#1313 – The Expat Files: Navigating Politics, Migration, and Road Safety 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 out to play and now as I wonder Hello there all you ex-pad wannabes. I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to the expat files living in Latin America The show that tells you just what it's like to live work play and or retire down here in Latin America It's a mix of the good the bad the ugly and the great and it's all right here. So let's get started Hey back in the saddle again Just a little comment here before we really get started. You know, there's just expat forum or group on the signal app There's lots and lots of people on there who've been to my seminar

[00:46] So there are lots and lots of smart people everyone there's got a brain for sure Now I pay attention to it. I watch it, but I don't contribute much at all Just like to see what people are thinking and saying to each other and I'll tell you there was lots and lots of cross talk recently When Malay got elected president of Argentina Now the thing is I've been following this guy's career for a long time Way before he even had half a chance to be president and I was always pretty convinced. He was the real deal For lots and lots of different reasons that I won't go into now. Anyway, I Noticed early on when his name started getting out there Months and months ago when he first threw his hat into the ring before the election Let me say first that I knew he was a died in the wool true blue libertarian and when pressed

[01:33] That's what I always call myself a libertarian, you know libertarianism is a fairly new term formerly known as classical liberalism free markets free speech Economic freedom tiny government. In other words get the government out of practically everything After all everything government touches turns to shit, right? Of course today's liberals are completely opposite to what classical liberalism was today's liberals are basically socialists They want the government to run everything that works out Well, doesn't it but you knew that already, right, you know for libertarians The only role of government is to protect the country's borders and have a police and judiciary to enforce the laws Almost everything else should be run by private enterprise that includes utilities electric power water

[02:19] By the way libertarians don't even want a central bank at all. Now, of course, that's in the ideal case It's not at all possible because well, the world doesn't work that way Besides that 50% of the people in the world are below average and therefore wouldn't understand or wouldn't have much appreciation For what libertarianism really is besides that there's that little problem of people always wanting something for nothing Hey, I want things for nothing too. Don't you? That's how sociopaths get elected, right? The problem is in the socialist countries is where the poor or lower classes are taught to hate the rich That means there'll always be some kind of class warfare Anyway, it's been said to have a pure libertarian society You have to have highly educated knowledgeable people which ain't gonna happen since half the people you're run into are below average

[03:07] Right, which is sad to contemplate That means every other person you walk by on the street is below average as an IQ under a hundred So anyway a few years back Malay comes on the scene in Argentina and calls himself a pure libertarian. He starts talking the libertarian talk man. Does that sound good? But only to the educated and astute members of the public who see that 80 years of socialism Peronism has failed the country miserably and dragged it into the gutter to the tune of a hundred to two hundred percent inflation a month Not per year per month That means no one saves anything as soon as they get paid in Argentine pesos They run out and spend it because every month they hold it. It'll be worth ten to twenty percent less Anyway, suddenly a few months before the election Malay's popularity starts picking up. He's getting some worldwide attention now

[03:59] There's never been a pure libertarian president in any country in history But Argentina's such a basket case people are desperate for anything that might work So he has a chance of winning then all of a sudden I'm seeing on the signal app, you know The one I just referred to where there are so many intelligent expats texting back and forth and suddenly One by one they start attacking Malay people are saying he's a dupe. He's a plant Don't trust him. He's a Trojan horse and I'm thinking cuz I studied the guy quite a bit Where are these comments coming from and even a couple of weeks ago when he was first invited to Davos to give that little Introductory talk to the World Economic Forum, you know Klaus Schwab's boys the nest of vipers

[04:44] You know the New World Order control freaks. That's when the people on the expat forum Really started dumping on Malay. Oh, yeah, he's going to the World Economic Forum Must be a traitor must be a sellout to go in that nest of vipers that libertarian tuck his was just a ruse Guys in the forum were saying he talks to talk but he's just like the rest of them He's gonna suck up to those guys at Davos the Schwab crowd to get some dough or some promises out of them it's where you'll find the biggest concentration of government and Finance wokesters in the world the World Economic Forum conference in Davos anyway, the guys in the expat forum were saying what a two-faced sellout told yourself and Then he actually went to Davos

[05:29] Made his little introductory speech and ripped everyone in the place a new asshole No speaker in the history of that organization has ever even attempted to tell it like it is till Malay came on the scene And of course his speech went viral and if you haven't seen it yet, I suggest you go to YouTube Search for Malay's Davos or World Economic Forum speech. You really have to see it It's only 23 minutes long and translated in English by the way It's been discovered that of the 350 heads of state and government ministers attending that event President Malay was the only one who flew by commercial airline. He calculated He saved Argentina 300,000 bucks by doing that all the other heads of state and their entourages flew in by private jet better yet

