Episode Summary
In this episode of The Expat Files, Johnny Mueller explores the humor and entertainment landscape of Latin America. He questions whether the humor, TV programs, and comedy clubs in Latin America are comparable to those in the first world. He also discusses the lack of Latin American television shows being exported to the first world, highlighting the difference in production quality and the challenges of translating humor across cultures.
Johnny emphasizes that while Latin Americans are generally happier and more jovial, their television content is often of lower quality and not widely exported. He notes that Latin American television is mostly in Spanish or Portuguese and is often difficult for non-native speakers to understand due to the use of local dialects and slang. He mentions that Latin American television has not been exported to the first world, except for the show 'Ugly Betty,' which was a rare exception.
He highlights the difference in production quality between Latin American and first-world television, stating that Latin American shows often fall short of first-world standards. Johnny also discusses the nature of Latin American television, highlighting how it is tailored to a largely low-income audience with limited education. He notes that the content is often simplistic, repetitive, and dumbed down, which has become a cultural norm. He contrasts this with first-world television, which he acknowledges can also be shallow, but still offers more variety and quality.
Johnny mentions that expats often avoid Latin American TV due to its low quality and over-the-top content, such as excessive nudity and stereotypical humor. He suggests that expats use satellite or cable TV to access better programming and avoid the mind-numbing aspects of local TV. He also discusses the general perception of Latin American television and comedy, noting that expats rarely watch Latin TV unless forced to, often due to the lack of quality.
He highlights the importance of sports, especially soccer, in Latin America, which is a major obsession for expats, particularly Europeans. He then shifts to discussing Latin American comedy, which often relies on clichéd setups involving bikini-clad women and poor men, with little depth or sophistication. He mentions that while there are some sophisticated audiences in Latin America, they are typically wealthy individuals who have lived in the first world and enjoy first-world shows, but even they struggle to fully grasp the subtleties of first-world comedy.
Johnny notes that only a small percentage of the population has the background to understand first-world humor, and even expats miss subtleties in Latin American stage productions. He discusses the popularity of plays like 'Vagina Monologues' and 'In Defense of the Caveman' due to their focus on sex, which universally draws audiences. He then shares a rare, funny Nicaraguan joke about military recruits and toilet paper, which he finds amusing and points out as a rare example of humor in Latin America.
Finally, he transitions to discussing Cuba, highlighting the significant portion of the workforce employed by the government and the recent announcement by Raul Castro to lay off one million government workers, suggesting a shift toward a more capitalist model. Johnny explains the economic implications of a new law in Cuba that allows residents to start private businesses, which is introduced as a response to the impending layoffs of a million government employees. He explains how this law is designed to prevent social unrest by enabling laid-off workers to start small businesses, which are supported by remittances from Cuban relatives in the United States.
Topics
Latin humor and its differences from first world humor, Translation of jokes and the challenges of cross-cultural humor, Latin American television and its production quality, Export of Latin American entertainment to the first world, Latin American television content, Cultural norms and education in Latin America, Comparison between Latin American and first-world television, Expats' experiences with local media, Stereotypical humor and representation in Latin American TV, Latin American television, Sports in Latin America, Latin American comedy
Chapters
00:00:00 Opening 00:00:21 Introduction to the Topic of Latin Humor and Entertainment 00:02:22 Explanation of Latin American Humor and Its Cultural Context 00:03:06 Overview of Latin American Television and Its Challenges 00:05:52 Introduction to the Problem of Latin American TV Content 00:06:08 Why Latin American TV is Dumbed Down 00:06:39 Comparison Between Latin American and First-World TV 00:07:26 Expats' Solutions to Avoid Latin American TV 00:09:36 Stereotypical Humor and Cultural Representation in Latin American TV 00:11:38 General Setup and Channel Flipping 00:12:07 Sports Obsession in Latin America 00:12:45 Clichéd Latin American Comedy 00:13:19 Sophisticated Audiences in Latin America 00:15:09 First-World Comedy in Latin America 00:17:07 Why Sex-Based Humor is Universal and Successful in Theater and Parties 00:17:56 The Recycling of Tired Jokes in Latin America 00:18:45 A Rare and Funny Nicaraguan Joke About Military Recruits and Toilet Paper 00:20:46 Cuba's Government Workforce and the Shift Toward Capitalism 00:22:50 The Context of the Layoffs and the Law 00:23:09 The Populist Law and Its Implications 00:24:00 The Financial Constraints of Cubans 00:24:32 The Role of Remittances in Funding Small Businesses 00:25:28 The Backbone of the Latin American Economy 00:27:05 The Win-Win Situation for Everyone
Transcript
Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.
