LatinNews Daily - 25 June 2024

*US Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar has announced that officials from both countries have agreed to a new plan to guarantee security for personnel from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (Aphis) working in Mexico. The plan was developed after the US temporarily suspended the import of avocados and mangos from Mexico’s Michoacán state on 18 June following a security incident affecting two Aphis inspectors. On 21 June Salazar announced that Aphis workers would gradually resume inspections, allowing for imports to restart. In a meeting in Michoacán on 24 June with state Governor Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla, Mexico’s Agriculture Minister Víctor Villalobos Arámbula, and the chief officer for North America at Mexico’s foreign ministry (SRE), Roberto Velasco, Salazar reiterated that “there is not greater priority than guaranteeing the safety of our workers”. He stated the US would continue to monitor and follow up on the plan to ensure workers are safe, as well as maintaining a continuous dialogue with the Mexican authorities and Mexico’s association of producers and packagers of export avocados (Apeam). Salazar also said the officials had agreed to collaborate on efforts to protect the environment and curb illegal deforestation, as well as advancing the labour rights of those working in the avocado sector.