#1157 – The Expat Files: Navigating Cultural Shifts and Economic Struggles 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 as 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 All right. Let's see how many woke stirs we can piss off today. Yes, believe it or not woke people do listen to this show Judging by the occasional bits of hate mail. I get question is why do they keep on listening? Is it because they think they're gonna cancel me? Well, maybe anyway, here's a first listen to this email

[00:50] Nope, it's not from a walk stir far from there But it certainly is a first for me. Listen to this starts dear John I'm a Native American from California who wants to get out of Dodge 2 if you want my opinion 90s, California was Baywatch and 2022 California is bomb watch. I'm not talking about bomb in the British sense, you know rear end I'm talking about street people type bumps Then he says John the ability of humans to destroy paradise in this case, California is Staggering there's an old cliche that says success happens when preparation meets opportunity Well, I've been prepared for a long long time almost since I've been born and now I have the opportunity to get that out of that I'll bet most people under 30 don't even know what Dodge is a

[01:38] Metaphor, of course, but there are plenty of Native Americans hanging around Dodge, you know to watching woke mostly white guys destroy themselves in the upcoming generations to He says hopefully I will be signing up for your next seminar. Have you had any Native Americans at your seminars yet? Then he says to another point you sometimes talk about going off the grid John, you know, we wrote the book on He's right about that. He signs it Robin white feather. That's sad I thought Robins have brown and red feathers, but what do I know? Oh, and there's a PS. He says ironically though We invented the peace pipe Not many of us have the cigarette habit or smoked tobacco ourselves He says we all cough too when we first tried it. So we knew it wasn't good for our bodies

[02:26] It was always intended to be ceremonial not a bad habit So ironically cigarettes and tobacco are the gift that keeps on giving our subtle revenge on the white man Alright Robin, thanks for that. Yep. You're right your emails at first I've never had anyone write me saying that they're explicitly Native Americans And as far as having Native Americans attend my seminar Well over the years I could have had a few but they never said anything about it So I don't really know and of course these days lots of people have mixed blood little piece of this little piece of that The fact is as far as seminar attendees. I've had every race creed and color though Robin I do like that bit about tobacco being karmic revenge against the white man never considered it, but it is a good point

[03:12] It's killed millions for sure So that makes two distinct indigenous curses on the white man tobacco and good old Montezuma's revenge Hey, you learned something every day, huh? That reminds me of a Thanksgiving Day Plymouth Rock me I saw not so long ago showing an Indian handing a pilgrim some food in a turkey and The caption below said quote. This is the first known instance of Americans giving free handouts to illegal aliens Yeah Life's full of paradoxes and ironies already By the way regarding scheduling of an upcoming expat insider seminar by popular demand I'm thinking about doing it in the Dominican Republic the DR Depending on the number of people who'd like to go to a seminar there

[03:58] So taking a poll send me an email the expat files at gmail.com If you think you'd like to attend an expat insider seminar in the DR in the fall Alright moving on. You know, I never really recommended Ecuador much as a good plan B destination No, ten or fifteen years ago wasn't a bad idea until Expat and retirement rags like International Living started promoting it as a number one Retirement destination that's when I knew it was a kiss at death at least for people like me and other expats Who'd like to avoid the gringo rush and all the distorted secondary effects that come with it? One of the reasons I mentioned Ecuador once in a while is because it has been in the last few years Such a popular gringo destination. The thing is it was a great place a while ago. It is or was pretty laid-back

[04:47] I always thought if I lived in Ecuador, I could make a decent goal of it and be pretty happy though for sure I think I'd live in a small town or way out in the boonies because I'm not big on mixing with gringos all the time However these days in fact, just recently it seems to me from what I hear from all my friends down there They say a huge portion of the gringos that are landing are definitely woke some even died the wolf socialists I can see that's true when I look at certain blogs and op-ed pieces coming out of the English language rags in places like Cuenca Man, I'll tell you in the questions and comments sections You got some real walksters there and when some other gringo works Pat living down there tries to call them out on it They instantly call him a racist or a trumpeter Well, all I can say is be careful what you wish for those gringo wokesters are getting what they asked for a steady march towards

[05:38] Socialism and worse because the place the whole country has been on an indigenous led national strike for the last month In fact, there's a huge call by the large indigenous community For freebies and handouts though. They don't call them that They claim they've had the short end of the stick for so long They're owed that by the government and I know that's true. But the government's so broke and corrupt They can't afford to give anything extra to anybody not that all governments aren't corrupt They are but in Ecuador, it's coming to a head. Yep chaos rains and gringles and expats are now feeling it, too Now I know you haven't heard much at all of this in the first world press But if you haven't heard about it You'll know that president Guillermo lasso is under huge pressure to negotiate an end to the strike a nationwide strike

