#1428 – The Expat Files: Radio, AI, Crime, and Culture in Latin America

Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.

[00:00] South of the border, down Mexico way That's where I fell in love when the stars above came out to play And now as I wander Hello there all you ex-pad wannabes I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to The Exped Files, living in Latin America The show that tells you just what it's like to live, work, play and or retire down here in Latin America It's a mix of the good, the bad, the ugly and the great And it's all right here so let's get started Alright let's take a couple emails, the pile's getting kinda thick This one comes from Jeff in Clearwater, Florida He says, hey Johnny, originally from Milwaukee Been a big fan of yours and a dedicated weekly listener for years

[00:45] Love your style, you definitely have a classic radio sound Really a pleasure to hear ya and always such interesting insights Wait a minute I made it Jeff First off, because I was a Catholic school kid, I'm not very good with compliments However, one kind of backhanded compliment I get all the time from people Is that I sound like Casey Kasem And you know you have to be pretty old to remember that guy, right? You have to be a boomer or maybe a millennial Now that's supposed to be a compliment, I mean Casey Kasem was all over international radio, right? He was the guy along with that idiot Dweeb Wolfman Jack, I couldn't stand that guy Wonder whatever happened to him, maybe he got this silver bullet or something Now that would have been the perfect karma, huh? But as for Casey Kasem, yeah, he had a cool style so that is a compliment But man, if there was anyone who had a face for radio, that was Casey Kasem

[01:33] You might remember what he looked like, about 5 foot nothing Face like a rhesus monkey But man, he was a hell of a DJ, a hell of a radio personality When DJs really did have talent When they'd play a 2 or 3 minute song and blather on for 10 minutes after And the blather was interesting So he deserved his accolades and the good life I understand he ended up marrying a Playboy centerfold So you could say by the levels he reached in his life He achieved what many average expats achieve once they moved to Latin America He had his particular advantage and down here we have the gringo advantage Very similar if you know what I mean Anyway, as mentioned, he made it to the top when DJs actually had talent You know, they'd play a song, banter a bit, get funny

[02:21] Tell some jokes, no dead air, never a dull moment Well, you hope never a dull moment All the while pouring on the charisma Demonstrating a more than thorough knowledge of rock and roll And a lot of other music genres too Very few guys like that anymore There's not even a demand for them Radio and radio personalities as we knew them are dead But of course there are still DJs Though most are an insult to the DJs of the past In the last 20 or 30 years, the definition of a DJ has certainly evolved Or I should say devolved You've been to parties and events and such where they've had a DJ They call him a DJ anyway But he or she bears almost no resemblance to the radio DJs of the past Yeah, they call themselves DJs alright But if you ask them what the D and the J stand for They don't even know that means disc jockey

[03:08] Because they've never touched a disc To today's DJs, the disc is a relic of the past They may have never even touched one or seen one except in a museum The real shame of it is There are DJs getting big bucks Man, last time I was in Europe I saw billboards for DJ events And I heard they were paying these guys 10,000 bucks a night Probably more like 10,000 euros And these are guys that don't even talk They've got no personality They put nothing into the show They're just fading songs in and out Songs they had nothing to do with Songs they can't sing Songs they didn't write using instruments they can't play Oh, they have flashy glittery clothes and a big light show And those stupid rapper hand moves that everyone's so sick of Or at least I am

[03:53] They contribute zero fundamentally to the show But somehow they've got some kind of fame So then why am I even talking about this? Why am I bringing up? Because let me tell you A karmic justice is about to be handed down It will be served within the next three years I've been assured by my music industry nerd buddies Who develop all that audio equipment You know, the engineers and techies That create those DJ boards With all those knobs, buttons, and faders You know, engineering nerds who are audio files Design those things Well, I have a nerd friend His initials are GG Worked for Kurzweil When he was doing musical instruments and keyboards Worked at Shure Microphone You've heard of that Designed custom consoles For recording studio

[04:40] Anyway, just recently he told me Big time karmic justice Coming for every DJ out there Turns out, he said A.I. will completely kill the DJ business He'll be dead in three years In fact, he said he's working with some guys Who are playing with an A.I. DJ right now In the lab It'll be available to the public soon And it will knock your socks off Everyone's gonna want one And it's a universe beyond What even the most popular DJ's able to do Levels beyond the so called Greatest highest paid DJ in Europe Or in America He says, all you gotta do To get this A.I. DJ queued up Well, sometime before the event Whether the event's a wedding Or quinceaños Or an anniversary, whatever Concert, rave party, bar mitzvah

