Chile: A developed country in Latin America
You may think that Latinos are all similar, which is almost accurate, but there are some differences you should be aware of.
In Latin America (LATAM), most of our conflicts are about soccer, food, and who has the shittest accent. Other than that, we have very similar cultures and share the same history. The fact that we all speak the same language helps a lot (well, except Brazil and The Guianas). When a Latino meets another Latino traveling abroad they will almost always automatically become friends. As a collectivist culture, we always tend to group together and think as a group.
In 2016, my startup was accepted to Start-up Chile, which is an accelerator program that gives promising projects a governmental grant to develop a startup while living for 7 months in Santiago. The point of the accelerator is to bring international startups and talented people to boost their startup ecosystem, which seems to be working pretty well. This program gave me the opportunity to live in Chile and meet some incredible people. As a Mexican living in Chile, I encountered more cultural shocks than what I was expecting. Inside our Latino world, we have differences that foreigners would not be able to detect or understand at first sight, and Chile is a country full of unique characteristics.
How is Chile?
Chile is a high-income economy with high living standards, which is kind of rare in LATAM. In Santiago, the capital, you can get everywhere with public transport and it’s efficient. I’d even go so far as to compare it with public transportation in European cities. They have one of the highest minimum wages in the region and they have a great quality of life. The food is nothing special, but you can find a lot of Peruvian food, which in my opinion, is one of the best cuisines in South America. They also have very good wine.
In terms of safety, I would say that Santiago is safe. I mean, there are no cartels that will kidnap you and kill all your family. You only have to avoid shabby places, but that is like any other big city, so you will be fine. Although, you should watch out for pickpockets. They are fucking a̵s̵s̵h̵o̵l̵e̵ ninjas!
I moved to Chile together with over 100 foreigners and at least 20 of them got pickpocketed without them even noticing. These thieves were targeting foreigners, but not all foreigners, only the ones that didn’t look Latino.
I have an Indian friend who had his bag with his laptop inside stolen in a restaurant. He went there for a business meeting and left the bag next to his chair. He didn’t stand up during the whole conversation, and when he was about to leave he realized that his bag was not there anymore. The locals recommended that when we went to restaurants to put the backpack straps under one of the legs of our chair, this way if someone tried to snatch it and run they would get stuck on the chair.
Another thing that I learned when I arrived was that Chile is the second most seismically active country in the world, just behind Japan. The first earthquake shook my world, scaring the hell out of me, but then you get used to it.
Chileans speak Chilean
Before going to Chile, I didn’t know anything about Chile nor did I have any connection with the country. I knew the basic stuff, it’s a country in South America, they like football and they speak Spanish… well, that’s what I thought. On my first day in Santiago, I decided to take a walk around the city. It was a shock for me that I couldn’t understand any of the conversations the people were having. It has even seemed to me as if it was a different language altogether. When I was in a shop I needed to ask them to repeat what they said about 3 times because I couldn’t understand shit.
Yes, all Spanish-speaking countries have different accents and slang, but this was at a whole different level. The problem is that they have a lot of slang specific to Chile, they speak super fast and cut half of the words probably to save time.
If you speak Spanish and don’t believe me, take a look at how they speak.
After a few months, I was able to get about 90% of the conversation. I even started adopting some of their words.
My girlfriend had lived in Mexico for two years and she could hold a pretty good conversation in Spanish. Then, she came to Chile with me for a few months and she got a pretty fast, half-cut slap in the face. She didn’t understand anything. It was a different language for her. After she recovered a bit from the shock of the change, she would go out to the park and speak with the homeless people to practice. They were always talkative and very patient with her.
The bottom line, Chile has a lot to offer to foreigners, but teaching Spanish is not one of them. Even Chileans know that they speak “como el pico” (like shit in Chilean).
Strike hard, strike fast, no mercy
Chileans are the french in LATAM, they strike about everything. They cherish their rights and their freedom of speech, so if someone tries to repress them, even a little bit, they will push back, hard.