[06:26] That's shut down most basic services. If you know anything about Ecuador, they've got a big Indigenous population and just in the last couple years they've organized and become militant now what these indigenous strikers have done is they've given the president an Ultimatum ten demands that they say must be fulfilled with no compromise or they won't call off the strike Their leader says they won't even negotiate. They'll bring the country to its knees So who's in charge of the strikers who's laying out to the demands? Well, there's a group called Connie Co1 a ie stands for the Confederation of indigenous nationalities and they've been wreaking all kinds of havoc So right now I'm gonna read you those ten demands and you tell me what you think now

[07:12] Remember that consortium of indigenous group says there will be no compromise. They want all these demands met Number one fuel subsidies they want the government to reduce and freeze diesel at a buck 50 a gallon and gasoline at 210 in other words They want a massive government subsidy and how do you get that especially when a country's broken in debt like Ecuador? Well, every country's broken in debt and since they use the US dollar They can't print their own the US is the undisputed champ in that department So being broke extremely indebted to places like China and virtually bankrupt Ecuador Can only do one thing raise taxes dramatically on everyone and that's the last thing the indigenous people want Obviously their leaders have never taken econ 101 number two. They want a debt relief program

[08:00] They want what they call economic relief for 4 million indigenous families with a minimum one year moratorium on debt mortgage and loan payments along with the Seizure of assets such as houses land and vehicles for non-payment of bank debts and loans That means they're asking their Congress to rewrite the country's banking laws Are you getting this that also means every landlord who's got tenants behind in their rent will be screwed But it gets worse number three. They're demanding government subsidies for food They say they want reduced prices for food such as milk rice bananas onions fertilizers potatoes corn tomato all the basics Number four, they're asking the government for a guarantee of sustenance

[08:49] Whatever that means for millions of campesinos and small and medium farmers and flower producers By the way Ecuador is one of the top exporters worldwide of flowers, you know, like roses number four As far as health and education they want free guaranteed higher education for the youth the indigenous kids Number five the mining sector they're demanding a moratorium for all mining and oil extraction by the way with all the other subsidies They're demanding from government that be shooting themselves in the foot because the mining and oil production sectors are the government's biggest cash cows In a way, you know, that's just as stupid as Biden and Trudeau Canceling oil pipelines and leases up where you live. All right number six called collective rights The coalition is demanding respect for the 21 collective rights, whatever they are

[09:39] Number seven regarding privatization of government owned enterprises. They want to halt privatization in all government sectors Number eight, and this is known to kill any economy. They want price controls They want price controls on all the basic necessities of life and all the products in supermarket chains Yeah, right the food producers and supermarkets are really gonna love that one Number nine as far as employment and Social Security and health issues They demand a government pay off its debt to the Social Security and health care system I believe right now the national health care systems in debt to the tune of around 500 million bucks So you might wonder how does that happen when everyone who's on the books that is pays into the system In fact, it gets directly Deducted every paycheck turns out just like Social Security in the US government doesn't keep that money separate

[10:27] It goes into a general slush fund and thus the entire Social Security and health care system is broke bankrupt There's nothing in the fund. Number ten. The issue is safety and crime. They're asking for protection from the wave of violence contract killings delinquency drug trafficking kidnapping and organized crime Hmm that sounds reasonable right what governments are supposed to do, but they don't All right. There you have it and pretty much why Ecuador has been shut down for the last month The simple lesson here is that people want something for nothing and it's even worse when two different cultures are living side-by-side And one of them has had all the advantages and the other treated like second-class citizens the Latinos versus the indigenous people That's an age-old story. Where have we heard that before?