[00:01] South of the border Down Mexico Hi everybody, I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to the expat files Living in Latin America the one-of-a-kind show that tells you what it's like to live work play and or retire in Latin America So let's get started in today's show. We're gonna talk about Latin humor. Is there a sense of humor the same as ours? what about their TV programs and entertainment and Then we're gonna look at Cuba and see why Castro is gonna lay off a million public workers this year Where are they gonna go? Are they gonna riot not likely and you'll see why? You know people asked me all the time what about Latin Americans in their sense of humor are there jokes the same as ours
[00:57] Did they laugh at the same things? Could you translate a good Spanish joke to English or English joke to Spanish and get the same laughs? What about Latin American stand-up comedy and do they even have comedy clubs? And when you're watching TV in Latin America and you see a show like Seinfeld or two and a half men dubbed into Spanish Are they exactly the same jokes and are the people really getting it are the translations faithful? And what about inside jokes that only North Americans could understand jokes about Las Vegas LA Obama Clinton hip-hop Oprah and bling bling how in the world can you translate that into Spanish and expect a Latin American audience to get it? Could a famous first world comic like Jay Leno or David Letterman? make it in Latin America if you just spoke perfect Spanish and
[01:44] Could one of the famous Latin comics from Brazil or Mexico or Honduras? Go up to the first world and make a hit if he only spoke perfect English and how about comic technique I mean in the first world. We have different classes of comedy some comics are political some are Observational some of you sarcasm and hyperbole there are mimes and mimics and in solid comics and some Self-deprecate like Rodney Dangerfield, and then there's Woody Allen the king of neurotic comedy I could go on and on about comics in the first world, but what about Latin America? I know I know it sounds like a lot to cover and boy did I hit on a ton of subjects there? but in reality it's fairly easy to explain Latin American humor and let me tell you if you're new to Latin America and You're just landed and you happen to get invited to a party
[02:33] You're gonna hear a lot of jokes and storytelling and there's gonna be a lot of laughing going down And even if you don't understand a word of Spanish you're gonna think man these Latins are a happy jolly culture And they are I mean from the richest snob with his hummers and bodyguards Down to the lowly campesino who has a tin roof and a dirt floor Latins are by and large a much happier people than any of the people that you'll encounter up in the first world at least from my Experience and all the expats. I know are in agreement on that first of all Let's talk a little bit about Latin American television I'm sure everybody in the first world's at least a little familiar with Latin TV Which is of course always in Spanish or Portuguese in fact anybody in the first world who's got cable TV? Knows that these are exactly the channels to avoid and even if you speak a little Spanish
[03:22] It's almost impossible to understand what they're talking about Unless you're of Latin American origin or you've lived in Latin America for a while yourself because most of the time the actors are speaking in modizmos and Modizmo is a Spanish word that means speaking in a local dialect and using slang It's not the kind of stuff you learn in Spanish classes It's just like the Latin people down here who know a lot of English They're always complaining to me and other expats that they can't understand what some people in the United States are saying What they complain most about is American Hollywood movies they read the subtitles because they can't quite make out what the people are really saying in English and that especially goes when the movie has A lot of black actors or takes place in the hood. It tell you the truth I can't understand them either and Even with all the hundreds and hundreds of Latin American shows down here
[04:10] There are really only two basic kinds of programs That is if you don't count the news the kids shows and the cooking shows and those two basic shows are soap operas Which they call telenovelas and comedies now You can get a small idea of the quality of Latin American television But the simple fact that there's never been in the history of television a Latin American television show That's been sold to a first world network then recast and done completely in English What I'm saying is that the first world exports all their Hollywood product to Latin America But Latin America exports almost none of their shows to the first world That is except for Latin cable programs aimed at Latin immigrants who have settled in the first world That is except for one show
[04:56] Ugly Betty which ran for years and years on Latin television and somehow it got picked up by producers in LA and Needless to say that was a fluke an extremely rare case But aside from that there's never been a primetime television show to come directly out of Latin America And there's a simple reason why? Now I've been in radio and television Studios throughout Latin America for the past 20 years and I can tell you in the larger cities They have the best equipment and I'm not kidding. Sometimes when I look around I think I'm in a giant first world studio up in New York or Chicago or wherever but that's where the similarities end Their big problem is in their production values They just don't meet first world standards why the vast majority of them can't even come close It doesn't take a genius to see that Latin Americans have given new meaning to the word mediocre
