#822 – Chinese Surveillance Tech in Latin America: Loans, Control, and Cultural Mismatch

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-pat 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. Here's something you'll never read about up in the first world There's an article that just came out The title is quote the future of Latin America and the Caribbean in Context of the rise of China starts pricing and I'll paraphrase this to tighten it up a bit. It says

[00:48] Chinese companies have been exporting new generation Surveillance systems to Latin America mostly through extensive contacts with governments in South America in the case of Bolivia here's something you didn't know there's an integrated group called the Bolivian Alliance for the peoples of South America which consists of a regional group of powerful leftist leaders Through them Ecuador has been able to purchase the EU C-9 1 1 2 3 facial recognition Surveillance system designed and built by Chinese national electronics import-export group Supposedly intended solely for integrated disaster relief hooking up fire police Hospital and paramedic units into one large platform. So you might think what's wrong with that

[01:37] Seems like a good idea. Well, it says that Bolivia also has bought the bl-1 1 0 which uses more than 600 security cameras developed by the same Chinese company the project worth a hundred five Million dollars was never even on the table initially because Bolivia is broke But then again when has ever being broke stopped a government from going into even more debt when someone throws him a lifeline And that someone was get this the Beijing government Why they just put together the paperwork and loaned him another hundred million Who'd have thunk huh? Of course, the loan was contingent on them buying only Chinese surveillance equipment hmm shades of Halliburton, huh? First phase was launched in November of last year

[02:27] Then it says the Chinese have a huge contract with Venezuela Also paid for by loans surprise surprise from the Chinese government again contingent on using only Chinese Surveillance equipment the telecommunications company ZT has built a database that can monitor and track individual citizen behavior in Venezuela and It's done through a national identity system and smart card the so-called fatherland card according to Reuters Hmm fatherland when do where they pick that term up from? The system compiles a variety of data including political affiliation Voting financial medical histories and on and on as well as all Venezuelans social media usage through computers and smartphones and remember here in Latin America

[03:16] You can get what I call a retardo phone a limited function smart phone You know kind of like George Bush jr. Or a high-end iPhone that hit the pavement one too many times And you can get those things everywhere here in Latin America for around 35 bucks these days It's the phone of choice for maids tortilla ladies and shoeshine boys And now that what's up is all the rage here in Latin America Even the poor folks aren't buying burner phones anymore, but I digress. Where were we? Oh, yeah, then it says it's unclear How Ecuador who've gotten their hands on the all-new very expensive ultra high-definition? ECS 11 monitoring surveillance system provided by China. Well people are asking why what's the point as it turns out?

[04:02] Outside observers by all accounts say it's extreme overkill for a third world country So why would they get such a system? Why would they fork out such dough? Well on the surface? It doesn't make much sense But if it's right in with the Chinese way of doing business and their way of thinking Because you see high-tech goodies from China are an easy deal these days The Chinese government is willing to finance the whole thing. That means no tax increases IMF loans or bond issues And the public especially the average Latino man on the street They don't really care as long as they're Eva that's IV a or vat taxes the state tax on everything Doesn't increase. Oh, and there's one more thing that'll send hordes of Latinos into the streets picketing and rioting

[04:49] That's if the price of chicken buses and public transportation Were to increase even by a few centables and those corrupt Latin politicals are keenly aware of that That said one of the ways the Chinese government gets its hooks into Latin government is to sponsor big luxurious trade missions for Latin politicals They wine them and dine them and present them with all this high-tech equipment that they can't afford then comes the next free lunch They offer to finance it for them again bypassing the banks the bond issues and the tax increases But we all know there's no such thing as a free lunch Anyway, then the article goes on to say these technologies can certainly be used to limit freedoms and suppress political oppression

[05:34] In such countries such as Venezuela or any government who decides to have authoritarian tendencies Though these high-tech surveillance purchases can start out with the best of intentions It's slippery slope depending on what kind of leftist or rightist strongman dictator or dickhead whomever happens to be in power Hmm dickhead they really say that how'd that get in there though? I can't think of a true or more descriptive term for a politician. Can you but I digress as usual Where were we? Oh, yeah, then it says governments looking to tighten their grip on their societies can use ultra high-resolution Surveillance systems developed recently and used extensively in China Then it says China's development of these surveillance systems coincide with the development of a social credit system to track people

