#657 – The Expat Files: Life in Latin America, Economic Challenges, and Plan B Strategies

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 expat 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 now, you know, if you listen to conventional media sources up in the States owned by those five or six big media giants You're only gonna hear what they want you to hear. That's why I thought today. I'd read some articles a lot of them I'll translate cuz they're in Spanish from Latin American media sources that never end up getting reported in the States now

[00:51] I know you hear news that the press and the media are censored here in certain countries in Latin America They are like Cuba, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, but that again is political news It's got nothing to do with what's happening on the ground And you know that scandalous political stuff they choose to censor doesn't affect us expat gringos much at all We don't care for us. It's just one corrupt regime after another Elections mean nothing to us and even when we get our passports and nationality in a Latin country None of us ever really want to vote. We don't care. We just want a nice pleasant laid-back escape hatch That's right a plan B destination It allows us a lot of freedom and you know chaos and government is kind of a prerequisite to that because if there are corrupt

[01:37] Governments everywhere and yes, they're all corrupt really now if they're small bureaucracies just loaded with lazy fat ass slugs As far as I'm concerned, that's the key So the politicians and the political parties that are in power are always censoring the political news and government statistics Sound familiar? But as far as the rest of the real news it gets reported on So my advice to gringos and expats gonna bees and wannabes Whatever Latin country or countries you end up staying or living in do check out the government the bureaucracy the chaos But only just keep an eye on it be aware of the local and national government But don't get involved in politics. We may be living in these countries, but we're far removed from that stuff So again Latin ruling governments will censor stories about their own scandals and the power plays and the backstabbing that goes on

[02:27] Behind the scenes of their party as far as us gringos and expats living down here. Well, we don't care But we do and should pay attention to the other events that are happening around us like the economy Business crime real estate environment tourism social norms, whatever most of that stuff is never tampered with never censored Why would it be which is why to stay in tune with stuff and your adopted country? You should pick up a local latin newspaper a couple times a week or read it online Yeah, especially if your Spanish sucks you go online and paste it into Google Translate Yeah, you longtime listeners know I'm no fan of Google But Google Translate or another translator program would work just fine The other way to pick up a superficial knowledge of what's happening locally is to watch one of the local TV stations 6 o'clock news

[03:17] Of course, it'll be in Spanish But that'll be an advantage to you too because newscasters always speak slowly and enunciate their words So the secondary effect is you'll be able to sharpen up your Spanish now If you live on or near the gringo tourist trail, you'll find there are assorted English language newspapers pamphlets and magazines Usually printed weekly or monthly put together by gringles and expats who've made a business out of it So if you check those rags out and you probably will they'll highlight some regional and local news But the coverage will be very light and spotty It's the local Spanish language newspapers that'll give you the real coverage because you see the English language newspapers and pamphlets are basically Local tourism promotion rags, they'll pretty much only tell you the good and the great

[04:04] Not much of the bad and the ugly because you know, they want to keep their advertisers happy mostly hotels B&Bs and restaurants Funny enough It's kind of a small version of the censorship that goes on up in the states where the big money that pays for all ads Is mostly pharmaceuticals fast food insurance companies and junk food companies That means if a journalist has a hardline story about the evils of some medication or vaccines You can bet it's not gonna be a special report or part of a nightly news broadcast Anyway, that said today We're gonna catch up with some media stories here in Latin America that you've never heard before Unless you happen to live down here read the local Latin newspapers or watch the 6 o'clock news so pay attention because I've selected some of these stories as

[04:50] Food for thought for you to think about as you put together your own plan B. Alright, let's start with Argentina Not my favorite place for a plan B destination not by a long shot But an excellent place to go on vacation, but I wouldn't want to live there However, Doug Casey a political and financial analyst like a lot he recommends it Specifically a place way out in the boonies where he happens to own a piece of a residential resort complex Now you should know everyone who lives in Doug Casey's gated guarded community Has to be quite well off the one percenters or even less Since it costs a couple of hundred grand just to get a lot in that subdivision That said here's an excerpt from an article about Argentina that surely never made it up north by you The title of this article is three out of ten

