A2 · Elementary
10 min
food and agricultureorganized crimelatin americaglobal supply chains
The Gardener: Cartels and the Food of Mexico
El Jardinero: Los Cárteles y la Comida de México
This week, Mexico arrested the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, a man known as 'The Gardener.' Fletcher and Octavio dig into how cartels control Mexican food production and what that means for the rest of the world.
Esta semana, México arrestó al líder del Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación, un hombre conocido como 'El Jardinero'. Fletcher y Octavio exploran cómo los cárteles controlan la comida mexicana y lo que eso significa para el mundo.
7 essential A2-level terms from this episode, with translations and example sentences in Spanish.
| Spanish | English | Example |
|---|---|---|
| el aguacate | avocado | El aguacate es muy popular en México y en el mundo. |
| el agricultor | farmer | El agricultor trabaja en el campo todos los días. |
| el huerto | vegetable garden / orchard | Mi abuela tiene un huerto con tomates y pimientos. |
| el jardinero | gardener (ornamental) | El jardinero cuida las flores del parque. |
| el mercado | market | Voy al mercado los sábados para comprar verduras frescas. |
| los frijoles | beans (Mexican Spanish) | Los frijoles son una parte importante de la comida mexicana. |
| la cosecha | harvest | Este año la cosecha de limones es muy buena. |
The man they arrested in Nayarit this week, the leader of one of the most violent cartels on earth, goes by the nickname El Jardinero.
The Gardener.
I have been turning that over in my head for two days.
Sí.
Yes.
El nombre es irónico.
The name is ironic.
Los cárteles controlan muchas granjas en México.
The cartels control many farms in Mexico.
And that's exactly where I want to go today, because the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, the CJNG, is not just a drug trafficking operation.
It has its hands deep in Mexico's food supply.
Avocados, limes, berries.
Things you probably ate this week.
Audias Flores Silva.
Audias Flores Silva.
Ese es su nombre real.
That's his real name.
Es muy importante en el cártel.
He is very important in the cartel.
He is, or was.
The CJNG has been fighting for dominance in Mexico for well over a decade now, and it is arguably the most powerful criminal organization in the western hemisphere at this point.
So an arrest like this is significant.
But the thing I want to understand today is the food angle, because I think most people have no idea.
Mira, México produce mucha comida para el mundo.
Look, Mexico produces a lot of food for the world.
Aguacates, limones, fresas, tomates.
Avocados, limes, strawberries, tomatoes.
Mucho.
A lot.
We're talking about a country that, by some measures, is the world's largest exporter of avocados and a top supplier of fresh vegetables to the United States.
The agricultural sector there is genuinely massive.
Sí.
Yes.
Y los agricultores tienen un problema grande.
And the farmers have a big problem.
Los cárteles quieren su dinero.
The cartels want their money.
Right, so let's be specific about how this works.
Walk me through it, because I think the mechanics matter here.
Los cárteles dicen: 'Tienes una granja.
The cartels say: 'You have a farm.
Pagas dinero cada mes.
You pay money every month.
O hay problemas.'
Or there will be problems.'
Extortion.
Pure extortion.
And the farmers pay because the alternative is what, exactly?
La alternativa es violencia.
The alternative is violence.
Los cárteles queman granjas.
The cartels burn farms.
Es muy serio.
It is very serious.
I spent time in Michoacán years ago, reporting on something completely different, and even then, even back then, you could feel the weight of it.
Farmers who would not say certain names aloud.
Police who looked the other way.
It was not subtle.
Michoacán es el centro del aguacate en México.
Michoacán is the center of the avocado in Mexico.
Es la región más importante.
It is the most important region.
And that is not a coincidence.
The cartels, including the CJNG, specifically targeted Michoacán because of the avocado money.
There's a reason journalists started calling them blood avocados.
The parallel to conflict diamonds is not an exaggeration.
El aguacate es muy popular ahora en Europa y en los Estados Unidos.
The avocado is very popular now in Europe and in the United States.
Más demanda, más dinero para los cárteles.
More demand, more money for the cartels.
Which is a genuinely uncomfortable thing to sit with.
The avocado toast boom, the guacamole at every restaurant, the wellness obsession with healthy fats.
All of that demand flowing back through a supply chain that, in some places, runs directly through cartel territory.
Y no es solo el aguacate.
And it's not just the avocado.
Los limones también.
The limes too.
Las fresas también.
The strawberries too.
Los cárteles están en muchos cultivos.
The cartels are involved in many crops.
The limes story is worth a moment.
There was a period around 2014 where lime prices in the United States shot up, and a lot of people thought it was just weather or a bad harvest.
Part of it was the CJNG seizing control of lime-growing regions and taxing every crate that left.
Exacto.
Exactly.
Los consumidores en Nueva York pagan más.
The consumers in New York pay more.
El dinero va al cártel.
The money goes to the cartel.
Nadie sabe.
Nobody knows.
Let me pull back for a second, because I don't want this to become just a crime story.
The deeper question for me is what this says about Mexican food and Mexican agriculture, which has one of the most extraordinary histories in the world.
This is where corn was domesticated.
This is where chocolate comes from.
This is where tomatoes and chili peppers were cultivated before the rest of the world had ever tasted them.
La comida mexicana es muy antigua.
Mexican food is very old.
Los mayas y los aztecas comen maíz, frijoles, chile.
The Maya and the Aztecs eat corn, beans, chili.
Es una base importante.
It is an important foundation.
