#1361 – The Expat Files: Returning to the US, Nepotism, and the Venezuela Crisis

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-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 You know down here in Latin America when gringos are sitting around at a coffee shop There's a topic that often comes up and people are very curious about Namely what makes a gringo with such a desire to have a plan beady to get the hell out of dodge

[00:46] Why is it when he finally makes it down to Latin America and expresses to everyone he meets how Relieved he is to have a gotten out of a shit storm. That's happening up north Why is it that a good percentage of gringos and expats after a half a year or so turn tail and go right back Right back to the very shit storm. They were complaining about in the first place now I know in past shows have discussed the topic a little bit Why a certain percentage of newbie gringo expats throw in the towel and go back, but you see in recent conversations I've discovered a kind of a new twist a New not often mentioned excuse for going back You're probably familiar with all the routine excuses. I miss my kids back home. I miss my grandkids I miss the guys at the golf club my boys from the rotary and Qantas

[01:35] I just can't learn Spanish or can't learn Spanish well enough to blend in Oh and a big one is my wife doesn't like it down here and well, I'm stuck It's her or Latin America Personally between me and you I'll take Latin America, but the kids would never forgive me So call me stupid call me an idiot. Call me a dumb shit. Call me kitty whipped. Call me weak She wants to go back and I'm married to her. So we're going back man I've heard that excuse over and over again There is always one person who wants to be in Latin America more than the other then of course There's always that small percentage of gringos and expats who've been ripped off in business or real estate deals Usually it's because they trusted way too many people there certainly are scammers down here a lot of them gringos and expats and some people go back because they're old and frail or in a walker or a wheelchair and

[02:24] They want to spend their twilight years months or days around family and friends. They grew up with Can't blame them for that. Yeah, so that's pretty much a list of the usual suspect But the other day I was sitting in a coffee shop with a bunch of gringo expats long time gringo expat And one of the guys a retired CEO From mid-sized company up in the states. You'd probably recognize the name well, the subject of Latin American customer service or lack thereof came up and The obvious lack of detail in most business establishments here in Latin America and why beyond all odds they seem to succeed I mean look the guy who brought it up as a retired American CEO and you got to be kind of cutthroat To get to that position up in the states So the discussion of the lack of customer service and the lack of business details

[03:12] We're on the table and that gringo being a retired CEO Naturally, the wheels are always turning in his brain when he walks into a business and sees all those obvious defects He's thinking man. I do this and that he'd have a dozen ways to tweak the place So naturally one of the guys at the table said if you bought a Latin American business right now What would you do on day one? He said on day one I'd fire a bunch of managers and start interviewing He said I want people who are detail oriented People who get stressed out when things aren't orderly when things aren't in their proper place then I said, yeah, right But we're in Latin America. How do you find people like that? He said, oh they're around and there's a real easy way to find them I said tell me more He said I'll tell you what worked a hundred percent of the time for me when I was doing an interview process with someone

[04:01] You know looking to fill a managerial spot So now the other two gringos at the table and me are really paying attention to this guy He said look, let's say there are ten applicants interviewing for that job I've seen the resumes I checked up on them and they all have pretty much equal qualifications We'll assume all else being equal they all have about the same skills IQ and job experience So then which of the ten do I hire? He said I have my secretary set up a personal interview I have my secretary walk the first applicant into an empty boardroom There's maybe 12 seats at the table typical boardroom like you see in the movies though It's completely empty except for the applicant She seats the person down and says I'll be there to do the interview in a couple of minutes She closes the door behind her leaving the applicant all alone in the boardroom

[04:50] Now in front of where she's sitting is a little stack of papers files and pens in a kind of disorder We're assuming she's a woman applicant here Same thing in front of the other empty chairs at the table some slightly disordered files charts pens and markers Purposely a little chaotic nothing in line. Nothing straight. Nothing really ordered Now there's a tiny Somewhat hidden camera up in the corner of the room and I'm watching her from my office I'm purposely letting her sit in that office for 10 minutes all alone to see what she'll do And you know what one maybe two out of those ten applicants will Square up and arrange those papers and files and pens In other words only ten or twenty percent of those applicants are the type that disorder

