Associated Press
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican and U.S. authorities agreed Monday on short-term actions to decide whether to resume Mexican livestock exports that Washington suspended indefinitely for nearly four months after detection of helminth case in the southern state of Veracruz.
This decision was made at a meeting between Mexican Agriculture Minister Julio Berdegue and his American counterpart Brooke Rollins, who visited the Mexican capital on Monday. The official also met with President Claudia Sheinbaum at the presidential palace.
The meeting between the two secretaries identified priorities and short-term actions for decisions to resume exports of Mexican livestock to the United States, Mexico's Agriculture Ministry said in a statement, without providing details.
They also pledged to strengthen coordination in the fight against the plague of worms, as well as identify areas of cooperation within the framework of the Mexico-United States-Canada (T-MEC) trade agreement, which will be renegotiated next year, the statement said.
Rollins' trip to Mexico comes days after Texas ranchers asked President Donald Trump's administration to resume imports of live Mexican cattle, which have been suspended since July.
The latest cattle lead contamination was discovered in October in the northern city of Montemorelos, Nuevo Leon, in a Brahman calf from southeastern Mexico.
Once the case was confirmed, Mexican authorities activated care protocols and informed their counterparts at the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
On September 21, another infection was reported in the northern city of Sabinas Hidalgo, Nuevo Leon state. The investigation suggests the city's infected cattle came from the southeastern Gulf of Mexico state of Veracruz, where another case was also reported on July 9, prompting Washington to indefinitely suspend imports of live Mexican cattle, which it resumed days ago.
The worm is a larva of the fly Cochliomyia hominivorax, capable of penetrating the tissues of any warm-blooded animal, including humans.
As of October 25, Mexican authorities reported 569 active cases of worm infection in cows and 134 cases in dogs. The largest outbreaks are in the southern states of Chiapas, Veracruz, Oaxaca and Yucatan, where more than a hundred cases have been reported. The central state of Puebla has 19 cases of infection, while the states of Morelos and Queretaro have reported one case.
In September, Rollins called on Mexican authorities to fully comply with the Joint Plague Action Plan signed in August and confirmed that the import of live cattle, bison and horses from Mexico would remain closed.
The United States has blocked Mexican livestock crossing its border three times in the past eleven months due to the first outbreak detected last November. This situation has forced Mexican ranchers, especially in the north of the country, to reinvent themselves. overcome the crisis.
Mexico's National Confederation of Livestock Organizations estimates that if the import freeze continues this year, the sector could suffer losses of more than $400 million.
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