#1332 – The Expat Files: Safety, Disease, and Medical Innovation 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 Alright as promised on the last show we're gonna get to that second part of That email listener Tommy sent in if you remember he's that traveling expat Who's been to every single Latin American country except one?

[00:48] He says he's got a quick boots on the ground story for us and I'll paraphrase this a little bit to cut out the boring parts He says Johnny as a frequent traveler I generally find that unexpected things are more dangerous than the actual thugs and bad boys that most people are afraid of It's the unknowns that are more dangerous. For example, I was almost decapitated while foolishly standing on a double-decker bus in Greece Yeah, Johnny I've had some bad days traveling I got knocked out cold when I hit my head going down the stairs of an old Spanish hotel Proving the point that tall Germans in small hotels don't mix On top of that. He says I almost fell into a huge hole on the sidewalk in my house

[01:35] It could have swallowed a car Yet, I know if I have fell in there'd be no lawyers to take my case. No slip-and-fall lawyers down there and Then once when I was in India, I had a nasty taxi accident That is if you could even call that thing a taxi and just lately I was able to dodge breakouts of malaria Zika and dengue fever So basically all the aforementioned incidents were just wrong place at the wrong time or bad luck But this year was something different. I was in the streets of Olinda Brazil a beautiful place and heard what I thought was three firecrackers. I Looked and saw two men were down on the street Turns out some thugs had tried to steal from an off-duty military police officer and he would have none of that

[02:22] Ultimately ending in one dead and one in the ambulance. Yes. It was a bit of a close call But generally I feel safe, but I'm careful that is I feel safe as long as I'm not hauling around my 50 pounds of camera equipment as For me the only time the bad guys were successful was one pickpocket in Cali, Colombia who got my cell phone But at least I was able to hang on to my camera equipment That's it for the email and he signs off ex-pat Tommy Alright Tommy. Thanks for that Hope to hear more of your boots on the ground exploits. So keep them coming By the way, just a note about how you mentioned you dodged malaria Zika and dengue fever You know, maybe it's just dumb luck

[03:09] But of all the years I've been down here in Latin America and all the gringles and expats I've run into I haven't run into a single one That ever reported to me. Anyway, they had malaria Zika or dengue fever I've never been afflicted either though I've known some Latinas and Latinos who reportedly had one or more of those afflictions I know one Latina who said she had dengue twice I can also tell you the Latinos I've known who've come down with those things are from the lower and middle classes people who don't have screens on their houses and live with their windows open all the time as Crasses this might sound I get invited to middle and lower middle-class people's houses all the time They always pull out the vittles or invite you to lunch or dinner Latinos are really welcoming and friendly in that way

[03:55] Unfortunately, it's so true the lower their socioeconomic level the more flies Mosquitoes and pests you'll see hanging around the dinner table That includes the kitchen area in general for us gringles and expats It's always a repulsive and disgusting thing to see but we can't show it on our faces After all, we're sort of guests of honor. You can't just sit there and not eat You got to eat something as for me I pick and choose what I eat very carefully as to not offend So then why so many flies mosquitoes and other pests and critters? It's because so many middle lower middle class and poor Latinos live in houses whose roofs are made of that galvanized metal What us gringles and expats called tin roofs and you see when you put those kinds of roofs down They're never sealed to the walls of the building. In other words, it's always outside air circulation coming through along the eaves

[04:47] It's got to be that way too because when the Sun hits the roof it gets so hot You need that air circulation to kind of pull the heat away and that means bugs and critters They're always gonna come and go through those wide open spaces along the eaves You can prove that to yourself if you go into one of those houses with a tin roof Look along the eaves from the inside and you'll see light coming through you're looking at air gaps connecting through to the outside Now Zika and malaria are insect-borne illnesses and they come in and out of those houses all the time In other words What I'm saying is lower middle class and poor Latinos makes up more than probably 60 or 70 percent of the population in some countries They live in dwellings that we'd consider more or less garages They're just not weatherproofed or sealed at all with insects coming in and out freely all the time