[11:15] Though it seems like the common man and even some smart people too can never get it through their heads that Government can only give back to the citizens what it takes in tax revenues Plus oil revenues and mining fees in Ecuador's case and what it borrows from the World Bank the IMF and the Chinese Yeah, the Chinese the third world's addicted to Chinese money Like half the world Ecuador's in big-time debt to the Chinese Anyway, the top dog indigenous guy in charge of this group. His name is Leonardo Iza He said over and over again. He won't even go to the bargaining table to negotiate until all ten demands are met By the way, you know, I've lived in Central America a long time All those countries except Belize Costa Rica and Panama have quite large indigenous populations, too

[12:01] And I'll tell you most gringos and expats who live down here. We like and respect indigenous folks. They work really hard However, they've always been considered second-class citizens by the regular Latino folk and thus Continuously gotten a raw deal and of course as gringos expats Latinos and indigenous people want peace and tranquility And we want those indigenous folks to live sustainable happy lives, of course But believe me, there are no dusty piles of money sitting around in any Latin Americans Central Bank They're all completely broke just like the US and the rest of the first world countries In fact, technically they're all bankrupt, but you knew that already right the dominoes are falling I'm sure you're aware of that Oh and another thing what a lot of people don't seem to realize is that many of Ecuador's present problems are

[12:49] Hangovers from the wonderful corrupt socialist ex-president Correa years, you know He's in exile right hiding with his millions in Switzerland There's Interpol warrants out for him if he travels and if he gets extradited back to Ecuador He's going to jail and they'll throw away the key But he'll never end up back there because his wife is a Swiss citizen So he's protected under Swiss law because he's a white-collar thief. Well so far anyway He's only been convicted of graft corruption and stealing millions from the government trough But hey, isn't that what presidents are born to do? Now if some are you thinking it really can't be that bad in Ecuador for gringos and expats Even as the indigenous population takes to the streets. They live in nice areas They have enough dough another level of dough compared to what indigenous people learn

[13:36] Well, you know even at that basic services are breaking down and politicians are getting desperate There's a YouTube video that just came out with Cuenca mayor Pedro Palacios pleading with the federal government and indigenous leaders to resolve the strike because he says in Cuenca we are in an unsustainable situation a situation where we live in almost complete Isolation now due to the strike lives are at risk. He pleads Specifically asking strike leader Leonidas Isa to open the highways to allow supplies to enter the city His plea to this indigenous leader Isa was in reference to a huge truck convoy that stalled on the highway right outside Cuenca Anyway, he urged the indigenous people who set up the roadblocks to allow ambulances trucks with medical supplies

[14:23] LP gas and food to pass through The immediate problem is clinics and hospitals with at least two hospitals saying they're gonna run out of oxygen if they don't get their supplies Like yesterday turns out just this Sunday the police tried to clear that highway where the trucks were all stalled but withdrew Following some violent clashes with indigenous strikers. Oh And how about this? There's a zoo in Ecuador called the Amaru bio Park Zoo They're asking for public help to feed the hungry animals The park says the strike has cut off all needed supplies and these food donations immediately in this article I've been highlighting. They've got some graphic and very sad pictures of some of the animals at that zoo You know, I've never thought zoos were a good idea, especially in the third world What idiot politicians spend money on a zoo when the public doesn't even have dependable clean water?

[15:14] You know Einstein stated there are two things that are infinite the universe and human stupidity Meanwhile, there have been many conflicts and violence between police and striking roadblockers Where police have fired tear gas at groups of rock throwers? Now you've heard me mentioned before that the people of Latin America depend on propane gas For cooking and for those who live in the high mountains heating the propane shortage during the strike has caused people over this last weekend to line up in huge numbers outside of propane gas distributors where they're limited to one tank or one tank refill per customer and There are block long lines of cars waiting to get their gas lean fill ups, too As far as food supplies, you know, all those big public Mercado's where the local indigenous people bring in the food every morning

[16:02] They say they're still pretty well stocked But in contrast most supermarket chains are completely out of fresh vegetables fruits meats, etc By the way that big open public market thing is about to change for the worse You see indigenous vendors there comprising probably 75% or more the market sellers They announced they'll go on strike Monday and shut the markets down When what might be worse of all is the garbage pickup will be intermittent spotty at best by the way one economist did the calculation and announced that the reduction in fuel prices that the group is asking for will amount to a 250 million dollar subsidy per year all of course coming from where Raising taxes if the government even hints that it has to raise taxes, they'll be asking for another giant strike

[16:52] So who wins here by the way, this is not by any means the first time this has happened in Ecuador Roadblocks strikes and they're called well guys down here happen here and there in every Latin country However, they must always only last a day or two and they rarely lock down a whole country much less a whole city I remember two or three times driving in El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Panama and suddenly you're in a big line of traffic That's completely stopped. Why does some protesters are blocking the road chanting? With signs and all that in fact, I remember during a big teachers strike. Of course, they were striking for more pay I sat in front of a roadblock for about an hour and a half But as these things usually go they only have the striker Huelga for a couple hours In fact, you'll usually see the announcement on TV or in the paper

