Bolivia legalizes 76.000 cars smuggled or stolen from neighbouring countries

[rabs]

Long queues in La Paz to legalize the smuggled cars


Owners of 70.000 cars that were smuggled into Bolivia, most of them stolen in neighbouring countries have presented their cases in the Customs office taking advantage of an amnesty to legalize their situation decreed by the administration of President Evo Morales.

The number of illegal cars is thus eight times higher than the 10.000 originally estimated by officials and closer to the 100.000 claimed by the transport unions.

“It is a monumental scandal because it comes to prove that smuggling continues to prosper and soar in Bolivia”, said Gary Rodriguez, head of the International Trade Institute.

President Morales justified the legalization of contraband cars arguing that the ‘chutos’ are purchased by “poor people” who want “to improve their status” and prefer them because they are ‘cheaper’. “We all have a right to have a car” said President Morales.

Bolivian Customs said that it had received from its peer offices in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Peru, long lists of cars claimed to have been stolen or disappeared.

http://en.mercopress.com/2011/06/21/bolivia-legalizes-76.000-cars-smuggled-or-stolen-from-neighbouring-countries

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I suspect that this was in the minds of Chilean Carabineros when they intercepted (inside Chilean territory) those 14 Bolivian soldiers traveling in two vans stolen in Chile.

I do not agree with Evo that poor Bolivians are entitled to vehicles stolen in neighboring countries. What about the legal owners of those vehicles?

[Judi Lynn]

1. Bolivia's stolen cars bonanza

Bolivia's stolen cars bonanza
Bolivians are rushing to legalize tens of thousands of stolen cars.
Stephanie Garlow
June 21, 2011 14:36

~snip~
The undocumented vehicles, known as "chutos," often come from Chile or other neigboring countries. Critics says the cars have been stolen or are used as payment for drug deals, reported Reuters. Bolivian President Evo Morales said the cars are purchased by the poor, who should not be penalized.

Customs officials in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Peru are trying to prevent cars stolen in their countries from being legalized under the agreement.

Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera said the agreement lays the foundation for a strict future law against smuggled automobiles.

The contraband cars aren't the only unusual vehicles that have turned up on Bolivia streets: Cars ravaged by Hurricane Katrine in New Orleans were sold on internet salvage auctions, with 10,000 ending up in Bolivia.

More:
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/que-pasa/bolivia-stolen-cars

[rabs]

2. The Katrina cars

turned up not only in Bolivia, but also in Mexico and Central America. Probably elsewhere too.

Ugly dealing by auction companies here in the United States.

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Cars like this one would be a Bolivian's dream, but more than likely the wiring, the electronic system and just about everything was moldy and rotting. Only cosmetic repairs were done before they were shipped abroad.

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Katrina cars flood world market
Totaled vehicles resold abroad to unsuspecting

By Dan Keane
Associated Press Writer

COCHABAMBA, Bolivia — The bathtub ring of mold on the ceiling of Colleen McGaw�s Mini Cooper marks how high Hurricane Katrina�s floodwaters rose inside the sporty red coupe.

�There was this mold, this grossness all over it,� McGaw says, recalling how she found the car, her college graduation present, three months after the storm submerged her New Orleans neighborhood. �I cried. It may sound lame, but I cried. I had wanted a car like that since I was a child.�

Two years later, McGaw was shocked to learn from The Associated Press that her beloved Mini turned up 3,600 miles south in Bolivia. Its new owner — stuck with a complete overhaul at $23,000 and counting — is feeling her pain.

Tens of thousands of cars were damaged or destroyed by Katrina, which submerged much of New Orleans in a corrosive broth of saltwater and mud. U.S. officials warned Americans to beware of buying the drowned cars.

But many �Autos Katrina� were shipped overseas, often sold through Internet salvage auctions now globalizing the auto recycling industry.

AP story from 2007

http://legacy.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/071118/cars.shtml