From my dear friend, lawyer, and trusted business partner in Colombia, Juan Dario Gutierrez. He is the principal of a very successful Family Office; take a look at what he has to say; it’s very insightful:
“My friend,
Been watching the news on France these past weeks and can´t help thinking of you, gosh.. feels like one of your newsletters writing itself.
Hundreds of high schools blockaded. Students setting fires and clashing with police in the Paris suburbs. Thousands of arrests. And before that has even settled, a new wave of nationwide protests over the cost of living: the Yellow Vests are back, the unions are marching, and people are furious about fuel prices and frozen benefits in the new budget.
Now think about what France already gives its citizens. It´s a socialist´s living dream! Free healthcare. Free education. A 35-hour work week. Rent controls. Subsidies on energy and transport. One of the heaviest tax burdens in the developed world, with the state spending more than half of everything the economy produces.
They got everything they asked for. And the result isn't gratitude. It isn't stability. It's burning cars, looting buildings, economic paralysis and a government begging its own people to calm down.
That's how this model works, you know. Promise everything, tax the wealthy, borrow the rest. Then when the money runs out, and it always does, the same movements that built the system take to the streets demanding even more from it.
You've been saying this for years, and you were one of the first to show people that LatAm isn't the risky option; it's the smart one. Respect for that, my friend; you had the clarity and the courage to say it before it was popular. Really proud to be on this road together.