#1156 – The Expat Files: Food Crisis, Stem Cell Treatments, and Cybersecurity 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 that I wonder Hello there all you ex-pat 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 So do you need another reason or two or ten to get the hell out of dodge? I think we're up to reason 3476 but if you go down to the top ten or even the top five You just got to be thinking about what you're gonna do and the coming food shortages and believe me

[00:47] They're coming get out of hand So if you're gonna stay up in the States or Europe or Canada in the first world wherever You better have a plan to get through the food crisis. You think it's over it ain't and it's not gonna be for now All we're seeing is sticker shock. You go to the grocery store things are up 50 to 100% Sure, it's annoying it even pisses you off But most American families and first world families can handle that Probably less than 5% of American families grow anything in their garden that they can eat to smoke maybe but not eat What happens in let's say four six eight months time? You go to the supermarket and you find certain shelves that are completely empty You've got less and less choice and even if you've got the dough the variety and selection are just not what they were before Some people are seeing that already right now if you aren't worried or at least concerned by now you ought to be all right now

[01:35] I'm gonna read something that just came out by Michael Schneider concerning the coming global food shortage He says we're being warned well ahead of time that it's coming the food shortage Even idiot Joe Biden as public admitted that the coming food shortages are gonna be real Alright. Alright, Michael Schneider didn't say idiot. I shoved in the idiot part and I'm being overly kind idiot That should be Biden's new pronoun Anyway, it goes on to say and the head of the UN World Food Program is telling us we could soon see hell on earth Because of the lack of food. It'll be severe We've got food prices escalating like they never have before Dramatically all over the globe and food riots have already erupted in certain countries like Sri Lanka and elsewhere All right me Johnny here again by the way You may have heard Ecuador is having huge problems with street protest stations and commerce and movement have been shut down and practically the whole country

[02:26] For the past couple of weeks now with the indigenous population of over a million all pissed off about inflation and the high cost of food They want the government to subsidize everything Obviously, none of them have ever read an economics book though They're right to be thoroughly pissed at their government because governments have caused this entire mess more details on that to come Anyway, the article goes on to say most people in the Western world Like the US are treating the food crisis as if it's no big deal at all Most seem to assume that our leaders have everything under control and that things will work out just fine. Somehow The thing is it says most Americans are not paying much attention to this rapidly growing crisis at all because they don't think it will Really impact them personally for the vast majority of us a lack of food is something we've never had to be concerned about before

[03:13] What we're gonna see is a lot more empty shelves and a lot higher food prices We're already seeing widespread shortages of certain products around the country And when you go into a grocery store, we're seeing something that never happened before Big empty spots on the shelves or stock boys cleverly filling the spots in the front row to make them appear like they're full But if you move a few things around you'll see deeper into the shelves. They're empty Now, of course except in the south and southeast when our hurricanes coming and people hoard Americans have never really experienced that kind of thing before Meanwhile, the ongoing shortage of things like baby formula and tampons just keeps getting worse Me Johnny here again. How'd that happen? Is it that suddenly there are more babies in the world with supply? Just not keeping up with demand and about that tampon thing. Are there suddenly more women in the world or are they having more?

[04:04] Well, we won't get into that The present food and supply shortages is just a tiny preview of what's to come So again, the question is what's your plan to make it through the worst global food crisis in any of our lifetimes? Just get used to the fact if you hunker down and stay where you are You won't be just a little irritated. There will be some pain Which brings us back to having a plan B in Latin America Just like we discussed on the very last expat file show as long as you don't locate in a dry desert like area In many cases, all you have to do is drive a stick or a branch into the ground and in a couple of weeks It's sprouting. In fact, I know quite a few expats and gringos who've got too much of a good thing They got too many vegetables grown in their garden. Too many fruit trees dropping lemons oranges mangoes and avocados in the yard

