The New Double Agent : Avocados

The fruit celebrated as a symbol of agricultural success and dubbed Mexico’s “green gold” is currently drawing the attention of ministers for complex reasons regarding Mexico’s status quo.

On 10th December 2006—just two days after the mayor of Múgica was gunned down by several masked men, the Secretary of Economy reported the sudden and surprising increase in Mexico’s avocados export rates to about 1 million metric tons, which is a 10 percent increase from the previous years. This is due to the increase in local support and the use of state-of-art machines to process avocados. Additionally, there is a newly made distribution line connecting the Tancitaro, Uruapan, and Periban with the Port of Lazaro Cardenas.

Agustin Carstens, the secretary of finance in the cabinet of Filipe Calderón, explained that this increase in avocado exports is an extremely good investment opportunity in order to increase job opportunities and funding but he found that it was somewhat suspicious for the export rates to rise all of a sudden . Tomás Ángeles Dauahare—one of Mexico’s high ranking military leaders suspect that this abrupt increase in avocado exports might be a new tactic for cartels to smuggle drugs into Mexico, and suggest ministers investigate further into this issue. Antonthy P. Placido—the DEA intelligence Chief—reminded ministers that it is not uncommon for drug cartels to use this situation as a red-herring so that they can safely transport and smuggle drugs to their designated locations and advised to proceed with precaution.

For that reason, Carstens and Placido are planning to work together to ensure anti corruption, cutting the source of funding for cartels. Aside from that, Anthony P. Placido explicitly stated in an interview, conducted after the first committee session has elapsed, that he is currently working alongside all the other military related ministers to enforce stricter and more regulated borders, by utilizing satellites to track the presence and location of foreign and unregistered ships or vehicles that are not registered under the Mexican government.

Through these solutions, they all hope to establish a better future for Mexico, one where citizens understand that their survival does not depend on the influence of powerful cartels, and where hope eliminates their fears.