I have been following John Cobin, and his actions and antic in Chile for over six years. I found out about him, when I was reading about the Galt's Gulch Chile debacle in 2014. I used to work in Chile, and as much as it is pretty friendly to Gringos, a beautiful country, lots of fun. It is not the US. It is still a Socially Conservative, family oriented, nuance country. It can also be very bureaucratic, difficult to set up a business for Gringos, etc. etc. If a Gringo/Gringa is working in Chile, one should respect the cultural nuances, learn Castellano, and be respectful, no matter if some of the things looks upon backwards, like the machismo that is still prevalent in Chilean Society. However, compare to the bureaucratic nightmare of Argentina, Chile was a nice place to work and live.
When I heard that he had this "Expatriate Residency Program/Package" it raised my eyebrows that it sounded like a scam. Given trying to get a bank account in Chile is probably more difficult that than getting a place to live or permanent residency..
John Cobin is a right wing Libertarian. The Libertarian Movement has many John Cobins in it. Cobin went up to a Libertarian get together called FreedomFest, that he met an associate of Jeff Berwick, who acts like a James Bond Villain, with a semi sleazy Dollar Vigilante Website, living in Acapulco, Mexico. Jeff Berwick has connections to people like Laura Southern, and even the Crying Nazi, Christopher Cantwell has a small part in this drama, given he started out as a hard core Libertarian. One of John Cobin's partners at his semi real estate scam near Curacaví Chile called "Freedom Orchard" (Vergel Libertad), was Frank Szabo who ran as a Sheriff in New Hampshire as another right wing anti abortion Libertarian.
Let's just say that John Cobin was an accident waiting to happen. He did many press interviews in Chile, in which he blasted Liberals, or basically said Liberals/Progressive/Leftists were the same as Communists. He praised Augusto Pinochet, even though after Pinochet was found to swindle hundred of millions of dollars to enrich himself and his family, he was ostracized before his death. It not a smart move for a Gringo to praise Pinochet in present day Chile, given the US involvement in the 1973 Chilean Coup. Plus, from my own experience, many in Chileans society hate Pinochet. (The coup and the military dictatorship terrorized thousands to millions of Chileans, like my friends, who had guns pointed to their heads to tell them where are they hiding the communists in their house) Former President Michelle Bachelet was tortured along with her Army General Father, before she went into exile..
The wheeling dealing nature of John Cobin, his warped Libertarian Beliefs, made it that, he thought he pretend he was in the Southern Part of the US. The Shooting in Reñaca by John Cobin, could had been avoided. The Yellow Vests in Chile, were kind of looked upon as Carabineros friendly, or supportive of the Piñera Government. He couldn't load his ammo in his gun, as he did on Nov. 10th, 2019. Only 13 Chileans in the Country outside of active Carabineros and active branches of the Chilean Armed Forces can carry loaded firearms in the country. Chile doesn't have a second amendment, and John Cobin is lying that he was going to a shooting range in Viña del Mar, when the shooting range was closed on Sunday. I am guessing he was trying to pick a fight with the demonstrators. (Reñaca is a nice beach town north of Viña Del Mar, with some good restaurants on the coast, which had many broken windows after Cobin left, and the demonstrators went nuts)
I was a little surprise but not really that he was the shooter. His little video he made before the PDI arrested him, was trying to spin his version of events. The videos showed, he drove away from the demonstrators, got out, was trying to shoots some demonstrators, and he shot someone in leg. It was incredibly stupid and reckless what he has done. Because Chile is a Civil Law Country, he is going to be locked up for 90 days, and he most likely will has sort of Attempted Murder charge thrown against him.
If I remember correctly, he renounced his US Citizenship, and he is now a naturalized Chilean. He can't be deported. However, I don't see how he can live in Chile, given he is now has become a huge villain in Chile. I thought an Ugly American like Ken Johnson who ran the "Galt's Gulch Chile" project to the ground, was a vilified, given he didn't pay many Chileans for their work, but right now John Cobin has worse PR. He is most likely going to serve a couple years in prison. Once he loaded his gun in his truck, he was committing some serious criminal offenses in Chile..
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