Mexico says law is to curb illegal car sales
News Five spoke with Mexico’s Ambassador to Belize, Enrique Hubbard Urrea about the new law and why Mexico felt it is necessary. He also wanted to clarify the impression that Mexican border officials are all fully aware of the Letter of Commitment exempting Belizeans.
Q: “Ambassador why was the new law issued in the first place?”
Enrique Hubbard Urrea, Mexican Ambassador to Belize
“Regarding the importation of vehicles to Mexico we face probably a very close to reality estimation, that about one million vehicles circulating in Mexico with foreign license plates, with no registration, with no insurance, with no way to keep control of them. This has been something that did not happen overnight. We were looking at different ways to stop that but little by little things began to get worse. Several Accidents happen for instance where we were unable to do anything with the vehicle, the vehicle wasn’t legally in the country, it was specifically there but it wasn’t exactly regular in any way. So by trying to stop this flow, this is becoming a custom, people like to do that to bring the car visiting Mexico and then leave it there.”
Q: “But how would leaving a deposit help to address the problem you are having in Mexico?”
Enrique Hubbard Urrea
“Well most of the time those cars remain in Mexico not because they left them there but because they sold them there. The difference in price for a used car particularly for an American car is tremendous. If you want to buy a similar vehicle in Mexico the price you would pay is a lot more than that. Because we are encountering in that price shaping up the taxes and of course the car that comes in this way does not pay any taxes at all, any duty at all and the price is very cheap. But if somebody is leaving a deposit of four hundred dollars up to eight hundred dollars for the car, then all the profit is gone because this person cannot recuperate that deposit unless he can show that the car is coming out of the country.”
Q: “If we had an agreement in 1992 with Mexico, that Belizeans are exempted from such regulations, why do Belizeans still need to pick up a Letter of Commitment before travelling through Mexico?”
Enrique Hubbard Urrea
“Let me take one back step before we speak about that specifically. We heard the announcement this morning about this system that you are describing, but we have no news of this officially. I have checked with customs on the Mexican side; they have no news of this either. So although maybe the agreement was signed, the implementation of it is still pending so I don’t want people to be mistakenly informed thinking that if they go tomorrow with that letter, they will not need to leave a deposit. Customs does not know anything about this.”