[04:51] I see it a lot with gringos and expats They start a gardener start planting some fruit trees based on past gardening experience They may have had up in the states or in Canada where there's a winter deep breeze and one growing season Not three or four like we have down here in Latin America So here in Latin America when we plan out our gardener lawn We think let's not just have one lemon pear apple or avocado tree We're thinking man trees grow so slowly taking years to produce That's what it's like with trees up in the states Anyway, chances are two after years of waiting you get a dud or two or a certain percent of them Just won't produce or some of them die. So let's double down Let's have two three even four of each sounds good in theory, right the more the merrier Well true to form most of us gringos and expats plant weighed too much

[05:37] And we end up throwing away half of it or more than half you longtime listeners have heard me tell the story about what happened to Me and my yard in Guatemala I had a bunch of fruit trees and banana trees two or three of everything in some cases for those trees produce so much that Half of it ended up rotting on the ground Even though I was given five gallon buckets of the stuff for especially lemons to my cleaning lady and maintenance guy What a problem to have huh? Oh and I haven't even said a word yet about those fantastic Gigantic outdoor food and produce markets bottom line if you live in Latin America You're never gonna run out of food unless there's some huge cataclysmic event like you didn't hit by a comet However, if you picky picky and you're addicted to imported junk Like a lot of the stuff you see on the shelves at Costco Remember Costco's and Walmart's are everywhere down here. By the way, the Costco's are called price smarts

[06:27] Anyway, if you're addicted to some kind of imported food, you can only get at Costco or on Amazon Say some boutique chocolate whose cacao pods are harvested exclusively by Nigerian non-binary lesbian virgins Well, if that's the only kind of chocolate you eat when the food crisis really hits you might be so well Same thing goes if you're addicted to certain first-world brands coming out of the US to like what's a famous same as cookies or Baskin Robbins ice cream when supply chains break and the food shortages ramp up that stuff just might disappear from the shelves Permanently, but not to worry You'll certainly have plenty of food choices living in Latin America Where as you've heard me say before most all of your basic food items are grown and shipped in locally Just note that worldwide food shortages are starting already. In fact, just read this morning

[07:16] There's a severe worldwide shortage of mustard seeds and chili pepper. Oh No, what's that suicide hotline number again? I know I know nothing to lose sleep over This is just the beginning the snowballs rolling downhill and it's picking up speed Shortages are coming and they will be severe and it won't be temporary either Take California, Oregon and Washington DC. Talk about shortages. We're talking brain cells here. Nothing temporary about that Again, the million dollar question is how's your plan becoming? Alright sort of related to that comes a short email from Ryan. He says. Hey Johnny, how's it going? Got my plan be well underway. I've been to Salvador and Guatemala twice I'm a techie guy myself from California

[08:01] And though many of my Silicon Valley and Google buddies won't admit it in public They'll tell you on the QT that they're very worried about the US They feel US dominance will be short-lived because we've got nothing but a bunch of uneducated woke nincompoops running things Even the leaders of most of our high-tech companies are nothing but educated woke nincompoops Meanwhile Ryan says the Chinese teach their children math physics biology engineering computer sciences AI robotics, etc, etc And we teach our children gender dysphoria and racial victimization Who would you put your money on in that race? Anyway, Johnny not to get too depressing here. How can I be depressed when I'm getting the hell out of Dodge myself? I'm 35 and ready to reinvent my life

[08:47] So put me down for your next seminar Johnny by the way when and where is it gonna be? Signed Ryan late of California Spelled with a K. Well, thanks for that Ryan as far as the next seminar go I'm actually thinking about doing it in the Dominican Republic the DR by a popular request. I might add change things up a bit What do you think about that? Sure, it's a tropical island and hot all the time Some people just love that kind of weather me not so much but it's great to visit anyway thing It's it's got a lot of other good things going for it, man It's got some beaches resorts hangouts and playgrounds that are out of this world Plus remember it was the very first place Columbus landed And so they've got a historic district a UNESCO World Heritage site. That's out of this world It's like walking back 500 years in time