[05:26] You tell the A.I. What kind of party it's gonna be And what kind of people you're expecting You go down a specific list And input the following data Like, for example, the average age Of the people in the crowd Or the mix of ages Their nationality Their location, where they're from The type of event it is The type of drinks and entertainment Those kind of people like The social and economic level Of the people attending The kind of cars they drive, et cetera, et cetera The music the A.I. DJ will play Will be so precisely dialed in To the moods, likes, and atmosphere of the crowd In a way a human DJ could never have had them Simply because the A.I. DJ has all the resources Of the internet

[06:12] And access to all the songs ever recorded or written The A.I. DJ can have the crowd so dialed in My nerdy engineering buddy says The crowds they've tested it on are absolutely mesmerized I mean, look, the mission of a DJ Is to keep everyone on the dance floor, right? Keep everyone, or most everyone, smiling and happy Oh, and part of it is the fact the A.I. DJ Will be sampling the faces of the crowd in real time And checking their social media Compiling data from all the events you posted selfies at in the past The A.I. DJ will consider all of that While selecting the playlist It'll be sampling most everyone in the crowd Sounds pretty scary, even terrifying, right? But, you know, if you're on social media You're being filed and compiled already Oh, and of course there are at least a hundred

[06:57] Very famous DJs on tour all the time Putting on huge events and raves And making five, even ten grand a night Oh, and you better believe the A.I. DJ will be sampling And cloning all those famous DJ mixes, too Now, I personally don't know a name on those lists Those famous DJs of today making the big toe But you ask a high school college kid Or a twenty-something To name a famous DJ or two or ten Or their own personal favorite You'll get a slew of names See for yourself on YouTube These guys get millions of hits Think of it Not only is A.I. going to wreck the movie business The recording business, too It's going to put all the DJs out of work, too Because guess what? With an A.I. DJ You'll never have to hire a live DJ again Plus, it'll be able to do what no modern DJ can

[07:46] Banter tell jokes, rev up the crowd In just the right way When the dance floor is thinning It'll even monitor conversations on the dance floor And the vitality and energy of the crowd In other words, know just when To slide into the next song And know exactly which song it should be Now, as for me, I really do think It's kind of karmic justice Payback for talentless dickheads Who just got lucky Now, I've got nothing against DJs, you know That get paid a couple hundred bucks To do a wedding or a bar mitzvah or something But, man, it's really distasteful For me to see a DJ That's getting paid five or ten thousand bucks a night When you really think about it, it's kind of like being a Kardashian Think of the average DJ Whether he's making 200 a night or 20,000 a night He can't sing, he can't dance

[08:32] He can't put on a physical show All he's doing is taking the talent of others Putting it on display for a captive crowd And he's getting paid for it The actual talent who made the music Get nothing You know, having been a B grade musician myself Played a lot of gigs It really does look like karmic justice Because we all know, really, deep down, right The most overrated, talentless people In the entertainment world Aside from people in reality shows and oldenly fans, girls Are those famous DJs Now, of course, here in Latin America Where you've got a lot of manana time DJs are super popular There's a certain top ten list of Latino DJs That really are superstars I mean, judging by the amount of people

[09:19] They gather at an event And they're just as lame and talentless As DJs in the US and in Europe Again, don't get me wrong There's always been a market for DJs Even when I was in the band scene years ago Most people really did want a live band But DJs were a lot cheaper For example, you might have to pay a band $500 to do a gig And a DJ would charge $150 So a lot of time it's just a matter of economics What you can afford So I understand a DJ doing that kind of gig It's necessary and there's a demand for it What my big DJ gripe is Is those guys that make $2,000, $5,000 and $10,000 a show It just blows your mind that they're existing solely on the talent of others I know, I know, you're digressing, Johnny Man, did I digress this time But just thought you'd like to get a little heads up

[10:06] On another well deserved casualty Courtesy of AI Oh, by the way, there's more to Jeff's email He says, Johnny My wife and I started traveling to Costa Rica in the late 80s And I've been there many times At first, I have to admit I was a bit offended with your own personal views on Costa Rica But in the end, I've come to see your wisdom And Costa Rica has certainly changed from when we made our first trip there in 1988 Back then, a place like Tamarindo Beach was a dusty little surf town With a few lost surfers from California And plenty of real, authentic Costa Rican food Now, it's way overbuilt And nothing but cheeseburgers and fries Anyway, Johnny, stay well

