#963 – The Expat Files: Navigating Bureaucracy, Legal Challenges, and Cultural Observations 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 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 You're gonna like this email from mr. JL. He says Johnny I was laying back sipping quarantinis and listening to your latest podcast when a few keywords triggered my memory Now I have a good boots on the ground story that just might restore your faith in Mexico

[00:47] The trigger words you said that got me were Latin American drivers license and residency The question is Johnny. Can you get a driver's license without having residency in a particular Latin country as in while Visiting on a tourist visa. Can you get a license? The answer is unlikely as it sounds you bet as I found out when these two gringos from Maine rented a house in the neighborhood from January through March Of course, they were invited to all the drinking parties So we hung out a bit at one of them one of them used, you know Wouldn't it be nice to have a local ID or driver's license to show the cops when they try to hit you for a bribe Or more Dita with that we asked our neighborhood lawyer Who the entire neighborhood turns to when in doubt about some legal question and lawyer? He said surprisingly enough

[01:38] You've come to the land of endless possibilities now if you have a couple of hours and 4200 pesos in the case of a driver's license anything's possible and here's how it went and I'll keep it short So you can paraphrase as only you know how to do Johnny step number one But fixer takes you to the health check office a hole in the wall where you pass the health exam Of course you pass whether you're healthy or not They take your weight height ask a few questions and do an eye test you read the letters on the wall, etc You pass that one to whether you can see the chart or not then after you've jumped those hurdles and passed with flying colors you go to the state issuing office where the clerk takes your picture a Digital index fingerprint scan to then he invents a fictitious see you RP number

[02:27] That's a unique national ID code Mexico and that's it the end True to the lawyer's word the entire process takes about two hours and you walk away with a legit Mexican driver's license issued by the state government office valid for five years with the icing on the cake You don't even have to surrender your gringo land issued license, which is otherwise a requirement when you go through the process Normally, oh and what about the address that has to go along with that ID? Why you just give him your rented Airbnb address naturally or anyone you want Then he says as I recall about the incident Johnny I had too many quarantinis that data swear by it now, but the breakdown of the cost was around 1,400 pesos for the license

[03:15] 1,400 pesos for the fixer for a total of four thousand two hundred pesos around two hundred US dollars So you see Johnny perhaps not all is as bad as they say about Mexico. Anyway, so long for now And thanks for keeping us informed and entertained. I only wish you would do your podcast three times a week Not just to signed mr. JL in the Mexican altiplano All right, great boots on the ground story there, but I've got something to add actually a couple of things to add It's a fact no matter where you are in Latin America or which country you're in if you're at a party You're a gringo bar or even a Latino bar and you speak a little Spanish Or even if you're just sitting in your lawyer's office if you bring up the fact that you'd like to get a local driver's license

[04:00] And you're not a resident which is one of the prerequisites I guarantee you within a couple of days or even a couple of hours or minutes Someone's gonna say I know a guy who knows a guy in fact, I guarantee you right now I could go to any medium or large sized Latin City walk down to the business area Which is usually right next to where all the government buildings are you can't miss the government buildings? They're all like with all kinds of statues and busts of genocidal dictators with oversized heads I know I know it's crazy But it's true the only saving grace and karma being that they're all covered in bird poop by the way One of the first things that struck me as odd about Latin America is when I first came down I noticed that every single government building lobby garden or park had a bronze statue or two of a genocidal dictator Slightly larger than life owing to the fact that basically they were all a bunch of little turds with Napoleon complexes

[04:51] Oh and their heads were always disproportionately larger than their bodies In other words in real life if you saw one of these guys walking down the street around a horse in battle That's one of the usual suspect themes for statues down here You'd probably feel sorry for the guy because you'd be thinking not only was he born a bitch it He's got water on the brain, too Though I guess that's what it takes to be a successful politician these days that along with a touch of obesity But I digress as usual anyway If you're looking for a fast-track driver's license or even national ID card meaning you want to bypass all the legal steps And you want it now you just go down to the area where the government buildings are you walk up to one of the little Makeshift kiosks on the street. They offer photo copies passport photos and such I guarantee if you walk up to one of those kiosks even if you're Spanish completely sucks

[05:40] Just ask for a tramita door Trami to door that's expediter within a few minutes You'll have a couple of smooth-talking guys vying for your business of course You'll have to tell them what you want you're looking for a driver's license now in the case of mr. JL and the fact that his quote expediter or tramita door Walked him down to the state driver's license issuing office and the clerk in the office took his picture and digital index finger impression Well that should be proof that the license is actually 100% real Except for the fact that those guys at the driver's testing station Don't always perform all the steps when entering it into the system of course they want your door They want to make money on the side But they don't want to get caught either in case you stumble in the trail leads back to them