[05:37] Argentines live in poverty and why the state is to blame We're not talking about the definition of gringo poverty here, which is around twenty five thousand dollars a year for a family of four or less Instead we're talking about the average definition of poverty worldwide, which is a person living on two to three dollars a day All right. The article says and I'll translate here the new poverty statistics were recently released in Argentina for 2016 Revealing three out of every ten Argentines are poor the Catholic University of Argentina Which has in the absence of a credible government index has taken on the role of calculating and categorizing Poverty over the last ten years their data shows the harsh reality of the country's real situation

[06:23] Then it says recently revealed data represents an increase in poverty of almost four percentage points compared to last year and the highest recorded poverty Level rate in the last 11 years a real social catastrophe Goes on to say since the return of democracy in Argentina The average poverty in the country hovered around twenty nine point three percent of the people the study says the poverty Exceeded thirty percent of the country's population between 1988 1990 between 2001 and 2005 as well as in 2016 showing that strong increases in poverty in Argentina are directly related to the economic crises that periodically plague the country for example, it said in 1989 the populist model of Raul

[07:09] Alvenston collapsed after decades of chronic inflation the monetary system grew at Unsustainable levels and prices rose rapidly. In fact back then the annual inflation rate ballooned by 20,000 percent annually resulting in economic collapse and doubling of poverty year-over-year now that was 1989 not so long ago then it says in 2002 prices climbed 40 percent that year while revenues remained static The result was a brutal jump of 20 percentage points out of a hundred in the poverty rate Then it says the same thing happened in 2016 inflation in the city of Buenos Aires marked an increase of 41% Over the previous year clearly showing a direct relationship between inflation and poverty

[07:54] Alright, it's me Johnny here. You got that high inflation high poverty So when you see high inflation in the country, that should be a red flag when scouting out your plan B then we have this story from Argentina all about the penetration of uber and how it pisses off the Taxi drivers and the unions in the biggest city Buenos Aires and how Argentine puss-brained politicians respond to that kind of pressure It starts by saying uber's offices across Buenos Aires Faced heavy raids last week a measure taken in response to pressure from taxi unions and government officials who are beholding to them Then there's a quote that says the taxi drivers and unions were our allies when we won the city elections We can't fight against them a congresswoman from the ruling party in Buenos Aires stated. She wished not to be identified naturally

[08:45] Okay, then it goes on to say and listen to this carefully because you can get an idea how big brothers penetrating Argentina It says the prosecutor's office in the city of Buenos Aires carried out 18 Simultaneous raids against the uber offices in hopes of finding evidence of improper use of public space among other perceived and drummed-up crimes Previously the offices had been shut down for lacking municipal authorization to operate as a business office And this is even more disturbing. It says beyond the raids of 18 uber offices The police also showed up at many homes of uber drivers and their houses were inspected and searched Wow without heavy political pull and big brother How could that be possible?

[09:31] Imagine if you signed up as an uber driver and suddenly the cops were at your door asking to do a house inspection Man, that sounds exactly like a u.s. Homeland Security move, doesn't it? Now said another Argentine politician who wants to remain anonymous He says quote the rules that uber allegedly breached are Unconstitutional they are regulations of a state that is now meddling heavily in freedom and trade And as a result of political and crony pressure an Argentine judge ordered a nationwide block of uber He ordered all internet providers to block uber throughout Argentina and beyond that get this the prosecutor Named Martin Lapidou petitioned the judge and asked that the uber directors in Argentina be placed under arrest

[10:18] The judge didn't go for it But it sure put the fear of the Lord into those uber officials now uber drivers say they don't care They rejected the measure and will continue on with business as usual since no one can really shut down the net And there's a quote here from one of the uber directors in Argentina says quote It's not possible to carry out a blockade over the internet because the city of Buenos Aires cannot order measures outside that city He said the judge in Buenos Aires has no jurisdiction over the rest of the country Therefore we promised the normal operation of our app. It will be guaranteed So in Argentina the taxi drivers the unions and the government cronies are openly at war with uber And we'll see how the next battle plays out by the way

