THE NEW YORK TIMES – If you are buying a lime in the United States — to juice up a cocktail, say, or to squeeze over tacos — there’s a good chance it was grown in a scorching region known as la Tierra Caliente, in the western Mexican state of Michoacán.
It was there that, on Oct. 17, Bernardo Bravo, a lime grower and president of a local producers’ association, filmed a rallying cry on his phone.
In the video, which he posted on Facebook, Mr. Bravo called on fellow lime growers to assemble at the local wholesale market and refuse access to gangsters seeking cuts of the profit.
“We won’t allow the entry of any broker or coyote,” he said, “who is putting prices on fruit that isn’t his.”
“President Claudia Sheinbaum has taken steps to tackle organized crime, primarily to stop the flow of fentanyl and migrants into the United States … “
The demonstration was planned for Oct. 20. Hours before it was set to begin, the police found Mr. Bravo dead in his vehicle, his body showing signs of torture and a gunshot wound to the head.
In recent years, Mexico’s cartels have diversified from drug production to a portfolio of criminal rackets, from human smuggling to stealing crude oil — and, increasingly, extorting civilians.
The shakedowns, known here as “cobros de piso,” rob workers, from mom-and-pop shop owners to farmers to truck drivers, of their earnings and force up the prices of goods in Mexico and abroad.
One business association estimates that such protection rackets cost Mexican enterprises around $1.1 billion this year as of September.
Over the past year, under pressure from President Trump, who has threatened Mexico with punitive tariffs and military strikes, President Claudia Sheinbaum has taken steps to tackle organized crime, primarily to stop the flow of fentanyl and migrants into the United States …
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