[06:26] In other words they know which steps to admit for example every driver's license in Latin America has the person's Sedula or national ID number on it and if you're not a resident you won't have one But they'll have to put one down because there's a space for it So then what happens if you get in an accident or pulled over you pull that driver's license out and the cop asks for your Sedula or national ID because if you're a resident you're supposed to have it on you at all times and cops as dumb as they are They know the number on your settler will match your driver's license What do you do then well if a hundred bucks won't get you out of that mess call your lawyer of course What you say you don't have a lawyer? Well boy you in a heap of trouble So the fact is many hundreds maybe thousands of quasi legal licenses like that exist And you'll really never know if they're officially registered

[07:14] Completely or not that is until you get pulled over or get into an accident However, there is a sneaky way to check you download one of those barcode scanning apps Scan your license and see what comes up Then you have to scan the barcode of someone with a legit Mexican license and compare it against your scan That's to see if all the pertinent information pops up and there are no blank spaces Because you know most of the cops in Mexico these days Especially in the tourist districts have scanners in their patrol cars And if it doesn't pass you better start digging out some bribe money now You know my buddy expat Eddie has had some of those same problems his u.s. Driver's license expired over ten years ago, and it's so ratty You wouldn't want to even touch it. It's moldy and falling apart, but you see he's not worried now

[08:02] What I'm about to tell you is not exactly legal, and I'm not telling you to go out and do it I'm not recommending it, but I'm just telling you once again What lots of expats do lots of smart expats especially if they can't get things done legally any other way because they're not residents And some of them like expat Eddie did some stupid things when they were adolescents nothing serious But enough to get a little police record and to get residency you have to submit an absolutely clean police record So then how does Eddie drive well? He's got a number of Latin American driver's licenses obtained on the green market as mentioned I know for sure he's got a license from Costa Rica Mexico Panama and El Salvador But he lives most of the time in San Salvador That's the capital of El Salvador And if and when he's pulled over at a roadblock where he lives he never gives his El Salvador license to the cops

[08:52] He gives him one from Costa Rica Panama or Mexico But you see cops in one Latin country have absolutely no access to the databases of other Latin countries Therefore when he hands his license over to a cop and they look at it It's a dead end and they just hand it right back. That's it game over case closed Oh, and if for some reason the cops balk and don't like that particular license He pulls out another one just to reinforce the fact that he's a world traveler again This is for informational purposes only I've seen Eddie do it and though I'm not recommending it I'm just giving you a few examples on how expats manage things here Oh and there's another thing that ties into this suppose you're in Mexico And you've got one of those instant driver's licenses that mr. JL was talking about and you get in a car accident Well unless it's a tiny fender bender that you resolve right there if the cops come and the insurance companies are called in etc

[09:43] The insurance company especially is gonna dig deep into that license because they know if something's fishy It's not registered properly Whatever a regularity would violate the conditions of the contract, you know insurance companies They're always looking for an out and they won't have to pay they won't cover your damages However, if you have a driver's license from another country if it appears to be valid That's the end of the conversation end of discussion to it would be almost impossible for them to check on it So anyway, bottom line JL is that the Mexican lawyer was right? It's the land of possibilities, especially if you've got dough, but that's not just true for Mexico Every Latin American country is the same. In fact here in Latin America There are so many fake but nicely done driver's licenses and the cops know that in most countries if you stop by the cops

[10:28] And don't have any license on you whatsoever or you're driving on an expired license. They just hit you with a nominal 50 100 or 200 dollar fine and send you on your way. Yep. They let you drive off doesn't make sense I know but hey, this is Latin America though Of course smart gringles and expats will often ask if they can pay the fine right now That's exactly what most Latino cops are waiting to hear in that case They won't hand you a ticket at all because then there would be a record of it But believe me from then on they'll be your best friends at least till you hit the road and you're out of there So my advice weigh your options, but be careful. All right now Let's talk about something that's really surreal to me Anyway, you know just like in Washington DC There are always protesters in front of the White House and the Capitol building the Supreme Court, etc

