{"id":67690,"date":"2024-04-27T18:37:21","date_gmt":"2024-04-27T23:37:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=67690"},"modified":"2024-04-27T18:37:21","modified_gmt":"2024-04-27T23:37:21","slug":"a-serious-risk-mexican-villagers-take-on-cartel-backed-avocado-farms-as-water-dries-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=67690","title":{"rendered":"\u2018A serious risk\u2019: Mexican villagers take on cartel-backed avocado farms as water dries up"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u2018A serious risk\u2019: Mexican villagers take on cartel-backed avocado farms as water dries up<\/a><\/h3>\n
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Copyright AP Photo\/Armando Solis<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n
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After enduring years of drought and \u2018invading\u2019 fruit farmers in Mexico, these locals are taking matters into their own hands.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Desperate Mexican villagers are taking direct action on commercial avocado farms that are drying up streams while a severe drought drags on.<\/p>\n

Rivers and even whole lakes are disappearing in the once green and lush state of Michoacan, in the mountains west of Mexico City. Drought has combined with a surge in the use of water for the country\u2019s lucrative export crops, led by\u00a0avocados<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

In recent days, subsistence farmers and activists from the Michoacan town of Villa Madero organised teams to go into the mountains and rip out illegal water pumps and breach unlicensed irrigation holding ponds.<\/p>\n

A potential conflict looms with avocado growers – who are often sponsored by, or pay protection money to, drug cartels.<\/p>\n

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