#369 – The Expat Files: Chemtrails, Education, and International Diversification

Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.

[00:14] 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. Now if you remember on the last show I was talking a bit about chemtrails in Latin America. And that only because I received an email asking me to suss that topic out. But as life would have it, unbeknownst to me there's a lot of people interested in chemtrails. Who'da thunk right? And who woulda thought that I'd get a pretty steady barrage of emails coming after that broadcast too? With some folks thoroughly freaked out by the thought of chemtrails anywhere and other folks

[01:00] thinking it's just a bunch of woo woo and why is Johnny getting sucked into that? Okay that said let me read you this little email then we'll close the book on the subject I think. Okay this email comes from Dave and he starts out saying come on John you're an engineer you said there's proof and I'd like to hear what you have to say about it. I've listened to every one of your expat shows and I consider you a smart person. The Federal Reserve and fractional banking are all things that are not only provable but well documented. I do a weekly internet show myself which is mostly about conspiratorial issues and the host is a quote chemtrailer unquote. I've done extensive research and the data does not support their claims.

[01:45] Just reverse engineer it. How is it dispersed? First, passenger jet or large fleet of government jets? Is it through the exhaust or through nozzles? Who makes the chemicals? Where is it stored and who delivers it? I used to work for an environmental company and I was on the emergency spill team and worked on many above and underground sites. Storage tanks will all eventually leak therefore someone like me would have shown up. The amount of people that would have to be involved in just a US is astounding. Someone would have dropped a dime. Now I know people that have actually worked on military bases saying they've accepted deliveries of this chemical or that one. But these chemicals do actually have real world uses right? They never say they saw the plane or knew a mechanic that worked on these purpose built

[02:35] planes. Think about this too. Could an airplane carry the payload to create a miles long trail? The chem trailers will site one or two water samples and they mess up the milligram per liter and microgram per liter thing. In fact, I've put together some images to show that. They're from the movie Shade, the motion picture. So here's an offer. If you're interested in coming on our show to hash this out, I'd love it since just about every show I do, I talk about me eventually moving to Honduras and I think about things that you've said on your show. Anyway, thanks for all the other info you've given me over the years. I've just started getting my social security disability checks and as soon as I pay off a bunch of debt, which I got in to do to the two year wait to get the disability, I'll

[03:23] be heading down to check it out. I'd love to do the seminar but don't have the cash yet. Cheers Johnny, Dave. So anyway Dave, I'm sure I haven't studied the chemtrail subject as much as you have because if you're doing a podcast or radio show with a so called chemtrailer, you've been all over every angle of the subject like flies on a cow pie. And yes, I am an engineer and I've always been one of those guys who doesn't believe the woo woo. I really have to see things with my own eyes or hear it first hand from someone who has who I really trust. Then I'll believe it, usually. So anyway, let me tell you the surprising little tidbits that I know about the subject. The stuff I picked up about chemtrails down here. First of all, since I haven't really been back to the states in over 20 years, I don't

[04:10] really know first hand what's happening with the skies up there. And even back then when I was up in Chicago, I never heard back then anyone mention even the word chemtrails. Maybe it didn't even exist yet. So anyway, all the stuff I've been hearing and reading about chemtrails comes from maybe the last 5 to 10 years and like I said, down here. Even a skywatcher like me doesn't see patterns like that. And as a matter of fact, if you ever get into a discussion with an educated Latin, even a Latin trained engineer or a guy or a gal with a doctorate, 10 to 1 they've never heard of chemtrails either. But then again, I've found educated Latins as a rule to have a very narrow and incomplete education and their breadth of knowledge, let's just say lacking. Of course they don't know that, but if you are an educated person yourself and you

[04:58] talk to one of these so called educated latin guys or so called intellectuals, you'll find they usually wear their knowledge deficiencies like a 10 gallon hat. And you know, smart gringos and expats who eventually figure that out always ask why. Well I can tell you one big reason. Their whole educational system is based on memorization. Sound familiar? But that's another story for another show. Though if you think I'm nitpicking, and you need more proof. Notice you'll almost never see a latin person anywhere reading a book for pleasure. Not even in the usual places where you're stuck hanging around doing nothing like airports or around the hotel pools. Oh but you will see the occasional adolescent latin studying a school book.

