#1416 – Episode 1416: Life, Legal Cases, and the Culture of Insurance 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 that I wonder Hello there all you expat 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 Let's talk about some things you find down here in Latin America that just don't make sense at all But yet they just continue on and on and no one does a thing about it Like for example when you're driving down the street and you're behind a commercial truck or pickup or van

[00:47] And it says in painted letters on the tailgate or somewhere in the back of the truck Don't like how I'm driving or am I driving inappropriately? Dial this number and report it. Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure you've seen signs like that on the back of trucks up in the states And of course, no one I know has ever called in and reported a terrible driver Though apparently trucking companies are giving you that option. However, a long time ago. I discovered it was just marketing actually a marketing fraud Because a long time ago when those alerts first started appearing in the late 90s down here in Latin America I phoned up three times on three different terrible drivers. Man, did I have my pick? Could have called up on 50 in one day But I chose three twice the numbers were disconnected and on the third one

[01:32] I got another completely different company nothing to do with the truck and the bad driver. I was trying to report It's pure bullshit pure marketing fraud. So now I'm thinking what trucking and businesses who really do They should have the number posted on the back of the vehicle connected to a laugh track You know a laugh track like in a stale sitcom Anyway, just thought I'd point out another completely ridiculous thing in the head You'll see down here in Latin America. That doesn't make sense at all By the way, I know I did point out but it's worth repeating that Every single day you drive in a big city You'll see at least one sometimes two or three little piles of glass at a particular street corner or stop sign Where someone got rear-ended or somehow clipped anyway

[02:18] The remnants of an accident are always on the ground at some street corner and nothing you know can ruin a fine day in paradise more than a fender bender that you're in and Being that in my formative years going through undergrad University. I was on the dead dog crew on the Chicago Street Department I'm always wondering who sweeps up and gets rid of that glass appears like no one it just gets spread around and into the wind For that matter lots of dead dogs environments on the road, too I wonder who's picking those things up looks like no one though You know after a while with a hot tropical Sun beating down they do decompose rapidly plus You've got wheat trusses all around you know what a wheat truss is. No, I'm not talking about waitresses. I'm talking about wheat trusses big ass vultures Ugly horrible ass looking things too and man somehow when there's a roadkill there are big flocks of those things

[03:10] They swoop in and they make quick time of a carcass in a hurry, and they're fearless anyway Just to warn you once again Latinos have a different concept of personal space than you and I do That's why you just can't avoid tailgaters and get this when you give the guy in front of you a lot of space You know so you're not tailgating someone cuts right in and now you're tailgating again With the next jerk that whipped right in that space Yeah, and that lack of personal space thing applies with almost everything down here When you're standing in a line down here, you'll notice the people won't be standing six eight or ten inches apart. They'll be Uncomfortably close to you another great reason to practice good hygiene Even if the guy in front or behind you doesn't same thing goes with walking down the street or driving on the highway Oh and especially in parking garages

[03:57] I don't know who's responsible for painting the lines of demarcation in parking spaces, but that guy must not own a car Maybe a go-kart or a tuk-tuk, but not a real car again It's their different concept of personal space, which is perfectly great in a romantic sense I mean if you've got a girlfriend significant under boyfriend, whatever Latinos and latinas are very touchy feely, which is not a good thing when it comes to traffic or driving a vehicle But personally and romantically speaking it can be quite nice, but for most other things it ain't alright moving on a little follow-up on a Story we mentioned about a half a year ago now. You might recall the story the ex-president of Argentina's wife Filed formal charges against her husband Argentina's former president Alberto Ferdinandes for committing violence and battery against her

[04:49] Her name is Fabiola Yanez. Well, they finally had their first hearing and here's what happened By the way, this is an AP report just today out of Buenos Aires, Argentina It's as a federal judge on Monday ruled that sufficient evidence exists to proceed with the formal charges against Argentina's former president Alberto Ferdinandes for battery and violence against his former first lady Ex-president Fernandez stands accused of causing serious injuries bodily as well as psychological harm to her and the judge Julian Aquilini froze one of the ex-president's bank accounts that had eight million dollars in it now The first question I have is why the Does an ex-president of Argentina have eight million dollars in his bank account?