[09:33] It's all restored too So it's not just a bunch of crumble and ruins and as for one of the main draws You wouldn't believe the residency and passport program they got going now Once you get permanent residency in two years you can apply for a passport. How do you like that? It's the quickest fast-track passport in all 20 Latin American countries You heard right after getting temporary residency You only have to wait two years to apply for your new passport and nationality plus if we do the seminar there I'll be taking you all to that really fantastic little gym of a stem cell clinic I happen to stumble on you know the one I've been talking about Reporting on for the past few months the one I took my brother to you know my brother the stem cell poster child Yep, we'll take you there to see the inner workings by the way my brother just called me three days ago You remember he went to the stem cell clinic for lots of reasons

[10:21] That's why I call him the stem cell poster child the main reasons being he was scheduled to get knee and shoulder replacements up in the States and I thought wow I have to convince him to try to get stem cells first and if that doesn't work well He could always get the joint replacements remember He's the guy that couldn't walk two blocks without sitting down and taking a rest and the guy who was addicted to oxycodone He took it every night for years because his shoulders hurt him so badly He could never get comfortable enough to go to sleep now It's been almost a half year since he's had his stem cells you heard a few details about that on the last two shows and The latest news as of three days ago guess what he dusted off his old bowling bowl and joined a bowling league Yeah, he hasn't done that in 20 years just think how far he's come could you ever imagine a guy who's been diagnosed as needing?

[11:10] Two shoulders and a knee replacement joining a bowling league after he was forced to retire his bowling ball 20 years ago because his shoulders and knees were killing him anyway I mentioned I'd be updating you with reports on my brother's progress or lack of it with stem cells That's the latest as of three days ago. Oh, and just so you're not confused I have another brother a much younger brother who had stem cells in November because of his bad heart I reported on him too and that he was close to getting on the heart transplant list because of his 31 percent heart ejection Fraction and now seven months into the stem cells. He's at 51 percent Which is the low normal range and his American cardiologist can't believe it. He's shocked. But where were we? Oh, yeah talking about the seminar Now it's not confirmed yet that seminar is gonna be in Dominican Republic But by popular demand I have been getting requests and emails from people saying they'd like to get the week-long fire hose treatment in

[12:01] The DR the Dominican Republic so shoot me an email the expert files at gmail.com And let me know if you're willing to come to the DR For another week-long expat insider seminar or not. Just let me know send me an email the expert files at gmail.com All right. Let's talk about Mexico for a second because I get lots of emails from people saying Johnny I want to move to Mexico. I've been there a bunch of times or maybe one time They say things like it's cheap friendly easy and no one bugs you bless You could just pop right over the border and you're there etc. Etc. But here's the thing It seems like there's something missing in almost all the cases where people say they want to move to Mexico Something missing in the basic analysis that missing thing is they've almost never had significant boots on the ground in other Latin countries Except maybe Costa Rica that's on every tourist list

[12:48] And since most places in Mexico are cheaper than Costa Rica almost everything is cheaper than Costa Rica Mexico is an option Anyway, it's a big mistake to move to Mexico If you've never visited other Latin American countries and get to see what it's like there Though it is true having a plan B in Mexico is better than living out the rest of your life in the US or Canada Which brings us to this email from Jimmy's is Johnny. You're right about Mexico. It's getting worse and worse and more dangerous. I Used to live in El Paso, Mexico. Hmm didn't even know there was an El Paso, Mexico Then he says and now I know why you don't recommend Brazil either You see my girlfriend and I wanted to go to a safe place for a vacation on a cruise So we thought we'd take a cruise that went down the South American coast hitting a bunch of cities ending up in