[05:44] But that's about it. And when you hear that excuse that books are way too expensive, well that's just because there's no price break on volume to be had. No readers means no buyers means no volume means no price breaks or discounts. Therefore books in Spanish are not cheap. So what do you expect? But I digress as usual. What else is new? But I am leading to a point here, so bear with me. If you recall, I told a story about a hundred shows ago, wow a hundred shows ago. I can barely remember what I ate for breakfast. Anyway I know I mentioned because I looked it up, that I have a pretty good friend, a gringo who is not only a helicopter pilot, he's in charge of maintenance for a huge region in Latin America for a large helicopter company.

[06:30] Oh and while we're at it, here's a jeopardy question you're sure to screw up. Which country in the world has the most helicopters per capita? And we're not talking military here, we're talking private helicopters. And that goes for private aircraft too. Answer Guatemala, who'da thunk huh? Anyway I've had a lot of long discussions with my gringo helicopter pilot buddy. And over the years he's told me some very astounding things and he's the one who introduced me to a couple of other gringo helicopter and airplane and jet pilots who are down here in Latin America on US military or law enforcement government contract to spray mostly paraquat analogs and other unpronounceable chemical defoliants as more boatloads of US dollars

[07:19] get poured into the sewer in that failed war on drugs that was pretty much lost back in the 60s. So countless millions are spent every year on those spraying contracts and someone's gotta do it right? Guess who? Retired ex-US military pilots that don't ask questions and need the dough. Now as you might recall in that past show, I mentioned that most of these guys don't live down here in Latin America. They've got homes and families and debts up north. However when they do need an infusion of big cash, all they do is log into a certain private website that posts all the government spraying contracts for the next few months ahead. Now the last time I sat down and talked to these guys, which was admittedly a couple years ago, when I mentioned that chemtrail thing to them.

[08:04] Two of the guys looked at each other and one said to me, we don't really give a damn what we spray as long as we get paid. And I said in so many words, is that a roundabout way of saying you do spray the stuff? And one guy laughed and said, the name of the game is don't ask, don't tell, get paid. Now some months after that I was with my helicopter pilot buddy slash maintenance expert and he too would log into that special website and disappear for months at a time. And when I'd eventually run into him again, he'd tell me he'd been in the Middle East or something. He'd never give me much detail. Now remember this guy was not active military at all. Not to mention he's in his late 50s. He was just doing contracts occasionally.

[08:51] And in fact a few years ago there were times we'd get together a lot and sometimes late into the night after more than a few drinks he would let his guard down. And once I'll never forget. He told me a story of a certain mission of his that was so strange that if it got out the next day it would be on the front pages of every newspaper in the world, believe me. And you know what? I wasn't hearing it second hand. It was something he was involved in. So why did he tell someone like me? Because he knew I could never repeat it and get verification. If I ever did tell the story, it's so wild no one would believe me. And if it pointed back to him he'd just deny it. He'd have to. So the question is did I believe him? Absolutely. I know him pretty well.

[09:37] He's a no BS guy and doesn't talk out of turn. So anyway back to this chemtrail thing. Now after talking with this pilot and his other buddies who do certain contracts for the US government, let me tell you that chemtrails whether you believe they exist or not, according to these guys, are the least of our problems. And though I know I'm not answering any profound questions here, just thought you'd like to know that the US government for all its lack of prestige and all the information that's come out with Snowden etc. Tell you what, it's time to leave. Do it while you can. Things are much worse than you think. Enough said about that. Probably too much. Now I did plan to finish part 3 of Crime and Safety in Latin America, but there's some late breaking news so it'll have to wait till next show.

[10:25] You're gonna want to hear this. As you long time listeners know, I always recommend getting your ass and assets out of the first world while you still can. And you might know that the steps along the way are sometimes called the five flags. So what's a flag? Or what is planting a flag? Well basically, it's about diversifying yourself internationally. For example, living in one country, doing your banking in another, having your business yet in another, or on the internet in the ether, and so on and so forth. Now the method is called the five flags, but you really don't need to do five of them. In fact, very few people ever get that far. For most people, two or three extra flags works out just fine. Even with a few flags, you've got plenty of privacy and protection.