[05:37] Thank God for Malay the present uncorruptible president anyway According to court records and eyewitness testimony after being elected president in 2019 the physical violence against his wife began It continued and escalated more precisely after if she became pregnant in August of 2021 Evidence considered by the judge included what's up conversations and the president's private secretaries eyewitness reports Including photos and medical certificates from doctor visits and corroborating testimony from family and friends according to the judge and prosecutors eight years of psychological and physical aggression against her would have left Yanez the wife with psychological and physical damage and permanent deterioration of her health

[06:23] It says prosecutors are looking at a maximum 18 years in prison for the former president So then what about that eight million isn't anyone gonna investigate that sounds like he's a minor league version of Nancy Pelosi So this is sort of a first for a president here in Latin America now We all know they're grifters thieves and scumbag, but wife beaters. Well, that's a subject that usually never comes up Why because down here in Latin America, it's called being macho Of course, there's no excuse for it But because this is a first in such a high-profile case, there'll be some real light set on a subject The fact is I know a couple of emergency room doctors and they tell me especially on weekends You know when everyone likes to go out dancing and drinking and partying Well, I've been told that in certain neighborhoods the emergency room is just filled with ladies

[07:14] sporting bruises scrapes black eyes and other injuries In other words on weekends lots of ladies trip and fall lots of ladies lose their balance They seem to be overly clumsy on weekends At least that's what ends up on most of their hospital charts And of course emergency room doctors know exactly what's going on and they're supposed to report it to the police But the ladies they say in almost all cases refuse to finger their old man But get this although many times they'll admit to the nurses and doctors that they've been knocked around After they've calmed down a bit and have been tranquilized, they'll actually admit to it being partly their fault They knew somehow they triggered their man's jealousy Something you don't want to do here in Latin America So that's the way it is down here jealous men will have their fits of rage and women will pay for it and often

[08:03] End up in the emergency room and though sometimes women will fight back and sometimes they'll even end up bumping off the guy And those are the cases that hit the press fake book and tick tock It makes for a good scandal woman bumps off jealous boyfriend or husband and fit a rage But the fact is in certain emergency rooms You'll see the waiting room filled with remorseful guys while their ladies are being bandaged up and attended to Yep, jealousy is a dangerous and powerful thing Yet there is a feeling here in Latin America at least you know hear it all the time That if your partner is not a little bit jealous, then there's no love So at least down here. Anyway, a certain amount of jealousy is equated with love Hmm are you on board with that? You know coming from up in the states and having a couple of good-looking sisters who had boyfriends who were often jealous

[08:53] I was brought up to believe jealousy was not good that we're all capable of it But it was to be discouraged not in ad verbal trade. Not so in Latin America, it seems All right switching gears again, you know these days a lot of people are thinking about insurance The topic of insurance is on people's minds more than ever to what with the hurricanes down south in the California wildfires As you well know insurance companies are pulling out of certain markets cutting people up Which naturally brings us to the subject of insurance here in Latin America now just looking online for the average cost of insurance in Illinois where my mom's got a house a Small three-bedroom 1200 square foot job probably worth 300 grand in this market on a good day

[09:40] Well, she's paying about 2,500 bucks a year for homeowners insurance, by the way The most expensive states for homeowners insurance are Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, Colorado and Kansas now why that's true I don't know but they're talking about four thousand to fifty five hundred dollars a year in those states And I don't get why the cheapest states for homeowners insurance are Hawaii, Delaware, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine Where the rates are from five hundred to a thousand bucks a year. So they're five times cheaper than the most expensive states I don't get it. But these stats are according to State Farm and farmers insurance Well, you longtime listeners heard me say many times before that when you come down here to Latin America You'll find almost no one has any kind of homeowners insurance No umbrella policy and as far as life insurance almost no one has life insurance except through their company

[10:29] If they're working for a big company, they get it included as part of their perks And of course many Latin Americans have health insurance through the company they work for too Which includes funeral insurance if you die while you're working for a company They pick up your funeral costs The other fact is that most people who don't work for a big company rarely carry any insurance at all Except maybe car insurance because I have to now car insurance which is mandatory down here in Latin America is Sort of a joke too because even though it's mandatory Half the people driving are driving junks or death traps including motorcyclists who by law are supposed to carry insurance, but don't The fact is down here in Latin America You can only be sure that a person is carrying car insurance if the person is driving a new or late model car