[06:17] There's a story going around that after the event the president of Brazil offered to take Malay to lunch They had things to talk about he said sure but on the condition that I buy my own lunch No one pays for my lunch. Don't want to owe anyone anything So anyway, he gave his opening address at Davos World Economic Forum Who do you think introduced him that slime creature Klaus Schwab? He was all smiles when he brought him to the podium But you should have seen the look on his face and the others in the crowd right after the speech. They were shocked Oh and get this on that expat side. I was talking about on signal all the sudden malaise now a hero They're throwing all kinds of links up to the speech a big change of heart They were praising him to high heaven and me. Well, I was thinking that's good

[07:03] It's extremely difficult for people to admit they're wrong prime example the covid it crap I was thinking there's hope for Argentina yet as long as Malay doesn't take a bullet You know, that's the big worry with Buchally and Nels Salvador, too He's already shown the world exactly how they can clean up a terrible mess Looks like it'll stay that way too unless of course he takes a bullet. So anyway, all's well that ends well, right? not so fast then three or four days after getting all that praise online and After bitch-slapping all those woke new world order parasites at Davos for everyone to see Suddenly I noticed on that expat forum on signal people little by little start dumping on Malay again I have to admit I was confused first. He was a traitor then a hero then a traitor again

[07:51] I guess that's why I don't add my two cents. I don't get into the conversation on that site I'll just watch observe and learn and sometimes laugh like for example Someone recently posted on that site a speech that David Ike gave, you know, mr. Shapeshifting lizard man himself I guess David Ike believes Malay is a shape-shifting reptile, too you know, I read one of David Ike's books probably 25 years ago now and he first started coming around and When he got to explaining how Hillary Clinton was a shape-shifting reptile I really thought this guy's on to something then he started talking about the Queen of England and Prince Charlie Being shape-shifting reptiles too and I thought man even if a tenth of this crap is true I prefer to believe with Elon says that we're living in the matrix in a simulation to me

[08:42] It's better than being hatched from a reptile egg. Anyway, if you want my opinion on Malay, I think he's the real deal I won't bore you with the facts. I've heard I do invite you to listen to a recent Doug Casey interview Where he talks about how he Doug Casey personally many many years ago was responsible For getting the books of Frederick Hayek to Malay in his formative years, you know, Frederick Hayek the major figure in the world of Austrian economics a Nobel Prize winner wrote that book that everyone with a half a brain should read the road to serfdom a Groundbreaking book in economics tiny little book Anyway in a recent interview Doug Casey talks about how he got those books into the hands of Malay Way before the guy was any kind of political figure at all and for Malay who'd been a university economics professor

[09:30] Austrian economics and Frederick Hayek's books completely changed his life Anyway, Doug Casey talks about how it was complete serendipity and how he never even knew that his collection of Hayek's books Got translated into Spanish and into the hands of Malay So what is president Malay then a plant a trojan horse a shape-shifting lizard or the real deal? In any event, he's a better man than I am If I was president of a country, I'd at least fly business class and I'd let other people pick up dinner tabs for me Alright moving on now Depending where you live up in the States you may or may not be seeing the hordes of illegal immigrants that are invading the country Are they trudging through your neighborhoods and towns now when I was a kid living in Chicago the only illegal aliens?

[10:18] I ever saw were Mexicans strange since there are 20 Latin American countries. I'd only see Mexicans, I'd never met a single Costa Rican, Guatemalan, Salvadorian, Venezuelan, Peruano, Boliviano I never saw a one of them until I came to Latin America. Isn't that crazy? Of course, I lived in a pure white bread neighborhood nearest Mexican Latino family miles away I'd run into him here and there see him at school and one of my best friends was 100% Mexican guy I taught him how to play the guitar. He was no good at it, but we forged a nice solid friendship Anyway for my first 10 or 20 years living here in Latin America, whatever Latin country I was in Costa Rica, Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Colombia I almost never met or rarely met any Latinos that were from other countries

