Was ‘Agent X’ a Mole in the Avocado Wars?

In documents filed with the United States government, he is known simply as “Agent X,” a foreign agent accused of flouting the law and endangering a major California industry.

If all that sounds ominous, it’s supposed to.

Agent X is just one part of a fierce and long-running battle known around Washington as the avocado war. The fighting has escalated in recent months as California’s avocado growers fight to preserve the 83-year-old ban on importing Mexican avocados.

As it is, California controls 95% of the U.S. avocado market, with relatively small supplies coming from Florida and Chile. Pest infestations led to the long-standing quarantine of the Mexican fruit, although avocados from south of the border can be legally imported if they are processed into guacamole.

Now, as a consequence of the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is considering whether to lift the ban on Mexican avocados, and California’s growers are turning up the heat.

The stakes, after all, could be huge. California’s avocado industry takes in $220 million a year, a figure that could be chipped away by Mexico’s produce. The Department of Agriculture has proposed allowing Mexican avocados into 19 Northern states, from November to February. Californians would still only find their home-state avocados in local supermarkets.

But even the limited importation being proposed, California’s growers say, could devastate their own crop by introducing Mexican seed weevils, fruit flies and other pests into California fields.

To fight the change, the Santa Ana-based California Avocado Commission, a coalition of the state’s avocado growers, has launched an aggressive series of full-page newspaper advertisements attempting to turn avocados into a political issue for President Clinton.

One ad features a hangman’s noose. Another shows the state of California sliding down what appears to be a sewer--labeled as Mexico. It asks Clinton: “Are you really willing to risk California?”

Although the government says it has all the data it needs to make its decision, the growers continue to submit thick documents attempting to buttress their case. Most recently, the growers challenged scientific data that showed no significant threat to California avocados from Mexican pests. The growers say they have uncovered related documents from the Mexican government that indicate cause for alarm.

And now, with the introduction of Agent X, the dispute is getting personal.

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Just who is this mysterious Agent X?

“We have determined not to identify this foreign agent at this time in this ‘public record’ document because of the seriousness of the violations of federal law that are the subject of the investigation requests that we have sent today to the inspector general and the Department of Justice,” the California avocado growers wrote earlier this year.

But like many secrets in Washington, Agent X’s identity is really no secret at all.

The X stands for Xavier Equihua, the Washington-based lobbyist for the Comision del Aguacate del Estado de Michoacan, the Mexican avocado growers.

Before joining the Michoacan Avocado Commission, the 33-year-old Equihua worked for a congressman from Texas and then specialized in trade and agriculture matters, including avocados, for the House Agriculture Committee. His quick job switch last year from staffer to lobbyist has the California growers crying foul.

They say he violated conflict-of- interest laws by doing work for the Mexican growers while still on the congressional payroll, an overlap they say lasted four days. And in addition to Equihua’s $120,000 a year salary, the California growers say say he improperly agreed to accept a $120,000 bonus if he wins the avocado fight.

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Equihua is not taking the allegations lightly.

He disputes all the charges against him, dismisses fears about the spread of Mexican pests as being overblown, and has hired prominent Washington attorney David S. Cohen to help combat the California growers.

“The tactics are beneath contempt,” said Cohen, who filed a thick response to the Agriculture Department calling the California growers’ allegations “desperate, last-ditch effort to stall the USDA rule-making process.”

As California brawls with Mexico, other jurisdictions are getting in on the act.

Apple and cherry growers in Washington state fear that if Mexican avocados are kept out, Mexico might retaliate against their produce. Texas lawmakers are lining up with the Mexican growers too, eager for the increased border commerce.

As the fierce volley of charges and countercharges continues unabated, Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman is nearing his decision. While he ponders this savorous fruit, the dispute itself has left a bitter taste in some peoples’ mouths.

“I’m sick of avocados,” said one congressional staffer who has worked on the issue for more than a year. “I won’t even eat guacamole anymore.”