Dictators may save Panama from a real estate bust.

Today I had the pleasure to play golf with a gentleman who has moved from Caracas, Venezuela to Panama. He is a successful businessman and what he shared with me about his home country was chilling. He said that they wonder if there have not been more murders in Venezuela than in Iraq. Since Chavez came to power they have had over 90,000. He told me that you couldn’t take money out of the country without imprisonment if caught. He said he was extremely fortunate to have been able to get out with his family and capital enough to live comfortably in his new country, Panama. 

Many of his friends are out or are trying to get out. He said that his attorney in Panama is processing many immigration visas for Venezuelans. I confirmed this with my own attorney who said it is second only to Colombia in the number of new immigrants. What shocked me the most was that he had absolutely no hope for his countries future. My friend Paul McBride observed that the problem is the size of the population and the number of them in poverty. You get a lunatic like Hugo Chavez promising to take from the rich and give to the poor and the result of democracy (majority rule) is that a crazy Robin Hood is elected president and dictator. Add to this insanity, a goose laying golden eggs in the form of black gold and the situation gets crazier. Chavez cozies up to the FARC rebels of Columbia, Shinning path of Peru, the gullible indigenous Morales in Bolivia, king of Cuba, Sandinistas in Nicaragua, Mullahs of Iran, and potentate of Korea. What a wild and grand party they would have ruling the world. That is a nightmare that sends shivers down my spine.

One countries nightmare is another’s windfall. With the 20,000 condo’s going up in the city, flight capital from Venezuela and Columbia may just save the day here. Who is going to save the peoples of these desperately poor countries?