#1424 – Episode 1424: Digital Security, Car Insurance, and Language Hypocrisy 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 up to play and now I wonder Hello there all you ex-pad wannabes. I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to the expat 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 You know over and over again. I repeatedly said I never use what's up or zoom for anything private personal and for sure I Never take pictures and screenshots of document contracts passports

[00:46] Sedulas IDs driver's license, etc and put them on social media platforms like what's up Even though Latin American doctors lawyers, etc. Ask you to do that all the time I tell them no and I won't send them to your Gmail or Yahoo account either I say give me a start mail or a proton mail count something that you've paid for that's not free Why because free social media sites like fake book and what's up by the way? They're the same company, you know, the chief asshole in charge is fart suck a turd that paragon of honesty and goodness Anyway off and on I mentioned that those sites have been breached Suck a turd has given a backdoor key to the CIA and other alphabet agencies Yet people still use what's up to send sensitive information and documents Some people because they just don't know or just don't care and others don't believe

[01:36] Suck a turd has given the alphabet agencies and open door policy to that effect I just got an email from longtime listener, right? He says Johnny. Love your show. Please. Keep it going It's with great humility though. He says that I report that AI chat box Say that what's up encryption has not been breached I asked chat GPT in deep-seek and here are the screenshots proven it He sent me the screenshots proving what he said the question rod posed is has what's up been hacked and The answer according to the screenshot is there's no evidence or credible reporting suggests that what's up End-to-end encryption has been hacked. It goes on to say what's ups robust encryption protocols secure messengers

[02:22] Ensuring that only the sender and recipient can read the content Saying that this encryption style is a cornerstone of what makes what's app security features Highly resistant to unauthorized accent. However, those certain vulnerabilities and external threats have been identified That could potentially affect user privacy Etc. Etc. Then Rod goes on to say in his email now Johnny It's possible that the elites have trained these bots to say this. Yes, of course, that's possible Anyway, Johnny always a pleasure as always if my email is not totally relevant to your audience Please feel free to ignore it. Well, I'm not ignoring it right because I've got a little more to add to this crazy mix

[03:11] Now the thing is if you ask questions To an artificial intelligence site like chat GBT or croc or whatever The results you get will depend how you ask or phrase the question. For example, I'm in an artificial intelligence site right now I'm asking the question does Facebook owned what's up. That's my lead-in question for starters Hey, I says what's up is currently owned by a meta platforms formally known as Facebook CEO and founder fart suck a turd Meta acquired what's up in 2014 for 19 billion dollars make it in a fully owned subsidy of the company Now remember I said when you're speaking with artificial intelligence. It depends how you phrase or ask the questions

[03:57] so my next question was Did Facebook let the CIA and FBI have a backdoor to their app and this is how the AI engine? Responded to that question as far back as 2013 It's been reported that Facebook had up data sharing partnership with NSA and other Government agencies to provide user data upon request However, it says this was not a backdoor, but rather as a result of Facebook's Cooperation with the US government under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act fis a then it goes on to say in 2019 It was revealed that Facebook had given the FBI a backdoor to which what's up messaging app

[04:46] Though limited it says to specific certain cases the back door It says it's used to monitor individuals what's up activity now I could say I rest my case with that information, but I'm not quite resting it yet because About three years ago now one of my super nerd buddies was getting trolled Mercilessly on the internet and some of that crap was coming at him through what's up now being that he was located in the US And didn't want to do anything illegal or obviously illegal that could be traced back to him He went through one of those temporary job software sites found a software hacker in India Paid him something like 600 bucks the Indian guy cracked the what's up number and sent my friend a complete transcript of all

[05:35] The messages that ever came through that what's up number now I don't know what I don't want to know how my nerd buddy enacted his revenge on Said what's up criminal imposter extortionist, whatever he was But I do know my buddy through this Indian hacker got all the what's up info. He needed for 600 bucks So now rod I rest my case Again, I repeat you're nuts if you put sensitive personal documents on what's up You might as well send them off to all your friends and contacts and then post them on tiktok Just saying oh and by the way, if you remember fart succatur was on Joe Rogan I don't know maybe four or five months ago He admitted fake book under pressure from the FBI and the Biden administration was collecting data