On the other hand, strikes can also be overused. My Chilean roomie told me a story about a strike of the Union of Educators demanding something related to the universities and the Union of Transport decided to join it. So, public transport was not working for the whole day. When the press asked the Transport Union why they joined a strike related to education, the answer was “Solidarity”. I don’t think that was “Solidarity”, they just didn’t want to work. Strikes are a powerful tool for workers to fight for their rights and get their voices heard, but they shouldn’t be misused.
In comparison with Mexico, my home country, where we don’t really have strikes, although we do have political strikes driven by demagogues, but that is a different story. Mexico doesn’t have the labor environment to make strikes. The economical laws over the last few decades have been made to portray Mexico as a country where transnational corporations can move their assembly plants and factories for cheap labor. Some macroeconomic metrics like GDP growth and the unemployment rate have done well, but it doesn’t mean that the quality of life of the working class has improved. Unlike Chile, where the quality of life has increased substantially and also the GDP, even more than Mexico.
Global corporations moving to Mexico, or any other country, don’t care about local worker’s rights. They moved to Mexico because it was cheaper than to move to Asia and we have the timezone of the USA. Mexico’s minimum wage is 199.01 USD per month (the lowest minimum wage in LATAM, just after Venezuela), 6 days of vacation per year, and only 5.5 weeks of maternity leave. These same metrics in Chile are beyond compare. The minimum wage is 388.7 USD, 15 to 20 days of vacation (depending on the region), and 18 weeks of maternity leave.
In Mexico, Labour Unions are not popular (except the ones that are politically linked). Many of these factories pay per week so that people can collect their money sooner. All this makes the perfect environment for exploitation. When the working class lives from hand to mouth they can’t afford to participate in a strike.
Global corporations aren’t the whole problem, actually, they could be part of the solution. They bring investment and work, but the institutions and the government of the country should serve the interests of their citizens and aim for a better quality of life.
There is also a social problem in Mexico. I am not sure if this happens in other countries too, but Mexicans, even the working class, consider strikes to be for hippies or communists or hippy-communists. There is a perception that people strike because they are lazy and they don’t want to work.
The quality of life in Chile is certainly better than a lot of other countries in the region. This helps their society to be heard and demand better rights. On the other hand, strikes can be troublesome and can affect people that aren’t involved in the dispute. Anyone would be annoyed to miss an important appointment because there was a strike that had brought the traffic to a complete standstill. As an outsider of the strike, you need empathy to understand the demands. This is something that is lacking in many countries in Latin America.
Natural wonders
For nature lovers, Chile is the destination for you. No matter what you are into, Chile will have it. As the tallest country in the world, Chile has the advantage of having all kinds of different ecosystems. In my opinion, this is the most incredible thing about Chile. They have unique places that you won’t find anywhere else, such as, skiing in the Andes Mountains, hike glaciers in Tierra del Fuego (even the name sounds cool “Land of Fire”), visit Easter Island, drive through the Desierto de Atacama, climb the Villarrica Volcano, I could go on and on about all the things there is all day.
From Santiago, you are an hour away from the snow in the Andes Mountains and also the beach in Viña del Mar. Even inside the city, there are a lot of parks, where you can breathe in the fresh air, which … wait… kind of smells like weed, but don’t worry, it’s safe.
Sexy Cafes
Imagine the joy of a strip club and a coffee shop together, that’s pretty much the only way to describe it. There are coffee shops that are open only during the day and they have girls with lingerie that will accompany you while you drink your coffee. They don’t serve alcohol and it’s closed at night. You can’t get a lap dance or something a little more than a chat with the girl if you are so inclined. The whole concept was a bit of a shock to me, but if you are a lonely perv I guess this could be for you.
I am a curious person, so yes, I went t̵w̵i̵c̵e̵ once to see how it works. The girl was telling me that most of the time the people that go there are middle-aged guys that have a lot of problems and just need someone to talk to. They have things on their mind that they don’t feel comfortable talking about it with their close friends, because they are ashamed, shy, or maybe they don’t have anyone. For them, having a woman half-naked in front of them gives them the courage to get it out. I still think it’s for lonely pervs, but the concept is interesting.
