Jose Rodriguez, 65, wants to help treat and prevent cancer by opening more oncology centers. His solution? Leave Chicago and move to Brazil.
Rodriquez, who is an engineer, said that after working in countries like Venezuela on and off throughout his career, Brazil would be a good next step. He hopes to help cancer patients in Latin America while encouraging business partnerships with the US. Many parts of Brazil are lacking in proper medical facilities and, with his assistance, more US businesses could step in, he said.
Many Americans are moving out of the US and to Latin American countries, citing lower living costs, better weather, and business opportunities. Some recent movers said they were able to pay off debt and buy new homes for much cheaper than in the US.
Though Rodriquez has only been in Brazil for a few months, he’s hoping to settle there permanently and buy a home. He said living costs are at least 30% cheaper, and housing is even cheaper. He values Brazil’s natural beauty and quality of life, and he loves living near São Paulo, Brazil’s most populous city with well over 12 million residents.
“One of my goals in Brazil is to see how I can help to set up oncology centers in a lot of places since Brazil is very poor in that aspect,” Rodriguez said. “If you go away from São Paulo or some of the other big cities, the deficiency is pretty bad.”
Moving to Brazil
Rodriguez moved to Chicago after growing up in Honduras, and got an engineering degree from the University of Illinois. After that, he spent decades in New Orleans and Huntsville, Alabama, working in the aerospace industry.
Rodriguez first came to Brazil in 1996, visiting the city of Goiânia in the country’s Center-West region.
“I liked the Brazilian lifestyle. It’s relaxed, I like nature, and so to me, it was just a perfect place to be,” Rodriguez said. “But my business kept me busy, and I did not come back to Brazil until last year.”
In the late 1990s, a friend approached him to help open oncology centers in Venezuela, and he applied his experience with linear accelerators — often used for external beam radiation treatments for patients — to help set up treatment equipment. He went back and forth for three years to get a clinic running, and eventually, he set up a center in Caracas with modern equipment along with free psychology and nutritional services. He opened another one five years later in 2008.
Originally, he wanted to open an insurance company dedicated to oncology to assist families in countries such as Venezuela, but the country’s political and economic crisis pushed him to look elsewhere. During this time, he also helped Latin American students in Chicago work toward college and professional opportunities.
After noticing how some companies he’s worked with began doing more business in Brazil — and thinking back to his trips in the 1990s — he noticed that he could use his expertise in engineering to bridge what he saw as a gap in US-Brazil collaboration. He envisioned moving to Brazil to help open oncology centers throughout the country, teaching kids English, math, and chemistry in his free time. He said he hopes to teach a future president of Brazil.
He also has been getting involved with some Chicago-based energy companies to help them connect with firms in Brazil to establish closer industrial ties.
“I wish that American business people will do more business with Brazil because there are a lot of opportunities, and it just saddens me that I don’t see more Americans doing business here,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez temporarily relocated to Brazil over three months ago, hoping to move there permanently despite having to go back and forth with the US.
Living in São Paulo
Rodriguez said in Brazil, people can buy a middle-class to upper-class home for $100,000. He said a large, modern home in Brazil could cost about $200,000, which he compared to well over $650,000 in the US. He said taxes are much lower in Brazil for housing than in the US.
He rents his home for $500 a month, which is within walking distance of plenty of nature. He said his home is a chacra, or a property on the outskirts of a city by farmland. He said electricity is only about $25 a month, while internet is $20. His friend in the city’s center pays about $650 a month in US dollars.
He said for a comparable home in the Chicago area, residents would need to look much farther into the suburbs. He hopes to buy a home in Brazil within the next few months.
He said the produce quality is much better and cheaper in Brazil, and he said some of his friends have small farms on their properties. The weather is more consistent and warmer with fewer storms or droughts, though he said it rains frequently.
Some things cost way more in Brazil than in the US, such as paper towels, which can cost $4 for a single roll, he said. He also said traffic is “horrible” in São Paulo, more so than Chicago.
He said he may move to the state of Rio Grande do Sul in the country’s south on the border with Uruguay. He said he’s been helping a company in Chicago work with a new port in Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul.
Rodriguez stressed that as Brazil’s economy grows and investments in industry rapidly increase, more Americans should look to refocus their efforts on working with Brazilian companies — or moving to Brazil themselves.
Have you recently left the United States for a new country? Reach out to this reporter at nsheidlower@businessinsider.com.
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