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Mexico says US suspension of beef imports because of screwworm is unfair

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Mexico says US suspension of beef imports because of screwworm is unfair
News

News

Mexico says US suspension of beef imports because of screwworm is unfair

2025-05-13 03:00 Last Updated At:03:10

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Monday described as “unfair” the decision by the Trump administration to suspend imports of Mexican beef cattle for 15 days due to the detection of screwworm in shipments.

Sheinbaum, who has spent the past few months scrambling to offset tariff threats by U.S. President Donald Trump, said she hoped the suspension would not result in another economic blow for her country.

“We do not agree with this measure,” she said at her morning press conference on Monday. “The Mexican government has been working an all fronts from the very first moment we were alerted to the screwworm."

The U.S. restricted Mexican cattle shipments in late November following the detection of the pest, but lifted the ban in February after protocols were put in place to evaluate the animals prior to entry into the country. But there has been an “unacceptable northward advancement” of the screwworm, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a statement Sunday.

“The last time this devastating pest invaded the U.S. it took our livestock industry 30 years to recover,” U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said on the X social media platform. “This can never happen again.”

The screwworm is a larva of the Cochliomyia hominivorax fly that can invade the tissues of any warm-blooded animal, including humans. The parasite enters the skin, causing serious and life-threatening damage and lesions.

Mexico’s Health Ministry issued an epidemiological warning this month after the first human case of screwworm myiasis, or parasitic infestation, was confirmed on April 17 in a 77-year-old woman living in the southern state of Chiapas.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

FILE - Cattle graze next to the Victoria reservoir in the State of Mexico, Mexico, Oct. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)

FILE - Cattle graze next to the Victoria reservoir in the State of Mexico, Mexico, Oct. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)

A Ukrainian drone strike killed one person and wounded three others in the Russian city of Voronezh, local officials said Sunday.

A young woman died overnight in a hospital intensive care unit after debris from a drone fell on a house during the attack on Saturday, regional Gov. Alexander Gusev said on Telegram.

Three other people were wounded and more than 10 apartment buildings, private houses and a high school were damaged, he said, adding that air defenses shot down 17 drones over Voronezh. The city is home to just over 1 million people and lies some 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

The attack came the day after Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight into Friday, killing at least four people in the capital Kyiv, according to Ukrainian officials.

For only the second time in the nearly four-year war, Russia used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in a clear warning to Kyiv and NATO.

The intense barrage and the launch of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile followed reports of major progress in talks between Ukraine and its allies on how to defend the country from further aggression by Moscow if a U.S.-led peace deal is struck.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly address that Ukrainian negotiators “continue to communicate with the American side.”

Chief negotiator Rustem Umerov was in contact with U.S. partners Saturday, he said.

Separately, Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia targeted Ukraine with 154 drones overnight into Sunday and 125 were shot down.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

This photo provided by the Ukrainian Security Service on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, shows a fragment believed to be a part of a Russian Oreshnik intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missile that hit the Lviv region. (Ukrainian Security Service via AP)

This photo provided by the Ukrainian Security Service on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, shows a fragment believed to be a part of a Russian Oreshnik intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missile that hit the Lviv region. (Ukrainian Security Service via AP)

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second left, listens to British Defense Secretary John Healey during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second left, listens to British Defense Secretary John Healey during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)

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