[11:14] Protection from what you might ask? Well, if you don't know by now that your government is the biggest threat to your assets and freedom, then you might as well run down and sign up for Obamacare and start campaigning for Hillary. And while you're at it, double up on your flu shots, stock up on some GMO corn flakes, and get your kids over to the dentist for some fluoride treatments. But let's talk reality. When you start planting those flags, what you're doing is diversifying yourself so that no one country like the US can rip you a new anus financially or otherwise. And that usually involves getting residency, eventually a second or even third passport, in another country or countries. I repeat, you've got to spread yourself around internationally, because what's coming on

[11:59] the horizon and the restrictions you're seeing already aren't pretty and you know it. And of course, no one can do it on their own. You need to find the right professional people down in those countries that you're going to plant your so-called flags. For example, at my seminars, usually held in Guatemala or thereabouts, I make it very easy for attendees to set up flags, if they so choose. I mean really, who needs the risk and the guesswork, especially if your Spanish sucks? So what's the hardest part for a new expat who's trying to accomplish something like that? To find trustworthy people to get that stuff done? Just go ahead and ask Andy Gringo, living in Costa Rica, how many times he's been ripped off or gouged? Well you know, there are ways to minimize that.

[12:45] And yes, we talk a lot about that at the Expat Wisdom Seminar. Now there's no problem setting up these so-called flags, whether you have five of them or just one or two of them, because you can diversify yourself in just about any Latin American country, including Nicaragua, Salvador, Belize, Bolivia, Paraguay. And you know, there's a lot to be said for Cuba right now. Believe it or not, they just love Gringos and tourism. It's their number one industry now. That and the exportation of rent-a-docks, which we mentioned on a past show, remember that? However, one caution, skip Venezuela, unless you've spent some time in Beirut and liked it. Now, like I said, as far as diversifying yourself, getting residency, creating a foreign

[13:30] corporation and opening bank accounts, etc., unfortunately, if you don't have any contacts to get that stuff done, you're pretty much on your own. And let's take, for example, Paraguay, a very nice laid-back place in South America that has been offering easy, cheap residency programs, which I really recommend. And once you've got your permanent residency, it leads to full citizenship and a passport within four to five years. Now, for example, in Paraguay, the process is easier and simpler than you might think, unless you put your paperwork in the hands of a crook, which can and does happen. And since there are a lot of facilitators in the business, how do you know? And by the way, you will need one of these facilitators or fixers if you're going to

[14:17] go through the process. You just can't do it by yourself. Well, it just so happens that today, if we have time, and if we don't, we'll do it next show, I'm going to run an interview with Dave, one of my new friends who took my last expat wisdom seminar, who is right now going through the residency process in both Guatemala and Paraguay. Well, we know how it's done in Guatemala. We have a lot of contacts there, but Dave's going to give us the inside scoop on how it's done in Paraguay and how not to get ripped off. But before I run that interview, which we did just a few days ago, I'm going to read you this late breaking report about people getting ripped off when they go to the wrong facilitator. And after you hear this, you'll know why it's so valuable to come down to my expat wisdom seminar, so you don't lose thousands of dollars and get caught up

[15:03] in some kind of residency scam. So first, let me set this up by reading this late breaking news. This came out a few days ago from international man. It's called passport fraud in Paraguay, what you need to know. It starts out by saying, the house of cards finally collapsed. That is for unscrupulous promoters of illegal passports in Paraguay. This tale offers a cautionary lesson that you need to know about, especially if you're seeking the enormous benefits of a legitimate second passport. Turns out Bettina Mueller, a well-known fixer, someone who's helped many others obtain Paraguayan passports, was recently arrested for passport fraud. And by the way, it's me again. No relation. Bettina Mueller is not a Johnny Mueller relative.

[15:51] And it's not that I haven't heard of her before. I've gotten a few emails over the years asking me about her, and I couldn't say either way whether she was legit or not. Anyway, the article goes on to say, it was reported that highly sophisticated printing machines were found at her residence, along with stacks of blank passports and other forged official documents, including U.S. documents and seals. That has, of course, perked the ears of the U.S. government like a resting dog that hears its name. On the surface, this story may not seem like a big deal. A couple of crooks getting busted for passport fraud in a less developed country, stuff like this happens all the time. So why is this case different? It's different because Bettina Mueller didn't run a small-time operation. She acted as the agent for a number of large and prominent second passport

