To the Editor:
I love guacamole like many Americans. Recently in the cartoon strip, Foxtrot, the cartoonist ran a strip on guacamole. The mother was preparing homemade dip. Then she said, “Beware the Jabberguac, my son,” to her son. referring to the Lewis Carroll monster. I was wondering where the author, Bill Amend, was coming from. So I made some guacamole treating myself. Then my Sierra Club “Jersey Sierran” arrived in the mail.
It turns out the trade in avocados, the main ingredient in guacamole, is considered risky in Mexico. The avocados are called “blood avocados.” Growers and packers are being murdered and kidnapped, and their land is being stolen. An avocado cartel, “Knights of the Templar, is behind the terrorism.
The Mexican government is supposedly dealing with these crimes. But the U.S. government officials have no policy on this dangerous commerce.
If one’s goal is a sustainable lifestyle, we ought to reconsider buying avocados while the struggle for avocados is bloody.
