Mexico sends 660 soldiers, National Guard to protect lime growers suffering extortion by cartels

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

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

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

The department said the troops were visiting packing houses, escorting trucks transporting the fruit and providing security at wholesale markets in the main producing areas around the towns of Apatzingan, Aguililla and Buenavista.

It said that in just over a week, the troops deployed to Michoacan had seized 10 guns and two grenades.

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

While limes might seem to be an odd target for drug cartels, they have been a source of income for the gangs for much of this century.

In 2013, lime growers founded and led Mexico's biggest vigilante movement. Cartels at the time had taken control of distribution, 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 mounting evidence that drug cartels are distorting parts of Mexico’s economy, deciding who gets to sell a product and at what price — and in return they are apparently demanding sellers pass a percentage of sales revenue back to the cartel.

In July, the Femsa corporation, which operates Oxxo, Mexico’s largest chain of convenience stores, announced it was closing all of its 191 stores and seven gas stations in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, across from Laredo, Texas, because of gang problems.

The company said it had long had to deal with cartel demands that its gas stations buy their fuel from certain distributors.

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