I believe that objectifying women is a big issue worldwide, but I like the idea that women can do whatever they want with their bodies and work as they want. Even with a machinist concept such as Sexy Cafes, Chile is one of the most feminist in the region. This is just a small proof of how progressive the country is.
Chileans love Dogs
Yes, I know, any sane person loves dogs, but for Chileans, it comes in their blood. According to a survey, 73% of Chileans claim to have a dog and 65% say their dog sleeps on their bed with them. Even the street dogs in Chile have a nice life. All street dogs have a sweater and the big majority are fat. It’s quite normal that people buy dog food and give it to street dogs. I even saw a guy once give food to the dog that was taking a nap in the middle of the street and the dog saw the food and didn’t even bother to move. The homeless people take better care of the dogs than themselves.
My girlfriend brought her best friend over from Mexico, her dog, Ivy. One day, we were taking a walk during the night, we were turning onto a street, and something in the darkness spooked Ivy. She pulled so hard that the collar slipped off her neck and within a moment she was in the middle of a busy street with cars flying past. I remember the blood draining from my body. I could only stand there in horror and watch. After a few near misses the worst happened and Ivy hit the ground after coming face to face with a taxi.
The taxi driver stopped his car, he was utterly distraught. The taxi had run over her neck, but she was still moving. In a desperate act to save her, I picked up Ivy from the road and jumped into the taxi, searching for the closest vets we could find. It was scary, with one hand I was searching on my phone for a vet in the middle of the night, and with the other, I was trying to calm Ivy and stop her convulsing. We arrived at one vet just as they were closing the door. We yelled at him to come to the car. While I was desperately trying to explain everything to him Ivy stopped moving. The vet’s eyes dropped and he said “You did everything you could, I am sorry”.
The taxi brought us back to the flat. We stayed outside staring at the lifeless body of Ivy as people walking past, total strangers, gave us their condolences. One guy brought an old dog bed so we could bury her. But the biggest act of kindness was a homeless guy that was passing by. He saw that situation and he offered to help us bury the dog in the park in front of our flat. I think it was illegal, but at that point, I didn’t care. We went to the park and he did all the work using an old plank of wood as a shovel, I was still too shocked to do anything. It was a small relief. We managed to bury her in a flower garden in the park where she was always playing. That random guy’s act of kindness gave us just a tiny piece of joy to hold onto from our night of heartbreak. The love for dogs that I saw and experienced in Chile is something I will never forget.
Sorry for this sad story, but there is a happy ending. After a few weeks of sorrow, we decided to adopt a Chilean dog. Her name is Aila and she is now living in Prague with us. She even has a European passport (I don’t even have a European passport yet).
People trust police officers
This could sound normal for developed countries (except the USA), but for LATAM countries, sadly, the police happen to be one of the most corrupt entities in the government.
It is common in Latin America, for higher-ranking police officers to ask their subordinates for a weekly amount of bribe money. So the police make patrols to find people that they can blackmail into giving them bribes.
In Mexico, as a teenager, it was common to have random checks from the police for drugs and alcohol, but in reality, they were looking for money. When I was 16, just after I got my driving license, I was in a traffic jam and a guy wanted to move into my lane. Normally, I don’t mind, but this asshole skipped the queue to go to the beginning. I was not letting him move to our lane and he went so close that my lateral mirror touched his car and made a mark on his car. A policeman saw the whole scene and he stopped both of us. He asked for our driver's licenses and car papers. Imagine, it was one of the first times that I was driving by myself and this happens. I was nervous and afraid. The policeman and the other guy didn’t want to call the insurance and they said that they need to talk in private. I knew that we should call our insurance companies but the problem was that I was a typical teenager that didn’t have minutes in his phone and only had the equivalent of 5 USD in my wallet. After their private conversation, the guy in the car came to me and said that if I give him money he will go and he will not press charges.
Just to give context, the mark that I made on his car was not a scratch. You could easily buff it out with a bit of spit.