[16:39] promoters. The passport promoters working with Bettina Mueller were little more than middlemen peddling a fraudulent product to often unsuspecting clients. They would make claims about being able to get a Paraguayan passport in six months, something that has no basis in law. Obtaining a Paraguayan passport through legal channels takes around four years. After hooking their victims with seemingly very attractive offers, the promoters would then funnel their unsuspecting clients to Bettina Mueller for ridiculous fees in the neighborhood of about $30,000. But it's not just a matter of flushing 30 grand down the toilet. Problem is, it can safely be assumed that the local police and US government now have access to all of Bettina Mueller's files and computer

[17:27] records. That means anyone using her services directly or indirectly through a promoter, which would be a lot of people, will likely be feeling the heat. No one, however, should feel sorry for her or her well-known partners. This was not some victimless crime. Knowingly, selling clients illegal passports for exuberant fees would clearly be fraudulent and predatory activity. Besides the huge sums of money involved, merely possessing an illegal passport involves enormous legal risk. This may come in the form of an unpleasant surprise at the next border crossing. So anyway, what brought down this house of cards? Turns out Bettina Mueller and her partners had been in business for a number of years. So what finally did it?

[18:13] It started with Nicholas Rubini, a US citizen who was interested in Paraguay's recent economic growth and sought to invest there. Rubini found that obtaining official residency and eventual citizenship in Paraguay would help him with his investment objectives. Then he came across one of the prominent promoters connected to Bettina Mueller and decided to take them up on their attractive offer, a passport in six months instead of the usual four years. To get started, Rubini paid them 15,000 up front and then 15,000 upon completion. After becoming suspicious, Rubini decided to go to Paraguay. Once in Paraguay, Rubini met up with Bettina Mueller who told him that the time frame was now 14 months, not the initial

[18:58] six months promised. Then Rubini became more suspicious and contacted the authorities as it seemed likely he was the victim of a scam. It was this chain of events that culminated in a police raid. What is amazing is how the scam ran so long. Then next, the author lists some common sense stuff on how to get your BS detector up and running, blah blah blah. And the article finishes by saying, if you decide to pursue a second passport and I believe that you should, you should absolutely make sure it's in fact legal. Duh. Then he says it's bad apples like those involved in the Paraguay passport fraud that give international diversification an undeserved bad name. This has the effect of scaring people away when in fact there's absolutely nothing inherently illegal or ethically

[19:46] wrong with international diversification. On the contrary, it's always been an extremely prudent strategy and especially important today given the social political and economic turmoil around the world. Like we didn't know that right? Anyway, it finishes by saying, so bottom line, none of this at all diminishes the need to obtain the enormous political diversification benefits of a legitimate second passport, a need that's growing each day as your home government sinks deeper into fiscal despair. The end and boy is he right about that. Okay. So now that you've got the scoop on that, let me bring on board Dave, another Dave. Yes, a new friend and recent expat seminar attendee who's quite along the way in getting his own Paraguayan residency

[20:33] and passport. Luckily, not through that particular woman, Bettina Mueller, but as you'll hear, he actually met her because he'd been down there a couple of times himself going through the process with another agent. So for Dave, it was just by luck and maybe his own good BS detector that kept him out of the crapper. So let's get Dave on board. Anyway, Dave, you're there, right? Why don't you give us all a little background on yourself? Tell everybody about yourself and how you got involved in all this. Okay, a little background about myself. I grew up in Southern California. I've been to about a dozen Latin American countries several dozen times. I enjoy traveling in the region and I found out about the Paraguay residency program about two years ago,

[21:22] and I've been a resident of Paraguay for about a year and a half and it's a simple process to go through. So then, Dave, just how did you find out about this quick and easy way to get Paraguay residency that pretty much automatically leads to a passport after you've paid your fees, etc. And of course, that all-important four-year wait. I found out about it through an online subscription newsletter. So Dave, previous to this, were you a big fan of Paraguay? Was Paraguay your expat destination of choice? You know, one you've been pondering for a long time? No, it was my first exposure to Paraguay. I didn't know much about the country except it was in the middle of South America. But as soon as I found out about the program,

[22:09] I did some research and reached out to some people online, just trying to get some background about the person who offered the service and everything checked out okay, and I've been able to answer Paraguay as a permanent resident. In fact, I did last month. While you're at it, Dave, why don't you tell us a little bit something about Paraguay. You've been there a couple of times. Give us a lowdown. Well, it's very flat. That's one thing I noticed. And the people are extremely friendly. It's right in the middle of South America. And as you can imagine, they don't get many visitors. So they're very happy to have visitors. Of course, almost all of Latin America is very friendly to visitors, but Paraguayans, especially so. Now, Dave, in the past, we know Paraguay has had its political problems.