[17:38] I'll say tomorrow afternoon from three to six It'll be a well gone so-and-so Street or streets and believe me unlike what's happening in Ecuador right now Strikers etc and other Latin American countries will only block one or two major streets That's it. Most always of course in the capital city where it'll surely piss off politician wives and mistresses Inconvenient when they mr. Health Club and beauty parlor appointments Anyway, what I'm saying is there are strikes and roblox throughout Latin America at any given time They're almost always small and isolated sure They're inconvenient if you have to use that Street on the bright side at most they last a day or two some of them Only a couple hours and they're pre-announced in the media So you could stay home that day or just don't go down the route that they're blocking And the usual result well the government negotiates they make a deal

[18:26] But you know how those sociopathic liar to ask dickheads lie They make big promises but with no money in the Treasury nothing generally happens unless they can shove it on the backs of the average businessman I'm talking about the businessman who's on the books who has to abide by the labor laws So for example, let's say it's the Makila the factory workers that are on strike to raise them in a wage It's easy for scumbag politicians to bump it up a quarter 50 cents or a buck Because it's coming out of the businessman's pocket not out of the government revenues of which there ain't any though I'm here to tell you Ecuador is turning out to be a completely different case because they're shutting down the whole country not just for a few hours or a Day or two either. We're looking at about a month already So then how'd that happen and it could it happen in other Latin countries like Guatemala Salvador Panama, etc, etc

[19:12] Well, the difference is the indigenous tribes in Ecuador have joined a coalition and they have a charismatic leader who obviously never took an econ class Again, the question is can it happen elsewhere in Latin America? Well, here's the thing a place like Guatemala, for example, it's got 25 different indigenous tribes They all want the same thing, you know improvements in their lives, but they don't much like each other They all speak different languages with Spanish, of course being the national language, but they don't much like each other In fact before the conquistadors game even for a couple hundred years afterward They were continuously fighting and killing each other for territory and as it stands now and at least for the past 30 years I've been down here in Latin America one particular charismatic indigenous leader has never floated to the top of the food chain

[19:59] That's not to say there aren't plenty of smart charismatic indigenous people thing is for a country like Guatemala with 25 different tribes They all want their guy to be in charge and none of them trust the other guys top dog And with some tribes there is no top dog They all have their indigenous organizations and political action group So there's lots and lots of infighting and jostling for power And like I said the individual tribes don't much get along you can judge that by the fact that in some cases Especially way out in the boonies where the indigenous people have a heavy presence believe it or not I've heard firsthand that parents still discourage kids from marrying someone outside their tribe Hey, I'm not saying I'm a clairvoyant, but it doesn't look like there's gonna be any kind of indigenous Uprising in Central America any time soon, but as for South America

[20:46] Well, you can see what's happening in Ecuador right now And believe me anyone with a half a brain knows the government is dead broke and they'll never be able to comply with those demand So for Ecuador anyway, the prognosis is not good That is for gringos living there now and as far as my recommendations for our plan B landing site for gringos and expats Oh and one last thing about Ecuador next time you eat one of those shrimp dishes, you know shrimp seafood Chances are you'll be eating Ecuadorian shrimp, you know, most of them are infused with chemicals pesticides herbicides and now forever chemicals But people don't seem to care they love shrimp Did you know now that Ecuador is the number one shrimp producer in the world surpassing China and India who were previously on top? Yep, I'm talking all you shrimp eaters out there You know 90% of all the world will shrimp now is farm shrimped in stagnant swimming pools and man

[21:35] Are they disgusting looking and stanky? I've been to a few I've checked them out When the wind's right, you could smell them from miles away Though again, you know You can get regular boat trolled shrimp if you go down to one of those big markets or a fish mark and simply ask the seller Where that stuff's coming from they know and they'll have piles of five or six kinds of shrimp different colors, too And they'll always be a pile or two or shrimp that came in on the boat They're the same price to to them though a shrimps a shrimp But when I asked that question they look at me funny By the way, when you go out to a restaurant buy or eat that stuff unless you buy the very biggest shrimp You know the jumbo ones you're practically guaranteed to get that farm raised stuff And that's all you get if you buy from a place like Costco or Walmart Anyway, Ecuador's disgusting farmed shrimp sector is now number one and to maintain that goal