[06:23] to standardize assessments of citizens business economic and social reputations and credit offers a glimpse of the alarming Capabilities that will be fully developed and realized soon in Latin America the Caribbean and other regions Especially now that developing countries can see that the equipment is Virtually free for the asking in fact, it says China has lent more than a hundred fifty billion dollars to Latin American countries and companies According to the inter-american dialogue exchange. In fact, the Chinese president Chung chow ping pong Whatever his name is struck more than 30 trade and investment agreements with Buenos Aires alone on his trade mission to Argentina Just this last month

[07:09] Then it says according to David B Danoon author of China the United States and the future of Latin America said many Latin Americans are now fearing that The Chinese telecom equipment will be used for surveillance even without the consent of their own corrupt governments In other words, it'll be the Chinese collecting information and calling the shots Gathering their own layers of data without the local governments even knowing it's happening He goes on to say the Chinese companies Responsible for these high-tech systems would have virtually limitless capacity to collect data on Latin citizens political leaders and economic elites As well as those who control sensitive military and commercial information then he goes on to say the Chinese are known for exploiting this kind of compromising information as blackmail for political military and business figures the Chinese he says have a plan

[08:00] Obtaining politically militarily or commercially valuable information is the goal Another goal is to influence political and commercial decisions to advance Chinese Strategic objectives in both Latin America and Africa on the other hand It says it's not just the Chinese a UK based watchdog group called privacy international pointed out that other countries including the US have supplied and are supplying a wide range of high-tech surveillance equipment to countries in Latin America It says in 2017 alone the US spent more than 20 billion dollars on Latin American Security aid whatever that is still a far cry from the hundred fifty billion dollars Chinese have loaned to Latin American countries since 2005 to ensure that it's Chinese products that are being used and Chinese

[08:50] Contractors installing the systems Alright me Johnny here again as for me being a engineer at heart I looked at this Bolivian security system with 600 cameras at a cost of 105 million bucks It's called a bol-110 all the while I was thinking what the hell is Bolivia gonna do with 600 very very high-resolution Facial recognition quality cameras, then I looked up the cameras direct from that Chinese company They sell them individually you and I could buy one for get this $11,000 apiece just for one stinking camera, but man, it's got some out of this world features So for 11 grand you and I could have one But as it turns out in that package deal the Bolivian government got those cameras for around

[09:38] 3,500 bucks apiece and you know in a twisted way I really have to give those Bolivian negotiators credit because generally the government buys something Anything they pay through the nose for it a lot more than a civilian could buy it remember the $600 toilet seats in the what? $400 hammers wait, it's hard to believe they got the cameras for a third of the civilian price Hey, how'd that happen all I can think is that it probably was a mistake or perhaps they were seconds or from the scratch and dent Pile the question is what the hell is Bolivia of all countries doing with 600 of the highest tech cameras you could possibly buy Really now that's reason number 226 I don't think I'm gonna live in Bolivia and I don't recommend you live there either

[10:25] Besides the fact that evil Morales or I should say evil Morales has single-handedly changed Bolivia's constitution allowing himself to be president for life in fact right now people are having well-guts over it That is they're taken to the streets in protest and the news that evil Morales wants to claim himself Virtual dictator slash king of Bolivia for life combined with the news of the purchase of these 600 ultra high-tech cameras Well, that doesn't make you optimistic about Bolivia's future now doesn't but wait. There's more bad news How about this one on a visit to Beijing in mid-december Ecuadorian President Lennon marino, you know the guy with the name Lennon? How can you look at a guy named Lennon in the face and not think there was something?