I insisted on calling the insurance company but the guy refused so I politely told him to“fuck off” and I went to talk with the policeman. The policeman said that this was a crime and he needed to call someone to come and collect the car and take it to the vehicle impound. I asked him if he could let me use his phone to call my parents or the insurance company, but he said that he couldn’t. He even used his radio to call the recovery truck, but I guess in hindsight he probably just did it to intimidate me. After telling me how expensive it would be for me to pay the fines he said that maybe we can just settle it. When I told him how much money I had he said that it was not enough. He started blackmailing me that it would be worse if I don’t give him more. I would give him more money if I could, but at the time it was all I had. He resigned to the fact he couldn’t blackmail me (as I had nothing I could give him in any case), took the money and told me to leave.
I don’t have any experience driving in Chile, but the interaction with the drivers there while walking around was always positive. The carabineros (the Chilean police) were always friendly and eager to help. There were a lot of people smoking weed and drinking alcohol in the parks and the carabineros were not chasing them. They would only stop people who were really causing trouble.
Once, I helped my friend to report the robbery of his laptop and went with him to the police station. My friend didn’t speak Spanish, so that’s why he needed me. They stole his laptop in a coffee shop without him noticing. I had very low hopes for him to recover his stuff, but he insisted on going. The attitude of the police surprised me. They were really interested in getting the things back for my friend. In Mexico, you can also report the robbery, but it’s merely a bureaucratic process. They make you fill in some forms but nobody expects anything will happen. In the Chilean police station, they assigned us a detective that would take care of the case and I had follow-up calls with the detective and he even interrogated the workers in the coffee shop. In the end, we didn’t recover the stolen laptop but that wasn’t through lack of trying. The effort the police officers put in was very appreciated.
In most Latin American countries you will have problems with police officers trying to blackmail people to get some money, but unfortunately, it’s not the worse part. The police very often collude with the drug cartels and gangs. They accept money from these gangs to control their operations and even sometimes to control entire cities. The fundamental idea of a police force is to protect you from these people and they do the exact opposite. By not having reliable police, countries in LATAM are exposed to high levels of crime. In Chile, you don’t have cartels, at least not the big ones, they have one of the lowest homicide rates in the region. They do have street gangs but they don’t have the money or influence to bribe the police, not anywhere near the scale as other neighboring countries.
Abraham Maslow, one of the most influential psychologists of the twentieth century, created Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. This study reflects the motivation of human beings in 5 categories. Feeling safe and secure is on the second most important level, only after having food, water, and shelter. If the country’s institutions cannot provide a basic need such as feeling safe it will affect all the other factors of development of the society. Entrepreneurs will not want to start a business because they will be afraid of criminal gangs and/or the police blackmailing them, international companies will think twice about investing money in cities with high crime rates, and talented people will move away because of the unsafety.
During our induction at Startup Chile, they showed us a survey saying that most Chileans trust the carabineros. That was shocking for me. The police were really doing their job!? They really had the authentic vocation to serve.
Are Latinos Lazy?
This is a common stereotype that I hear a lot. I don’t think Latinos are lazy, I think it’s more like less efficient. Many times when Latinos face a complex problem, they try to go for the easiest and fastest solution, which doesn’t solve the problem itself. It is only a patch. Solving the problem from the root means that you have to spend time, and sometimes money, but the benefit comes in the long run. However, it is natural for Latino cultures to think only about the short term and look for the short term fix.
We are an extrovert culture and like to live for the moment and enjoy life as much as we can. We are more impulsive and we tend to follow our heart rather than our brain. The main difference between other cultures and ours is how we perceive problems, if it’s something that is beyond our control we will decide not to stress ourselves out about it. While in other cultures a rainy day could ruin a whole week for someone. That’s one of the reasons why Latinos are happy, we willingly decide not to give a fuck about things. The downside is that there are problems and situations where you do need to give a fuck.
Clarifying, I am not saying that Latinos are impulsive animals. Everyone is different and people can have less or more of this stereotype.
When I saw how developed Chile was, I thought that their workforce would also be more efficient. But I was wrong. I had the chance to deal with private Chilean companies and my experience was awful. You needed to be behind them all the time to make things happen.