[13:34] Rio de Janeiro Brazil the ship stopped in port for two days in 48 hours 51 murders had been committed in the city near Copacabana Beach Probably one of the most famous and talked about beaches in the world the subject of movies songs plays books And when we got there in fact, we were told to stay aboard ship. It was just too dangerous for tourists to go ashore What a letter now if I'd have been alone a single guy or with other guys out had taken a chance But with an attractive blonde American girl on my arm, no way given that shipboard announcement. She was scared to death Anyway, seems like Chicago's got a sister city in South America called Rio funny thing though in the English-speaking media world You'd never read about that kind of stuff. The crime in Brazil almost makes Mexico seem like Montana or Idaho

[14:20] Not good news Alright, there's more to Jimmy's email, but I just want to add a couple of years back pre-cope idiot I took a South American cruise that originated out of Panama City Panama. We stopped in Caracas Venezuela and Jimmy the same thing happened the cruise director announced that it was not recommended to go ashore They told us to stay aboard ship because it was too dangerous for the average person to just go out and wander on your own Like you do when you're on a cruise and you pull up to a port However, if you paid for a shore excursion with the cruise line, you know You get off the boat and you get on a bus with a bunch of other people then being that it was controlled in chaperone There was no problem going ashore because they had two Uniformed armed guards on the bus that instills confidence, right? Ah

[15:06] Yes, Venezuela and the wonders of socialism. Anyway, then Jimmy goes on to say in his email for several years From 2010 to 2015. I lived in Mexico in El Paso slash what is oh So that's where it is right on the board. He says after living there. I thought I knew the place pretty well So after all the cool stories, I told my girlfriend she wanted to go down and visit So I brought my Texas-based girlfriend down for a weekend just a few months ago And on day one we got robbed by two guys dressed in police uniforms where they really cops I'll never know but I haven't been back since and I don't plan on it Luckily, we left our passports and most of our money back in the hotel safe They got our cell phones and a lot of my girlfriend's good bling though All right, dipping further into my mexico email file. I got this one from Charlie Carlos

[15:54] There's Johnny regarding all those good things you hear about Cancun Playa Del Carmen and Tulum Seems like all the travel blogs and travel youtubes and agencies are plugging those places like crazy Well, guess what Johnny? I had a business in Playa Del Carmen for two years a boutique cake Pastry and catering business and since the lockdowns been over for a while I had a chance to restart my business, but I'm not I haven't made it my mind yet But I'm either getting out of Mexico completely moving south of south of the border Like you recommend or moving way out in the boonies in Mexico where I can homestead and get away from the gringos and the crime He says Johnny after living in the so-called Riviera Maya. That's Playa Del Carmen Cancun Tulum People who just know it by going there on vacation Don't realize that if you take a bit of time to learn about this area of Mexico

[16:42] You would never want to live there maybe travel there, but never want to live there Why because there's not a single gym bar taco wagon or pastry business like mine. That's not forced to pay Protection that is unless you are right on the strip where there's plenty of tourist cops, but the rent is super high there He says what the visiting tourists don't realize is that the corruption is complete in total mostly caused by stupid gringo tourists seeking cheap drugs tequila hookers parties and a good time and Who do you think provides and controls all that the car tells? Yes, Johnny The term Riviera Maya is such a wonderful pleasant sounding phrase But it's got a dark underbelly soon and my gringo and expat business friends down here agree

[17:28] It'll be in the toilet. Just like Acapulco Just know that the government and tourist agencies are suppressing all the bad news So what you do here in the way of bad news is just a tip of the iceberg By the way I agree completely with the guy you quoted on one of your previous shows when he said that 80% of the crimes here are not reported. It's a waste of time. The cops aren't in business to solve crimes They're either doing nothing or shaking down tourists Even the good cops and there are a few if they show up when you report a crime They'll sympathize with you, but they won't do anything about it either They just shrug and say we'll do some checking and get back to you, but they never do Then he says I am kind of a dilemma though My family in California are freaking out about what's happening up there with inflation gas taxes insurance food power water