[11:04] For example, when I was in Costa Rica, I'd rarely meet another Latino from let's say Peru Seems like the only other Latinos I'd meet on occasion were Cubanos, Cubans Because you know since the late 50s they were always trying to get the hell out, always trying to escape And thus, there was always a steady trickle of Cubans into every Latin American country The diaspora, you know, the dispersion of Cubans throughout Latin America and the states too Still, even all my years living in Chicago, I never met a Cuban Maybe it was me, my strange luck, I just never happened to run into one However, in the last 10 years or so, in whatever Latin American country I seem to be in I've been running into more and more Latin Americans from other countries Mostly, Venezuelanos, Venezuelan Only natural, you might say, because their country's completely falling apart

[11:52] And people are escaping like they used to escape from Cuba Seven and a half million so far That's about a quarter of everyone who's lived in the country In fact, and I mentioned this on a previous show There are so many Venezuelans everywhere in other Latin American countries That people are getting pissed off about it The local nationals, I mean At first, they were welcomed And now people just don't want to see them anymore I'm starting to hear all kinds of rumblings amongst the local population Those damn Venezuelans What the hell are we going to do with all of them? They're taking all our jobs Same old, same old, huh? And then you hear the complaints from local nationals who are working Saying that the Venezuelans are driving down wages They'll work for cash in half of what the locals will work for Where have we heard that before, deja vu, huh? Anyway, if you believe some of the propaganda out there that says Venezuela isn't half bad

[12:42] All you have to do is talk to a Venezuelan who's escaped Most of them have tragic stories Even near-death stories while they were trying to escape And you know me, I'm nosy When I'm sitting around with a bunch of people Especially Venezuelans or Colombians, whatever I want to hear why they left everything behind to go to a country Where they have to start from ground zero and might not know anyone I don't know if I told you this story before I heard a capper from a 30-something Venezuelan lady Not so long ago You think you've got it rough? I mean, everybody thinks they've got it rough, right? Well, listen to this Turns out there's an illegal nighttime boat service That goes from Caracas, Venezuela I think it's something like a six- or eight-hour trip Across the water to Aruba or Curaçao, the nearest islands They're Dutch islands And thus, if you land there, you're in the first world It's illegal, but the boat owners have it figured out

[13:29] They go across without light At night, land in a hidden cove in either Aruba or Curaçao Dump off their little boatload of Venezuelans Probably 20 or 30 people at a time The boats are small and rickety, but they generally make it By the way, they're called lanches or lolos Anyway, this Venezuelan lady told me She paid something like I think it was 200 bucks To one of the pilots of the Lolo She had a suitcase with all her pertinent belonging She brought it along, got on the boat And noticed it was perilously overloaded And when they were about an hour out, she said A big wave came and swapped the boat It was completely filled with water They only had something like four life rafts for 30 people And she thought, this is it, I'm gonna die Then, just a few minutes later, before the boat completely went under

[14:19] Luckily, they saw a light in the distance The captain discharged a flare It was a Venezuelan coast guard ship Came and rescued all of them Brought them back to shore in Venezuela Gave them a stern lecture They regrouped on shore and the pilot The captain said, look, in two days, we're gonna shove off again He said there were no refunds But there was another Lolo going off in two days They should be there and he'd take them, no charge Now, the lady I was talking to said Her and two other ladies who didn't know how to swim Decided they weren't gonna go on that second voyage They said, hell with it Too risky, way too risky So, as it turns out, two days later, the boat went off again with the same people And the lady told me the next day, she was at her friend's apartment house

[15:06] And on the TV came a news flash Alola, one of those boats, had capsized in a storm And everyone was dead or missing As the camera panned on all the bodies that were laid out on the beach She saw one of the dead girls was wearing a pink Mickey Mouse t-shirt The very t-shirt she had lent to one of the girls on the trip two days earlier A little skinny girl who had gotten wet and was shivering with cold How about that for a close call? Meanwhile, back in Costa Rica, yeah, everybody loves Costa Rica, right? That's always the first stop for gringos and expats Who think Latin America might be dangerous, but not Costa Rica It's the only Latin American country that does not have an army Yep, that's the age-old sentiment And why Costa Rica is just loaded with gringos And it seems no matter how many times I tell you guys

[15:54] It's not the place to be Not a good place for a plan B A terrible place to do business The locals are backstabbers They smile in your face All the while, they want to stick it to you Still, I've got plenty of listeners who settled in Costa Rica They send me emails all the time saying, Johnny, you know, I kind of put up with it I'd like to leave, but I can't have invested too much here Or, as in many cases, they've lost so much money Getting ripped off and swindled and scammed That it's not economically possible for them to pick up and move to another country Or even back to the States Still, there's a million blogs and YouTubes out there saying, Costa Rica, come on down, it's great There's gringos and expats everywhere It's old home week Everyone speaks English You could even drink the water right from the tap Yeah, right

