Mexican Lime Growers’ Leader Killed after Publicly Resisting Cartels

Authorities in western Mexico have confirmed the death of Bernardo Bravo, president of the Apatzingán Valley Citrus Producers Association, whose body was found Monday inside his vehicle on a rural road in Michoacán state. Prosecutors described the death as a homicide on X and said an investigation is ongoing.

Bravo, a respected voice for lime producers in the region, had become an outspoken critic of organized crime’s stranglehold on agriculture. According to the Associated Press,, in interviews just weeks before his death, he condemned what he called “organized crime’s permanent commercial hijacking of any commercial activity,” saying that many growers had been forced to negotiate with criminal groups as extortion demands became unbearable.

On October 17, Bravo had posted to his Facebook, speaking about the crisis.

Michoacán, one of Mexico’s most productive lime-growing regions, has long been a flashpoint for cartel activity. Criminal organizations such as Los Viagras, United Cartels, and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel have sought to control the region’s lucrative citrus trade — demanding protection payments from growers, dictating harvest schedules, and even setting prices.

Earlier this year, more than half of the lime packing warehouses in the region’s lowlands were forced to shut down temporarily after receiving demands for money from organized groups. In response, Mexico’s federal government deployed hundreds of soldiers and National Guard members to safeguard producers and their families.

Despite some federal intervention, producers say extortion, threats, and kidnappings continue to devastate agricultural communities.

The targeting of lime growers is not new. In 2013, farmers in Michoacán organized one of Mexico’s largest vigilante movements after cartels seized control of the region’s fruit trade, manipulating domestic markets and threatening those who resisted. The same cycle of violence has since spread to other high-value crops such as avocados, berries, and agave.

Several criminal organizations active in Michoacán — including United Cartels, the New Michoacán Family, and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel — have been classified by the U.S. government as foreign terrorist groups.

Bravo’s death follows that of Minerva Pérez, a fisheries leader shot to death in Baja California in 2024 after she publicly denounced cartel extortion and illegal fishing operations.

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