Individual liberties in poor/developing countries with weak states.

[titaniumtux]

Mexico is certainly an interesting country. The lack of enforced regulations means it's quite the playground for Libertarians, but it's certainly corrupt.

I lived in Monterry, Nuevo León for about four months, studying at the ITESM (Tec Monterrey, commonly known as the Mexican MIT). I speak fluent Spanish (I was fluent even before I studied there). I wouldn't want to live the greater part of my life in Latin America. It's an awesome travel destination, but to live there is just not worth my while. Here's the breakdown:

Pro's:
- You can buy your way through pretty much anything
- You don't have to care about intellectual property rights
- The locals are very friendly
- Service is cheap
- If you're in a fortunate situation, you can easily avoid income tax (if you're American, this is really difficult, because you don't really have the option of renouncing residency to stop paying income tax unless you renounce citizenship)

Cons:
- Housing is terrible. Either you pay good money and get a castle, or you end up in a neighborhood with terrible sidewalks. Your property line will be surrounded by a combination of house walls and/or fences, so no "open space". Their fences are ugly, too (for the most part, IMHO)
- Unless you're in Bolivia or Paraguay, electronics are ridiculously expensive. Bolivia, Paraguay, Venezuela and half of Central America have such a low standard of living (imagine...you can't take the highway at night because there are no lights in some of these countries) that you have to pay up to North American prices just to get comfort. Cars are also really expensive unless you buy one that was previously stolen
- Nationalism. You can't export jobs because they're afraid of losing their jobs (many Mexican companies move to the US just so that they can export labor to the lowest bidder more easily)

If I were to be an expat in Latin America in the country of my choice, I'd probably pick Ecuador or Brazil, but even then...the bureaucracy is so ridiculous and disposable income certainly isn't better than in North America. Your best bet is to treat Latin America like a playground/vacation destination unless you find a really good job down there.