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Yes, Colombia!
By Chris at www.CapitalistExploits.at
One of the reasons I spend a lot of time in New Zealand when having grown up in South Africa, apart from the breathtaking beauty and unbelievable lifestyle, is that South Africa completely blows New Zealand away when it comes to crime (pun intended).
Crime clogs the economic pipelines of the country like the fat in Jonah Hill's arteries and yet commerce still takes place. Humans are incredibly adaptive. That said, the leverage that comes with a reduction in crime is truly astounding.
Crime at its worst is called war and when wars cease the concurrent economic growth is typically very attractive. We've visited countries coming out of long standing wars where the rate of growth has subsequently surged. Last year we hosted a Seraph event in Sri Lanka, a country that came out of a brutal 25-year-long civil war. We put together a comprehensive report on the country which you can read here. Sri Lanka is not the only example, though.
Mongolia, a country I spoke about recently, experienced rapid growth on the back of some major commodity finds and the returns had have been reflected in the publicly listed stocks on the MSE.
Colombia is another country on our radar. It has an awesome reputation! Unfortunately, it's a reputation for murder, kidnapping, and general mayhem. Pablo Escobar, whose arteries incidentally likely resembled that of Jonah's, managed to turn Medellin into a battlefield that no sane person would have willingly spent time on. We like opportunities where the zeitgeist doesn't reflect the underlying fundamentals. This is typically where value is to be found.
I've been asked how safe is Colombia.
Well, let's look at some of the facts:
I grew up in South Africa, a country many people don't think twice about visiting either for business purposes or vacations. And I'm 19 times more likely to be assaulted in South Africa than in Colombia. In fact, if you live in Washington DC you're currently enjoying a higher murder rate than that the average Colombian!
Now I'm not particularly interested in living in either South Africa or Washington DC. What I'm more interested in, though, is not some place to live but in the trend in motion, and where to place investment capital for superior returns.
It is for this reason that we are basing a trusted team member of our organisation there. Flying in to any country for a week or two will typically just land you in trouble. You'll likely know enough to be a danger to yourself having had insufficient time to sort the wheat from the chaff and get a decent lay of the land. We're excited to see what we can find though real estate is likely to feature fairly highly on our list.
Below are 4 facts that you may not have known regarding Colombia:
- Colombia is estimated to be the second largest economy in South America, right behind Brazil;
- Colombia has a vibrant banking system, which surpasses many of its regional peers;
- Colombia has struck free trade agreements with United States, South Korea, Canada, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Lichtenstein, the EU, Mexico, Chile, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador;
- The country has a thriving banking sector which is fast becoming the predominant banking jurisdiction in South America.
..and we're certainly looking forward to finding out a whole lot more.
- Chris
"I'm a decent man who exports flowers." - Pablo Escobar
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One very rich man from Colombia : Sarmiento!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Carlos_Sarmiento
My brother-in-law is Colombian, but, has lived in Miami for the last 30 years. He and my sister-in-law bought some land in Barranquilla 35 years ago, thinking they were going to build a house and live there. Plans changed and he has been trying to sell it and get his money back ever since. He even tried to sell it to me a few times. No thanks. He gets pissed at me when I ask him if he has any land available on the moon instead. It’s funny.
I didn't spend a ton of time in Barranquilla, but I can understand not wanting a house there from what I saw (although it did feel like I saw the entire city on the bus just trying to get to the zoo 0.o)
But there were plenty of other places I'm looking at to retire to down there. Bogota is a livable city, and some of the surrounding towns were pretty nice too IMO. I'm looking forward to visiting Medellin some day to check it out as it's a little warmer than Bogota (which would be just perfect if it were about 10 degrees warmer each day...very nice still though).
Santa Marta is becoming a trendy little place on the Caribbean. I could see some growth there in the future as Cartagena gets saturated.
I have traveled a bunch there. If you like it use a US ETF or other dollar denominated security. My travels are limited to Medellin and Cartagena. Cartagena is booming. Lots of construction, the big hotels are setting up shop. Always have a blast but to "trust" your money of any significance there is potentially a fools errand. Corporate structures, shells, passports and other tax avoiding deals may be of interest but generally there are better venues. Nice place but definately 3rd world. Medellin, I felt was sketchy. I like Cart.
Relatively safe in the tourist zones. I start getting uneasy when I traveled outside the zone depending on distance and probaby it is not justified. It is just that the poverty obviously increases outside of centro. Just some thoughts.
The coffee is great. Good food can be found. Steaks. Once you hit the big things, not a whole lot to do outside of hang at the beach, drink and chase women. It really isn't much of a chase which is why I like it. Attitudes are much better. Women actually act like women and are quite friendly, dress to the nines to impress the hombre. LBFMs.
From what I know, all of South America pretty much hates Colombians.
Only Colombian?
No!
Anyone who speaks English is looked at least with suspicion, especially if you have tattoos on the body.
If fat, have money and no danger.
Beefy is risk.
No muscles or is CIA / DEA or is in any church.
hehe.
