I bet Santiago Chile, Buenos Ares Argentina, and Panama City, Panama are probably the better cities. Maybe there's a good city in Brazil. Not sure how they compare to europe, canada, etc, but I would be surprised if there weren't tech startups in all these cities. But I'm guessing they are a different culture and that not as many of the people on hacker news are located in central or south america.
I would love to hear from someone who is who can give their experiences.
I really don't care if there's no VC or angels there, but if there's good broadband, low cost of living, and a couple thousand people who know python in the city then that might be good enough.
I'm Brazilian, and I was born and live in São Paulo, I have visited Brazil (where I live), Argentina and Chile, so I think I can give an opinion.
Well, São Paulo (the Brazilian state) is a good place to start a company, it does have a large talent pool if you're willing to pay for the best (there are a lot of mediocre people working here), the majority of the best universities in the country are in the state, and it does have a decent infrastructure, though the government regulations are a mess for new business and not much people understands English as they should, São Paulo (the city) is expensive to live compared to other tech centres in the State (São Carlos and Campinas).
There are also other Brazilian states with a vibrant tech sector, the three Southern states, Rio de Janeiro and Pernambuco, but São Paulo alone probably have much more tech companies than they all combined.
Buenos Aires is a better city than São Paulo for me, the infrastructure is relatively better, but I think that the Argentinian State is even worse to business than the Brazilian, some of the same problems that you find in Brazil you'll also face in Argentina.
Santiago is like Buenos Aires and São Paulo, although a bit smaller, the Chilean State is much more business friendly than other South American governments and the living is cheaper than São Paulo or Buenos Aires, but I do not know much about the working conditions for tech companies there. But I do know that it's easier to get foreigners to work in Chile than in other South American countries, and their taxes are much smaller compared to Brazil or Argentina.
EDIT: In addition, there's a growing start up scene in São Paulo and Buenos Aires, once again I'm not sure about Santiago, it does not have a tech sector so developed like São Paulo or Buenos Aires, but I think the government there is probably trying to change that.
As far as I know the scene is becoming stronger, although the target for the majority of new business is the Argentinian market and the majority do not have plans of international expansion initialy, this is slowly changing.
I'm not sure about the language but I suspect that it falls in the same situation of São Paulo.
Thanks for your answer. Yes, would be very interesting to hear more about these cities, especially from Santiago Chile and Buenos Ares Argentina, anyone familiar with the startup scene in these cities?