[11:15] Every day of the week you'll find people with signs protesting about something Well, same thing goes for down here in Latin America every capital city where they've got the government buildings You've got protesters every single day protesting about something or nothing But now just in the last week since this George Floyd thing I'm seeing on the nightly news here in Latin America You know the Spanish language stations You guys never listen to all of a sudden for example Marchers that are always carrying signs accusing the Ecuadorian government of racism and drug violence on their Colombian border in the northern Esmeralda Province suddenly signs are propping up there protesting the death of George Floyd We're talking about the Ecuador Colombian border where no one even knows how to pronounce his name

[12:00] Nor if you asked any one of the protesters could they tell you what city even state where it occurred or what really happened? Then you've got groups in Guaya Kill and Quito Ecuador Staging protests against police brutality and racism with George Floyd signs leading the way then you've got thousands Protesting outside the US Embassy in Mexico City with signs saying things like racism kills with many of those signs in English Meanwhile, if you're an observer in Mexico, you can see that Mexican Latinos Harbor extreme racism and classism against the indigenous population then in Rio de Janeiro Brazil You've got hundreds of people standing outside the Guanabara Palace the headquarters of the state government carrying signs attacking the president Bolsonaro as well as signs with people supporting justice for guess who

[12:48] George Floyd again We're talking about people that don't even know how to pronounce his name who couldn't find Minnesota on a map of the US It's happening in Buenos Aires Argentina Lima Peru money video Uruguay and Bogota with no one and I mean No one keeping up any kind of social distancing at all You know if I was a space alien looking at the news footage I think the humans had found a cure to the coronavirus ie mass protests Though it seems social distancing is not an issue on the streets masks. Certainly are that's one way to avoid being spotted on camera while looting So then what's the make of all this? Well as I'm sitting here flicking through the channels looking at Latin American six o'clock news reports They're showing all the protests and looting up by you whereas down here anyway

[13:35] There doesn't seem to be any kind of looting going on in the name of so-called justice for George Floyd But and this is key and no one's reporting on it What I'm seeing with these brand new signs that are popping up saying justice for George Floyd Well, the movement does not seem to be organic at all But orchestrated by guess who gringos and expats and how can you tell well look up close? Who's carrying the George Floyd signs on the front lines? You'll always find a couple of tall white non Latinos Plus they're the ones that seem to be the most artistic and have the nicest lettering on the English signs Yep, we expats have great organizational skills and to be perfectly politically incorrect here And it seems like if you're white and you give an opinion on the subject, you'll inevitably be called a racist It's only a matter of time now. Here's what I don't get and go ahead and crucify me

[14:23] I don't care with every protest is a number of black lives matter science Apparently people seem to forget about cities like Chicago where I come from just looked it up last weekend Chicago had the highest numbers of murders in its history and most of those murders blacks killing blacks quote We've never seen anything like it at all said Max Kapustin senior research director at the University of Chicago crime lab Turns out from Friday, May 29th through Sunday, May 31st 25 people were killed in the city with another 85 wounded by gunfire most of it again black on black crime that according to data maintained by the Chicago Sun Times a Senior spokesman from the University of Chicago crime lab says we don't even know how to put it into context It's beyond anything we've ever seen before

[15:11] Then he says on May 31st alone Chicago's 911 emergency service center received 65,000 calls that's 50,000 more than a usual day That's more than a 300% increase in panic callers man. Talk about big US cities being time bombs Hmm. So how's that plan B coming? Most people, you know, I'd say about 98% of people up by you Don't even have a plan B, you know that 911 data should be a very strong wake-up call to you Think about it up in the states as soon as some uncontrolled situation Happens in the house or the neighborhood. The first thing you do is style 911, right? Well, you better start rethinking that logic

[15:56] Oh, and you know, what's a great business to be in right now I was just talking to one of my friends in Chicago whose family owns a chain of hardware stores my high school buddy Dave Yeah again with the Dave's right. He tells me there's an It's up because it's kind of obvious people are reacting to the panic and they want to protect themselves But you know what? It kind of makes me laugh in a sort of sardonic way Seems like every time a fresh newer green gringle comes down here for the very first time one of the first things they comment on Is how much barbed wire and razor wire they see strung around businesses and residential areas? They always make some kind of comment man. It must be really dangerous down here Sometimes followed by something like thank God. We don't have to deal with that kind of insecurity up in the good old us of a

[16:48] Well, well, well my how things change and in a hurry, too Not to mention the fact that up in the states gun stores are not only running out of guns and ammo They're weeks and weeks behind on orders Turns out that millions of Americans who are all on board for banning guns just a couple years back when Obama was in office Well, they're sort of eating their words right now, aren't they? Yep All of us are hypocrites at one time or another, huh? And we don't like to hear facts when they go contrary to our beliefs like for example According to FBI statistics for every 10,000 black people arrested for a violent crime Three are killed by police for every 10,000 white people arrested for a violent crime for are killed by police How about this FBI fact in 2019 49 unarmed people were killed by the police?