[05:35] And that's why I'll hear occasionally of a backpacker getting malaria or Zika or dengue Because you know, they're doing the $10 a night thing in a hostel with no AC no screens on the windows and a tin roof That's why people with tin roofed houses have mosquito nets over their beds Oh and another thing there are many many fewer cases of malaria Zika dengue fever in the altiplano Because it's a cooler climate and there's a lot less stagnant and freestanding water You see the Ultiplano's got a lot better drainage a lot more hills and valleys and though the water just pours down during the rainy season The odd thing is that after a couple hours of heavy rain when it's over you'll look out your window and think oh man The place is like a big lagoon

[06:20] Then the Sun will come out and in an hour or two What used to be a lake will be bone-dry not conducive to bugs or breeding mosquitoes Put it this way backpackers are almost always on a low budget That's why they backpack and low budget areas have inferior dwellings are less hygienic with less Sanitation many have those tin roofs Just take a drive around any Latin American city and you'll see what I mean in the higher rent districts Yards and houses will be more orderly a lot less garbage better Gardening less junk in the yards versus the poor and lower class parts of town where you'll see a lot cheaper Crappier houses more disorder more junk in the yards more garbage piled up on street corners Which means more rats and bugs and mosquitoes that means more malaria Zika and dengue fever as well

[07:09] Is it any wonder why backpackers except Montezuma's revenge is an unwanted but all too frequent companion? Whereas travelers staying in nicer accommodations higher-end hotels, etc Are laid low by GI problems much less frequently by the way, I'm the perfect test case I never do the backpacker thing and though I travel a lot I've only had Montezuma's revenge once in the last I'd say ten years full disclosure here I got hit with it just about a month ago. So I hit the reset button and the clocks ticking again Hey, you can't win them all right? Luckily here in Latin America or unluckily Montezuma's revenge is so damn common along with amoebic dysentery which I'm sure most people up north have never heard of or had you'd know it if you did

[07:56] Anyway, it's so damn common with backpackers and low-budget tourists. By the way, the locals are pretty much immune again It's so common. You just walk into the drugstore point to your stomach or your butt There's no shame in that. You don't need to know any Spanish In fact, you don't have to utter a word the pharmacist will immediately know how to sort you out Alright moving on. I know there are lots of crypto people listening to this show. That is people who have crypto wallets Hmm do you now? I don't know if you've been keeping up with the crypto news yourself But something really explosive has happened in Europe Another reason to have your plan be in Latin America, not Europe Turns out the European Union Parliament just voted to impose know your customer on private crypto wallets. Okay, why see

[08:43] Yep, that's right. European Union lawmakers have voted to crack down on so-called unhosted cryptocurrency wallets Turns out and you probably didn't know this on March 31st Just a couple of weeks ago the EU Parliament voted to impose new regulatory measures that would essentially prohibit anonymous cryptocurrency transactions within the European Union That's 27 countries. You could cross off your plan B list anyway, the details are as follows the European Union requires cryptocurrency service providers such as Exchanges to collect personal information from individuals who transact more than a thousand euros using so-called Unhosted cryptocurrency wallets the measure by the way was overwhelmingly approved in Brussels

[09:29] So then what are unhosted wallets or non-custodial wallets? Well, they're wallets that don't rely on third parties In other words, so-called hot wallets online wallets and so-called cold wallets or hardware wallets like ledger and Trezor That means if you're in any one of those 27 European countries and you move crypto do a transaction between your hard wallet let's say a ledger and a crypto exchange or bank the law compels those companies to provide personal information about the wallet user By the way in a comment Brian Armstrong CEO of us-based crypto exchange coinbase one of the biggest commented that the EU law is Anti-innovation anti-privacy and anti law enforcement arguing it that it holds

[10:19] cryptocurrencies to a different standard in Europe than they do for fiat So if you're wondering how this would work if you're a client in Europe This means that before you can send or receive crypto from a self-hosted wallet like nan or Trezor Coinbase will be required to collect store and verify information on the other party who is not their customer Before the transfer is allowed Moreover coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong says anytime you receive a thousand euros or more in Crypto from a self-hosted wallet and you're living or in Europe Coinbase will be required to report you to the European authorities He says regarding the fact that the EU now holds cryptocurrency to a different standard than fiat

