Avocados imported to the UK from Mexico are linked to environmental destruction, land theft and violence against Indigenous communities, according to a first-hand account from a Purépecha activist. Claudia Ignacio Álvarez, who grew up in San Andrés Tziróndaro on the shores of Lake Pátzcuaro in Michoacán state, says her community's way of life is under threat as land is extracted for profit.
Michoacán is one of Mexico's leading export states for agricultural products, with avocados and berries promoted internationally as healthy and sustainable. However, Álvarez says the reality involves land dispossession, environmental destruction and violence. Most produce is exported to the US, though some reaches European markets, including the UK.
In her community, agribusiness companies rent land that is legally communal, meant to guarantee food for local people. Pipes have been installed to extract water from Lake Pátzcuaro for plantations. During last year's severe drought, the lake nearly dried up, fish disappeared, and the fishing community could no longer eat its traditional food. Forest fires, often deliberately set, clear land for avocado orchards, which consume enormous amounts of water and eliminate other forms of life.
Álvarez says communities have done everything to protect their land, but this has led to threats, killings and disappearances. She describes being caught between corporate interests, organised criminal actors and a state that repeatedly fails to protect them. In Michoacán's coastal region, Indigenous Nahua communities have faced similar threats while opposing mining and steel projects. In San Juan Huitzontla, Eustacio Alcalá Díaz was murdered and environmental defender José Gabriel Pelayo was forcibly disappeared; both cases remain unresolved.
The killing of Carlos Manzo, mayor of Uruapan, in November 2024, during a public event in the capital of the world's main avocado-exporting region, has heightened tensions. At least three mayors have been murdered this year. According to Global Witness, at least 36 defenders were attacked in Mexico between 2023 and 2024, most of them Indigenous, with few cases seeing meaningful progress in investigations.
Álvarez notes that responsibility does not lie with Mexico alone. The US, the main destination for Michoacán's avocados and berries, plays a central role in sustaining this model. European and British markets also contribute to the demand that drives the violence and exploitation.