[11:11] Seriously wrong with his parents who named him that of course John Lennon being the exception You can't help what your last name is, but it's idiot parents that pick screwball names for their kids They have to live with the rest of their lives or not You know, it's very easy to have a name change here in Latin America. You can get it done in less than a half a day Anyway, president Lennon, but I know of Ecuador secured a 900 million dollar loan from China Reportedly to boost his country's cash strapped economy Then it says and let this sink in Ecuador's economic problems were caused by borrowing sprees during the administration of President Rafael Correa from 2007 to 2017 according to data from Ecuador's economic ministry the country's debt to China

[11:58] Currently total six and a half billion dollars making China Ecuador's biggest creditor And that's the Chinese pattern how they do business the way they get their hooks into third world countries Alright, tell me if this scares you just a little bit. Anyway, it says according to Ecuador's official website the Chinese installation of the ECU 9-11 emergency response system has an extensive very extensive surveillance network of 4,500 cameras should get that you hear that right? 4,500 cameras in Ecuador and it says these cameras were purchased from highway You know the name you might even have one of their smartphones Now according to a government document dated February 2017 from Ecuador's national public procurement system

[12:49] Ecuador bought ultra high-tech Hawaii dome cameras with the model number IPC 6625-Z30 in 2016 for $3516 and 80 cents a camera he got that $3516 and 80 cents a camera, so I looked that up. I looked that model up I went to Hawaii's website. Yes, you can buy one for around eight thousand bucks. So they got a deal, too Isn't that nice? Hmm. I don't get it What's it with these Latin governments suddenly paying less than retail price instead of twice three times or even ten times retail price? Like the US government always seems to get caught doing that aside Think of it you and I could buy a really high-tech surveillance system with 4k HD cameras

[13:36] That's very high definition stuff excellent quality for around a hundred fifty bucks apiece and man those security systems available to you and me I mean can get them in package deals on Amazon even at Costco and they're absolutely spectacular Now imagine what you could get if you paid 20 times as much for a single camera That's like the difference between a used Toyota Corolla and a brand new Ferrari Anyway, it says the Ecuadorian government also purchased Hawaii routers wireless access points and networks Which is and wireless access controllers to go along with the massive system. All right, then how about this? It says even back in 2014 the Ecuador's Ministry of Finance showed that they bought at least $700,000 worth of Hawaii Surveillance system components and then get this it says in 2015 and 16 the Ecuadorian government spent another

[14:27] $900,000 to purchase a portable surveillance and communication system that can be deployed from vehicles and surprise surprise Ecuador did not pay for the cameras and systems that are currently operational in 2017 the Chinese Embassy in Ecuador under agreement signed in 2015 donated a total of fifteen point four million dollars worth of surveillance equipment including 450 ultra high-definition cameras with facial recognition and 1640 video surveillance and storage systems along with 14 servers awful nice of the Chinese to just give that stuff away, huh, but remember nothing's for nothing and then in 2018 the South China morning post who reads that reported that the ECU

[15:17] 1991 cameras outfitted with the high-tech facial recognition Technology have now been deployed in the city of Huenca, Ecuador and at two of Ecuador's airports at Quito and Guayaquil and remember that's an Ecuador where 75% of families don't have a washing machine and 90% of families don't have hot running water in the house Oh, but they've got a gaggle of three thousand five hundred dollar facial recognition cameras That's a real priority. Yeah, and don't think this hasn't gone unnoticed by certain groups throughout the world In fact, it says Sascha kyoshi now There's a name for you senior fellow at Royal United Services Institute UK based think tank Said in an article published in August 2018 in foreign policy magazine

[16:06] Entitled y'all get this Ecuador's all-seeing eye is made in China Now the article emphasizes the fact that Ecuador's ECU dash 9-1-1 facial recognition System has the ability to be used for repressive purposes such as identifying people who participate in certain social demonstrations Meanwhile other investigators in the know say that's what you get when you're working with Chinese companies They'll give you the loans the training and the equipment with smiles on their faces But it's all in the name of exploiting you or your country in the future We're sure it says once a country buys any kind of Chinese equipment They'll soon make inroads into other state-owned industries, too In fact, there doesn't seem to be a single case where that hasn't happened. For example in Ecuador, Hawaii