[17:37] Nine were black 19 were white and of course everyone's outraged by the video with the cops killing George Floyd That's terrible beyond inexcusable. Meanwhile on that same Memorial Day weekend Chicago witnessed another deadly weekend of inner-city black-on-black gang related violence with over 30 people getting shot But no one likes to talk about that You know, it seems to me according to the lamestream media Anyway, black lives only matter if it's white people perpetrating the abuses By the way, 20% of the police force in the United States is black, you know Meanwhile, you've got idiots like Jesse Jack Leading the march as usual in Chicago However, the media never goes after him or his family Even though there are a bunch of lowlife crooks and scoundrels but foreign media outlets, they don't care

[18:26] They don't have to kiss up to him For example, Great Britain's Daily Mail reports that Chicago millionaire and brother of Jesse Jackson was sentenced to the maximum of 10 years in prison After being convicted of a felony with the attempted murder of a woman who witnessed another slaying in which he was involved You know, I'm absolutely sure this is the first time you've ever heard that story But you never see that stuff reported in the lamestream news Then you've got the fact that Jesse Jackson jr His son collects $138,000 a year on federal government benefits after serving 2.5 years in prison for looting his own congressional campaign His reasoning? He's got his doctors to say his bipolar disorder and depression stops him from being able to work Oh, what a tragedy, like being in congress is actually work

[19:14] He claims that being a congressman led to his bipolar disorder And he developed the illness while on the job as a congressman What a family of scam artists Meanwhile, he gets $138,000 a year in workers' compensation and disability checks And this guy's a felon, an ex-con An ex-con grissman Man, the system is so screwed up I don't know where to begin So then, what does this have to do with Latin America, you might ask It's all about building an airtight case for getting the hell out of dodge If you aren't convinced and you're not seeing it by now, maybe you do deserve to go down with a Titanic There'll come a time, you know, and very soon when a bug-out bag to the boonies just won't cut it Oh, and one more thing, you know there's a huge drive throughout the states to defund police departments

[20:03] That's building up steam by the minute Man, the power of Twitter is unbelievable, it seems to be a forum for mob rule, huh? Though perhaps the most serious question of all is, what's going to happen to Chicago, LA, Detroit, etc. when they defund your police departments I'm sure all the gangbangers, narcos, and no-goodniks are going to find Jesus, don't you think? Well, you got three choices, you trust in your government and dial 911 when the shit hits the fan Or number two, you hunker down and buy more guns and ammo And a lot more razor wire if you can get it Though if you're smart, you'll pick number three, that's a plan B to get the hell out of dodge And of course, you know, the best way to get your plan B turbocharged and on steroids is to come to my expat insider seminar The next one, which just might be my last, depending on circumstances

[20:49] We'll kick off Friday, August 21st and finish on Thursday night, August 27th For info and sign up details, just go to expatplanb.com Then click on the seminar link to get in on the early bird discounts Oh, and as of today's show that goes out on June 12th I'm still looking for a lady who wants to share double occupancy and save $750 off the price of a single. If you're interested in saving that kind of dough and rooming up with someone, same gender Of course another lady send me an email to expat files at gmail.com Speaking of bugging out to the boonies and being self-sufficient. We got this email that just came in from Scott He says hey, Johnny. I just listened to an episode of yours from May 29th I took some notes on it and some of the solar systems you mentioned the Titan system the power oak and best son

[21:38] Could you please send me your file with the information on all this stuff and your recommendations for solar power? Also, I'd like to ask what the difference is between best son power wall and the other two as for me I'm interested in powering a cabin in Eastern Peru. How can I get systems like that down here in Peru? How much would shipping and customs be do you think could you put them in your suitcase and just fly down? Thanks again, Johnny. All right, Scott a lot of good questions here Let me see if I can kind of condense this first of all, you know We divide solar systems into portable and permanent that is a portable system You could just pick it up toss it in your car along with the panels and the power unit and go anywhere you want and then In maybe 20 minutes, it's producing power and then you've got your permanent off the grid system