[22:56] All Latin American countries have. In fact, until maybe 10 or so years ago, there was a dictator in charge who then stepped down and let a Catholic bishop become the president. Then that guy, that holy man of God, got impeached for corruption. So, Dave, what's the political feeling in the political situation like there now? Yeah, Strosner was the dictator for many years. And yeah, like you said, he stepped down about 10 years ago. Then they had Lugo, who was the former Catholic bishop, who was impeached rather abruptly. And that caused some consternation in the international community. But as far as I know, it was done legally. The Congress went through the process. They had to legally impeach the president.

[23:43] And in fact, that very incident held up by residency for a little while. But luckily, the guy I worked with was able to work with the new interior secretary in his department who was trying to hold it up. And he pushed my residency through in spite of that problem. Another reason why I recommend using him. So, Dave, back to this man of God, this Catholic bishop who was president. Being that all of Latin America is so damn Catholic, it would seem like the last thing in the world the public would want would be to boot that guy out. And the story on that's always been a bit murky. And now, since you are a Paraguayan resident, what kind of a scuttlebutt have you picked up on it? What's the inside dope? As I understand, there was some controversy

[24:29] the way that he handled the problem with some of the people in the north about land rights, the people who live there versus the big agricultural companies. Apparently, some shots were fired and there were a few deaths. And I think that's what got the ball rolling. So, Dave, I'm wondering with this quick and easy residency program leading to a passport, that is, if you don't get screwed by the wrong facilitator, does that mean the floodgates are now opening for foreigners in Paraguay? Yeah, they're really open to having foreigners come in and there's quite a few foreigners there, a lot of Koreans and a lot of Germans. All right, but let's switch to Paraguay's economy now. I found out when I passed through there some years ago myself, about 90 to 95

[25:17] percent of the economy is agricultural. It's pretty self-sufficient as far as agriculture goes. The soil is really good and some places you can see corn and tomato just growing like weeds. There's not a lot of manufacturing. The Koreans have a few small factories, but there is a lot of importing going on, especially in Ciudad de Leste, which is a city on the west on the border of Brazil. A lot of importing goes through there and they have a pretty famous market where you can buy virtually anything. Now, when I was there a few years back, I recognized that manufactured stuff that has to be imported like consumer electronics and what in Spanish they call linea blanca, which literally translates to white line in English,

[26:03] which in Spanish is the general term for appliances. You know, refrigerators, washing machines and dryers, stuff that at one time many years ago just came in the color white, even up in the states that was true back in your Mother's Day, I'm sure. So when Lenten's called kitchen and laundry appliances linea blanca, it kind of makes sense. Anyway, what's the bottom line when you do have to buy something imported like electronics or washing machine or whatever? As I understand consumer goods can be pretty expensive because of the things you just mentioned. However, I understand in Ciudad de Leste, there are some ways to get better prices at some of the markets, which leads me to the question, what about first world franchises and the Walmart

[26:48] effect? Because you know, at last count, there were at least 500 Walmarts in Latin America. I don't think there's any Walmarts in Paraguay, at least that I haven't heard of. You know, Dave, the word on Paraguay is that it's wide open for gringos to come down and use that gringo advantage and start up businesses. Because, for example, if you take the case of Nicaragua, Honduras, Bolivia, or Ecuador, for example, you might consider those places 20 or 30 years behind the first world curve, like living in the States back in the 80s and 90s. Oops, looks like we're going to have to finish the rest of this interview next time. And in that part, Dave will talk about the cost of getting residency and a passport the right way, along with some tips and much more. You've been listening to the

[27:37] Expat Files, living in Latin America, coming to you twice a week from somewhere south of the border. Email me, theexpatfiles at gmail.com. And don't forget to check out expatwisdom.com to sign up for your free reports on Latin America. See you next time. Nos vemos.