Is that really tequila you’re buying? Allegations of corruption raise serious questions.
- Felisa Rogers
- Jul 27
- 1 min read
On a cloudy morning last week, hundreds of agave farmers gathered in the historic central square of Tequila, Jalisco, where Julián Rodríguez Parra, president of the Mexican Agave Council, addressed the crowd.
“A year ago we went to the federal government to ask for help and they told us they’d put a stop to this bullshit,” he said. “But they didn’t do anything. And now here we are trying to put food on the table.”
The agaveros raised their fists and chanted, “Fair prices!”
Rodríguez continued, “While foreigners pay 250 dollars for a bottle of tequila, here we are paid one peso for a kilo of agave. This is injustice.”
Two teenage girls and an older mustachioed gentleman held up a banner reading “NO MORE ADULTERATED TEQUILA! TEQUILA MUST BE 100% AGAVE! NO MORE LARGE ESTATES OR MONOPOLIES! WE WANT A JUST PRICE, THE NATIONAL WEALTH MUST BE SHARED EQUITABLY!”
The peaceful protest had begun three hours earlier, when agaveros (agave farmers) from several states convened by bus, truck, and motorcycle for an orderly march through the cobblestone streets of Tequila. Though the protest was peaceful, the rhetoric was not.
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