[10:52] I am Jeff in Clearwater, Florida Alright Jeff, thanks for that And you know, I don't talk too much about Costa Rica I lived there a long time ago Luckily, I escaped before the real gringo barrage took hold Everybody who listens to this show knows my view on the place So I don't have to keep repeating it Except, though, occasionally some interesting and important news articles Come out of Costa Rica and adjacent countries In Spanish, of course, so they never really make it up to the first world And get translated into English Now, what most people don't know is Costa Rica is having a real crime problem right now Used to be the safest country in Latin America Now, of course, we all know the safest country is El Salvador Safest by far Turns out, you know, though, when gringos pile into a country And sort of change the atmosphere and the culture completely

[11:40] More often than not, sophisticated groups of criminals Move there, too, because gringos are considered wealthy And have all the dough I mean, hey, that's why the majority of Latinos would love to move to America Because they think there's rivers of gold Anyway, there's a real crime problem happening in Costa Rica They're not talking about it up in the States But they're talking about it down here in the Spanish language newspapers Like, for example, let me read some little excerpts of an article That just came out last week Concerning that very subject, the explosion of crime in Costa Rica I still run into lots of people and get fair amount of e-mail From people saying they'd love to move to Costa Rica Or are in the process of doing it Lots of people have blinders on Or have never visited any other Latin American countries

[12:27] Well, if you're the last guy on the bus, here's a little reality check for you By the way, would it surprise you to know That Costa Rica has a higher homicide rate per 100,000 than Guatemala? I'm sure you've never heard that stat before Why is it that everyone thinks because Costa Rica does not have a standing army? It's just so quiet and peaceful Well, how about this? According to a rather big outfit called Inside Crime They've been collecting and analyzing homicide rates in Latin America And the Caribbean for the past 10 years Their most recent data just came out this week Shows that Costa Rica has a higher homicide rate per 100,000 Than the following Latin American countries Turns out Costa Rica has 17 deaths per 100,000 by homicide

[13:14] Is a higher rate than Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Panama, Uruguay, Dominican Republic Peru, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, and of course, El Salvador Get this, let this sink in Costa Rica has 17 deaths by homicide per 100,000 El Salvador has two deaths by homicide per 100,000 people So Costa Rica has about eight times as many homicides per 100,000 than El Salvador By the way, if you include the Caribbean and Latin America The country with the highest homicide rate per 100,000 will floor you Most people would never guess It's the Turks and Caicos Islands Most people assume it's a sort of peaceful laid-back paradise Well, they've got 103 homicides per 100,000 people

[14:02] About six times as many as Costa Rica Oh, and when I ask gringos and expats What country they think has the highest homicide rate in Latin America They always want to say Haiti Well, Haiti's number two But it's only got 62 per 100,000 Now remember, Turks and Caicos is almost double that at 103 Oh, and the next highest homicide rate is guess where? The place I don't recommend and never have Ecuador, but isn't it funny? Loads of gringos are hanging there Next highest Latin American homicide rate Suriname, then the Bahamas, then Venezuela Honduras, Colombia, Belize, Brazil Wait a minute, wait a minute, let's stop there Belize has a higher homicide rate per 100,000 than Brazil or Mexico

[14:49] With Brazil and Mexico sort of tied at 20 deaths by homicide per 100,000 Then comes Costa Rica at about 17 homicide deaths per 100,000 But I don't want your brain to fog or your eyes to glaze over with these stats Let me get right to this article about the high crime level in Costa Rica Let me translate this and highlight a bit for you It starts off by saying, Costa Rica's security minister toured El Salvador's maximum security gang prison on Friday As part of his review of the measures that El Salvador has taken to reduce violence caused by powerful street gangs During a now three-year offensive under President Buchle of El Salvador's state of emergency It goes on to say, Costa Rica's justice and peace minister Gerald Campos Valverde said he was visiting on orders of the president

[15:38] President Rodrigo Chavez of Costa Rica to see all the good practices of the Salvadorian people in action In November it says, the Costa Rican president bestowed its highest diplomatic honor on El Salvador's president Naib Buchle, for his success in drastically lowering the level of violence Since then, as we all know, homicides in El Salvador have plummeted to some of the lowest rates in the world Then it says, Costa Rica's security minister, Mr. Campos, came away impressed immensely by the gang prison Buchle had built at the start of the emergency He said everywhere he went, he saw the prisoners' fundamental rights being respected, not violated as many have claimed Now, let's stop there for a second