[11:05] He said imagine if the European Union required your bank to report you to the authorities every time you paid your rent merely because the transaction was over a thousand euros So the obvious question is since we talk about the good the bad the ugly and the great here in Latin America Could this kind of restrictive legislation come to Latin America? Well, anything's possible. Just remember in Latin America each country's got its own version of the IRS, too And the fact is everyone cheats on their taxes and everyone knows it But you see Latin governments have no tax Enforcement agency. In other words, even the most blatant tax cheats Will never get a knock on the door from a SWAT team. They never even get a knock on the door You see all third world countries love to adopt first world country laws

[11:55] Makes them feel progressive that they're somehow moving in lockstep and moving on up Yep, the lardasses in government and the bureaucracies just keep growing and growing now to freedom loving individuals like us. That doesn't sound good However, the fact is unlike first world countries when they pass and adopt first world laws Third world lardasses create the administrative part, but not the enforcement arm For example, that's why you could buy a property in Latin America and forget to pay your property taxes year over year And still you'll never get a notice and the sheriff will never knock on your door And the only time you'll ever get reminded you haven't paid those taxes ever is if and when you try to sell your property Then the new buyer or the new buyers lawyer when doing the title search

[12:41] We'll see you've got 20 years of taxes in arrears and then believe it or not You'll be able to go down to the local municipal tax office and in the process of clearing that tax lien You'll actually be able to negotiate a lower price. I know people who've done that only in Latin America Are you getting this? Do you see what I mean? Now if you're living up in the States Try that sometime just try skipping two years of tax payments on your home See how hard and fast the auction hammer comes down. See how fast your credit is ruined and you're out on the street Oh, and by the way, if you skip paying your property taxes down here in Latin America, let's say for 10 or 20 years Yeah, they've got credit bureaus and credit reports here now But guess what not payment of property taxes won't even show up

[13:28] You see down here in Latin America credit reports are not complete spotty at best Not at all totally interconnected with banks and all businesses like they are up in the States. That's right It's that lag time thing again In fact, I remember it was about 20 years ago when I first started reading about our credit bureau agency I was starting up in Guatemala Imagine before that there were no credit bureaus or credit reports or credit agencies that meant for better or for worse You couldn't do a credit check on anyone nowadays. You can but you can't expect it to be complete Oh and on that same subject. I know a lady who works at Claro You know the big internet company though one that has the most cell towers throughout Latin America Anyway, she told me that if a person comes into the office and wants to get an internet plan a contract

[14:16] She says all four or five internet companies. That's Movistar Tigo Claro Viva altis There's a lot of them. She said they have a deadbeat database She said there are so many clients who are deadbeats that is they buy an internet plan It usually runs 12 months or 18 months and upfront They get a nice high-end cell phone as part of the plan In other words, they're locked into a monthly payment 25 30 35 bucks a month. Whatever Anyway somewhere along the line in that contract they quit paying then after two months they get their service cut off now Remember they've got that high-end cell phone in hand. So they quit paying and just keep it Well, she said used to be up to about a year or so ago Deadbeats would quit paying on the first contract and switch over to another internet company

[15:02] Sell that high-end phone or change the chip then for example It's stiff Claro and go over to Tigo hook up with another 12 or 18 month plan there and life goes on Get another free high-end cell phone out of it too as part of the new plan Well, she said there were so many deadbeats doing that and all the internet companies got together and created their own deadbeat client list So now the first thing they do in a new client walks in and asks to get out a contract plan is run his name through That list. So in effect the big internet companies have their own internal credit bureau because obviously the big National credit bureau services are incomplete or inadequate for their purposes So if you're wondering about credit reports and credit bureaus here in Latin America for example for gringos and expats if your credit is shot up in Cleveland or

[15:48] Milwaukee or Pittsburgh if your credit sucks filed bankruptcy or maybe you've got some tax liens up in the States None of that stuff will show up on a credit report down here. There's just no cross referencing not yet Anyway, all right. Let's talk about something. We hit on a lot in past shows, but haven't touched on for quite a while stem cell therapy You longtime listeners know I put together a couple of stem cell reports And I've taken my family and myself to a couple of stem cell clinics throughout Latin America three different clinics by the way And I've investigated quite a few more and still the question I get from so many people who are wondering about it Should they come down and get it? Whatever people ask me all the time. Is it for real if it's so great Why don't they administer it like they do down here in Latin America up in the States people say to me

