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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.
He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.
In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.
Global Real Estate Project
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Venezuela: After ChavezIn the last 40 years or so Latin America was divided into two main groups of countries - a "good" and a "bad" one. Depending on the exact point of view (Washington, Moscow, Paris), some of these nations were included in the one or the other group. For the people who want to spend their last 10 or 20 years somewhere in Latin America there are at least three groups of countries. Some of them were good sometime ago, some of them are pretty good right now and finally some of them are expected to become good in the years to come. The first group includes the countries and the areas where the prices and the quality of life are similar to these in the United States and Europe. In the second it's time to invest right now. The third group promises many rewards, perhaps not now but in the distant future. Where is Venezuela situated on this map? Some say it was good to invest there 10 or 20 years ago. Many say today they aren't ready even to go there as tourists. But the weather is changing fast in Latin America. Who knows, maybe a small investment today could bring big fruits tomorrow. Venezuela is a large country with relatively small population so there are plenty of opportunities to find out your place under the sun. The problems today are linked with the present political, economic and criminal situation in the country. The president Hugo Chavez doesn't like the Americans and any person who is rich enough to pay taxes and not to rely on the social assistance. Latin America had in the past only two political figures with similar views - Fidel Castro and Salvador Aliende. The first of them made everything possible to ruin one of the richest nations in the region, the second didn't have such opportunity and now Chili is a preferred place for international relocation. Chavez can't or doesn't dare to follow the Castro's steps, so sooner or later Venezuela will escape from his irrelevant economic policy. Besides the political uncertainty there are many problems linked to the criminal situation in Venezuela. Some areas in the capital city are unsafe, so is the large border area with Columbia. The Colombian terrorist group FARC recently stated that they were stepping up kidnapping operations, especially targeting American citizens for ransom-related kidnapping. The foreign citizens should also be aware of the recent increase in sea piracy near the coast of Venezuela. There are some options for the individual investors to enter the market without being exposed too much to these dangers. First step should be to take a short trip, using all-inclusive package of services and organized tours. Second, making these tours, it's advisable to take a particular look at the Caribbean islands, places far from FARC and pro-governmental armed groups. Right now the houses and condos on some of these islands are relatively cheap, starting from $40-50,000. Don't even try to go deep inside the mainland. The properties there could seem a real bargain but these areas are really dangerous. Third, when you buy a house on one of the islands you are not obliged to live all year long there, so you could let your property to some management company. With good management your capital will be returned within 5-6 years. Forth, think about the time after Chavez. Having a base in Venezuela, when the economic and political situation improves, you can use this base to look around for more properties.
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See also the directory of companies providing real estate services in, and general real estate information of Venezuela.
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