[18:13] You name it their homeowners insurance up 42% auto insurance up 20% inflation 9% probably twice That really gas up 50% or more power up 6% water 7% food 8% and wages stay the same If you're an average American, you're not in the middle class. You're in the loser class So even for all that's bad in Mexico, it is better than California Though with the crime rate up in all of Mexico over 800% in the last three years It could still be a good even great place if you're a single guy But I wouldn't want to bring a wife or kids down I'd be too stressed out every time they went out even as the kids walked out the door To get on a private bus to go to private school You know Johnny after seeing what happened up in the states in Canada with the covid lockdowns and the truckers and the way woke lefties

[19:01] Have taken over I understand why people want to move to Mexico But I don't understand why they don't do any research if they're getting all their information from blogs Youtubers and media or from friends living in gated communities here. That's not what's really happening on the ground You got to talk to business owners like me and we're all running scare people never ask themselves What's it gonna be like in two or five or ten years from now? You think it's gonna get better people have their own ideas and they don't want to know the facts Did you understand when I said that in the last three years Mexico's crime rate across the country's been up? 800% in Mexico everyone knows the cartels outgun the police Meanwhile up in the states you've got the police all scared of one 18 year old with a rifle All right, then Carlos finishes off with a funny he talks about mass illegal immigration to the u.s. Mostly, California

[19:49] He says his brother living in San Francisco has had it and he's ready to come on down He says that the rate the illegals are coming in Latin America should be completely empty in just a few months So that's when he's moving down He signs off all the best Johnny Charlie Carlos Thanks for that Charlie Carlos, I just have one comment. I don't care how bad Mexico is No country deserves to be punished with a mass influx of Californians Hey, are you ready for a coincidence being of El Paso Texas and Mexico this very interesting article Just came out today from the El Paso Times via their Mexico City correspondent The headline says narco monkey killed the story of drug cartel fixations on exotic pets

[20:38] Let me just paraphrase this and cut out the boring parts It says Mexican narco's fascination with exotic animals was on display last week after a spider monkey Dressed up as a drug gang mascot was killed in a shootout Meanwhile a 450 pound tiger wandered the streets in the Pacific Coast state of Nayarit Then there is a story of a man dying after trying to pet a captive tiger in a cartel-dominated area in the western state of Michigan Then it says just like scenes out of a narco television series exotic animals have been a long part of the Mexican criminal underworld Then there's photos here from this article from the scene of a shootout Tuesday with police Where 11 drug gang members were shot and killed it shows a small monkey dressed in a tiny camouflage jacket and a bulletproof vest

[21:26] sprawled across the body of a dead gunman his owner man You can't make this stuff up a pet monkey with a bulletproof vest And you still think it's a good idea to have a plan B in Mexico. Hey go for it Oh, and by the way on the same day in Juarez, Mexico, we're just talking about El Paso and Juarez same place I guess it says that four were just killed in a shooting inside a Denny's restaurant Yeah, Denny's Denny's that greasy spoon open till two in the morning, right formerly known as Sambo's I know it will but back to that dead monkey with the bulletproof vest The article says authorities in the state of Mexico confirmed the authenticity of the photos and said it was unclear whether the monkey Who was also wearing a diaper? Nice touch. I guess even narcos don't want monkey Mierda smeared all over the floors and walls

[22:15] By the way, I had a friend with a monkey up in the States. They like to play with their poop I think they know it pisses us off Anyway, the article goes on to say true to form the cartel monkey quickly got his own Corrido Which is a traditional Mexican folk ballad composed in the honor of dead drug capos Some of the words according to the new musical ballad are quote life is very short and it wasn't the monkey's turn to die All this of course is posted on narco social media They've got their own fake book insta crap dick tock and twaddle channels with millions of followers Why not anyone could post on those sites funny though? The second turds of the world will cancel people who talk about ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine But they'll let narco's post pictures of themselves and their drugs and their ak-47s and their pet monkeys in bulletproof vests