[22:24] Which is too big and heavy to move with the lithium battery part called the power wall Way too heavy for one person to move It's at least 200 pounds and the solar panels are a big ones too and they're usually bolted to your roof So you don't want to move those either. Let's talk about portable first I recommend a portable unit that has two suitcase portable solar panels They each fold in half so you can carry them easily There's four sections of 100 watts each that means you've got 400 watts of panel and those portable panels I'm talking about actually do fold together and have handles on them So you can just pick them right up and toss them in your car or your trunk and Scott I'll send you the details on the panels I recommend now the two portable systems I recommend are either a power oak or a Titan the Titan being my number one pick But it's twice as expensive as the power oak for the same amount of power that is wattage

[23:12] It stores and puts out now the great thing about the Titan is that it's built like a tank And if you get just a basic unit, which is a 2 kilowatt unit 2,000 watts of storage in the lithium batteries It only weighs about 30 pounds like the power oak does now the real advantage to the Titan is this you could buy extra batteries And add 2,000 watts each battery you stack them right on top of each other They automatically connect and for example if you buy an extra let's say four batteries That's 8,000 watts plus the original two in the main unit. That's 10,000 watts that's equal to a power wall a Tesla power wall So you can actually turn a portable Titan unit into a permanent installation and it'll be everything you'll ever need In other words, you could have it both ways It can be a permanent and a temporary setup But of course if you're going permanent with the Titan system

[23:59] You'll have to add three full-size solar panels for each battery section But you can also break it down in about 15 minutes and make it a portable system that you can throw in your trunk So you want to buy some foldable suitcase solar panels with that one, too. It's all explained in the material. I'm gonna send you Scott I'll send you pictures diagrams and even the manuals for those units now as far as a permanent installation We talk about power walls. That's the original concept of Tesla the Tesla power wall It's a battery pack about a half a foot thick and as big as a large suitcase It has all the electronics in it too and it weighs about 200 pounds It can store and put out about 10 to 12 kilowatts. That's 10,000 to 12,000 watts So during the day your solar panels will charge it and run your appliances and at night you're running off the battery pack

[24:47] It's all automatic. Of course, you don't have to worry about flipping any switches You never even noticed when the unit switches from solar panels to battery now the term power wall is a generic term for a big Battery pack that came out first from Tesla and to get one of those and have it installed around 10 grand And that's the since the guts of all the Tesla power walls is made in China 90s companies have now started cloning them almost exactly and as it turns out just last January about six months ago a company called Best Sun has come out with an excellent and reliable copy of the Tesla power wall for less than half that price Somewhere around four grand now, of course if you've got tons of door you could get the Tesla people to install a power wall But who doesn't want to save four or five grand on their system and really down here in Latin America All you will need is one of those power walls and around 12 solar panels

[25:33] I always recommend you get a panel that's put out at least three to four hundred watts and down here if you go on Olex.com as mentioned will cost you around a hundred bucks a panel. You'll need 12 minimum, but you could go up to around 18 More panels are better to a point But more than 18 panels is money wasted because then you'll be producing excess power that'll never get stored or used So down here for a permanent installation You'll need one power wall and let's say 12 panels And if you're gonna have an electric car and run air conditioning, you'll get another power wall a duplicate system Which will be set up for 220 volts because 90% of AC units run on to 20 and all the most efficient Electric car charge stations use 220 volts do but that's no problem when you order a power wall

[26:18] You tell them either you want it in 110 volts or 220. So then what about taxes and shipping? Well, if you buy one of those best sun units You can get it from Amazon and they'll ship it down or you can order them direct from the factory in China And they'll ship them direct to you too. They'll ship by boat. It takes about a month It'll come on a pallet and the shipping costs anywhere from 500 to a thousand bucks Remember, it's very heavy and depending where you are in Latin America your taxes will be anywhere from 10 to 30 percent But the nice thing is no matter if you get it from Amazon or the factory in China They'll arrange the shipping right to your door Oh and you better be ready when it gets there because you don't want to go moving that thing again and as for the panels You can order them from Amazon or the factory too But I recommend you get them in your own country on oil x.com There'll be a hell of a lot cheaper. You won't pay any taxes or shipping either because they're already in country now

[27:07] Of course, I'm talking about the panels you're gonna use for your permanent solar system when talking about the solar panels You're gonna use for your portable system the so-called suitcase Solar panels your best bet is either to order those from Amazon or go direct to the factory in China via Alibaba Why because it's very unlikely you're gonna be able to find the latest and greatest suitcase solar panels on oil x.com I check all the time and people are holding on to them. They don't sell them You've been listening to the expat files living in Latin America If you need some help with your own plan be 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

[27:54] Send me an email the expat files at gmail.com