Chapter 167: That Time I Launched the Caribbean Belt in South America

TL: Skye

For the past six months, as San Marcos pursued its cultural promotion policy, El Salvador's Bukele had been working as hard as he could.

At this rate, it seemed El Salvador's economy would be swallowed up by San Marcos.

He had to give the country at least some way to stand on its own, or it was bound to end up dependent.

Day after day, Bukele held meeting after meeting with his cabinet members.

And before long, he realized something.

“We should abandon San Marcos and partner with the United States! We could get investment from them, too.”

“Aren't we already working with them? Isn't the reason they haven't invested that they don't see anything to gain?”

“I think we should nationalize everything San Marcos has invested in...”

The people at his side were far less competent than he'd thought.

‘Ah... so I've been governing alongside these idiots.’

He'd thought they were aces all this time, but dead weight was more like it, wasn't it?

It was only natural, when he thought about it.

The people in front of him had all been in politics for at least ten years.

If they'd been doing a good job in the first place, there would have been no opening for him to enter politics, and El Salvador wouldn't have been such a mess.

In the end, there was only one conclusion.

‘I have to do it myself.’

And he made his choice.

“We'll concede what we have to and take what we can.”

He would cede finance and manufacturing and focus on IT and logistics.

First, he signed an agreement with existing partner Googol to jointly build Latin America's largest data center.

He'd offered various incentives to make it happen, but he had no regrets about a choice that would give El Salvador an advantage of its own.

At the same time, he selected and implemented government initiatives to cultivate IT talent.

He introduced new university programs and recruited experts on attractive terms.

Meanwhile, he designed policies to use the free trade zone to make El Salvador a logistics hub linking the Pacific and Latin America.

He abolished tariffs, expanded the port, and pushed to install state-of-the-art cranes.

His pace rivaled even Yu-jin's.

It was only after seeing Yu-jin that Bukele had realized politics was something to be done alone (it absolutely wasn't)!

In any case, Bukele had made the bare minimum of preparations to survive.

Thinking he was ready, he set out to meet San Marcos's Superhuman on a White Horse and face the disaster he'd brought upon himself.

“Welcome.”

“It's been a long time.”

A meeting between El Salvador's dictator newbie and San Marcos's Absolute Emperor. And one more person was there...

“How have you all been?”

It was Acting President Telsy, the head of Venezuela's puppet government.

The three leaders sat facing one another in the Grand Conference Room of the Presidential Palace in Libertad, San Marcos.

Yu-jin Choi of San Marcos.

Bukele of El Salvador.

Telsy of Venezuela.

Yu-jin, their host, smiled brightly and offered them tea.

“It's been a while since I've seen you too, Acting President Telsy. I'm glad to see you're well.”

“It's all thanks to you, Your Excellency. Oh, Your Excellency. You know there are now more than twenty Tortilla Foods stores in Caracas, don't you? The people love them.”

Telsy's eyes sparkled as she looked at Yu-jin. It was a gaze that went beyond respect and bordered on worship.

Bukele felt a chill at the sight.

‘That woman's been completely won over.’

When they'd met in Caracas six months ago, she'd at least had a rationale of her own: the survival of the people mattered more than economic sovereignty.

Now, though, Telsy seemed to be following Yu-jin out of emotion rather than reason.

Bukele broke into a cold sweat at the thought that he could end up like her.

Isabella set tea down in front of the three of them.

As he accepted his tea, Bukele stole a glance at Isabella.

An expressionless face. Perfect posture. An utterly unwavering gaze.

Hadn't Bukele done his homework too?

Before meeting Yu-jin, he'd investigated everything about San Marcos and knew perfectly well that Isabella, who had brought the tea, was the country's de facto number two and presidential chief of staff.

And.

‘The president is frightening, but so is this woman.’

He also knew that she handled most of the dirty work.

Clink.

Bukele's hand trembled ever so slightly, but he tried to hide it as he lifted his teacup.

After a brief round of small talk, the Caribbean Belt development plan Yu-jin had prepared was laid on the table.

“Then let's get down to business.”

Yu-jin spoke as he turned the first page.

“First, eliminating tariffs will be a basic requirement. That's fundamental to an economic bloc, so I trust there will be no objections.”

Bukele and Telsy nodded. This much was expected.

“The second item is an energy pipeline.”

Yu-jin spread out a map.

It showed a line running from Venezuela through San Marcos to El Salvador.

“We plan to extract crude oil in Venezuela and process it at refineries in San Marcos, then store the refined petroleum products and establish an exchange.”

This too had been agreed on in advance.

Bukele narrowed his eyes.

Yu-jin laid out specific figures.

“Storage capacity will initially be five million barrels, with plans to eventually expand to twenty million. Given the current instability in the Strait of Hormuz, there are bound to be countries that choose our products over those from the Middle East.”

Telsy clasped her hands in admiration.

“Ah... just what I'd expect of you, Your Excellency.”

Bukele nodded as well.

Still, there was one disappointment.

“Is there any part of this project El Salvador could participate in?”

“Not in this project.”

“......”

“But there is another matter.”