[16:25] Have you noticed that all liberal American newspapers say just the opposite? That Buchle is not respecting the fundamental rights of people being held in those gang prisons? Now, of course, American journalists who write those articles have never actually visited Buchle's prisons But they're all on the same page and write the same negative things about it Yet, we have Costa Rica's security minister who just visited the prison in person saying just the opposite is true And after his tour, security minister Campos said that Costa Rica would not continue allowing their criminals to be arrested by police only to see them quickly freed by the liberal judicial system Hmm, where have we heard that before? Oh, and get this quote, he says,

[17:10] quote, we're going to take all of the good practices of Buchle's prisons back to Costa Rica to give Costa Ricans a place of peace and tranquility He says he was pleased to share El Salvador's experiences with Costa Rica a country that until recently had been a reference for peace in the region but now struggles with the same kind of bloodshed that El Salvador once had He said Salvador's done the absolute right move They've imprisoned hundreds to save tens of thousands Salvadoranios And he says that's precisely what can and should be done to rescue thousands of Costa Ricans in the same predicament In other words, he's all for imprisoning hundreds of bad actors to rescue tens of thousands of good citizens as Costa Rica continues to struggle with historically high homicide numbers

[18:00] In fact, in 2023, Costa Rica set an all-time homicide record Sadly, it says, Costa Rica, long applauded for robust ecotourism, environmental conservation and relative peace has been racked recently by violence in recent years largely attributed to drug trafficking Turns out Costa Rica has become a key way station for cocaine exports to both Europe and the US So anyway, that's the gist of it Things you should know if you have your heart set on having a plan be in Costa Rica Isn't it funny that throughout Latin America, Buchles become sort of an unsung hero? Well, and isn't it funny, any time there's an article about El Salvador and Buchles, articles you read in English up in the States, they're almost always negative and are really down on him about human rights and prisoners

[18:47] Then when you get to the end of the article, and there are reader comments, it's something like 10 to 1 in favor of Buchles and all his measures People say that's exactly what the US needs to do So you've got the journalists writing the articles slanted towards hating Buchles and all his methods And the readers of the article absolutely loving and admiring everything Buchles has been doing So if you're thinking that woke journalism is passé and sort of fading away now that Trump's enough Nope, you're wrong. American journalists remain dipshits as ever Oh, by the way, have you ever heard of the port of Chanque? It's listed as the largest port in Latin America It's under construction, not exactly finished yet but will be inaugurated and complete in November

[19:34] It's on the central coast of Peru Entirely built with Chinese money owned and operated by the Chinese Turns out the Peruvian president herself a former militant of the Marxist party Peru Libre founded by a guy named Vladimir Seron who's currently in hiding after a corruption conviction Anyway, she's in China right now hobnobbing with Deng Xiaoping, president of China So understand that the largest port in all of Latin America and there are 20 countries in Latin America is being dominated by Chinese state-owned companies who've made a deal with the Peruvian president to retain majority control of the port So in other words, Peru is a minority investor in their own port

[20:21] and the Chinese, the majority investor By the way, the Chinese insisted on majority control That was their firm condition Before they put the first 1.3 billion dollars of investment into the first stage of the project Well, there's another good reason why you might want to scratch off Peru as a good Plan B destination As a sovereign country, Peru's future's not looking all that bright Oh, and let's see, we've got an email from Dave, number 1 You know, he's been listening to this show a long, long time And though I've got tons and tons of Dave's listening and writing in, there's only one Dave, number 1 Now, as for Dave, number 1 He came to one of my very first Expat Insider Seminars Oh, by the way, for all you guys and gals out there who've been waiting for me to pick a date

[21:08] Well, finally, we're trying to home in on the end of August for our next week-long seminar Because now I have enough names on the list to make it worthwhile for everyone So stay tuned for seminar news coming up Anyway, he says, hi Johnny, Dave, number 1 here In a recent show about Southern California wildfires you mentioned that most houses are built of wood in California I'm a California native, he says, and many Latin Americans have asked me Why do you gringles build houses made of wood if there's such a danger of fire? The answer I give is earthquakes Turns out, Dave says, the survival rate in an earthquake is much higher if you're in a wood building He says, if you're in a house with reinforced masonry and reinforced concrete

[21:55] they're still just masonry and concrete Given enough force from an earthquake, loose bricks and concrete will crush people especially if they're sleeping and have no time to react He says wood-framed buildings can take a lot of shaking before they break up and collapse In fact, he says, in the earthquakes that I have experienced growing up in Southern California I'm glad I was in a wooden building Things swayed and shook, but they did not break Even in Japan, he says, with its advanced anti-earthquake technology Wood buildings seem to do better in earthquakes there, too Turns out, he says, a single family home or apartment buildings of three or fewer stories could be made without wood and with the latest anti-earthquake technology but the cost would be prohibitively expensive without any guarantee that it would do better than wood during an earthquake