[22:23] Shrimp companies are injecting more capital and chemicals. I know you shrimp lovers are happy to hear that Meanwhile since it's so economical to produce shrimp in Ecuador The producers are acquiring more and more land That means more and more stink when you're driving down the coast Believe me, by the way, according to the manager of La Pantera shrimp farm in Ecuador His name is Kibler Potom Kibler like the cookies and he does kind of look like the Kibler elf He says one reason that shrimp farming is so good in Ecuador You get a tremendous yield from a really small space. That means they're all pooping and farting in each other's faces Shrimp do have faces, right? By the way, if you don't know a Hector is a hundred meters by a hundred meters or about two and a half acres Anyway, mr. Keebler not the cookie guy says one Hector of land produces a thousand kilograms of beef in two years

[23:15] That's if you've got cows But with the latest greatest shrimp farming techniques and chemicals one Hector produces 50,000 kilograms of shrimp in just three months You can produce 50 times the weight of beef in shrimp in one eighth the time And he says the higher demand for shrimp and inflation is pushing up its price dramatically In fact, the international price of a pound of shrimp reached $14.96 in March of 2022 Ecuador ships its stanky chemical-laden shrimp to 40 different country coming to a plate near you Hmm. I know I know I like shrimp too But I'll tell you even when I'm at it an event or an all-exclusive resort unless again there those jumbo shrimp

[24:01] I won't eat any because the jumbo shrimp are very difficult to grow in a stagnant pool Almost all of those are coming from the sea but man do people love shrimp In fact, I'm sure you've noticed any time you go to an event the wedding Whatever even an all-inclusive resort where the food's free If any time they've got shrimp on the menu or on the buffet people dive in and it's the first thing to run out To some people the more shrimp they have the classier the event Meanwhile up in the States, you've got the EPA releasing new guidelines for forever chemical contamination You know those forever chemicals that you've been reading about probably for just the past couple of months been all over the newsletter I don't know why it took the idiots in government so long to get alarmed about it I've been talking about it for years as long as I've been doing this show

[24:46] Nearly 12 years now and yes the water filter I use and recommend will take out all that jump Anyway those forever chemicals are used in a variety of consumer and industrial products such as non-stick coatings You know Teflon kitchenware to fire retardants and clothes toys furniture and mattresses The thing is you know, there's no safe level for that stuff and it's in every single US waterway and water supply So it figures it's detectable along with microplastics in every single fish and seafood species, too Man, are we doomed or what? All right, so it's everywhere. But how bad is it in US waters in studies done on American drinking water, for example in Philadelphia guess what they're finding in basically every big city water supply tube and

[25:32] Most all of that stuff comes from pee and poop flush down the toilet and ending up in wastewater treatment plants that can't process it They just don't have the technology to take that stuff out on a mass scale Anyway, this report says they found 56 pharmaceutical chemicals the water supply to 40 million people Turns out they monitored 60 major cities in the US for five months. One of those cities being Philadelphia and wow This will blow your mind. I know this is sickening, but they're finding estrogen, you know birth control medications caffeine Antibiotics they found medicines for epilepsy acetaminophen, you know, Tylenol ibuprofen psychotropic drugs mood stabilizers Illegal drugs and opioids they found in China drugs other heart medications and cholesterol meds Even sex hormones to name just a few by the way

[26:20] That includes practically every drug you take cuz you pee out Residues at that stuff and it flows into the waste management system Which does not filter that stuff up because they don't have the capacity to do it Then it gets processed and ends up in your faucet again. Hmm. And some people think we're not doing enough recycling Anyway, if you want to link to this disgusting report, send me an email the expat files at gmail.com bottom line You're an idiot if you don't filter your water. So then what about Latin America? Well, I'm sure it would be just as bad down here, but it's not why because people are not in any way addicted to prescription meds Nope, they're not on Valium or mood altering psychotropic drugs No chemical birth control leader only a tiny fraction and mostly the affluent population. Take them It's just not a pill popping society But believe me when you're down here you better filter your tap water because the rivers down here are terribly polluted too

[27:11] Some of them are just clogged with garbage and plastic It's sad, but the first world went through that phase too as we discussed on a previous show Latinos are literers and polluters They got that lag time thing going there too though little by little they are coming around By the way, where do you think that disgusting stagnant pool water goes after harvesting that contaminated shrimps? You've been listening to the expat files living in Latin America If you need some help with your own plan B We can schedule a one-on-one phone or Skype consult Just send me an email the expat files at gmail.com And if you want to get on the waiting list for my next week-long expat insider seminar in Central America Where you're guaranteed to get a two to five year head start on your plan B Send me an email the expat files at gmail.com

[27:57] No spamos