[16:40] That's what it was like when I lived there so many years ago No one had a water purifier Everyone drank the water right from the tap All the locals did, anyway But that's another story, anyway I'd like to throw a little more garbage in the dumpster And pop that Costa Rica bubble for you if I can Here's an article that just came out yesterday Title, Once Tranquil Costa Rica Eyes Salvadorian Response to a Huge Crime Surge And I'll paraphrase a bit, cut out the boring parts if I can It starts out long a byword for laid-back environmental tourism Costa Rica is now wrestling with a surge in violence so striking That its government is borrowing a page from buccalé El Salvador Which recently took draconian steps to tackle their own crime problems that worked

[17:26] It says that in an effort to cut a homicide rate that had soared 40% in just the last year alone Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chavez had introduced tough new legislation Referencing El Salvador President buccalé's actions in drastically suppressing crime He's using that off-sighted quote Extraordinary times require extraordinary measures Costa Rica is one of the growing number of Latin American countries Seeking to tackle the huge expansion of drug cartel activity By emulating Salvador President buccalé's sweeping crackdowns that have proven so successful So while this talk about trying buccalé's methods It's because Costa Rica saw its murder rate jump to 17.2 deaths per 100,000 people in 2023

[18:13] A 40% increase in just one year Whereas Salvador's rate is 2.4 per 100,000 Going from the highest in the world a decade earlier to the lowest in the world By the way, it says in a large Costa Rican University poll buccalé was voted Costa Rica's favorite political leader worldwide While their own president Chavez's poll ratings have plummeted Nearly 30 percentage points since his election in May of 2022 So how'd that happen? Why so much crime in Costa Rica? Well, it says criminals know that Costa Rica is traditionally light touch With apprehended criminals using the hugs not bullets approach Following the example of Mexican President Lopez Obrador

[18:58] Where convicted criminals are often given probation or precautions in lieu of arrest That's what's been fueling the problem According to Jorge Torres, presidential security chief Problem is though, Costa Rica's President Chavez Needs the backing of at least 29 of 57 lawmakers in Congress For his buccalé-like proposals to pass So we'll see if Congress backs the idea of Salvador style prisons and gang crackdown But the harsh facts are, Costa Rica has 700% 7 times the homicide rate per 100,000 than El Salvador Who knew Costa Rica's violent crime rate was that bad? And here we always thought it was economic crimes, not physical crimes Perpetrated against their favorite targets, gringos and expats

[19:46] So there you have it, Costa Rica, nice place to visit But I wouldn't want my plan B there All right, now a reminder This show first goes out on Friday, January 26th That means if you're hearing this show right out of the chute You've only got five more days to sign up for my Expat Insider Seminar And still take advantage of those early bird discounts Who doesn't want to take advantage of a $500 discount? So again, sign up before February 1st and you get in on those discounts Just go to expatplanb.com for all details and sign up info Just to remind you, once again, the seminar starts March 8th and it's a week long We'll be trucking through two Latin American countries, Guatemala and El Salvador All right, how about this email from Ricky? He says, Dear Johnny, in reference to those terrible Latin American drivers

[20:33] I've been to big Mexican cities, San Jose, Costa Rica and Managua, Nicaragua I've driven in those cities and know exactly what you mean I've seen hundreds of people in cars and motorcycles break transit laws night and day, day in and day out You're right, Johnny, Americans never get used to it He says, I've been in two fender benders in Latin America One with a junk pickup truck and one with a motorcyclist whose driver was injured but took off anyway No registration maybe or no license maybe One can only guess In both cases, I got stuck holding the bag to get my car repaired And in Costa Rica, one was a rental You're forced to buy insurance when you rent a car So you think you're covered in any case? Well, Johnny, as it turns out, because the guy left the scene of the accident

[21:19] that became a loophole in the contract and I ended up losing my deposit So, Johnny, just sitting around in the rental office waiting for things to happen and giving a lot of thought to it because I had so much time on my hands Here's my analysis of why we gringos obey the traffic laws and why Latinos don't I think this could be of interest to your listeners who come down here and try to drive so bear with me He says, suppose as a gringo, you go down to Latin America you rent a car, you find yourself in the middle of the night stopping at a red light at a deserted intersection No one's there at all, just you As you're waiting for it to switch you have a conversation in your head with yourself thinking, what the hell am I waiting for? Why not drive on?

