Mexico sends 660 soldiers and National Guard to protect lime growers victims of cartel extortion

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico sent 660 soldiers and militarized National Guard officers to the western state of Michoacan this month to protect lime growers who complained they were suffering extortion demands from cartels.

The Defense Department said Thursday that it has deployed 300 soldiers and 360 guard officers to several chalk-growing townships since the start of President Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration on Oct. 1.

In August, more than half of the lime-packing warehouses in Michoacan’s lowlands were temporarily closed after growers and distributors said they had received demands from the Los Viagras and other cartels for a cut in their income.

The department said the troops visited warehouses, escorted trucks transporting the fruit and provided security at wholesale markets in key production areas around the cities of Apatzingan, Aguililla and Buenavista.

It said the troops deployed in Michoacan had seized ten guns and two grenades in just over a week.

Limes are an absolute staple of Mexican cuisine. The Michoacan state government had acknowledged the closure of producers in August, but claimed it was largely because growers were unhappy with the prices they were receiving.

While limes may seem like an odd target for drug cartels, they have been a source of income for the gangs for most of this century.

In 2013, lime growers founded and led Mexico’s largest vigilante movement. Cartels had taken control of distribution at the time, manipulating domestic prices for crops like avocados and limes, telling growers when they could harvest and at what price they could sell their crops.

It’s not just limes; There is growing evidence that drug cartels are disrupting parts of the Mexican economy by deciding who can sell a product and at what price – and in return they apparently demand that sellers give a percentage of sales proceeds back to the cartel.

In July, the Femsa company, which operates Oxxo, Mexico’s largest supermarket chain, announced it would close all of its 191 stores and seven gas stations in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, across from Laredo, Texas, due to gang problems.

The company says it has long faced cartels’ demands that its gas stations buy fuel from certain distributors.

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