[11:06] Argentina is not the only latin country having uber wars are many latin countries in that process right now of course You know why uber is so much cheaper in latin America because if you have a taxi you have to buy all kinds of Permits and deal with the government and uber well That's person a person and the government's cut out of the process which is one thing you really got to love about it Okay, now here's another article from the Argentine press that never made it up to the first world It's about air travel now you frequent flyers out there always looking for great airline travel deals I am too and there are lots of small kind of boutique airlines down here in latin America with late model planes And great service these are regional carriers that are trying to break into the international market And we like that that means competition in lower prices right that happens once in a while up in the first world too some upstart

[11:57] Airline will come in like Virgin Air and all of a sudden They'll be price slashing all over the place now more recently airlines have been trying to penetrate the Central and South American market, too And there's a new very cheap airline that started up with connections through Mexico can't remember the name So we all like that right in fact. I've seen a brand new airline pop up in Central America Offering very cheap flights to common destinations and the big cities in Central America for something around a hundred bucks Okay with that in mind Listen to this news at Argentina news that you're not going to get up in the states It says the Argentine aviation unions have declared war on incoming low-cost airlines This week They're preparing to organize a strike if the government holds a new public hearing to discuss the entry of such companies

[12:47] Into the Argentine airline market this week the government held a non-binding hearing in which airlines Avianca by Bondi Atlas de Sur American jet and Andes Presented their business proposal to operate in national and local Argentine markets dominated by larger Well-known airlines it says with the news that the Argentine government plans to open up the airline market Introducing competition that will obviously lead to lower prices then it says The unions are even opposed to the government having informal meetings and discussions About these issues and have threatened to come out in full force if the government continues with proposal And they have said we will hold a national strike if another hearing is confirmed

[13:35] And you know a hearing is just a discussion of proposals Nothing binding comes out of a hearing man. It sounds like these airline workers are scared Then it says Edgardo. Yanno general secretary of the Association of Argentine aeronautical personnel told the news conference Aeronautical workers would join the strike along with two pilots unions and the unions professional aeronautics mechanics It also states the unions are staunchly opposed to roots being awarded to competitors of the two long-time airline Players aerolinius argentinas and austral So why all the controversy why is this happening right now? Well, it says the Argentine transport minister Guillermo Dietrich has promised that new competitor airlines will come in create new hubs

[14:24] investing more than 1.7 billion dollars in badly needed airport renovations And he said bringing new competitors into the market will double the number of domestic fights in the country drastically lower the cost of travel Inviting many more foreign tourists. Hmm again another case of the problems with unions and cronyism, huh? And how about this article about Argentina? You'll never get a whisper of in the States entitled human trafficking of Chinese Citizens is big business in Argentina. Say what? Chinese human trafficking Anyway, it says a new report sheds light on the phenomena of human trafficking involving Chinese citizens in Argentina Highlating some of the factors underlying this illicit business

[15:12] So according to the Argentine television news investigation program, Peria Dismo Para Toros An estimated 80% of the country's Chinese population entered the country illegally 80% many if not most involved in human trafficking schemes According to that television report most Chinese immigrants entering Argentina Crossed into the country through provinces of messianes on the border with Brazil or through Salta which borders Bolivia to the north and Chile to the west It says the television programs investigation indicated the majority of Chinese immigrants to Argentina are Illegal and come from situations of extreme poverty and reportedly pay smugglers an average of five to six thousand dollars a person

[15:59] To be brought into the country many subsequently fall victim to human traffickers who often finance those deals For people with little or no money So for those poor Chinese who can't afford regular immigration routes criminal organizations have stepped in the void Especially it says due to the well-established Chinese Mafia in South America. Hmm. I bet you didn't even know such a thing existed and here's a related report Entitled get this a power vacuum leads to fighting amongst Chinese Mafias in Argentina now the existence of Chinese mafias in South America shocks some first world people at first They don't believe it, especially when they hear there are various competing groups of Chinese mafias

[16:46] All right Now this will get you thinking it says three Chinese mafias are reportedly vying for criminal dominance Following the capture of the leader of the most powerful Chinese Mafia in Argentina It says investigators told Argentine news organization Perfil that armed confrontations have been taking place regularly between three Chinese Mafia looking to take over the criminal industries run by Chui considered the largest and most violent Mafia in Argentina and pea choice leader young Yee alias adi was captured during a joint Argentine Chinese operation dubbed the dragon's head in June of 2016 It says according to the news source per feel these criminal organizations are involved in a range of criminal activities including prostitution