[05:35] Stresses them out enough so that they actually do something about it now remember an applicant that does that is in a room They've never been in before and yet they're straightening things out making them orderly And you know what nine out of ten times. That's the person I'm gonna hire unless of course my Mother called being said hire your cousin because you know sometimes nepotism trumps talent And you don't want to piss off your mother speaking of not wanting to piss off your mother. I heard a great Explanation why third world countries nearly always remain third world with I think the sole exceptions being Singapore and South Korea Anyway third world countries have all got crap corrupt lard ass governments So do first world countries so we can't put all the blame on politicians some of it Maybe but not all the thing is in the business community whether you're talking big businesses or small

[06:25] The key people in the key positions are nepotism hires In other words companies here in third world Latin America and in third world Middle East and third world Asia, too They're disproportionately staffed with nepotism hires whereas with businesses in first world countries the US, Canada Japan South Korea Germany etc people were hired and promoted based on merit and that's the way it's been for hundreds of years That is until just recently with this DEI crap Diversity hires are like nepotism hires. They guarantee a company will never reach its full potential So why do those companies not fail here in Latin America? Well, that's because the companies they compete with are chock full of nepotism hires, too

[07:11] So it's basically a level playing field That's why ninety nine point nine percent of third world companies can't survive in a first world business climate and also why Gringos and expats do so well when they come down here and start a business Since we as Gringos generally don't staff our companies with brothers sisters and some drunken uncles But I digress as usual. What were we talking about? Oh, yeah Another not so often expressed reason why Gringos Sometimes throw in the towel and head back to the states the generally unstated reason It's because a certain percentage of Gringos and expats are just too anal to live down here They're too stressed out by the levels of chaos and disorder. They see all around They're stressed out by the fact they can't do anything about it

[07:58] They're even more stressed out by the fact that Latinos think it's normal things like mañana time, which can be terribly Inconvenient if you're waiting on let's say an electrician or a plumber by the way Those are the same bad habits an estimated 20 million illegal aliens have brought with them to the states So look out all that's coming to a neighborhood near you By the way, that's why a great proportion of Latino neighborhoods and barrios in Chicago, Detroit, New York a lot of the big cities Look sound and feel just like those chaotic disorganized barrios back home Remember that saying pole folks have pole habits Problem is most pole folks are under educated so they don't even know they have pole habits So you have to ask yourself Are you the kind of expat gonna be or want to be who can look beyond all that?

[08:49] that is not get stressed out when you see disorder and chaos because you're gonna see it the second you walk out your door and Really, there'll be nothing you can do about it except of course when it comes to your own living space in your car Now as for me being an engineer in a former life I'm the orderly type in fact a lot of my friends might say I'm anal But like every personality trait anal is on a graduated scale 2 from 1 to 10 So personally I have kind of a low grade obsession for orderliness My friends will tell you my house and my car. They're in very good order very un Latin American like no Scratches on the doors no smudges on the paint no moldy shower curtains No drippy faucets or scum around the drains yes, it's true. I see chaos and disorder everywhere

[09:34] But that also means when I see chaos and disorder I see business opportunities So I am sort of on the anal scale my friends will tell you that but I'm low on that scale low enough So I'm not stressed out about it when I'm out and about and when I'm in my car I get home I'm in a place that doesn't bug me doesn't stress me out a place I can't criticize for lack of detail But I have to admit if I was a bit more up there on the 1 to 10 anal scale And I know lots of Americans are I've got a few of those in my family So I do recognize when it comes to people who are overly stressed by chaos and disorder It's easy to see why some of them wouldn't survive down here for long for some it would be way too stressful Which sort of flies in the face of one of the reasons why a lot of us come down here in the first place

[10:20] It's a lower our stress right and believe me it will do that in a hundred and one ways But where you sit on that 1 to 10 anal chart and whether you're even on that chart at all Yeah, I have to judge your own stress levels. It's another thing all together. So it depends it's sort of permanently burned into your psyche like the color of your eyes Now, of course, you know, there's a common stereotype about engineering and nerdy types You picture mismatched clothes unkempt hair Star Wars and the sci-fi posters and figurines everywhere a 20-ish kid Banging away at his computer night and day stale pizzas and empty energy drink cans everywhere Well, that's really the Hollywood stereotype alone genius nerd working in his Maas basement creating the next warm barter Supervirus, but really that's maybe only 5% of engineers and software guys. Most of them obviously on the autism spectrum