[11:15] Because you're forced to when you take out a loan and oddly enough or maybe not so oddly enough Most Latin Americans once they paid off their car alone Will let their full coverage insurance lamps or just pick up the basic third-party coverage, which is all I recommend really I'm not at all a fan of full coverage insurance even if you have a new car because down here You'll have such a high deductible. It's almost never worth it besides that with all the scratches dents and dings You're gonna get remember that personal space thing We were talking about if you want to keep your car a nice look and you'll always end up paying out of pocket anyway I've met almost no one down here who says full coverage insurance is a good deal In fact, I have a really good friend who's an executive at a big insurance company And he tells me the only reason he has full coverage insurance on his car himself

[12:03] Because it's a company perk for him. He told me if it wasn't free He'd drop it for a third-party coverage, which is about 150 to 200 bucks a year So as mentioned I always recommend if you have a car to get the basic cheapest low-ball coverage That's required by law Will cost you anywhere from 150 to 200 bucks a year and really the only reason to have it is because it's required by law By the way, it's pretty much useless except for the free towing feature But back to homeowners insurance now Here's the thing a screen loose and expats have a whole different kind of view of insurance We've been trained at birth or maybe slightly after that. You must have Umbrella coverage for your home in possession up in the states most of us even get renters insurance when we lease an apartment and when we take a cruise or go on vacation we get

[12:53] Vacation insurance we're just absolutely wedded to the fact that we need insurance for everything Which is why I always get very strange and odd looks from newbie gringos and expats when I give them my opinion About insurance down here. They ask me for insurance recommendations when I tell them don't bother You don't need it. They think I'm joking. I'm not though. There are enough gringos down here, especially in the tourist area Insurance companies down here are well aware that gringos are suckers for insurance So don't worry if it makes you feel good and you don't mind dropping your money down a big black hole By all means there are insurance companies that will hook you up. But believe me It's not all about protecting your property. It's all about making you feel good Now when I tell gringos and expats that I've been down here a long long time and I don't have home owners insurance and never

[13:42] Have the first thing out of their mouths is well, what about hurricanes and earthquakes and life-extinguishing meteors? legitimate questions, of course Except for meteors. What I always tell them is if you're living in a hurricane zone just make sure the bottom floor of your house is at least 30 feet off the high tide mark and you're not within the 100-year floodplain and your house is made out of concrete block and steel Oh and in hurricane regions, you'll need metal roll-down shutters because you see hurricanes Don't damage concrete and steel building and even if there's a lot of stuff flying through the air and smashing up against your property As long as you've got those metal roll down hurricane shutters, even your glass windows will be protected Problem is a lot of gringos and expats like to build with a tropical garden. Look, you know

[14:32] thatched Tropical roof wooden beams and wooden ceilings everywhere. It's a nice look no doubt But won't hold up if you're really get hit hard with a hurricane and as far as earthquakes Well again if you use concrete block and steel and you had the foundation set right even in a big earthquake like a six or seven pointer You might get a few hairline cracks in your walls, but it won't come tumbling down again It's the idiots that build with bamboo and stick build and those fools who like to build on a precarious perch or the side of a Hill or mountain like so many idiot Californians who are courting disaster Oh, they do look nice. All right, but they're the proverbial protruding nail that gets hammered back to this California fire thing You know people down here in Latin America

[15:19] They know all about that now because it's so much in the news and Latinos, you know They're seeing it on TV and they're saying stuff like Johnny Why do people build with wood sure they say we have fires down here in Latin America, too But it only affects the poor folks because they build with wood So then why when it comes to fire our Latino smarter than gringos because they learned their lessons ages ago Down here. Nobody in their right mind builds with wood. Oh once in a while You'll see some wood accent a wooden floor here and there are some ceiling details in wood beautiful wood doors But basically even the wealthiest people build out of block concrete steel and glass Now the thing is when I first got down here, I experienced gringo American insurance guilt, too I thought you'd absolutely have to have it until I got talked out of it

[16:05] I remember when I built my first house. I had no insurance and was feeling guilty about it I had a couple of gringo neighbors one was a Canadian. He said look It's stupid to get insurance instead what you should do to make you stop feeling guilty about not having it Take maybe 500 or a thousand bucks a year and put it into a fund as if you were paying for an insurance plan sort of Self-insures, so after a couple of years, it'll have grown enough for you to be able to cover any damage that might come along Well, I didn't do that. But that's what he and a lot of his Canadian buddies did It's kind of like one of those medical savings insurance plans where you sort of self-insure you build up a medical fund for whatever expenses Come your way then you'll never have to fight with an insurance company or argue about deductibles, etc

