Avocados In, Butterflies Out - How Illegal Logging is Devastating Western Mexico

[Judi Lynn]

JALISCO CARTEL
/
10 NOV 2021 BY KAI BERNIER-CHEN

Criminal groups across western Mexico have increased their control of illegal logging by threatening landowners, government officials and even entire communities to ensure near-total impunity.

According to a new study by the University of Guadalajara (UDG), illegal logging is one of the fastest-growing criminal economies in Mexico, with 70 percent of wood cut down between 2017 and 2019 lacking the proper permits. In 2019, the amount of forest destroyed was equivalent to an area twice the size of ​​Mexico City. In 2020, Mexico lost 127,770 hectares of forest, a 12 percent increase on the previous year.

The study revealed how gangs operate in the western Mexican states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima and Michoacán. Once they select an area of interest, they make a low offer to the proprietor of the land. If the offer is rebuffed, the gang violently takes over. The main recourse for landowners is to make a complaint to Mexico’s Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente - PROFEPA).

But such complaints are often futile. On the rare occasion that federal officials visit the area to follow up on deforestation or land grab complaints, they are threatened or even kidnapped, according to the UDG study.

More:
https://insightcrime.org/news/avocados-in-butterflies-out-illegal-logging-devastating-western-mexico/