[05:44] And even mediocre is a big stretch for them and you think they would have gotten there already I mean they've had 50 years to work on it And though they do have a lot of talented people down there The problem is they have to play to a completely different audience when you consider that half the people in Latin America watching TV are living on $2 a day or less and Another 25% of households make less than 20 grand a year It's not hard to see why pretty much all Latin American television programs are tweaked to those lower common denominators And when you consider that in some Latin American countries the average person has only five years of formal schooling It's only natural that TV programs are dumbed down to accommodate for that and that's just the way it is So they're used to it and with 50 years of that kind of programming. It's pretty much embedded in the culture
[06:32] In fact if a first world person ever saw an English translation of a top Latin American television program He'd be shocked at how really tedious juvenile and lowbrow it is. That's not to say US television is so superlative I mean if you want to talk about brain numbing we could talk about the Kardashians and Jersey Shore If that's the best that first world television has to offer Well at least to some of us expats it looks like the dumbing down of the first world is in full swing but luckily in the first world there's still a lot of good cable TV programs to choose from and That's something it just won't find with original Latin American programming. It seems that any Latin American Programming that's really any good is either an idea directly ripped off from a successful first world program
[07:17] Or simply a first world program that's been dubbed in Spanish So there's one thing you can bet on all expats who have their own houses down here Subscribe to either satellite TV or have their 200 channel cable like everyone else does in the first world So they don't have to miss a thing believe me there's no channel you can't get down here in any country in Latin America and Satellite TV is so cheap the basic service which still gets you about a dozen first world channels is a terrific deal Well, I can tell you my basic cable, which is satellite costs me $15 a month I'd like to see anybody up north beat that So whether an expat gets the basic cable service for 15 bucks or the 200 channel option for 40 bucks
[08:03] It doesn't really matter because an expat will rarely watch any Spanish television not unless he's forced to He or she may be down here for 20 years like me and we still don't watch it Expats will tell you that just a few minutes watching Latin American television will numb your brain and where she at Sometimes you're stuck at a bank or at a car repair shop or a restaurant or at a Latin friends house And they'll have that big-screen TV going full blast on some ridiculous Spanish soap opera And that's why expats always carry something to read In fact throughout most of Latin America if you actually want to spot an expat He's the guy standing in line who's actually reading something and an iPod is good, too Then you can download and listen to progressive radio network programs like this Okay enough with the plugs already and on television
[08:51] There's only one thing worse than a Spanish telenovela, and that's a Latin American comedy show However, if you happen to like mindless unsophisticated humor And you get a kick out of clowns and buffoons that constantly overact then you'll love Latin American TV comedy The only thing I can really compare it with is the old stale vaudeville stuff like any young men and his take my wife jokes And the ridiculous stuff young Jerry Lewis did back in the 40s and 50s I'd say Latin comedy is really a throwback to the bad days of vaudeville But then again if you like girls bulging out of their bikinis in every other scene And you know some guys find a lot of merit in that Anyhow, then you'll really love Latin American comedies because with Latin American comedies The macho sexist society down here has a chance to show all its gaudy colors
[09:41] There's just so much T&A on Latin television that actually takes an expat a while to get used to it And because it's considered family entertainment, and it's on every channel. I'm just surprised that the women's organizations are all over it But then again the Latin American women's movements And there are some are at least 25 years behind the times and whatever they're actually doing about it It doesn't look like they're making a dent Now don't get me wrong I'm not approved about this at all in fact I'm sure if a show like that went on up in the States a lot of men would gawk at it just for the sexy girls But it's just so over the top and every 10 seconds. They throw it in your face Actually one of my expat friends said it the best he said you remember the Benny Hill show That body British import comedy show back in the 80s and 70s
[10:29] Anyway, he said if you take the Benny Hill show put twice as many nearly naked girls in it And dumb it down to about a second grade level then presto You've got yourself your average Latin American comedy show and if you've been in Latin America as long as I have You'll notice that in comedy television shows and with stand-up comics in general There's a strange kind of bigoted humor that always seems to come out and it seems to be really popular with the general public Because you see with Latin humor. They're always making fun of the lower classes They love to pick on degrade and insult the poor barefoot Compassino the short fat speedy Gonzales guy wearing a giant sombrero and hauling wood with his donkey I'm talking about the stereotypical Juan Valdez. You remember him. Don't you the Colombian coffee guy?