The following table is a Meme that was shared among the foreigners in Startup Chile about how to do business in Chile. Of course, it’s extreme, but hey, all intercultural communication jokes are like that.
Waiters and shop assistants were the worst, basically, anything related to customer service. They didn’t care about the client, it was like they were doing us a favour by serving us. Not friendly at all. People don’t bother hiding that they hate their job and as a client, you suffer. I would expect this attitude from different countries, but not in Latin America.
Surprisingly, I had a better experience with public services. When I issued my working visa they said that it was going to take a month. Thirty days later I had the visa in my hands. In the Czech Republic, it took them nine months to give me the visa.
When researching a little more about Chilean culture I discovered some interesting things. Geert Hofstede was a Dutch social psychologist and was well known for his pioneering research on cross-cultural groups and organizations. He created Hofstede’s cultural dimension theory, which is a model that distinguishes cultures based on six dimensions. One of the dimensions measures the Masculinity of the culture or country. In Masculine countries people “live in order to work”, managers are expected to be decisive and assertive, the emphasis is on equity, competition, and performance, and conflicts are resolved by fighting them out. In Feminine countries (low Masculinity level) the focus is on “working in order to live”, managers strive for consensus, people value equality, solidarity, and quality in their working lives. This trait of the culture shows the importance of human rights for society.
I found out that Chileans have a quite low Masculinity level, compared to other neighboring countries, which made me understand better why I had a bad experience with customer service in the country. In countries with high Masculinity level, people in customer service will try to work to be the best and get a reward from it, even though they don’t like the job. They will fake it. Chile is a different story, people that don’t like their job will show it. They are not interested in improving their service in a work that they don’t enjoy. I come from a country with a high level of Masculinity and expecting this characteristic was my mistake.
Ok, so why are they more developed?
In the whole blog post, I tried to focus on specific characteristics that may differ from one region to another. Chile has clearly some characteristics that developed countries share, such as a focus on human rights, progressive mentality, stable economy, and trustworthy police, but this is not it. I believe that the main problem of LATAM countries is corruption. A society where you can’t rely on your institutions is doomed.
Chilean people have a particular “advantage”. In their recent history, they experienced a military dictatorship regime. The Pinochet Regime lasted 27 years. During the dictatorship, there was a lot of censorship, injustices, and suppression of other political parties. As with any other military dictatorship, they were using force to do whatever they want. The police were able to get inside the universities and arrest students that were rising up against the regime.
In 1988, Pinochet allowed a referendum to decide if he should continue as the president. He was too arrogant and had a distorted reality, thinking that the people actually loved him. Against all odds and corrupted campaigns, the Chilean people voted to finish the presidential term of Pinochet and in the following year, he left the presidency.
This historic event is so recent that people haven’t forgotten. Newspapers, photos, and even videos of the dictatorship are publicly accessible. People remember what a dictatorship looks like, so they don’t want to go back to this again. Having a dictatorship with very corrupted institutions and then being able to demolish it with people voting, is a big win to democracy. This gives high hopes that things can change by raising your voice and demanding your rights. That’s why they have a lot of strikes, take a human rights perspective, and champion freedom of speech. As an outcome, Chile is perceived as one of the least corrupt countries in LATAM in 2019*, just behind Uruguay.
There is a famous quote that says: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”. Curiously, there are many people that use it, even Winston Churchill in one of his famous speeches twisted it to be his own. The fact that this phrase has been used by so many influential people shows the importance of that statement. Chile still remembers its past and is fighting for a better future.
Having strong institutions and a deep focus on human rights creates the environment for a country to develop. Of course, it’s still far from the top developed countries, but having all this progress in a region like LATAM is very admirable. There are a lot of neighboring countries that could learn a lot from the Chilean success.
*Sadly this might be changing. My experience is of 2016 and while investigating the situation of the country, I discovered that 80% of the Chilean population believe that corruption has increased in the last 12 months.
Thanks to Gabriela Kadlecova, David Watson and Pascal for reviewing and improving this (long) text.