[11:13] They're super anal about two things computers and gaming now The rest of the software and engineering clan can be almost normal though I admit many of the very successful ones are quite anal about organization their minds are not cluttered They think in a very orderly way They know how to prioritize and compartmentalize things which brings me back to my first day and engineering school orientation where the Dean of students said Sorry to say half of you guys will not graduate those of you who are very organized carry a notebook and write things down will So bringing things full circle here How stressed out are you about chaos and disorder because it will have some bearing on how you handle your plan B? All right on a more topical note. I'm sure you heard about the vote in Venezuela now being down here in Latin America

[12:02] I got a completely different perspective on it because I'm hearing from Latinos in different countries What's really happening not the lamestream media New York Times or AP or CNN? Homogenized version, I know at first everyone heard the election was fixed Well, that's exactly what everyone down here in Latin America's thinks as well And then you hear that all the protesters in Venezuela were supported by US interests You know those diabolic NGOs like USA ID Which is everywhere here in Latin America and is really a front for the CIA If you don't believe it look it up do a search Us a ID US aid sounds so nice wonderful, but nevolent it ain't it's a CIA front at even the most egregious

[12:48] lamestream media suck up flunkies those wonderful kiss asses at Wikipedia admit when you look up USA ID That it's a CIA front. How's that for calling the kettle black? So here's the thing Maduro stole the election everyone knows that and even if he comes up with the tabulations in the actual voting records To prove that he won which he says he's gonna do he didn't allow any Independent agencies to come into the country and monitor the elections at the election polls on top of that his own personal election Officials were counting the votes might that be a little red flag all right, so let me tell you something you didn't know There are 30 million people in Venezuela over 6 million have escaped. They've left Living all over the rest of Latin America and many in the US

[13:36] I'm sure there's a few camped out near you now these 6 million Venezuelans left because they couldn't stand the Chavez and Maduro regimes. They were treated so terribly and so oppressed They left everything behind, but what they could carry and got the hell out of the socialist version of that Now of course with practically every election in any country if you live out of that country But are a citizen you can vote you vote at your nearest embassy, or you do a mail-in vote which? Venezuela does not allow so you have to go down to the embassy any Venezuelan embassy and every country in Latin America has one the US too So try to process the following there are over 6 million Venezuelans eligible to vote living outside of Venezuela Practically every last one of those Venezuelans except maybe the ones who work at a Venezuelan embassy

[14:27] Will vote against Maduro. They absolutely hate the guy's guts Nine out of ten of them admittedly want to see the guy dead He's the reason they left in the first place all polls indicate that So process this with the over 6 million Venezuelans living outside of Venezuela who are eligible to vote The vast majority absolutely chomping at the bit to vote so what do they do they went down to the nearest Venezuelan embassy? They want the guy out and they came out in force to officially register to vote guess what as of voting day There were only 69,000 of those people actually registered to vote That's 69,000 registered voters out of 6 million eligible voters doing the numbers You'll find that only one in 89 Venezuelans living outside the country were actually permitted to cast a vote

[15:17] That's slightly over 1% of eligible voters in other words about 99% of that 6 million who hate Maduro Were not permitted to cast their vote Well, let me break this down a bit in Colombia That's a place that has more Venezuelans living there than any other country besides Venezuela, of course There are 2.8 million Venezuelans living there. They all hate Maduro. He's the reason they escaped to Colombia anyway, there's 2.8 million adult Venezuelans living in Colombia and according to the UN agency for refugees only 7,000 were registered to vote due to guess what it says right here the difficulty of registering Venezuelans to vote They've got tons of prerequisites

[16:04] You need and forms to fill out to register and here's the thing Venezuela only issues a five-year passport And as with the case with most Venezuelans most who have been outside of their country for years their passports have expired And it's a two-year wait to go to a Venezuelan embassy outside the country to get a new passport And guess what? I think you can see this coming Venezuela will not register a person to vote if his passport has expired cute trick, huh? So get this in Colombia out of the 2.8 million Venezuelans living there eligible to vote only one in 400 of them were actually permitted to vote So they only let two-tenths of 1% of eligible Venezuelan voters in Colombia

