Sixteen years ago Maria Elena and her children planted avocado in the 7.4 acres (3 hectares) in Tancitaro, Michoacan that her husband gave her while he worked in the United States. 

However, her plantations were appropriated by criminal bands such as Michoacan Family and Knights Templar.

Avocado producers calculate that between 2009 and 2013, organized crime controlled 13% of avocado production by extorting and despoiling producers, retailers, packers and transporters.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the value of Mexico's avocado production rose to over 76 billion pesos (around 5.8 billion dollars) in the last five years. And Tacintaro producers calculate that organized crime took around 10 billion pesos of that amount, i.e. 2 billion pesos each year.  

"They took a lot," said one of the victims.

Michocan is the first producer of avocado in Mexico and the world. The state accounts for 85% of total Mexican avocado producton and meets around 52% of the global demand. And almost one quarter of these avocados come from Tancitaro.

In the 70's a family started cultivating avocado in Tancitaro. In 1997, when America lifted its embargo against Mexican avocado, Maria Elena decided to plant avocado trees in her land, because the United States was already importing over 10 billion tons of Mexican Hass avocado cultivated in Michoacan. She harvested her first crop in 2004. 

However in 2007, when Tancitaro was flourishing, the Zetas cartel arrived in Michoacan. 

A group called The Michoacan Family emerged to protect the people from the abuses of criminals. However two years, later they expelled the Zetas, but started charging for protection and extorting people themselves. 

In February 2009, when Maria Elena was getting ready to harvest, The Michoacan Family warned her and other 16 producers that they had to abandon their lands. Nobody believed they would dare to dispossess them. But they were wrong.

One day, armed people arrived to the town in 12 pickups. They took six men as hostages, including a brother of Guillermo, Maria Elena's husband. They kept them tied for one day and let them go the next day, so no one dared t return to their orchards.

These producers were lucky, because no one was killed. But family Cevallos, one of the biggest avocado producers, wasn't as lucky. Criminals killed six members of the family and forced the only survivor to sign the legal despoliation of their 200 hectares.

The following years were marked by extortions, plundering, violence and divisions within criminal bands, but avocado production kept growing nonetheless.

In 2010 The Michoacan Family broke up in two groups: one led by "El Chango" Mendez and another one called Knights Templar, led by Servando Gomez Martinez "La Tuta" and Enrique Plancarte Solis "El Kike". On the same year Mexico exported 672 million dollars in avocado, most of it from Uruapan and Tancitaro.

By June 2011, El Chango Mendez was arrested and the Knights Templar assumed control of Michoacan. On that year, the state exported 300,000 avocado tons to the United States, worth almost 1 billion dollars. However, 30% of the production was taken by organized crime.

In February 2013, three cities located near Tancitaro took up arms against Knights Templar and Tancitaro followed them soon after.  

Ramon Cano Vega, Michoacan's Minister of Rural Development, says that avocado exports have grown despite everything that has happened in the state. In 2011, 300,000 tons were exported to the United States, in 2012, 320,000, and in 2013, the year that self-defense groups started operating, 540,000 tons.

This year, self-defense groups announced that properties would be given back to their original owners, among them, Guillermo, Maria Elena and the only survivor of the Cevallos.

In October, Guillermo will harvest again for the first time in five years. Maybe 10 or 12 tons, he says. But Maria is still scared and distrustful, so she rarely goes to the orchard.

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