[22:06] You think, but wait, what if it's a trap? What if the cops are hiding behind that big billboard straight ahead? You think, no, a cop car would not quite fit there I'd see the outline of it so it's certainly not there But wait a minute, what if there's a hidden camera somewhere cameras are everywhere these days, right? Is it worth the risk? Well, why not just wait the extra minute even though there's no danger at all if I just creep through that red light Besides that, you're thinking, you're a good citizen and you realize that everyone obeys these things It creates order in this system Man, it's the right thing to do In the end, everyone's happy they end up where they were going in the first place Though some might arrive a little late at their destination They arrive there safe and sound

[22:52] That's the idea, right? However, if you're a Latino driver and you find yourself driving around in the middle of the night approaching a deserted intersection and the lights red I can just imagine what's happening in that guy's mind He approaches the intersection from a few blocks away thinking, why stop? Why even slow down? Why not go for it? Speed up, drive on Then he too thinks for a split second Wait a minute, what if it's a trap? What if there's a cop car behind that big billboard? Nah, he thinks it's not a trap A cop car would not quite fit there I'd see the outline or reflection of it anyway He thinks the coast is clear But even so, he knows that Policia don't actually want to stop or chase him

[23:39] Even if they were behind that billboard they'd see that his car was a piece of shit and figured he was broke and therefore wouldn't be able to get a decent bribe out of him So even if he did run a red light it wouldn't be worth their effort to stop him Latinos are also aware there are cameras everywhere on crosswalks, street corners, etc So for a split second, he might think What if there's a hidden camera? And they have proof, a recording of me and maybe just feel like stopping me and hassling me because they're bored The Latino thinks for a second is it worth the risk? Nah, that's a foolish thought Even if there is a camera there's no danger of it actually working properly Latinos know their country and they're well aware of that So then what if our Latino driver gets a slight pang of guilt thinking

[24:25] Maybe I should stop at that red light because that's what a good citizen would do That particular thought lasts about a nanosecond Not even long enough to register a flicker in his undeveloped p-brain cortex So he blasts right through the red light Tosses a bit of trash out the window on the way Takes a swig from a beer bottle that's open on his front seat And all is well with his world That's how he lives his life Until his luck eventually runs out And he gets broadsided by a confused gringo tourist like me Who sees a green light coming up to the intersection And stupidly believes that it means It's okay to proceed on through Moral of that story Don't ever, ever assume That the other drivers coming up on the same intersection as you

[25:11] Will obey the signs and traffic lights Don't trust the other guy Always proceed with caution And remember If you do get into a crash You've got a hell of a lot more to lose than the other guy So stay extra alert Alright, thanks for that email, Ricky Sounds to me like you're still nursing your wounds You had a rough time on the roads of Latin America Still feeling the sting of those accidents I suppose that's why in Latin America Most gringos who've really made it financially You know started a successful business Are really doing well And there's lots of them There's kind of an unusual phenomena that goes with that Most gringos I know in that position Have a personal driver if you can believe that Often the guys on call 24-7 too I know that sounds hard to believe

[25:57] Especially from where we're coming from When I was up in Chicago living in the States I knew quite a few wealthy people But not a single one of them Had a personal driver Just as I knew lots of wealthy people But not a single one of them had a full-time live-in maid Man, up in the States You'd have to be an extremely high roller to be able to afford that Still, I know gringo expat guys and gals living down here On let's say 40 or 50,000 bucks a year That's very wealthy by Latino standards Who have live-in maids and a personal driver On call 24-7 You know that's not my style I don't care if I was mega rich I wouldn't have a personal driver But that is one way many gringos and expats deal with the traffic problems Besides that, I know lots of gringo expats Who are married to or living with a Latina

[26:44] Where the lady does not have her driver's license So in lieu of the gringo driving her everywhere Or ordering up by Uber every time she goes out He's got a driver on call I know that sounds ridiculous But I see it all the time The fact is there are lots of Latinas who are afraid to drive You can hardly blame them Since almost everybody I know in Latin America Has a friend or relative who was killed or maimed in a car or motorcycle accident Let me remind you listeners That I had a Latina girlfriend quite a few years back Who was a passenger on her cousin's motorcycle There were three on a bike She was something like 12 years old Anyway, there was a big accident She woke up in the hospital And when she asked about the driver and the other passenger Her two cousins, bad news

[27:31] They were dead She was a lone survivor 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 Theexpatfinals.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 2-5 year head start on your plan B Send me an email Theexpatfiles.gmail.com