[16:51] Cast a ballot. So the way the Maduro regime guaranteed itself a win Was to make it extremely difficult if not impossible to register to vote if you're an eligible Venezuelan living outside the country Of course inside the country since his government set up the polls and count the votes He's gonna win there for sure same old same old that's part of the dictator's playbook Think of the strategy. He knows every Venezuelan living outside the country except those of course working at embassies They hate his guts and will vote against him. So let's just make it next to impossible for them to vote Problem solved by the way, I've got more disturbing data on that But I won't bore you except for one particular case in Ecuador get this in Ecuador There are 400,000 Venezuelans living there eligible to vote

[17:38] Turns out the Venezuelan Embassy in Ecuador made it so difficult Not a single one of those Venezuelans was allowed to register to vote So bottom line even if you think that the US and its alphabet agencies had a hand in trying to turn the vote in Venezuela Which may be true. Those US alphabet agencies are pure evil. We know that Setting that aside think about what you just heard Concerning all the Venezuelans living outside the country who definitely would have voted to throw Maduro out on his ear and Possibly strung him up by his thumbs Mussolini style by the way So far eight Latin American countries have broken diplomatic ties with Venezuela over the fraud in the election in retaliation Venezuela has demanded its foreign ministry asked the diplomats from Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Ecuador, Panama

[18:26] Dominican Republic and Uruguay to leave the country immediately Their diplomats have been recalled. In other words, they're shutting down their embassies They're consulates in those countries and the airlines in those eight countries have canceled flights to and from Venezuela However, there are some countries that have recognized Maduro's fraudulent victory the usual suspects Russia Iran North Korea Cuba Nicaragua and Honduras Didn't expect that but here's something I really did not expect. Did you know on Wednesday Mexico's president Lopez Obrador? Said that he could see no evidence of fraud in the election of Nicolas Maduro. He says quote I've seen no proof. There's no evidence of fraud in the case of Venezuela's elections Isn't it funny? He's virtually the only Mexican who thinks that yeah, right. I like how he believes Maduro's claim

[19:17] There was no election fraud. He takes Maduro's word over the exit polls Taken by about 20 different independent polling agencies the fact that every independent exit poll shows him losing by about 35% and Of course the fact that he's a known dictator who will do anything to stay in par That's not a red flag for Lopez Obrador. By the way, if you're unfamiliar with Venezuela's timeline Here's a quick update in 1992 became the third richest country in the hemisphere The hemisphere includes the northern hemisphere, you know us in Canada In 2001 they voted in socialist president Hugo Chavez who said he would fix income inequality by taxing the rich and kicking out international oil companies in

[20:02] 2004 private health care was completely socialized in 2007 all higher education became free 2009 the socialist government banned private ownership of guns In 2012 our own Bernie Sanders went on the congressional record praising Venezuela's quote American dream in 2014 all opposition leaders were imprisoned 2016 food and health care shortages became so widespread Millions were fleeing the country in 2017 Socialist president Maduro Suspends the Constitution and the elections By 2024 over 6 million Venezuelans have fled the country, but crime is down by 24%

[20:47] Why because president Maduro has opened the prison doors and let the violent criminals out Whose main goal was to escape to the US southern border Now if you look around the internet to see if that claim is true You'll see a lot of sites saying it's fake news. There's no real substantial proof of it Well, if that's what the internet is saying I suggest they talk to some Venezuelans down here in Latin America Funny how I never even heard of that rumor until I spoke to a couple of Venezuelan buddies of mine That's the word. They're getting directly from their family and friends in Venezuela Though it's true Maduro's government completely censors the news. They cannot censor what's up Everybody's on what's up in Venezuela, and they're all talking to their six million friends and family who are living outside the country So then how are certain reports referred to as fake news when you look them up on the internet though when you talk to

[21:38] Venezuelans in Central and South America who are in daily touch with their family and friends in Venezuela They'll not only confirm those so-called fake news stories. They'll tell you stories that are much much worse Oh and speaking of an internet story that's gone viral. That's not fake news. Have you heard the one about Elon Musk? He went on ex formerly known as Twitter and said to Maduro specifically. I'm coming after you Maduro I'll carry you to get mo on a donkey and apparently Maduro not being very bright and taking this as a personal threat Order his security forces not to let Elon into the country How about that like he's actually gonna show up with a donkey and try to drag him away and apparently Maduro in a press address Responding to Elon said I accept your challenge come and get me he said we'll fight it out

