Mexico Sends 660 Soldiers, National Guard To Protect Lime Growers Suffering Extortion By Cartels

Mexico has sent 660 soldiers and militarized National Guard officers this month to the western state of Michoacan to protect lime growers who complained they were suffering extortion demands by cartels.

The Defense Department said Thursday that since the start of President Claudia Sheinbaum's administration on Oct. 1, it has sent 300 soldiers and 360 Guard officers to several lime-growing townships.

In August, more than half of lime packing warehouses in the lowlands of Michoacan closed temporarily after growers and distributors said they had received demands from the Los Viagras and other cartels for a cut of their income.

The department said the troops were visiting packing houses, escorting trucks transporting the fruit and providing security at wholesale markets in the main producing areas around the towns of Apatzingan, Aguililla and Buenavista.

It said that in just over a week, the troops deployed to Michoacan had seized 10 guns and two grenades.