Y (+) your.
No, it is Argentinians that are universally hated. Colombians are known as the coolest.Mi esposa is Colombian. Have no clue about the investment environment, but the people are cool as hell. James Rodriguez: super cool; Sophia Vergara, super cool. Seriously. Cool country.
South americans do not hate other south americans. They joke about having minor animosities based on sterotypes. Eg, argentinians are arrogant, colombians are drug dealers. No one takes it seriously enough to reach "hate" levels. Colombians used to be scapegoated in the 80s and 90s as the cause of all of Venezuela's ills but venezuelans being laid back as they are, never truly cared a lot about it. After all, everyone knows both countries are virtually identical.
To be honest, the illiterate lower classes may or may not hate whoever they are told to hate and then switch back no matter how ridiculous, sort of like south african niggers hating on the "foreign" niggers cousins (them being foreign due to the lines their massas drew on the map).
Someone say Columbia? As in District of?
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/esp_sociopol_washingtonD...
Yes! Colombia!
Yes! Afghanistan! (probably the next article of this guy)
No Colombia there is no supply decently NY with cocaine.
No Afghanistan there is no supply of opium Europe.
Security is provided by the Army.
Administration of the thing by the CIA, the DEA is the institutional coverage raising money (after all, someone has to pay prostitutes).
Now this article raising money for construction of hotels.
After all, we need to stop using public facilities as whorehouse and provide employment for the natives ....
hehe.
Any of y'all ZH bitchez from Medellin? I will be coming there for a visit one day and I will have coffee at Juan Valdez Cafe.
I drank some "cafe negro" at a Juan Valez in Bogota a few months ago. Good stuff...but I actually had the best stuff in the town of La Vega...and bought some at a kinda farmer's market they had going one day for about $1.50 a lb. It is awesome! (I still have some saved).
If I can figure it out I'd past a photo or two of the stuff.
Having lived in Colombia for 15 years, speaking Spanish and being married to a Colombiana I can tell you this is pure bullshit.
Just try and invest your money in Colombia and then get it out again. For get about it. Banks are a joke and the banking laws are made to get you sued or ripped off. Put your money in their bank and maybe they make it go away or use the drug laws to make up some case and seize your money. They are the law and you will never be given a fair hearing or square deal. They will send you to the grave in a heart beat.
I have read some sales shit before buy theses clowns have zero clue.
As a life long xpat that now lives in Asia I can tell you never, never invest in another country.
Hell the USA is just as crooked but at least in the USA you have a shot at maybe getting to keep some.....
Maybe......
Other facts about Colombia: Half of the coutry is in guerrilla hands, there are about 5,000 political prisioners, the olygarch are still murdering campesinos. You are safe as long as you don't make the wrong turn in the road. Venezuela has about half a million colombian ilegal aliens, wonder why. I know I have relatives there.
Pachanguero, thanks for your perspective!
I am married to and Ecuadorean Woman and we own some farmland in Ecuador that produces well for us. Not too much land 45 hectares. The idea is to fly under the radar and try and not let folks know a gringo is involved.
I'd be interested in your perspective on East Timor...as my Dubai accountant says, "a developing opportunity". If you get down that way, drop us all a line. It's pretty primitive right now, but fully dollarized, Catholic, & they got lots of natgas.
I found it odd that Colombia is the second place below Brazil ...
Kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!
Chile, Argentina, Venezuela etc. MERCOSUL nihil?
hehe
thank you for pointing this out to those who may get wrong idea reading this article. having said that, Columbia has its charms.
Applies to all governments:
The General Axiom of Government #1: "Government is nothing more than a criminal syndicate of violence, theft, destruction, and death. All statements otherwise are lies."
The General Axiom of Government #2: "Being nothing more than a criminal syndicate, government can only produce 4 things: Poverty, misery, death, and lies. All statements otherwise are lies."
The General Axiom of Government #3: "Being nothing but a criminal syndicate, government always accomplishes the opposite of the stated goal, as the stated goal is always a lie."
The General Axiom of government #4: Being nothing but a criminal syndicate concerned only with stealing and killing under cover of the lie of providing services, government must always monitor and control the thoughts, attitudes, behavior, and speech of their victims, subjects.
All indicators to the contrary be unicorns.
Liberty is a demand. Tyranny is submission.
We Americans have two, and only two, things going for us, and the first is firearms. Lots, and lots of firearms.
Excellent, but I disagree with the conclusion.
It's not rational to try and fix the abuser when in an abusive relationship.
Is the Swiss Confederation abusive to its slaves? Not really, but its still a card carrying member of the ZWO. To truely diversify, one has to find a country not under the thumb of by ashkenazi bankers.
Most Columbians of wealth try fiercely to get their money out -- buying cash condos in Miami, etc. Why would a foreigner know better then them how to make money there in their own country when the natives fight to get it out?
Jonah Hill is just big-boned
Colombia also makes a great necktie, I've been told.
Soon to be their greatest export.
"I don't like fucking colombians" - Tony Montana
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wQbselazX0