[06:23] for government alphabet agencies Including actively censoring people and fake book groups left and right The other thing is that hackers are always breaking into government databases In fact, they take great pride in spilling the beans on the internet when they do that in fact for hackers It's a badge of honor to break into a government site So if you're thinking well, so what if the government has some of my data, they're gonna keep that safe No, they're not those databases routinely get hacked yet another way for unauthorized thieves and scoundrels to get your data Anyway, be careful enough said about that The problem is as mentioned previously in a show or two There will be times when your medical clinic your doctor your insurance company your lawyer, etc

[07:09] They'll send you sensitive documents on what's up leg. For example, your personal lab test results scans blood tests biopsy results, etc So even if you're very careful about what you put on what's up You can't control those what's up crazy brain-dead dickheads at your lawyers doctors or insurance company office Speaking of insurance now, here's a segue I'm advised to report on something crazy that's been happening in Guatemala this week though You probably haven't heard about it unless you're living down here So to that effect Let me hit on some of the bullet points that are in many of the articles that came out this morning in The big Latin American newspapers and social media starting with this article. It says Guatemala suspends

[07:58] compulsory car insurance law after roadblocks and protests cause immense traffic jams It goes on to say Guatemala backed down Wednesday on a new law that was to force all vehicle owners to take out mandatory insurance However, the government immediately suspended the law following violent street protests in Guatemala City it says the Central American country has been convulsed by two days of street protests over a law a Mandatory insurance law which was published on Monday set to go into effect on May 1st 2025 it says according to government press releases The government initially said the reforms were necessary to compensate victims of road accidents and their families

[08:44] The impulse behind the law being the deadly bus collision last month, which resulted in more than 50 deaths Yes, more than 50 dead with just one accident Hmm. Are you still looking to get a photo op in one of those quaint rustic chicken buses? Good luck with that Anyway, the article goes on to say following nationwide demonstrations against the act the crowds mostly consisting of people with older cars and motorcyclists Hmm. I wonder why in One case police deployed tear gas on some of the protesters now. Here's the thing You've heard me say this before in a past show Third-party vehicle insurance is mandatory in Guatemala as well as most all countries in Latin America, too

[09:35] In fact, there is an act called the 1996 traffic act Which makes vehicle insurance? Compulsory in Guatemala, but only if you get into an accident Say what and that's always been the big loophole. You could drive around all day get pulled over And if the cop says show me your insurance papers and you don't have any Well, that's perfectly. All right. Nothing to see here. You only have to have insurance if you get into an accident I know you're thinking what the Now in case you're hard of hearing or something I repeat in Guatemala and most of Latin America having insurance on your vehicle is only compulsory if you're involved in an accident Now, of course that law enacted in 1996 has caused an unprecedented amount of chaos and confusion

[10:26] So basically here's what happens under the existing law if you get into an accident in Guatemala And I'm assuming most all you guys and gals listening to this show are from the first world and thus you have car insurance You always have you always will it's sort of ingrained into our culture If you don't have it you feel a sort of impending doom and you really don't want to drive Basically all gringles and expats. I know if they don't have car insurance Even if it lapses for one day we get all stressed out Unfortunately for us Latin Americans here in Latin America Don't take that car insurance thing to heart at all and I don't think many of them up in the states do either I'm not saying that to be prejudicial or mean Fact is I was in a couple of car accidents when I lived in Chicago many years ago Twice I was hit by a driver who was Mexican neither of them had insurance and both had been drinking

