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I would check out the YouTube channel of Amelia and JP who have permanent residency in Ecuador (although they are currently traveling outside of the country).
They're propagandists for living in Ecuador. Back when they started, it was very safe. The situation began to deteriorate with dollarization in 2000. Crime began to rise, drug dealing became a way to survive economically. Scads of working-aged men fled the country for the US and Spain looking for work, as the economy became so unstable, that the government could no longer pay teachers and other public servants. Correa came to the rescue in 2007, and eventually those expats returned home and got their jobs back. His programs and policies created stability, and public works expanded the job base to the extent, that he said workers from Spain were coming to Ecuador in search of work.
Amelia and JP are real estate brokers who prospered by developing housing for American retirees in a little mountain town near Otavalo, pushing that as an affordable haven for retirees forced out of Panama and Costa Rica by rising RE values. This increased the cost of RE for the locals, however, which created a lot of resentment. Now their bubble has burst.
Just like most countries in LatAm, there are of course areas that are safer and areas that are more dangerous. I highly doubt that North American retirees in Cuenca are in any real danger. Quito always had an edge to it, but high-end areas are probably spared for the most part still. Guayaquil always had lots of troubled neighborhoods, and Esmeraldas never had a great reputation. It's clearly much worse now, but once again it's concentrated in certain areas.
I could easily be proven wrong, but the current events wouldn't keep me from going to the country.
Rafael Correa was a far worse president than what Ruth4Truth describes. Fairly corrupt government, left Ecuador severely indebted with China and other countries/entities and the Ecuadorian economy basically has been stagnating for several years (pretty much until now) because of his policies.
This is an example why I would never expatriate to any country in the Western Hemisphere south of the US. What may appear stable, can become unstable in any of these countries in Central or South America.
This is an example why I would never expatriate to any country in the Western Hemisphere south of the US. What may appear stable, can become unstable in any of these countries in Central or South America.
That’s no reason to not go. Plenty of people went to Costa Rica, Panama, etc and those places are as stable as they were when they first went there.
Most people that move from North America to Latin America are either from there, descendants of people from there or American retirees. Most Americans once they reached retirement are looking for life continuing perhaps for another 20 or 30 years. Most countries in Latin America have been stable for that long and even longer.
Within North America, which has also been stable for a long time, has had moments when things were not stable. Look at the USA. It once had a Civil War, to name one instability. At any given time, considering for how long stability has reigned in the USA, the place could become unstable again. It happen before, no guarantees it can’t happen again.
The point is that not moving to a place that is stable because it may not be in the future is quite dumb since nowhere is excempt from becoming unstable, not even the USA. Plus, most people that move to Latin America continue to live there with no major problems.
Just because a handful of Latin American countries are going through instability doesn’t mean most are or will be in the near future.
They're propagandists for living in Ecuador. Back when they started, it was very safe. The situation began to deteriorate with dollarization in 2000. Crime began to rise, drug dealing became a way to survive economically. Scads of working-aged men fled the country for the US and Spain looking for work, as the economy became so unstable, that the government could no longer pay teachers and other public servants. Correa came to the rescue in 2007, and eventually those expats returned home and got their jobs back. His programs and policies created stability, and public works expanded the job base to the extent, that he said workers from Spain were coming to Ecuador in search of work.
Actually since the COVID19 crisis things have gotten much worst in Ecuador. I visited Guayaquil in 2016 and things were relatively quiet and safe (in comparison to when I spent a year there in 1996/7).
Rafael Correa was a far worse president than what Ruth4Truth describes. Fairly corrupt government, left Ecuador severely indebted with China and other countries/entities and the Ecuadorian economy basically has been stagnating for several years (pretty much until now) because of his policies.
How can you blame Correa for the mess his successors created?
I wasn't aware of the debt to China, though. Thx for that info.
Just like most countries in LatAm, there are of course areas that are safer and areas that are more dangerous. I highly doubt that North American retirees in Cuenca are in any real danger. Quito always had an edge to it, but high-end areas are probably spared for the most part still. Guayaquil always had lots of troubled neighborhoods, and Esmeraldas never had a great reputation. It's clearly much worse now, but once again it's concentrated in certain areas.
I could easily be proven wrong, but the current events wouldn't keep me from going to the country.
My daughter just returned from a couple of weeks very affordable holiday in Cuenca and Vilcabamba. She had and saw no problems at all. Her first visit to Ecuador and really enjoyed it. Apparently lots of Americans retired there. And lots of Europeans too.
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