For years the United States has given corporations tax advantages for moving their factories, operations and jobs offshore. Now they have given their citizens one more incentive to do the same.

Obamacare.

The U.S. Government has decided that every citizen will buy medical insurance, whether he or she wants it or not, or would ever use it. Plus they intend to take complete control of how or even if citizens are treated or even whether they can see a doctor and what doctor they can see.

For some of us this is not merely onerous, it is especially onerous. Fourteen years ago, this writer was diagnosed with a tumor for which immediate surgery was scheduled and already had recurring skin cancer, requiring occasional surgical removal.

I had heard of an alternative route to health from a medical doctor who recovered from breast cancer when her cancer surgery failed. I decided to postpone surgery for three months and try what this M.D. had done.

I, too, recovered. Not only did the tumor retreat and disappear, so did the skin cancer—AND the arthritis—AND even the painful herniated disks from an auto accident years earlier.

I had many doctors give me antibiotics for colds, nebulizer and oxygen for asthma and myriad other remedies to control symptoms. But only one doctor ever showed me how to get well. And she doesn’t practice medicine anymore. She educates. She now claims that everything she learned in medical school was wrong.

I have no intention of seeing an M.D. again except in the event of an accident or perhaps for a blood test just as preventive medicine. I do think that M.D.s are important in certain trauma situations. But I dropped my medical insurance and later dropped Medicare.

So if I were in the United States, why in the world would I want to pay for medical insurance? Fortunately this doesn’t affect me at all. Because, you see, I don’t live in the United States. Those who are residents of foreign countries are exempt. I live in a country where I can see any private physician that I want, IF I want, and I can still afford to pay for it because medical costs are reasonable.

In fact, in my country of residence, I can walk into a pharmacy and buy drugs from the pharmacist that would require a prescription and be several times as expensive in another country. Fortunately I don’t need them, thanks to the good doctor mentioned above. But they would be available to someone who does need them.

Medical treatment here is excellent. Also, if a person can’t afford to pay a private physician, the system here is similar to the one in the United States many years ago. Each county had a county hospital and anyone could go there and get treatment. It was not as convenient, the wait times could be long. The same situation exists here. People who plan to go to the public hospital here plan to arrive there at 5 in the morning to get their name on the list early. So it takes special planning, but the care is good. I know personally one gentleman who had eye surgery on both eyes at the free clinic and he is just fine.

For a person who feels dependent on their physician, that really isn’t a reason to put off a move to the distant south. So come on down. We’re here to help you as much as we can. At the risk of repeating, we continue to encourage those who are serious about emigrating not to procrastinate. We know there may be reasons for delay, but sometimes it is a matter of just putting off the decision, waiting to see how bad it will get.

As you know, the wave of people coming to South America is growing. They are not coming only from the United States. They are coming from England, other parts of Europe, Australia, and South Africa. Already both Uruguay and Argentina have raised the requirements. Not long ago you could get residency in Uruguay without living in the country. That has now changed and Uruguay wants solid evidence that you have a serious interest in Uruguay and that you live there.

Argentina already requires that you be living in the country to get permanent residence and two years living here to apply for citizenship and that all-important second passport.

Paraguay still allows you to qualify for residency even though you apply and then leave the country. But that too is subject to change. We expect the bar to continue to be raised periodically Add to that the fact that new banking laws go into effect in the U.S. soon wherein they will retain a third of whatever amount that you move out of the country. Things are changing on both sides of the ocean and none of those changes are making it easier for U. S. citizens, so if you have a serious intention of coming south, the sooner the better and moving assets outside before the end of this year might not be a bad idea.

Soft Coup in Paraguay

 It is established now that there indeed was a soft coup in Paraguay. Most of the readers of this newsletter are worldly-wise enough to know that the news that you get is usually incomplete and/or inaccurate. We here at Four Flags Journal don’t claim to understand all the factors about the situation in Paraguay but we have put together reports as follows.

There are land ownership issues in Paraguay. A large group of farmers was squatting on privately owned land. Police went to the area to remove them and, although reports say that no one knows who fired the first shot, the reports we have are that, in the milieu, four of the police officers were shot in the head with a rifle from a distance. Seventeen people died–six of them police. Others were injured. At this date we have not heard anything to indicate that President Lugo was responsible. In fact, at this moment I don’t believe we know who was responsible for the massacre.

The Paraguay senate decided to impeach the president, Fernando Lugo, and gave him one day to prepare a defense. His attorneys requested 18 days, stating that it is impossible to prepare an adequate defense in a single day. They requested time for an investigation of the incident.

The Senate felt there was no need for that. Lugo was removed as president and his vice president took office as the interim president to serve until the next election.

Lugo was a democratically elected president. The presidents of neighboring countries and even as far away as Ecuador have called this a coup and say they will not recognize the new regime. Even Costa Rica has rejected it and said they will offer Lugo asylum if necessary.

The suspicions here are that “western powers” were involved. That suspicion is enhanced by the fact that President Obama, the UK and Israel have expressed little concern, which we take note is very unusual.

We realize that we have many readers with an interest in Paraguay. We do have readers there who have graciously stayed in touch and passed their own observations to us, which we appreciate, particularly since they are in Asuncion. They are staying where they are. We will continue to inform you about the situation in Paraguay.

Uruguay

Most of you know that Uruguay is a combination of fantastic beaches and rich and rolling and arable farm land. Our plans are to spend some time in the Uruguay interior within the next three weeks.

Uruguay seems so unique to us. At Four Flags Journal, we are not just about living in South America. What we really are about is individual freedom and responsibility, independence, self-sufficiency, and community. To that end, we think that health and independence from the medical industry is a worthy aspect of this goal.

We like very much that, by law, cattle in Uruguay are not shot up with hormones and antibiotics nor fattened in a feed lot. You don’t have to take out a second mortgage on your home to buy grass fed, non-medicated beef in Uruguay because it’s all grass fed, non-medicated. You can walk into any meat market and buy at a normal price.

On our part, most of what we choose to eat is organic fruits, vegetables and grains. We have visited with organic farmers in Uruguay who tell us that the farming tradition of Uruguay leans toward organic methods even when the farmer is not claiming to be organic. It’s just that they still do a lot of things in the old ways.

Here is a typical farmer’s market that sets up weekly near Atlantida, Uruguay

Sadly Monsanto gained permission to farm soybeans and corn in Uruguay. That means, of course, that both may be genetically modified. We are told that other than those two crops, we are not eating GMO food in Uruguay. We do not eat corn or soybeans in any country, since so much of both crops is genetically modified. Yes we miss the corn on the cob and the corn chips undergirding our taco salad, but we make that sacrifice.