[11:17] So anyway, if you're going to an expat and you get in a car accident There are a few scenarios that could play out The other guy will have insurance too and the insurance people will show up in a van And one or the other or both of your insurance companies will pay or you'll nail someone with your car or he'll nail you And he won't have insurance at that point He'll either flee from the scene if he's able and you'll never see him again Or if he can't get away because his vehicle is too damaged or he can't run for it He'll barter with you try to make some kind of deal so that you don't call the cops That might not end well for him. He may propose a payment plan which most times he won't stick to Now if the cops are nearby and come walking over that won't be good for him Not usually because as mentioned there's a law that says you need to have insurance if you get into an accident

[12:08] The thing is though, and this has always driven me nuts If you hit for example a guy on a motorcycle who has no insurance Most of them don't but you knew that already, right? And he ends up in the hospital The cops will impound your car at least for a day or two until your insurance company or your lawyer gets it out for you Oh, and if he ends up in a hospital and he doesn't have insurance oftentimes you'll end up paying for his hospital bills Or I should say your insurance company will makes no sense at all I mean he's got no insurance and your insurance has got to pay for his hospital bill So obviously this new transit law that was supposed to go into effect on may 1st in guatemala Was certainly an honest attempt to try to eliminate some of the chaos the expenses and damages that often don't get reimbursed

[12:53] So what exactly did that new act say well the decree published on monday required owners of all cars trucks and motorbikes And other motorized vehicles to take out mandatory insurance to cover harm They cost others in the event of an accident. In other words, everyone has to have at least third-party coverage By the way, the triggering event for this law was as mentioned 54 people were killed When a chicken bus collided with several small vehicles and plunged into a ravine in guatemala city Oh, and here's a quote from a government spokesman He says we all know that road accidents are the main cause of deaths in guatemala Deaths due to crimes are far down the list He said the way people drive in the condition of many vehicles is a national tragedy

[13:43] I'll second that emotion by the way opponents of the insurance requirement Are you that many motorists including taxi drivers and motorcyclists cannot afford to buy car insurance in guatemala? Where up to 60 percent of the drivers carry no insurance at all. Now. Here's the thing me johnny here again I've owned various cars in guatemala for at least 15 maybe 20 years always pretty decent cars too though i've never carried full coverage insurance because I've seen how often they find ways not to pay when you've been in an accident Think about it regular body work in guatemala and the rest of latin america is about A quarter or less what you pay up in the states That means if you get some scratches or a little fender bender, which happens all the time down here

[14:29] Most often the repairs won't exceed your deductible you get screwed every time So I decided early on a long time ago To just carry third-party damage insurance, which is again minimum under the law and guess what that costs about 150 to 200 bucks a year So when I hear opponents of the new car insurance requirement law Say that up to 60 of drivers don't have insurance because it's too expensive. Well, i'll call bullshit on that one Think about it at 150 to 200 bucks a year and for motorcyclists about 40 bucks a year That's like five to fifteen dollars a month on the payment plan Don't give me that crap. But people are too poor to afford it They can afford booze and lottery tickets and junk food

[15:15] It's just that idiot drivers that don't have insurance don't want things to change Now look I call these people brain dead idiots and fools because i've been into a couple of accidents Where the other guy usually a motorcyclist just takes off he flees the scene And let me tell you after that happens to you a couple times you get pretty hardened to this situation And you really really start hating those motorcyclists as well as those fools who drive Totally wrecked shit boxes with broken windows burnt out lights and a million dents You know how they say you have to trust yourself and put trust in the other driver Well, how can you trust a guy driving a shit box a virtual death trap? Like one gringle buddy of mine says you sort of have to divide the other drivers into two types number one normal rational drivers

[16:03] Just trying to get from point a to point b safely and securely Those guys and gals like yourself driving decent vehicles Then there's that second group Those shit for brains morons driving around in death traps You'll find out soon enough when you're driving around in a big latin american city The ratio is about 50 50 Now you probably heard your mom and dad tell you when you first got your driver's license up in the states probably were 16 years old, right? I'm sure they laid a few facts on you like you're controlling a ton of metal Never forget that They probably told you to drive defensively use your signals and the pedestrian has to right away Pull over for ambulances stop for school buses, etc, etc

