Amnesty For "Chocolate" Cars In Mexico

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador recently signed a decree to regularize used cars that were imported into Mexico illegally, also known as "chocolate" cars.

The reprieve that allows owners of "chocolate" cars to pay a one-time fee of 2,500 pesos ($124) to formally legalize and register their vehicles, only applies to cars that were already in the country at the time the decree's entered into force on October 19, 2021.

While this seems like a good measure that favors mostly low-income owners of those kind of vehicles, most of the cars had been smuggled and many may be stolen. Up to 25 percent of the country's total vehicle fleet is in fact unregistered cars, mainly from the United States, illegally imported into the country and driven with perhaps forged or retired plates.