[11:17] Now that stereotype is your standard comic foil and you practically can't watch a comedy show Without a guy like that eventually showing up and he's not only goofy looking he's as dumb as a box of rocks He stands there and plays the fool as the bikini clad girls bounce in Then he gawks a while like everybody else in the room and eventually there's some kind of lame punchline Now that's the general setup and after about 10 seconds of that you're already flipping through the channels. Oh But I do take back one thing I said that expats pretty much never watch Latin television unless they're absolutely forced to Well some they'll watch the news in Spanish because well That's the only way you can get the local news and the quality of that well That's pretty lame too, but you can hardly screw up the news the news is news and there's one more thing
[12:05] I have to mention sports on TV Well if sports is an addiction in the first world then in Latin America, it's an addiction and an obsession Some expats especially European expats are hooked on soccer Which is called football down here and things really get crazy during the World Cup Which is every four years now Europeans love their soccer like Boston loves the Red Sox And maybe more and every four years they get the chance to see the European home teams Come down to Latin America and play live and in person now for them It's a connection back home and I get that but I don't get the rest of it But let's get back to Latin American comedy Like I said before the vast majority of Latin comedy shows involve a beautiful bikini clad girl and a dirt poor
[12:53] Shoeless compass, you know and his best friend who's often a donkey, but that's not the only setup for Latin American comedy They also like to pick on politicians in the military and then they're the ones who are cast as buffoons and nitwits But I can tell you right now None of that stuff is ever really clever or thought provoking because inevitably the bikini beauties show up and we're back on the sex Theme again now as far as sophisticated audiences in Latin America. There are some every big city has a few professional theaters and occasionally a one-man or one-woman show or a comedy troupe will come in town and That's when things get a little more highbrow I've been to a number of theaters like that myself and I can tell you right now. You don't see the common people there That's where you'll see the people with money and power I'm talking about the movers and the shakers in Latin America and their wives and not surprisingly
[13:42] almost everyone in the audience at those shows will speak some English and Because they have money practically every one of them has visited the United States or Europe They're the kind of people who read books papers and magazines in English and they have enough sophistication to appreciate a first-world show But some of us expats we get the feeling that a lot of the people in the audience are there because it's a place to Be seen because like I've been telling you Latin Americans, especially rich ones love everything first world In fact, their vacation destination of choice is almost always Miami or New York or Los Angeles or somewhere in the United States So it's not surprising that they go to theaters and playhouses Especially when there's a first world event in town now that doesn't happen often But when it does the house is almost always packed as long as the Marquis says
[14:31] Direct from the United States direct from Chicago, Miami, New York or wherever that kind of publicity pretty much guarantees a full house In fact, believe it or not. I went to go see the vagina monologues and a famous first world one-man show called in defense of the caveman Now originally some 10 or 15 years ago. These were big hits up in New York they played off-Broadway for years and years and they toured the country over and over again and As usual since Latin America is about 10 or 15 years behind Everyone down here thinks they're cutting-edge when they're really old hat both plays in Spanish Of course are doing good business and having long runs down here But very few first world plays or shows that are comedies ever make it down to Latin America Sophisticated comedy just doesn't seem to work down here. I mean Latin America does get a lot of first world rock-and-roll tours
[15:23] They especially get a lot of nostalgic has-beens like air supply America and foreigner But as for live first world comedy forget it Most of the time it's either lost in translation or it goes right over their heads Even rich sophisticated Latins can barely handle it I've seen it myself and try as they might to understand the subtleties of everything in the first world Rich and upper-class Latins as one expat friend of mine put it You can dress them up, but you just can't take them out And though the houses are packed when first world shows come in town There are still a lot of obvious things. They just don't understand and how do I know that? Well because I've been to some of those shows and standing in the lobby during intermission I've had educated bilingual Latin friends ask me questions that a child wouldn't ask up in the first world
[16:11] But you can't blame them because at least they're trying But there's always at least a few Latins at some of those shows who understand all the first world subtleties as well as you And me they laugh and smirk and frown and smile at all the right times And they hold their own just fine if there's any kind of heavy discussion and that's because nine times out of ten these are first world educated children of the privileged and wealthy and Their parents made sure they went to an expensive private school And they got sent up to the first world for either high school or college So in effect they're on par with everything Latin and everything first world But people with that kind of privileged background well That's only about one or two percent of the population and as you might guess Expats have the same problem when we go to see their shows
