(NewsNation) — The anti-cartel president of a lime growers association in the Mexican state of Michoacán was found dead in what officials are calling a homicide.
Bernardo Bravo, president of the Apatzingán Valley Citrus Producers Association, was discovered in his vehicle on a road, according to the state’s attorney general’s office.
Bravo had repeatedly spoken against extortion demands levied by cartels against growers.
In interviews with Mexico’s Radio Formula in September and October, Bravo ripped into organized crime‘s “permanent commercial hijacking of any commercial activity.”
Last summer, more than half of lime packing warehouses in Michoacán temporarily closed after allegedly receiving demands from local cartels, including Los Viagras, for a cut of their income, the Associated Press reported.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum deployed hundreds of soldiers and National Guard members to multiple lime-growing areas in response.
In a video posted before his death, Bravo promoted unity among lime and lemon growers and again denounced criminal involvement in the industry.
Officials have not officially announced a suspect in Bravo’s death.