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AMLO confirms agreement to regularize irregular non-Mexican vehicles in Baja California

Mexicali, Baja California — President López Obrador confirmed an agreement that will allow the regularization of irregular non-Mexican vehicles in Baja California. On Saturday, AMLO said the agreement will see a fee of 2,500 peso for car owners to regularized their non-Mexican vehicles in the state.

“It is necessary, from many angles, to regularize vehicles that do not have their papers in order. I do not like to call them as they are colloquially called,” he said adding “the last time I was in Baja California I announced the program was going to be carried out, and now I have come to tell you that it will become a reality,” said López Obrador.

The cars, which locally are referred to as “autos chocolate” or “chocolate cars”, are units of certain brands, models or versions that are not sold in Mexico by dealers or agencies. For the most part, the units arrive in Mexico from the United States.

“They are going to be regularized because they are sometimes used to commit crimes and there is no adequate registry. We are going to regularize all of them. We are going to provide a permit. The people are going to be recognized as owning the vehicle,” he said.

Since the announcement, the deputy general director of the Mexican Association of Automotive Distributors (AMDA), Guillermo Rosales said that despite the fact that the entry of “chocolate cars” into the country is a serious crime, instead of correcting it and sanctioning them, he is giving them a letter of legalization.

“The president’s decision to legalize auto smuggling is clearly detrimental to the national economy, to legal security. It will increase environmental pollution and, more seriously, it will benefit and promote the multi-million-dollar business of criminal mafias, which are the ones that organize and carry out this illegal trafficking,” he said.

In Baja California, there are approximately 800,000 irregular vehicles circulating in the Mexican state.