[17:34] human trafficking and smuggling express Kidnappings and drug trafficking these activities are reportedly financed through the extortion of the many hundreds of supermarkets in Chinese neighborhoods, please say the market owners pay as much as 50,000 US dollars a year in extortion fees and For those of you watching this show on YouTube right now. I put up a picture of a Chinese Extortion note used at one of these supermarkets There says these Chinese Mafia organizations are Operating at a global level and are interd connected with the mafias in mainland China There says the capture of Chinese Argentine Mafia boss idea was a positive step towards limiting the Chinese Mafia presidents in Argentina

[18:22] but the past eight months have shown that the groups are highly adaptable and conventional law enforcement methods are insufficient to combat what remains an elusive and Insulated subset of the country's underworld then it says with few Chinese officers in the ranks of Argentine law enforcement And few Argentines who speak Chinese Mandarin or any of the dialects Authorities have limited ability to infiltrate any of these groups then it says in the broader landscape of organized crime throughout Latin America with the arrest and killing of scores of drug bosses and Nako figures in Colombia Mexico and Honduras the region's underworld is becoming increasingly fragmented as smaller groups replace the more Established organizations and this has presented an unparalleled opportunity for Chinese Mafia

[19:12] Organizations to fill the void. I know it's awful hard to picture that Chinese people speaking Spanish But I know a few no, they're not mafia. They're in the electronics import and export business now It's true in some particular Latin countries of Chinese have landed in a big way whereas another Latin countries have got almost no presence at all For example, they landed a big way in Nicaragua where they thought the Nicaraguan canal project was gonna go through So they came in and bought up a lot of land on speculation So now when you fly in and out of the Managua airport You always see a smattering of Chinese families and businessmen in Panama Well, the Chinese are everywhere in Panama They own much of the land on either side of the canal and control the ports at the front and the back end That would be the city of Cologne and Panama City

[20:00] Not to mention Panama City is all of Latin America's de facto banking center Even with last year's international Panama Papers scandal Panama and its financial power is still a big draw In fact, when you go downtown Panama City All you see is bank insurance and trust buildings and offices by the hundreds and the fact that Panama Has lots and lots of casinos and Chinese people are driven to casinos and they often invest in them So as far as Central America The only two countries where you'll see a substantial group of Chinese people will be Nicaragua and Panama No, they have been buying up a lot of projects in Costa Rica lately, too Yep, and I believe they're going to regret it Here's a great statistic The largest city in Central America is Guatemala City about two million people or so in the metropolitan area

[20:50] And they don't even have a chinatown or a Chinese district or anything like that And that's how you can tell if a city or country has a large Chinese population Have a look at the chinatown area and guess what? There are no chinatowns in Belize, Honduras, Guatemala or El Salvador That's most of the countries in Central America However, you'd think there were plenty of Chinese in Central America by all the Chinese restaurants you see everywhere But those just happen to be one of the two main legit enterprises Chinese people get into when they come to Latin America The other being the clothing and textile biz, Maquilas Though I do know one Chinese lady who owns a huge orchid farm and ships her stuff out all over the world Okay, so you just heard me say that in Central America

[21:35] Even in some of the biggest cities you won't find much of a Chinese presence or a chinatown However, it's totally different in South America for some reason the Chinese and the Chinese interests have always preferred South America And yes, all the big cities there have their chinatowns In fact, here's a surprising article related to just that theme And for sure this news never made it up to Milwaukee, Montreal or Cleveland This one's entitled and I'll translate here Bogota, Colombia hit by xenophobic attacks on Chinese merchants And I'll paraphrase here. It says in the heart of downtown Bogota, Colombia is a sector known as San Victorino There the inhabitants of the Colombian capital can find all kinds of imported products at prices much lower than in any other parts of the city