[16:48] Well, if you follow those rules of the road down here in latin america, you just might never make it out of your driveway All right moving on, you know that show we got an email from a young lady. I think her name was claire Who's moving down to panama and you know every time I hear someone say that to me I'm thinking man. You don't know panama like I know panama. I just don't get it There's so many nicer better cheaper places than panama nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there You know All those expat panama gringo placement services It seems all they want to do is place you where there are lots of other gringos So, you know, you don't have to mingle too much with the panamanians You can sort of live and retire in that protected little bubble of other gringos Okay. Okay, I get it. Maybe that's your style. It's not mine

[17:37] Sheesh, you know how gringos up in the states always complain about how latinos live in latino bodyos in chicago detroit new jersey You could drive through close your eyes smell the tacos and tortillas here the latino music blasting out of the speakers Roosters growing people pushing carts hawking fruit all the signs on the stores in spanish, man I know how native born white caucasian gringos feel about that They're thinking at least they could learn english then maybe they will get a leg up Maybe they will clean up their neighborhood Become solid middle class not stay permanently in the lower middle classes I gotta say that's how so many born and bred caucasian gringos feel though Most gringos who end up as expats here in latin america

[18:23] Become language hypocrites themselves Those same white bread caucasian gringos who said when living up in chicago new york or denver Why don't those latinos at least learn our language? Well those same white folks will move down as expats to boquete panama Even after living down there for years and years almost none of them speaking of spanish to communicate with their cleaning lady Though maybe it's because panama has been targeted as a gringo retirement destination So the average age of a gringo or a gringo couple going down is probably around 60 plus years old Like one of my gringo musician buddies said to me he said johnny Do you know a single person over 60 years old who's ever learned to play piano or guitar or harmonica?

[19:09] I said nope, that just doesn't happen That goes a long way to explain why the over 60 gringo expat crowd just can't learn spanish Even so there are lots of other reasons why I personally wouldn't pick panama as my plan b destination Maybe c or d but not a plan b Which brings us to this email from bart who feels the same way but for different reasons He says johnny. I was recently in panama and noticed a latin american oddity I wanted to get your take on it if possible He says when I first arrived in panama. I stayed in panama city I noticed the surrounding skyscrapers were basically empty At night. They had very few lights lobbies were empty too Surrounding restaurants empty in the day. He says the surrounding sidewalks were empty

[19:58] Parking lots basically empty very weird. He says usually latin american cities with high building densities like in panama city Are crazy hives of cars buses street vendors pedestrians and other organized chaos He says then I took a trip to the pacific coast of panama and I also saw empty resorts Empty residential towers many of them had light timers that turn on and off so Individual resort porch lights would look like they're occupied Like someone was home, but not so it was an illusion Bart says I noticed on the weekends a few families would come visit those resorts maybe 10 cars in the parking lot

[20:45] But it seemed like 180 of 200 units were empty Weird very strange. So johnny after some conversations. I found out that many of these buildings were built to launder money It works like this people come to panama find a lawyer and create a shell company the shell companies make construction materials companies The construction companies build buildings and then sell them to other shell companies and millions of dollars get washed But they're still left with overpriced buildings and no real buyers thus very low occupancy But with light timers, there's always the appearance of occupancy Bart says johnny I was wondering if you've heard of the same kind of stories and what's your take on all the empty high priced?

[21:36] Panamanian luxury condos for sale as for me. He says My personal takeaway thoughts on panama are this I had a good time But wouldn't go back unless you paid me you can toss out the gringo advantage in panama, too. It doesn't exist Replace it with the disadvantage when dealing with the locals They are jaded and in general do not like gringo as much And man, is it expensive most things in general costs two times as much as prices in other latin american countries In other words about the same or more as prices in the u.s Bart says if you want to have a nice high priced us or canadian life in panama and not have to learn spanish It could be just the place for you It also seems to be a good place to wash large amounts of money

