follow the harvest and show us the plantation. They started in the avocado industry as wholesalers last year. She is originally an educated economist. He is a chemist.

But graduate jobs are underpaid in Mexico. To secure the future for themselves and their three children, they invested in another profession.

“We started with avocado because we could earn twice as much as we would earn in a job than academics,” says Lucila.

High up in a tree, a powerful guy loomed with a long stick. Sharp rays of sunlight push through the dense foliage.

– How’s it going? Edgar and Lucila shout encouragingly at the workers in the trees that weigh kilos of kilos of green and ripe fruits.

But life in the avocado industry is not as idyllic as it seems. Powerful criminal groups will also have their share of growing profits.

– We are scared. Everyone here is scared, Lucilla and Edgar tell NRK.

Nine corpses hung from a bridge

The avocado capital of the world, Urapan, is located on a lush mountainous plain. The small city with many beautiful brick buildings from the colonial era, is now one of the most dangerous places in Mexico. The death toll is as bad as in war zones.

In August of last year, people woke up to a macabre vision. Nine bodies were found hanging from a bridge in the city. Nearby, the other ten mutilated bodies were found.

Mexico has been terrorized by brutal cartels for years, and it was in Uruapan that the so-called Mexican War began in 2006. At least 250,000 people have been killed and tens of thousands have been kidnapped or disappeared since then.

But something has changed. Powerful cartels no longer just fight for control of drug trafficking. Now they are carrying out the same methods: on the highly lucrative avocado industry.

– The new gold rush

The change occurred when Americans seriously put their love on avocado. Demand has increased and prices have multiplied.

Exports to the United States are now worth more than NOK 20 billion a year. There is a large amount of money in this area, with about half living below the poverty line.

Now, the avocado is simply called “the green gold”.

– That’s the new gold rush. Everyone wants to be a millionaire. That’s why they cut down the forest and plant avocados, says José Luis Álvarez, the NRK celebrity, who has been closely following development for many years.

– They said it was an accident

A few kilometers from the avocado plantation of Lucila and Edgar we meet María. She took the children and moved with parents in a poor part of the city. The evergreen plasterer has seen better days, and on the wall are images of the Virgin Mary and various crosses.

Maria knows how dangerous the avocado industry is. Therefore, we do not use your real name in this case either.

She never forgot the day almost two years ago.

– They said it was an accident. But it was not an accident. They were killed, says Mary.

She sits in a chair and tells the tragedy of her life.

The man had gone to work as usual with a group of avocado pickers.

Then the phone rang. Something had happened to them.

– Several were killed. I hoped my husband was not among the dead. But unfortunately it was not so. It was very painful, she says with tears in her eyes.

Seven avocado pickers were shot dead that day. Four were from the same family.

I didn’t know it was so dangerous

Maria went to the police and reported the murder. But no one is condemned.

– We never knew why they were killed, she says.

Very few murders in Mexico are solved. Many experts call Mexico a narcotic because close links have been revealed between the authorities and criminal groups in various places.

Some believe that Mary’s husband and the other avocado pickers were killed in a misunderstanding. But most people believe they were killed because powerful cartels tried to gain control of the avocado plantation.

– We never thought that work was so dangerous, says María.

A pink toy car lies on the hard concrete floor. Now she is alone with three young daughters. The youngest was only three months old when the father was killed.

Mary shows us the bridal image of her and the man. They were so in love at the time. Now it’s gone.

But life continues after the murder. She has a job, but her income is not enough.

– It is very difficult. No less important for raising children alone. I have to be mom and dad to them, she says, looking at the children with blank eyes.

parasites

Back at the Edgar and Lucila plantation, the pickers are in full gear carrying boxes of avocado to the trailers.

– It’s a very good job. If we hadn’t had this job, we couldn’t support ourselves and the family. For other jobs, wages are said to be lower, says Baltzahar Sanchez, a powerful guy in a pink T-shirt.

Edgar points to the other side of the valley. Formerly the hillside was covered by dense forest. Large patches are now visible on the forest cover. The smoke comes out of the fire a little further.

“About half of the plantations here are illegal,” local celebrity Álvarez told NRK.

Large amounts of forest have been cut or burned. Protected forests are also being destroyed. Instead, avocado trees are planted at a rapid rate.

– Previously, this was an industry with local people going back several generations. When things started to become very profitable, new people came, for better and for worse, says Lucila.

At the entrance to the plantation there are detergents and disinfectants. An inspector from the authorities marks the boxes that get on a large truck. There are strict rules for the export of avocado.

But illegal plantations don’t always follow the rules. It affects the market.

“Unfortunately, fruits that are contaminated by illegal bacteria, parasites, and pesticides are exported,” says Edgar.

Despite the dangers and illegal plantations, Edgar and Lucila believe in a future in the avocado industry.

However, they do not feel completely safe.

They know people who have been kidnapped to squeeze money out of their families. This happens almost every week in this area. People are kidnapped from avocado plantations, from the street in the middle of the day and from their homes.

Many in the industry also have to pay so-called “protection money” to criminal groups. If they don’t pay, they can be killed.

Horror has settled in Edgar and Lucilla’s spinal cord.

– You can live a normal and calm life and think that everything is going well. Then suddenly someone comes with guns and kills you and your whole family and takes everything you’ve worked for your whole life, “says Edgar.

He looks at his wife.

“That is the fear we all have,” he says.