Localized date time won't convert to dateItems

[Roger Eller]

I have an application running on Windows 7.  Windows is localized for
Spanish language, and resides in Mexico.  Convert doesn't work.  In their
default format, convert VAR to dateItems returns the original unchanged VAR
content.

This is my workaround.  Is there a better way?

put "22/07/2016 05:22 p.m." into tMEXdate
replace "a.m" with "AM" in tMEXdate
replace "p.m" with "PM" in tMEXdate
set the itemDel to "/"
put item 1 of tMEXdate into tDD
put item 2 of tMEXdate into tMM
put tMM into item 1 of tMEXdate
put tDD into item 2 of tMEXdate
-- now it is the same as in USA
-- "07/22/2016 05:22 PM"
convert tMEXdate to dateItems

~Roger