[22:23] But that's just not in my own budget or game plan these days. Anyway, thanks for the entertaining shows johnny signed bart All right bart. Thanks for that But you know bart the farther you move out of the big city like panama city The cheaper things get gets pretty cheap on the boonies But you're right I find panama city about as expensive as any medium or large city in the states By the way, but about money laundering in panama Remember the panama paper is probably 10 years ago now and other such scandals Involving thousands and thousands of sa corporations the paradise papers comes to mind all set up by just a handful of law firms You know technically according to panama law that was all legal

[23:09] You know an sa corporation can open up a bank account That was the point and people with big money don't leave it in the bank. It gets killed by inflation They make investments by the way panama city is just loaded with banks. It's built on banks There are more banks per square meter than any other place in latin america more lawyer and investment offices per square meter, too Anyway, it's sort of a foolish thing to let money simply accumulate in a foreign bank account The question is how to spend it without international wire transfers That come under all kinds of scrutiny and know your customer law Well, it seems in latin america. There are only a few businesses that will accept large amounts even suitcases full of cash Cartels, of course the entertainment biz religious organizations and charities. Isn't that funny and

[23:58] building contractors Yeah, that's why so many residential towers and housing development gated guarded communities offer their own financing So you don't have to deal with a bank. How can they afford to do that? Why do you think that's so prevalent down here? Bart I know firsthand exactly what you're talking about Since one of my favorite places to stay in panama city is the hard rock hotel and casino Which I believe is located in a 40 story building Now you might wonder what's the hard rock hotel doing in a 40 story building? Well last time I was there I noticed that the top 20 floors were completely empty In fact the elevator stopped at the 20th floor. It would go all the way to the rooftop the 41st floor Skipping 20 floors below it only because on the roof

[24:47] There was a pool a nightclub a bar a disco, but the whole idea seems to reinforce what bart's been saying Lots and lots of expensive vacant real estate seemingly nicely maintained etc And if you have a good eye you have to wonder where are all the residents? By the way, speaking of openai chat gpt grok and the other ai platforms And how your answers can very much depend on how you phrase your question now speaking about the panama and the paradise paper scandals You know when it was discovered that tens of thousands of bank accounts were created in panama The thousands of shell companies extensively created to launder money Well, I just went to a couple of ai engines and I put in this question

[25:32] Tell me about the panama paper scandal the paradise paper scandal and Zelensky's millions Considering that a fact-checked forbs article reports that selenky has a network of over 80 million dollars owns five yachts three jets and other assets Anyway, when I asked artificial intelligence to check on zelensky and the paradise and the panama papers It says based on the search results. It appears there are several claims and allegations surrounding ukrainian president Zelensky, but his name does not appear in the paradise or panama paper So apparently those rumors have been debunked. Well, that would sort of settle the question, huh? Hmm not so fast Then I asked ai this question concerning the panama and paradise papers. What about selenky's relative?

[26:24] Guess what? All kinds of shit came up. It says makula zocholevsky Zelensky's brother-in-law has mentioned many times in the paradise papers investigation He's the owner of an offshore company midland resources limited registered in the british virgin islands accused of millions in tax evasion and molly laundering Zolachevsky, zolensky's brother-in-law is also the owner of offshore company rusko enerjo Which was also registered in the british virgin island involved in the natural gas industry in ukraine accused of millions in tax evasion and money laundering as well It goes on to say zolensky's wife. Olena zolenska Also has several relatives implicated in the panama papers. For example, her cousin

[27:11] Olegzander tomoshenko is the owner of offshore company tomoshenko oil and gas also registered in the british virgin islands What a surprise. Guess what accused of millions in money laundering and tax evasion So anyway, keep in mind that when you do ai searches It's imperative you put some thought into the way you phrase the questions You've been listening to the expat 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 the expat files at gmail.com And if you want to get on the waiting list for my next week-long expat insider seminar in central america Where you're guaranteed to get a two to five year head start on your plan b. Send me an email the expat files at gmail.com

[27:58] No spamos