[16:52] Anyway, just a thought for those of you who feel guilty about not having homeowners insurance Once you get down here to Latin America or just go out and buy the insurance if you feel that strongly about it Anyway, good luck with that By the way Have you seen the shape of the new storefront mannequins down here in Latin America for less a couple years anyway The whole idea of straight skinny tall mannequins has changed into these very voluptuous curvy mannequins You see I'm everywhere now. Now, of course not every girl has that shape They all wish they had head shape big on top tiny waists and natural bubble butts Every Latina I know dreams of having that figure and some do in fact We can blame certain latinas in the media who brought that to our attention, you know, JLo Sophia Bergara

[17:39] And of course the retired ascians are the silicone American versions of that type Anyway, I don't know if this extremely curvy mannequin trend is catching on up by you But down here female mannequins are showing up that are so curvy and outrageous I don't think I've ever seen an American girl in my whole life with those proportions though It seems they're everywhere down here You could sit down in a coffee shop and I'd say two or maybe three out of every ten girls will have at least some of Those features. Oh, and by the way, as you all know, I'm not a fan of any of those apps like tick tock or insta crap But the other day man, I wished for just a split second I would have had the opportunity to film what I saw and post it somewhere anywhere I was sitting in my car at a stop sign looking to the left at a row of those very curvy mannequins lined up in

[18:29] front of a fashionable ladies clothing store and suddenly a mangy street dog walked by Picked out a mannequin lifted his leg and relieved himself Turned her white tennis shoes yellow Man, if I had only have been Johnny on the spot with the camera Speaking of cameras and phones you might recall I mentioned I have a friend a lady friend who is an executive at Claro You know the biggest phone and internet company in all of Latin America owned by that obese Mexican picture of health Carlos Slim Anyway, I was talking to this lady the other day and she told me something that I found very odd indeed She tells me that almost all Latinas that come in to one of the Claro offices have this huge overwhelming desire to have an iPhone and

[19:17] They'll routinely sign up for a three-year payment plan to get one the latest model iPhone too But you see the latest model costs somewhere around fifteen hundred to two thousand bucks Which would put those things completely out of reach for the average Latino or Latina who makes only 300 bucks a month or so You might think nevertheless though. She says if you've got a good credit score. Yep They've got credit scores down here in Latin America now You can pay on time for three years big companies like Claro Tigo Walmart and Costco are hooking up with the big credit agencies that are starting to appear down here Most are branches of big US credit agencies like TRW who have been making money up in the state's hand over fist Selling credit reports to you and yours as well as selling your credit data to the highest bidder

[20:04] So how's that working out for you? Anyway, they're expanding down here to Latin America and what I've learned from this lady friend who is an administrator at Claro She said in their individual stores. There's huge demand for iPhones, but mostly from lady Sure guys want them too But they'll usually settle for something less a Samsung or Hawaii or an off-brand that's much cheaper than an iPhone Turns out Latino guys are not nearly as choosy about their phones as Latinas are so then what puts an iPhone at the absolute top Of every Latinas wish list. Well, it was something I could never have predicted. That's for sure I found out it's about the apps. In fact, there happens to be a particularly famous app on the latest greatest iPhones called in English body sculpturing in Spanish called a sculptura

[20:53] Which basically does the equivalent of a photoshop? Lipo suction on any selfie which means any girl with a recent iPhone can post pictures of herself anywhere She wants demonstrating a body with all the curves She normally would never be able to afford at a real plastic surgeon. In other words, it gives virtual Brazilian butt lifts BBL's So if you're ever wondering why most Latinas look hotter and sexier in their photos than they do in real life Well now, you know on top of that I was told the new iPhones have apps that'll filter out all your blemishes and acne and Manipulate your nose and jaw give you a nose job facelift So that's why even poor Latinas are going into massive cell phone debt It also does a lot to explain why Latino guys aren't ready to sell their souls for an iPhone