[22:42] Then there's larger apartments and office buildings with steel-framed reinforced concrete They'll hopefully give people some time to escape before collapse depending, of course, on the strength of the quake Now, Johnny, at least in a wildfire, we have a good chance to escape Not so much so with a strong earthquake Where there's little advanced warning When there's a fire, however, you know it's coming Dave says, in California's last deadly earthquake It was at 6.7 in Los Angeles back in 1994 Struck at 4.31 a.m. He says there were a few buildings with brick walls and they turned into piles of rubble, deadly rubble For example, one three-story, 164-unit apartment

[23:28] had 16 fatalities Imagine that would have been much higher if it was made of reinforced masonry or concrete instead of wood He says back in that 1994 LA earthquake It was still the number one most expensive earthquake in United States history since it also took down many concrete and rebar freeway overpasses and bridges That said, here's to hoping Guatemala and El Salvador don't get any more big ones Though Latin America certainly has its share of big earthquakes Question for you, Johnny Are Latin Americans living in fear of the big one like Californians are? In California, he says, we're told by seismologists that we're going to have an enormous, devastating earthquake someday Someday soon, probably Are Latin Americans told the same thing?

[24:15] There's more to his email, but let me hit on that for a second The fact is, Dave, Latin Americans are so used to earthquakes and hurricanes, for that matter And the fact that they seem to live their lives from day to day They don't plan too far ahead Which is another reason why I guess they're rated as such happy people You know, if you think too far in the future Your brain creates all kinds of negative scenarios, too Especially if you're a worry ward Anyway, you can sit down with a Latino and get them to talking about an earthquake or a hurricane that they've experienced And almost all those stories are really tragic You can't believe they went through something like that For example, my girlfriend said The whole first floor of her house was flooded out during a hurricane It was a concrete rebar building She said they were lucky enough to have a second floor

[25:01] So they lived up there for the next three days Some people who didn't have a second floor just got swept away Of course, they were living close to the coast And that's where hurricanes hit the hardest Anyway, I never even heard her tell that story Until someone else brought it up at a party And she started going on about it I mean, look, we're talking about a life and death tragedy here And she never even mentioned it to me It seems like every adult Latino I know Has gone through something like that Had a brother or sister die in an earthquake or hurricane A motorcycle or taxi crash, a bus accident It's funny how Latinos just don't seem to dwell on that tragic stuff But then again, when they have their funerals, they last a week Unlike up in the States, there's the funeral, the wake, and the church thing, or whatever

[25:47] All in one day Down here, total thing lasts a week, sometimes two So when they have their tragedies, it seems like the world stops for a week or two And then it's life as usual and people just don't think or talk about it again They have a very different cultural take on tragedy So Dave, you're asking are Latinos waiting for the big one? In a word, no, but it is going to come And when it comes, they'll deal with it They're not going to sit and ponder it when things are going okay Project future events, they just don't seem to want to do that Which is why they're almost never well prepared for a natural disaster Or a tragedy of that sort You've heard me tell the story about how in Guatemala, the locals, mostly indigenous Will build their houses and start farming right on the base of an active volcano Why? Because, well, the land's virtually free, no one else wants it

[26:34] And it's super fertile Then some day it erupts, there's a landslide, people die Tin shacks and such wiped out Then a couple of years later, the people start coming back Little shacks start popping up again You see, patches of farmland getting plopped Same thing during hurricanes, rivers flood Houses and cars, etc., get washed away Then some days later, there are rivers subsides There's a giant cleanup and a couple of years go by And it looks exactly like it did before the hurricane, before the river flood So then, is it going to flood again? You bet, someday But Latinos just don't dwell on it Or perhaps they just don't learn It seems humans in general just don't learn I mean, look at California All those places that are burned out They're talking about land speculators coming in And trying to pick up the stuff cheap Same thing with that fire disaster in Hawaii

[27:22] So it's either humans have very short members Or they just never learn Hmm, seems we're at the end of the show now I won't be able to get to the second part of Dave's email We'll get to it right away next time You've been listening to The Exped Files, living in Latin America If you need some help with your own plan B We can schedule a one-on-one phone or Skype consult Just send me an email Theexpedfiles.gmail.com And if you want to get on the waiting list For my next week-long Exped Insider Seminar in Central America Where you're guaranteed to get a 2-5 year head start on your plan B Send me an email Theexpedfiles.gmail.com No spamos