[23:06] Sadly though the flak jacket did not save the monkey Anyway, the article goes on to say Wednesday the Attorney General for Mexico's environmental protection Unit said it had seized a tiger and tequila near the border of Sinaloa Which is home to the famous cartel of the same name It says those reports were based on a video posted on social media earlier this week showing a young woman shrieking as she came across a tiger on the street in her residential neighborhood Meanwhile that same Sunday authorities confirmed a man was seriously wounded by a tiger in Paribán, Bishuacan In Mexico's avocado growing region where gangs have long extorted protection payments from local avocado farmers In another social media post another male narco is shrieking in pain Attacked by yet another tiger while he was feeding it grabbing his arm and refusing to let go eventually bawling both the man's arms

[23:57] Bishuacan state law enforcement authorities confirmed the man was taken to a hospital where he died a few days later from those injuries So then what's this thing about narco's and exotic animals? According to Mexican authorities, traffickers keep exotic animals as a symbol of status and power imitating the Colombian drug lords of the 80s and 90s It's the cool thing to do It says according to the present code of drug trafficking, aristocracy having a private zoo is a prerequisite for being part of a circle of the top leveled traffickers and kingpins Though it says in many cases the animals have a more sinister use Some drug cartel capos like the Zeta leader, Erbier La Gazzo, acquires exotic animals to torture and disappear as victims Several of his enemies have been known to have been devoured by the tigers and crocodiles that the Zetas keep in their pens and cages

[24:48] Hey, how about it? Let's move to Mexico Mexico lindo Alright, before we finish today, I want to mention something about your passwords Since one of my gringo buddies just got hacked Here's some news that, to be honest with you, really freaked me out a bit It's a chart put out each year by a computer analyst group called Hive Systems H-I-V-E-S-Y-S-T-E-M-S dot com The title of the chart is The time it takes for a hacker to brute force your password in 2022 In other words, it's just what it says It's the time it takes for a hacker to hack your computer password or the password of anything in your handheld device I'll give you the highlights Suppose your password is four characters long If it's only numbers, a hacker can crack it instantly in less than a second

[25:36] If it's lowercase letters, instantly Upper and lowercase letters, instantly If it's numbers, upper and lowercase letters, instantly as well And if it's numbers, upper and lowercase letters and symbols, no change, instantly What if your password has got five characters? Doesn't matter if it's a mix of numbers, letters or symbols A hacker could brute force it instantly Now it starts to get a little bit tougher for the hacker If you've got seven characters in your password But still, no matter the mix of symbols, letters and numbers It can be brute force hacked within 30 seconds Now listen to this, this is very important If you have eight characters in your password If it's a mix of symbols, letters, numbers, upper and lowercase It takes a brute force hack attack 39 minutes to crack your password

[26:22] Now if you have nine characters in your password And a mix of letters, numbers and symbols It will take a hacker two days to crack your password Now if you have ten characters in your password And you have a mix of upper, lowercase symbols and numbers It will take five months to crack your password Now get this, if you have eleven characters in your password And it's a mix of letters, numbers, symbols, etc It will take 34 years to brute force hack your password Now if you have 12 characters in your password And it's a mix of letters, numbers and symbols, etc It will take a brute force hacker 3,000 years to crack your password Man, you've just got to see this chart, it will scare the hell out of you Send me an email, theexpertfilesatgmail.com And I'll send it off to you

[27:08] The moral of that story, you want to have at least 11 characters in your password A mix of upper, lowercase numbers, etc Why? Because it will take a hacker 34 years to crack it However, if you have 11 characters and they're all numbers They could crack it in one second Sounds absolutely crazy, right? But you've got to see this chart Send me an email, theexpertfilesatgmail.com And I'll ship it off to you 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, theexpertfilesatgmail.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 2-5 year head start on your plan B

[27:54] Send me an email, theexpertfilesatgmail.com No spamos!