AMLO and the worm

When Mexican ranchers hear Agriculture Secretary Julio Berdegué blame the United States for the spread of the screwworm that's killing Mexican cattle... they raise their eyebrows as if to say: let someone else believe that.

As in many other areas of public administration, if this federal government were to stick to the truth, it wouldn't direct its complaints at Washington... but at Palenque.

The spread of the screwworm infestation among Mexican cattle, which prompted the United States to halt live cattle imports for at least two weeks, is intrinsically linked to the administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador and the so-called "republican austerity" he implemented.

The explanation is simple. The best way to stop the spread of the screwworm is by breeding sterile flies that prevent other flies from spreading the disease wherever they fly. The spread is through flies: they fly freely and carry the disease to cattle and other species. Curative flies are produced. There are farms. Investment is needed to breed them and then release them en masse in endangered areas. During the López Obrador administration, investment in the production of these flies was halted.

The dismantling of the Mexican government's capabilities to combat the screwworm was such that it caused a rift within AMLO's team: Javier Trujillo, then chief director of Senasica (National Service of Health, Safety and Agri-Food Quality), resigned after several months of head-on warfare with the National Palace.

Trujillo rejected the dismantling of laboratories (including the one for the cure flies), the reduction to a minimum of Cenapa (the National Reference Center for Animal Parasitology, the official laboratory responsible for monitoring livestock diseases), and the massive staff cuts implemented by AMLO. He ultimately resigned to avoid being complicit in what was coming.

The result? The screwworm—which had been eradicated years ago—reappeared in countries south of Mexico and continued to spread northward.

Today, there's talk of closing the border with Guatemala. It doesn't seem like the most appropriate measure. First, because the flies that spread the plague don't stop to present their papers to the National Guard. And second, because closing the southern border will only slow down formal cattle crossings, which usually have everything in order: the problem isn't the 7,500 head of cattle that pass legally every day; the problem is that live cattle smuggling is estimated to reach 1.5 million head of cattle per year! That is, 4,000 head of live cattle are smuggled across the southern border every day. These are uncontrolled and are more likely to enter infected and accelerate contagion. This smuggling is in the hands of Central American organized crime. It's one of their businesses.

Furthermore, if the Southern Border is closed to cattle, the black market could be fostered (great news for organized crime): many will choose to make deals with the bad guys to continue crossing their cattle into Mexico.

Experts point out that what's needed, rather than closing the border, is to redouble surveillance to prevent smuggled cattle from crossing, strengthen inspections to ensure that incoming cattle are healthy, and, above all, increase the production of flies that can eliminate the problem.