[16:59] I guarantee you that even longtime expats miss their share of subtleties in Latin American stage productions and shows and The reason why vagina monologues and the one-man show in defense of the caveman had good success and nice long runs Is because both plays are basically about sex and that always draws a crowd in any language So what happens if you're at a party down here, and everybody is standing around telling jokes And just like jokes in the first world. They're bound to be about sex and Even a seasoned expat like me sitting around listening to Latin jokes. Well when that happens. I always feel like the odd man out More often than not I just don't get the punchline or I'm waiting for some kind of payoff And it never comes and even when they explain it to me
[17:46] It's not funny, but I discovered one thing the Latin somehow recycled all the tired old jokes We've all heard a hundred times the ones that barely made us laugh in grade school in high school Well, they're all down here now, and they're in Spanish. You know the kind of joke I'm talking about the one you roll your eyes at and go oh And when you're Spanish gets good enough, and you can finally figure out what they're actually saying you're gonna roll your eyes and go Oh, just like you did in high school But once in a while at an event or a party where they have upper class or wealthy people you'll sometimes pick up on a more sophisticated kind of joke that could surprise you because it's actually funny and Some of the funnier jokes are regional that is they're inside jokes that work well in a particular country and not so well in another
[18:31] I suppose it's their version of telling a Polish Italian or Canadian joke and of course jokes like that are always in Spanish So does the rare good joke in Spanish ever translate well into English? Well, let's do a test How about if I try one on you right now now before I tell it it needs a little background It's a regional joke that I heard in Nicaragua And you have to know one thing that in Latin America the plumbing is so bad that the people know not to put their toilet paper Into the toilet and that it's second nature to put your used toilet paper in the waste paper basket Because if you don't know that one little point you might think the joke doesn't make sense So here goes so down in Managua Nicaragua. There were two fresh military recruits they both had the lowest rank so they got all the dirty jobs and
[19:19] One day they were given rakes and brooms and they were ordered to go out in front of the administration building and clean out the latrines So after they cleaned all the toilets, they took all the waste paper baskets hauled them outside Dumped the paper out and started a bonfire Now in the meantime the wind blew up and one of the more soiled pieces of toilet paper Flew up into the air and drifted right into the window of the administration office right into the very room the office Where the general and a chief of staff sat so outside the privates looked at each other with shock and one guy said to the other I'll go get that before there's trouble and a few seconds later He came back empty-handed and the other guy says to him what happened Where's that piece of toilet paper and the other guy shrugged and said it's too late. He already signed it
[20:09] Okay, was that funny? Is it a keeper? Did you ever hear that one before up in the first world? I never did I guess you could take it pretty much as a slam on the Nicaraguan army But then again, the joke would probably work if you filled in the blank with anybody's army including any first world army Well to me, that's one of the rare Latin American jokes that I've heard lately That's not only a bit funny, but actually has a point to it and surprise It's not about sex. But alas, it's not very highbrow either because basically it's just bathroom humor Let's talk a little about Cuba again since it's been in the news lately You may have seen that Fidel's brother Raul has made some statements to the press coming right out and saying that the Cuban system
[20:57] Is not working and then a few weeks later in another press statement He said that Western journalists had misinterpreted his remarks Okay. Well, here's a reality check and what you didn't know Almost nobody realizes it but in Cuba more than one-third of all the labor force Works for the government either in the military or in the civil service And of course, that means they make no product at all. That means they're feeding 100% off the backs of the real working class I'm talking about the farmers and the laborers who grow the food and make the real products They're technically parasites just like all governments are in all countries in the world And though it's a necessary evil it is important to keep government as small as possible I mean somebody's got to make the products, right?
[21:43] I know this is going to sound impossible But Cuba has more than 35 percent of its workforce in government as compared to the United States Where about eight percent of the workforce works for the federal state or local government or the military and as for Europe They're a bit worse with about 10 or 11 percent of the workforce in various government jobs Which is really pretty bloated and bad enough now as for Cuba in the last few weeks Raul Castro has made an announcement saying that they're going to lay off one million government workers in the next year Which would effectively bring government levels down to the same levels in a lot of countries in the first world Now, why would you think they'd want to copy what Fidel has always called corrupt and evil capitalism in the first world? I mean, do you think maybe there's a slight chance their system just doesn't work?