[16:37] It's a lot of Dota shell out if it's inconclusive or just the placebo effect or worst case just a scam man I get questions like that all the time. That's why I wrote a report on it now I'm not gonna repeat all that again here I did that in previous shows if you want my report send me an email the expat files at gmail.com The reason why I'm revisiting this stem cell treatment thing right now is Because if you notice just in the last day or two a stem cell article has gone viral on the internet There's breaking news about the success of stem cell treatments up in the States By the way, the way they do it down here in Latin America. They don't allow up in the States. They call it experimental Now just as a real quick review. Yes, they do stem cell treatments up at the States But they don't allow a very key part of the process

[17:24] Which is why stem cell clinics exist outside of the US that is when stem cells are first extracted from the source Whether it's from women's placenta Umbilical cells or even a person's own fat cells or bone marrow Here in stem cell clinics down in Latin America and in the rest of the world except the US they take those cells and multiply them in a lab into the hundreds of millions and then Inject them into the patient in the States stem cell clinics are not allowed to do that. It's considered experimental so when they extract the stem cells and reinject them you're not getting hundreds of millions and You're getting a tiny percentage of that and obviously in the case of stem cells more is better, right? Or is it now to show you just how hypocritical the medical establishment is in the US

[18:12] Listen to this article. It just went viral all over the internet just a few days ago now You may have seen it. I'll highlight it here for you the title the article is Paralyzed man who can walk again shows potential of stem cell therapy according to male clinics Hmm that's supposed to be new news I mean stem cell clinics in Central and South America have been doing that same thing for at least 10 years now Let me read on you're gonna find this really interesting now Remember what I told you in the US They don't allow doctors to take out stem cells and then clone them or multiply them To massive numbers in the hundreds of millions and reinject them That's why people go to Latin America to get stem cell treatments done because down here. They've proven more is better

[18:59] Anyway, let me read this article It says a man who was paralyzed from the neck down after suffering a surfing accident seven years ago is now Miraculously able to stand and walk on his own. Thanks in part to potentially groundbreaking stem cell treatments Remember now this is coming from the Mayo Clinic, you know one of the top two or three clinical diagnostic centers in the US It goes on to say Chris Barr was the very first patient in a Mayo Clinic study that collected stem cells from his own stomach fat expanded them in a laboratory cloned them Multiplied them to a hundred million cells then Reinjected them into bars lumbar spine. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Are you getting this? They did something

[19:48] Experimental they said something that they've been doing down here in Latin American stem cell clinics for 10 years and They're calling it an astounding breakthrough cure Let me read on it says after undergoing stem cell injection therapy after five years Barr said he's continuing to gain more independence getting faster at walking and is practically back to normal He's quoted as saying quote I never dreamed I would have a recovery like this He told ABC News will Reeve. I can feed myself. I can walk around I can do day-to-day independent activities almost as well as I did before Then I said Barr shared his update with Reeve on his own progress as Mayo Clinic published new data showing the success of stem cell treatments in a clinical trial involving 10 patients including Barr

[20:40] According to the trials results published Monday and the journal nature communications Seven of the ten patients who had had the stem cell treatments experienced increased strength and repair and muscle motor groups and increased sensations to light touch and pressure etc It says three of ten patients in the study had no response to the stem cell therapy Meaning they did not get better or worse according to Mayo Clinic However, it says for seven out of the ten patients the newly published results of the study show that those seven patients saw Improvement after the stem cells therapy each moved up at least one level on the American Spinal Injury Association the ASIA Impairment scale which has five levels of documenting a patient's increased or decreased function

[21:30] It says the doctor in charge. Dr. Mohammed boy done says the trial shows us that stem cells are safe and beneficial specifically in the treatment of spinal cord injuries Further stating this can be a milestone in our field of neurosurgery neuroscience and of treating patients with spinal and other bone joint and cartilage Injuries it further states Dr. Boyd and another researchers are still trying to understand how and why the stem cells interact with the spinal cord and show Such results for example in the first case with mr. Barr He said in 2019 after undergoing the stem cell treatments. He quickly began to see improvements Starting with getting the feelings back in his legs Now he says five years later. He's making further long-term improvements and is able to walk for consistently longer distances