[21:43] Most guys aren't much interested in getting virtual plastic surgery. No straight guys I know anyway, so there you have it Just a little heads up on the direction of Latino society these days So the question is are you seeing similar trends up in the states? I know up by you iPhones are super popular, too Seems to me like a stupid way to drop a couple of grand where you could buy a Samsung or something else for a third The price I mean a phone's a phone, right? But that's just me. Anyway, I'm not looking to Synthetically modify my butt my waistline or my face though I kind of wonder sometimes what life would be like if I actually had a butt Would I be able to tolerate a stiff chair or a park bench for a longer period of time? Probably oh and my pants would stay up without a belt But then again a new iPhones two grand could buy a lot of belts for two grand

[22:31] Oh, and by the way that Latina clado administrator lady told me that there are virtually tens of thousands of young Latinas on a three-year payment plan for their iPhone Which poses something of a dilemma because almost all of them are looking to trade up to the new model after one year So they've actually got a trade-in or I should say trade-up plan Turn in the old one and re-up bad a slightly higher monthly payment That means every year they set the hook deeper and deeper Oh, and I say young ladies because turns out the age bracket for that huge demand in iPhones is high school through around 40 years old makes sense. I guess oh and one more thing she says when you see a young lady

[23:16] Let's say 22 25 years old who does not have an iPhone. It's almost always because she had a bad credit score Hmm better luck next year. All right. Let's take an email from Josh in Minnesota. He says Johnny What do you think about what Trump been Elon and Kennedy are doing? What are gringles and expats in Latin America saying about Trump? Okay, Josh well I like what Trump's doing and I really like what Elon and Doge are doing because extreme measures in the USA are Necessary because it's deep in the crapper But I know a lot of people who absolutely still hate Trump. My mother hates Trump She's 95 and a died in the wool Democrat. She pulls that Democrat lever as soon as she gets in the booth

[24:02] She's always done that she's a Kennedy Democrat. Nope. Not an RFK Democrat a real original John F Kennedy Democrat, she still thinks it's the same party I just don't know how such very smart people in one area could be so dumb in another then again She's a professor and 99 percent of professors and teachers vote Democrat, but I don't argue with her You don't argue with a 95 year old person. You'll never change their mind Especially if they're smarter than you the fact is if you didn't vote for Trump You probably hate him and you'll never agree with anything He says even if he massively cleans up government and actually makes America great again You're still gonna have a hate boner for him to most Democrats He'll always be orange man Hitler And if that's how you feel you need to go where the Democratic platform has been fully realized you need to move to California

[24:52] LA San Francisco, you'll love it there owned and operated by big government Democrats Socialists equity hires and woke people everywhere Why are you sitting around complaining in Illinois or Texas or New Jersey or Florida when utopia is right over the horizon? You know how to get there. Don't you just a face north and take a hard left? Meanwhile, here's what you get when you have Democrats in control Here's a story that just came out yesterday on the International Lawyer Service Has it even hit down here in Latin America? The headline says I see e ice deports a migrant gang member who illegally entered the US Ten times all the while wanted for murder in Mexico It says and I'll make this short Umberto Romero a villa 45 described as a foreign fugitive by ice

[25:41] illegally entered the US in 2002 is wanted in Mexico for a murder of a 22 year old man in 2007 So then how did he do that if he entered the US illegally in 2002? Well, that's because he went back and forth ten times It says as well as breaking immigration laws ten times a villa has been convicted of Larceny has four US DWIs Committed several other criminal offenses while illegally roaming the streets of the US according to US ICE officials By the way, I'm no Republican. I'm a complete libertarian independent However, I see that Trump has surrounded himself with more libertarian folks than any president in history so I'm

[26:27] Cautiously optimistic about him and his presidency like I've not been for any other president in my life now, of course, I haven't voted in any presidential election since Ross Perot and Reagan you have to say good things about Reagan because he was in office During the fall of the Berlin Wall and the downfall of the Soviet Union and whether you like the guy or not Those were two unforgettable moments in 20th century history But still I've never called myself a Republican always an independent libertarian though I've never considered myself a strict libertarian either because libertarians as a group are mostly intellectual nerds And I wouldn't want a group of those guys running the world or the US either Because you see for a society to run under libertarian principles

[27:15] You have to sort of assume Everyone in that society is educated and above average which is impossible It can't work because every other person you pass on the street has a double-digit IQ Which means he or she is below average and as for my IQ, I don't really want to know it I don't want to be disappointed 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. No spamos