Yu-jin pointed to Acajutla, El Salvador's largest port.

“You turned it into a state-of-the-art port with technology and investment from Korea, didn't you? And you're still expanding it.”

“...That's right.”

“San Marcos will invest heavily in the port. We'll leave operating rights entirely in the Salvadoran government's hands and simply hold an equity stake.”

“Pardon?”

Bukele's eyes widened at the unexpected offer.

In fact, it was a necessary investment for San Marcos, too.

The idea was to bring in goods from the Pacific through El Salvador's port and free trade zone, then have the San Marcos companies operating there process them further for export.

Even so, it was a major opportunity for El Salvador.

A win-win, one might say.

‘This man really...’

Bukele's heart raced.

The proposal fit perfectly with the strategy he'd prepared for specializing in logistics.

‘It could be poison... but it could also be medicine.’

Bukele took a deep breath and answered.

“...I'll give it favorable consideration.”

“I look forward to your cooperation.”

Yu-jin smiled and nodded.

“Lastly, I didn't mention this in advance... but I'd like to suggest that we officially declare ourselves a dollar economic zone.”

“By a dollar economic zone, you mean...”

“All three of our countries use the dollar because our national currency policies have failed. Let's make that official by declaring that the Caribbean Belt is a dollar economic zone and that all trade and financial transactions among the three countries are conducted in dollars.”

Bukele spoke.

“Wouldn't that make us even more dependent on the United States?”

Yu-jin asked in return, as though that were nothing new.

“Aren't we already largely dependent on them?”

“......”

He wasn't wrong.

Black Oil, which operated in Venezuela, was effectively at least 80% American-owned, while El Salvador could be considered part of the US economic sphere to begin with.

“Let's look at it from America's perspective. The economic zone using America's currency, the dollar, will expand. When demand for the dollar rises, so does its value. With China challenging dollar hegemony by pushing for oil transactions to be settled in yuan, how do you think the United States will react if the Caribbean Belt formalizes its status as a dollar economic zone?”

Telsy answered immediately.

“I think they'd welcome it.”

“Right? It wouldn't be a bad choice from a security standpoint, either.”

“Venezuela fully agrees.”

The answer was predictable. Bukele suppressed a sigh and spoke.

“I'll grant that the idea itself has merit.”

“......”

“But I think I'll need to discuss it first.”

Yu-jin smiled brightly.

“Of course. Then let's meet again in two days to discuss it.”

This only made Bukele more uneasy.

Yu-jin didn't get angry even when someone opposed him.

Instead, he accepted their objections, saying they were good points.

Someone who got angry could be dealt with.

But someone who accepted objections with a smile was impossible to deal with.

“......”

That was even more frightening.

*

That night. Bukele's lodgings.

Bukele convened an emergency meeting with the aides who had accompanied him.

The aim was to find some way to minimize San Marcos's influence within the Caribbean Belt and create a structure in which his own country could make its voice heard.

But Bukele's plan was thwarted before he could even begin.

Bang!

One of his aides kicked the door open and rushed in.

“M-Mr. President! P-President Drump of the United States...”

“What is it?”

The aide brought completely unexpected news.

Instead of answering, the aide held out a tablet. Drump's emergency statement was on the screen.

[The Caribbean Belt's plan to expand the dollar economic zone is a great decision!]

Bukele's eyes widened.

[This will make the US dollar even stronger and contribute greatly to stability in Latin America.]

Bukele's mouth fell open.

[I, Drump, support this great decision and will fly to San Marcos right now to help President Yu-jin Choi!]

The tablet nearly slipped from Bukele's hands.

“H-he's flying here right now?!”

That's right.

Yu-jin of San Marcos had played the most powerful card on Earth, Drump (10 stars), to gain the upper hand in the Caribbean Belt Agreement.

As soon as his statement was released, CNN, BBC, Reuters, and AP put out a flood of breaking news.

[President Drump to Visit San Marcos Tomorrow Afternoon!]

[Will the United States Join the Caribbean Belt?]

[What Is the Dollar Economic Zone?]

Of course, this summoning was possible only because the circumstances had aligned perfectly.

Public opinion of Drump at home had been deteriorating as the conflict dragged on following the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

Recently, an American warship had even come under attack.

With his approval rating falling, he desperately needed something to turn things around. Just then, Yu-jin told him the Caribbean Belt would formalize its status as a dollar economic zone.

Just the thing to turn public opinion around at home.

Ignoring his aides' attempts to dissuade him, Drump issued the statement and decided to go to San Marcos.

“What in the world...”

Bukele stood in a daze in his lodgings, holding the tablet.

With the US president backing a dollar economic zone, what country in the world could oppose it?

And with Drump backing him, Yu-jin could now shape the agreement however he pleased.

Bukele looked at the whiteboard.

The counterproposal he'd been working on suddenly looked pathetic.

State-run construction? A 51% stake? Independent financial policy?

“The whole world is helping Yu-jin Choi.”

With the US president flying in, how could he push for any of this?

“Ha... hahahaha.”

Admitting defeat, Bukele laughed hollowly and sank into his chair.

*****

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