[22:21] He says I'm just thrilled at the results and that there are doctors out there taking bold steps to try and do the research to cure this Alright, so you long-term listeners to this show know this is nothing new. We've been talking about this for years Why is the US so far behind? Why is it the US has lag time? Why do you think the US Food and Drug Administration Currently does not allow doctors to do this particular treatment They don't allow taking stem cells and multiplying them into the millions for reinjection. They consider that experimental and Thus if you could actually find any doctor or clinic that will do it You'll get no insurance coverage So then why is it not allowed in the states? Could it be because up to 30% of all the revenue obtained by hospitals in the US is

[23:09] associated with spinal hip knee shoulder elbow prosthetic replacement and joint and tendon surgeries Yep, exactly the kinds of injuries where stem cells show the most promise. Yep There's definitely a big conflict of interest there In fact when I first started bringing up stem cells on this show I received a bunch of emails from orthopedic surgeons up in the states And you know doing hip and knee replacement surgeries are their bread and butter So they dumped on stem cells and I could tell they were captured by the hospital medical industrial complex just imagine how disastrous it would be to their bottom line if Simple stem cell injections could rebuild joints without the need for titanium prosthetic replacements

[23:57] let's face it everyone knows someone who's had a joint replacement or two or three and For all you guys and gals out there who've been co-opted by the insurance companies if you think hey The insurance or Medicaid won't pay for stem cell therapy and since group insurance plans won't cover it either If my hips or knees or joints go out I'll just have a prosthetic replacement since my insurance covers it well I say man if that's the way you think you've lost touch with reality Just go to YouTube and look at one of those operations See how invasive and destructive those kinds of operations really are sounds so easy even normal get a joint replacement You know a couple of people who've got them and they're doing all right correct Well, you know what it's like. It's like having bad teeth and instead of getting them fixed

[24:43] Yeah, I haven't pulled and you get a full set of dentures. Yeah, they may look all right Yeah, I won't starve, but there will be things you just can't eat anymore corn on the cob beef jerky sticky candies, etc, etc Anyway, after all is said and done. It's good to know that a renowned Institution like the Mayo Clinic have finally come out with irrefutable proof that stem cells really do work The funny thing is in that particular study. They followed the exact so-called unapproved Experimental protocol all the other stem cell clinics outside the US have been using for the past 10 years or so Oh, and by the way, who do you think developed the protocol? Everyone's using outside the US a group of US doctors from Texas? They were the ones that developed the process of multiplying stem cells into the hundreds of millions

[25:32] and guess what when they found out how effective that was and The great results they were getting the FDA said no way not approved for the general public It's experimental. So guess what? They packed up themselves and all their equipment and went to Panama Where they set up the first stem cell clinic of its kind and now here in Latin America They're all over the place with prices ranging all over the place, too. Oh And there's one more thing before we go today. If there's one amazing president on earth, it's Buchally Have you seen his most recent edict? He's offering free passports for high skilled workers. Yep. That's right Looks like he's offered one of the greatest immigration incentives of all time President Buchally of El Salvador has offered five thousand free passports for skilled professionals

[26:22] Let me read the press release. He says we're offering five thousand free passports to a skilled scientists engineers doctors artists and philosophers from abroad This will represent less than point one percent of our population and we'll be granting them full citizen status voting rights Nationality the works he says this might seem like a small number five thousand But their contributions will have huge impact on our society and the future of our country Plus he says we will facilitate the five thousand relocated new citizens by ensuring zero percent taxes and tariffs when Relocating their families and assets that means no taxes on commercial items like equipment software and intellectual property Meanwhile in the US the White House has facilitated a border invasion on the scale has never seen before

[27:11] Tens of millions of uneducated illegals who have nothing to offer and only come to the states for the benefits they can take So while El Salvador looks to import the best and brightest the US imports the hapless and skillless. Oh And you can bet soon. They'll be in a neighborhood near you. By the way, how's your plan be coming? South 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