[22:28] He said let's have it on Elon Musk in fact. He yelled into Cameron said I'm a son of boulevard and of Chavez I'm not afraid of you. Let's have it on so then Maduro dimwitted macho arrogant fool That he is said Elon Musk come get me then Elon tweeted back Let's fight if I win you resign his dictator if you win I'll give you a free trip to Mars way to go Elon then again you do get the politicians you deserve I mean you voted for him now of course he stole the election two times But you voted for him the first time when the economy was kind of chugging along and he hadn't destroyed it yet Oh, and just one more thing about Venezuela and Venezuela's you might find this interesting I've got a lot of Venezuelan buddies, or I should say acquaintances the fact is about two years ago

[23:14] I hired a couple of them to help me with a remodeling project They were doing the groundwork and they were really more than adequate at it no dummies. That's for sure They were overqualified to be ground workers, but hey when you escape your country leave everything behind You still got to eat you take what you can get these guys were some of the best workers I've ever seen I have to admit they were a little more educated a little more cultured than your average Latino And they knew it too one day they were helping me install surveillance cameras And we're running some cable underneath solar panels on the roof And I noticed a big glop of silicone caulk around one of the supports for the solar panel And one of the glops had a screwdriver embedded in it Some guy dropped his screwdriver in the fresh caulk and left it there and two or three years later there

[24:00] It was and I was a little pissed I said out loud to the two Venezuelans. I said look at that That's why Latin America will always remain third world. Well guess what they both were noticeably upset at my remark One of them said Johnny not all Latin Americans are like that most Venezuelans. He said our detail is does detail oriented So they put me in my place momentarily anyway Now being that these guys worked with me daily for quite a while little by little they told me the whole story about The rise and fall of Venezuela Chavez before Chavez Maduro currency devaluation is the impossible inflation and men did they to a person hate Chavez and they often would say to me how they Love Venezuela and after Chavez is out of power

[24:48] There's no second strong man to step up. So the country will normalize I said how's Chavez gonna fall out of power? They said well, he'll probably get shot In fact, they were hoping he'd get shot and I said to these guys, how long have you guys despised Chavez? He said well the vast majority of Venezuelans have hated him for like 10 years And I said with all that hatred and the way he's destroyed your country. No one's taking a potshot at him yet Seems to me a lot of Venezuelans are seething with anger like you guys boiling over with hatred. Nope They said he's well protected. No one's taking a potshot at him yet. Besides that he's got Cuban bodyguards Like that's supposed to explain it all. I Said wait a minute. Wait a minute. Think of all the lives

[25:33] He's destroyed people who've left the country the way he's destroyed the currency and the economy and the oil field He's turned a whole country into a ghetto I said I still can't believe no one's taking a shot at him or put some cyanide in his coffee and don't tell me that's Because the place says outlawed guns for private citizens last time I was there right before Covid yet I was on a cruise ship docked outside Caracas And I could hear gunshots sitting on my cruise ship balcony day and night And I'll tell you that's why people did not want to go on shore excursions I did because well, you know, I lived in Latin America so many years, right? But I'll tell you it was the tiniest group of people I ever saw going to shore Yes, I saw the long line some of them blocks long just waiting to get powdered milk I went into some big shopping malls. You'd go into the electronics store and be nothing on the shelves

[26:22] Anyway, I'd get into constant discussions with my Venezuelan workers because they'd always talk about Venezuela Always reminiscing about the good old days and how someday they're gonna go back When Maduro's gone And I'd always egg him on a bit. I'd say when somebody gonna pop him When's he gonna get the poison dart and they'd say soon enough his time will come his time will come and we're going back Man, I'd hear that over and over like a broken record. And finally one of the guys said to me Honestly, Johnny, we Venezuelans like to talk a lot but we're not big on action We're always asking ourselves. How do we let it get this way? He said sad to say but basically I think most of us are just cowards We let it happen. We saw it coming but we let it happen And you know when he said that I thought instantly of the United States and Canada Europe, too

[27:11] You know who's to blame for all that ID and wokeness crap Americans specifically the baby boomers and Gen Xers boomers and Gen Xers saw it coming You knew what your country was like before that ID and wokeness shit yet. You sat back and you let it happen Yep, you deserve the politicians you get cuz you voted for him 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