UNESCO gave Mexican cuisine World Heritage status back in 2010, which is actually quite rare.
The argument was that it wasn't just food, it was a living cultural system, specific to particular regions, passed down across generations.
That's the tradition we're talking about when we talk about what cartels are doing to this agricultural land.
Sí.
Yes.
El maíz en México es especial.
Corn in Mexico is special.
Hay muchos tipos.
There are many types.
No es solo comida.
It is not just food.
Es historia.
It is history.
Dozens of varieties of corn, hundreds of chile varieties, regional moles that take days to make.
And Octavio, I know you've spent time in Mexico City.
I'm curious what your read is on how Mexicans themselves experience this gap between the richness of the food culture and the violence underneath it.
En el mercado, la gente es normal.
In the market, people are normal.
Compra verduras, habla con el vendedor.
They buy vegetables, they talk to the vendor.
La vida continúa.
Life continues.
Pero el miedo está ahí.
But the fear is there.
That's a very precise observation.
The market carries on.
The tortillas get made.
The mole gets stirred.
And somewhere upstream, there's a man called The Gardener collecting his percentage.
Los pequeños agricultores no tienen opciones.
The small farmers have no options.
No tienen dinero para protección privada.
They don't have money for private protection.
El estado no ayuda mucho.
The state doesn't help much.
And this is where the history gets dark in a way that I think is important to say plainly.
The Mexican state has struggled to project authority into agricultural regions for a very long time.
This isn't a new problem that the cartels created.
It's a vacuum that they stepped into.
One that was already there.
Correcto.
Correct.
Y los agricultores forman grupos de defensa.
And the farmers form defense groups.
Autodefensas.
Self-defense forces.
Para proteger sus tierras.
To protect their land.
The autodefensas.
I wrote about those movements back in the early 2010s when they first started appearing in Michoacán.
Farmers and townspeople arming themselves with hunting rifles, setting up roadblocks.
Some of them genuinely trying to protect their communities.
Others, frankly, getting absorbed by the very cartels they were supposed to be resisting.
The line blurs fast.
Es complicado.
It's complicated.
La comida y la violencia están juntas en estas regiones.
The food and the violence are together in these regions.
No puedes separar las dos cosas.
You cannot separate the two things.
So what does the arrest of Flores Silva actually change?
Because this has happened before.
The Mexican government has arrested CJNG figures before.
The organization does not simply collapse when leadership is removed.
No cambia mucho.
It doesn't change much.
Hay otro líder mañana.
There is another leader tomorrow.
El sistema continúa.
The system continues.
Los agricultores pagan el mismo dinero.
The farmers pay the same money.
That's bleak, but I think it's probably accurate.
What would actually make a difference for agricultural communities?
Is it a law enforcement question, or is it something larger?
Es económico.
It's economic.
Los agricultores necesitan buenos precios por su comida.
The farmers need good prices for their food.
Necesitan apoyo del gobierno.
They need support from the government.
Sin eso, los cárteles ganan.
Without that, the cartels win.
And the consumers in the United States and Europe bear some responsibility here too.
The pressure to keep food prices low, the supermarket squeeze on suppliers, means the margins for farmers in places like Michoacán get thinner and thinner, which makes the cartel's offer, however coerced it is, sometimes the only economic lifeline available.
Exacto.
Exactly.
Tú compras aguacates baratos en el supermercado.
You buy cheap avocados at the supermarket.
Alguien paga un precio diferente en México.
Someone pays a different price in Mexico.
No es justo.
It's not fair.
There's a version of fair trade certification that tries to address exactly this, and some Mexican cooperatives have gone that route.
But it's a drop in the bucket against the scale of what we're describing.
El nombre 'El Jardinero' me da muchas ideas.
The name 'The Gardener' gives me many thoughts.
Un jardín es bonito, tranquilo.
A garden is beautiful, peaceful.
Este hombre no es tranquilo.
This man is not peaceful.
Right, and there is something almost poetic about that irony, which I suspect is entirely unintentional on his part.
Though I'll tell you, 'El Jardinero' is one of the more memorable cartel nicknames I've come across.
Usually they go for something more aggressive.
The Gardener has a certain dark wit to it.
Espera.
Wait.
Fletcher, tú dices 'el jardinero.' Pero en España, también decimos 'el hortelano' para la persona que trabaja en un huerto.
Fletcher, you say 'el jardinero.' But in Spain, we also say 'el hortelano' for the person who works in a vegetable garden.
Huh.
Okay, so jardinero and hortelano are different?
Sí.
Yes.
'El jardín' es el jardín de tu casa, con flores.
'El jardín' is the garden of your house, with flowers.
'El huerto' es para verduras y frutas.
'El huerto' is for vegetables and fruit.
Son lugares diferentes.
They are different places.
So a jardinero tends to a garden with roses and grass and things that look nice, while a hortelano is actually growing food.
That's a distinction English completely loses.
We just say 'gardener' for both.
En inglés, 'gardener' hace todo.
In English, 'gardener' does everything.
En español, son personas diferentes con trabajos diferentes.
In Spanish, they are different people with different jobs.
El huerto es más serio.
The huerto is more serious.
So our cartel leader's nickname actually puts him in the decorative garden rather than the vegetable patch.
He's a man tending roses, not feeding anyone.
Which, honestly, might be the most fitting nickname in the history of organized crime.
Sí, Fletcher.
Yes, Fletcher.
Es perfecto.
It's perfect.
El Hortelano hubiera sido demasiado honesto.
El Hortelano would have been too honest.