[16:57] Hi away Hey or however you pronounce it who makes the cameras for the surveillance systems is also a major contractor to Ecuador's state-owned Telecom company CNT. In fact in 2009 Hawaii or Hawaii However, how you pronounce it was awarded a twenty four point five million dollar contract by Ecuadorian government CNT To expand and maintain the country's fiber optic network putting them in control of the country's 3G and 4G Telecommunications networks. Wow, that's nice to know, huh? Meanwhile in 2011 Australia banned Hawaii from bidding on contracts to provide equipment for the country's fiber optic networks and Just this month British telecom company BT Group announced It would remove all Hawaii equipment from the core of its existing 3 and 4G networks

[17:45] Because they have proved that the company's equipment can be exploited for espionage purposes, too Which is the same reason why the United States Defense Department has called for an investigation of just how deeply Penetrated the Hawaii Corporation is into the US Defense Department apparatus Meanwhile Ecuador continues to give out more contracts to Hawaii or Hiyawai Whatever and other Chinese technology companies In fact on Hawaii's own website in an article published in November of 2017 It announced it was selected to upgrade all the Wi-Fi networks connected to keto Ecuador's public transit systems Oh and this will kill you it says Hawaii has recently set up a model surveillance program in Nairobi, Africa

[18:34] The capital of Kenya where the firm has installed 1,800 surveillance cameras. Yes in Kenya where the average person makes around 1200 US dollars a year and it's a country where virtually no functioning public that is Government owned and operated sewage treatment plants exist So the Kenyan government in all its postulate magnetist corrupt wisdom Decided let the feces flow. We want 1,800 high-tech facial recognition cameras instead. Hmm. Wait a minute, Kenya shades of Obama figures, huh? Oh One more thing about Hawaii or Hawaii or whatever their equipment was used in China's so-called quote golden shield project

[19:20] Which is the code name for the Chinese regimes internet censorship apparatus and in China and other places like Kenya Hawaii equipment is used to fight crime as well as monitor activists and protest activities as stated right in the government's Policing protocol documents. Yep. I guess you got to keep a real close eye on those tortilla ladies and sheep herders They could really be troublemakers Hmm All right me Johnny here again I'd like to just add that after my 27 plus years of living down here in Latin America I know quite a bit about Latinos and Latinas and that includes Latinos working for government And I do use that term working quite loosely The facts are Chinese engineers and techs will be training local Latins in this case Ecuadorians Bolivians

[20:11] Whatever to monitor and maintain all that high-tech delicate surveillance equipment I'd say insert laugh track here My guess is in fact that bet on it after a while after the initial warranty periods over Usually six months to a year most of that stuff will fall into disrepair or get stolen And after a year or so whoever has that equipment, Venezuela, Chile, Ecuador They'll have one big pile of very expensive junk on their hands And here's what will happen after that the Chinese will come in and give these countries another round of multi-billion dollar loans To fix and replace the equipment and propose that they sign a long-term maintenance contract Meaning the Chinese will have a permanent office very close to the government command center in a way like GE

[21:01] Medical does for cat scanners and other high-tech medical equipment in Latin American hospitals and clinics only the GE medical guys in Country on service contracts don't spy on people at least I think they don't That's why all that sophisticated medical equipment in first world hospitals in Latin America The private hospitals that is not the government hospitals is always up to snuff because companies like GE medical Won't sell you a cat scanner unless you buy the service contract Anyway, that's my take on what's gonna happen in the short term the equipment will work people get surveilled lists will be made up And then after a while the equipment will deteriorate and turn into a pile of expensive junk Then there'll be another round of billion dollar Chinese sweetheart loans

[21:48] There'll be more equipment maintenance contracts put in place and Chinese techs and engineers having free rein in all government offices And of course knowing the history of Hawaii, they'll just be fixing equipment, right? I could be wrong, but I don't think so Oh, and by the way, here's another thing people aren't thinking about imagine Let's say 50 Bolivians sitting in a room looking at those cameras all day long Watching other Bolivians picking their noses relieving themselves in public when they get the urge There'd be guys that girls watching people just having fun eating breakfast lunch dinner laughing on street corners Standing for hours in bank and government lines people packing in and out of chicken buses guys Spitting with abandon that be guys not girls. Yep. Definitely tons of Bolivian subversives out there, you know