[22:23] Recently, however, the arrival of great numbers of Chinese merchants has caused consternation and in some cases violence as it turns out regular Colombian born merchants say the Chinese have come to work as sellers and owners of shops without the proper work visas and papers They say most of them are in the country illegally and that their main business is bringing smuggled goods into the country The local Colombian born merchants allege the lower prices charged by the Chinese merchants are putting them out of business Samana magazine Published a video interview featuring one such Colombian merchant who said he was very threatened by the competition As are the other long-time businessmen and merchants in the district now as it turns out The district of San Victorino is a microcosm of free markets and commerce where an estimated 12 billion Colombian pesos are exchanged per day

[23:17] At the local kiosks and businesses that would be over four million dollars a day Us and the vast majority in cash without receipts. That means off the books. No taxes Kind of love it, huh? The article goes on to say beginning on Wednesday, March 1st protests by local Colombians against their Chinese competition turned violent as the protesters began to attack Chinese owned storefronts and kiosks The merchants in question had to close their premises in order to avoid having all their merchandise destroyed in addition One well-known Colombian merchant told another well-known businessman Kenny Sui A representative of the Chinese business community His group would not allow the Chinese to do business in Colombia anymore and that they were responsible for ruining Colombian businesses

[24:06] Especially with regard to textiles. Mr Sui allegedly replied that he would speak with his colleagues to see what they could do but added that Competition always brings such challenges and that the world is governed through a free market Now get this finally in that video published by Samana You can see it on youtube a group of Colombian merchants said on camera That if the Chinese persisted in doing business in Bogota, they'll have to walk over our dead bodies to do it So there you have it some of the latin american news that never quite filters up to the states Why would it it's almost always in spanish though? You'll get dribs and drabs of it from me here So pay attention and that's all stuff you have to consider when you're putting together your plan b

[24:52] whether it's a permanent plan b to vote with your feet and get the hell out of the first world or A part-time plan b where you live part of the year in the states or in europe and part of the year Down here in latin america. The fact is, you know I do a lot of plan b phone consultations and People I talk to as a rule think the us and europe are gonna crash and burn sooner or later And most of them want to believe that it'll come later or I should say that's what they hope It's wishful thinking on their part because they say they need more time to get it together So is it going to be like most people wish five or ten years down the road? I kind of doubt it So for all you listeners up there who have a long range plan b or a part-time plan b in the works or nearly in The works at least you'll have an escape hatch and won't be caught off guard

[25:38] The question is what are your friends relatives and neighbors gonna do when the poop hits the windmill if you're into your plan You'll be gone That said if you want to better organize your plan b and come up with the right questions and answers You can go to www.thenewexpat.com To check out the questionnaire. I give people before I do a phone consultation with them on their plan b Oh and at that site the new expat.com you'll also find there's a link to my 2017 expat insider seminar Got some spaces available You can still get in on the early bird discount till june 1st Remember and if you check out that link you'll see how you can kill two birds with one stone That is get your guadamalan residency started at the very same time You're down for the seminar and you'll find out just how to sign up for and take advantage of those great. John

[26:25] Galt pre and post seminar trips Now for those of you who are eventually coming down permanently and need to have a job or some kind of business to support yourself Eventually you go on one or both of those john galt trips and those potential business ideas will pop into your head like crazy So the more boots on the ground the more those ideas will be churning around in your head In fact, it's not unusual after the seminar and the john galt trips that you have way too many business ideas Now like expat eddy always says you can't kiss all the girls In fact, I may have mentioned this on a show a long time ago, but I've got two notebooks Chalk full of business ideas. I write them down when I see them Yep, i've written down dozens if not hundreds of ideas and that's way too many You know, you only can do one or two at a time

[27:10] Of course, we're not down here to get back on the treadmill, but unfortunately some of us do Okay, and finally for everyone who can't quite get boots on the ground in latin america yet You should be checking out my expat essentials course. That's at expat plan b.com Yep for your own specific case. It'll really assist and help you in getting your own personal ducks lined up South of the border This is the expat files living in latin america If you want me to help you out with your own plan b just schedule a one-on-one consult Send me an email the expat files at gmail.com And if you want to learn how to move forward with your own plan b from right up there in the states go to www.xpatplanb.com and check out my three videos. See ya nos vemos