[22:33] And when you think about that 35 figure Holy George Orwell, but the Castro brothers are not dumb. Not by a long shot They know you just can't throw these workers out on the street Since on average each worker supports a family of four. He can't just cut them off with nothing Now imagine that's four million people out of a total population of 11 million and they're all facing that grim reality Of losing their main means of support So as not to have a riot on their hands the Castro brothers passed an interesting law Which by coincidence came out exactly at the time when they made the big layoff announcement Now here's a populist law which allows Cuban residents for the first time since the revolution to open a private capitalist style business And the owner can hire up the four employees
[23:20] Now why this takes the pressure off the fact that a million employees are going to get laid off in the next year Is that the cuban people have been waiting a long time for just such a law? Because you see the cubans themselves have been primed for it. They're ready to go Ever since about 10 years ago when tourism took off in a big way Since the island suddenly had millions of happy tourists with cash money in hand That's when hundreds of illegal gray market businesses suddenly appeared and funny thing. They only accept dollars not pesos Well, what about these million laid-off workers that are just about to hit the streets? They're going to need startup money if they want their own businesses And it's the one thing that cubans don't have is money And with the official cuban salary at 20 a month the average guy has virtually no savings
[24:06] Well, here's the brilliance of the scheme the Castro brothers know that by limiting the number of employees to only four These new startup businesses have to be very small enterprises So they won't need much capital to get off the ground But even so where's that startup capital going to come from? Everybody knows there is no startup business capital in cuba. They don't have a small business administration. There are no government loan packages Those are capitalist inventions. Remember? Well, the castros are counting on the fact that nearly everybody in cuba has a relative up in the states And the startup capital for a tiny business like a hairdresser shoe repair shopper sidewalk cafe Well, that's pocket change for the average first-worlder a few grand Which only means one thing any cuban who could nick one of his wealthier relatives up in the united states for some money
[24:54] Well, he's in business Now the castro brothers are also aware that the majority of cuban families were never really able to survive On the twenty dollar a month official cuban salary and that most of them have relatives in the united states That send back monthly remisa money So what the castros are counting on is that cubans in the united states? Indirectly fund the tens of thousands of small businesses that are likely to spring up after those one million government employees are laid off And the castro brothers also know that all throughout latin america Tiny mom and pop businesses are the backbone of the latin american economy Statistics show that throughout latin america more than 50 percent of the labor force works in some kind of mom and pop shop Places like bakeries and food shops and car washes every neighborhood's got a ton of them and they're mostly hole-in-the-wall store fronts
[25:47] Where the family lives in the back? And that's another advantage for the cuban people. They don't have to go out and rent commercial space Not if they follow the model that's used throughout the rest of latin america In which almost all mom and pop shops work right out of the front room of their house And if you talk to the average cuban on the street, there's no crisis There's no panic the vast majority of them are looking forward to this new plan And already most families have an idea for their own startup business Why not they've had 50 years under big brother? And there's plenty of time to think about what to do when the party's over And the other side of the coin is their own families living up in the united states have been waiting for this news for a long Time especially the ones that have been sending remissas You remember what remissas are they're those monthly small payments that people send back to their families in latin america
[26:36] Anyway, those families up in the states have been glad to help their poor relatives out They sent their remissa checks down, but they never really saw anything concrete for their money If you talk to cubans in miami, for example They're pretty much overjoyed at the news because for once their poor relatives in cuba will actually have something of their own A business they can work on and build up And maybe a few years down the line when they're self-sufficient They won't have to depend on any help or remissas from their richer relatives up north So a bad situation a million people getting laid off turns into a win-win situation for everybody It allows cuban's broken government to cut off some dead weight It gives the laid-off workers a chance to do something They've always wanted to do start their own little businesses and their wealthier cuban relatives up in the first world
[27:23] They'll be glad to send down a few grand knowing that for once their poor relatives can build something substantial for themselves Rather than just taking that remissa money and paying the bills You've been listening to the expat files living in latin america a one-of-a-kind show Produced and compiled deep in the heart of latin america And of course, you can always email me with any of your questions about latin america Expat files at progressive radio network.com. See you next time. Los vemos