[22:37] And yes, I agree. They must be monitored stapled filed in catalog You just never know what kind of terrorists implements and tools they have hidden under those suspicious looking bolder hats But I digress as usual Anyway, I've walked past many a government monitoring station You know where you see a room full of lard ass government slugs And not only are a high percentage of the flat-screen TVs on the blink You'll always catch a good number of workers not staring at the big screen But staring at their smartphones gabbing with the guy or gal in the next cubicle or just plain staring into space or actually Sleeping in fact, I've got a few snapshots to prove exactly that So in the end you have to wonder just how much the Chinese know about Latin culture and how different it is from theirs

[23:25] All right. One last thing how the Chinese get their hooks into Latin countries. Listen to this now I don't know about up in this days, but in Europe and Latin America, and of course in the Far East There are all kinds of cars and trucks made by a company called be yd Have you seen those they've got the little logo be yd on them I see them here in Latin America all the time not in great quantities, but they're around be yd Is a Chinese car truck and bus manufacturer a huge one and you know what be yd stands for? Yep, they've translated into English. It stands for build your dream Yep, build your dream who would have thought they must have hired a US marketing team to come up with that now Like I said, they make all kinds of cars trucks and buses, but what they're really good at is making electric buses

[24:11] Oh, and by the way, you know, who is one of the top investors in that company Warren Buffett? Talk about Chinese infiltration. Here's how they do it They've got these very good buses and huge bus fleets in big cities all throughout the Far East And a bus costs around a half a million bucks as opposed to a diesel bus Which carries the same amount of people and all that for less than half of that now You know who the biggest purchasers of bus, of course our governments for public transportation systems And it's all about the money. So they'd rather buy two stinking diesel buses than one nice clean electric bus So what they're doing in Latin America to get a foothold is this they're loaning a couple of buses for free Letting the government run them for six months to a year completely free along with the charging stations

[24:59] And you know the public and passengers just love them because they don't produce any diesel stink No black clouds of smoke when they accelerate. They're And of course the governments love them because they're getting a couple of them for free And after that six months for a year the company BYD build your dreams I still don't see how they got that name along with the Chinese government will make a loan To Latin cities to purchase the rest of the fleet and governments Of course love that kind of loan because again, they don't have to borrow it from the IMF They don't have to float bond issues or raise taxes They just pile up the debt like drunken sailors and don't worry a lick about the future when the bill comes due

[25:45] It's the status quo for every malignant carbuckler government procurement committee But I digress we're talking about how the Chinese get their hooks into you. Well, that's how they do it They give out free stuff and loan packages that are simply irresistible to already bankrupt the government Hey, I wish someone would give me a free bus. No chicken buses, please Alright enough said about that before we sign off today I'd like to mention I'm right in the middle of one of my expat insider seminars And yes, we're doing all kinds of wild and crazy things as usual by the way I've turned up the fire hose to full blast, you know We've been talking a lot about first world health care here in Latin America at third world prices and there are some Fantastic insurance programs gringos and expat just don't believe are real and of course

[26:31] It's obvious not everyone can make it to the seminar and get blasted with the fire hose on in Latin American insurance, too But you can't pick up my Latin American health care report Subtitled how gringos and expats can get first world health care at third world prices What our third world price is generally about a fifth to a sixth of what you'd pay for? Practically anything in a hospital clinic or at a doctor's office up in the States Anyway, since I get so many questions about it and the need is so great. I've written a hundred page report on it And remember, I'm not just some civilian on the sidelines talking about health care. You know, I've got a lot of skin in the game I'm an actual degreed biomedical engineer, you know We're the guys that designed all that high-tech stuff that test and keep your sorry ass alive while you're in the hospital and all those

[27:18] Dead cold probes and sensors to ouch Anyway, I highly recommend you pick up my hundred page report. Just go to the expat files comm slash health care Yep, the expat files comm slash health care So you've been listening to the expat files living in Latin America If you need some help with your own plan B, you can schedule a one-on-one phone call with me But first download my free plan B questionnaire at www.thenewexpat.com Better yet if you want to get your plan B going from right up there in the States Just sign up for my 9-hour expat essentials course Get the perfect plan B blueprint by going to the expat files comm slash Academy most famous