Chapter 169 That Time I Launched the Caribbean Belt in South America (3)

TL: Skye

Six months had passed since the Caribbean Belt's official launch.

It could be considered a long time or a short one, but the three Caribbean Belt nations, San Marcos, Venezuela, and El Salvador, had undergone nothing short of a complete transformation.

First, El Salvador.

Thanks to massive investment from the Caribbean Development Corporation and Tortilla Construction's insane pace, the first phase of the Acajutla port expansion was complete.

The port, which had boasted the highest cargo throughput in El Salvador, now had the capacity to handle the largest volume in Latin America, along with state-of-the-art facilities.

San Marcos's companies operating in El Salvador had begun turning cheap raw materials shipped across the Pacific into finished goods for export to the United States.

A perfect triangular trade system.

Naturally, more workers were needed, and El Salvador's unemployment rate fell sharply.

Much had changed in Venezuela as well.

Thanks to Black Oil, crude oil production increased by the day.

The Venezuelan government's finances began to strengthen. Meanwhile, it leased twelve used oil tankers from the Caribbean Development Corporation, formed a shipping company, and began operating a tanker fleet.

A state-owned company had been born that could replace PDVSA, which had all but collapsed.

The greatest changes, however, took place in San Marcos.

The first phase of Tortilla Energy's Northern Oil Storage Facility was complete, and stockpiling of refined oil had begun.

San Marcos could now trade crude and refined oil even more strategically. It also created the Caribbean Crude brand and began working to establish it as a leading oil benchmark like WTI, Brent, and Dubai.

The three Caribbean Belt nations' economic indicators began to shift.

Their combined trade volume increased by 22% year on year.

As exports to the United States through El Salvador surged thanks to CAFTA-DR, the country's port cargo throughput doubled.

San Marcos's GDP grew 12% in the first half of the year alone, making it virtually certain to surpass $100 billion by year-end.

Excluding migrants, per capita GDP had already exceeded $12,000, and the average wage had risen to $700.

A country where people had struggled to eat even one meal a day seven years ago was now well past the threshold of middle-income status.

Tortilla Pay's user base across the Caribbean Belt had topped four million, and LBC had begun broadcasting to Venezuela.

Although San Marcos had been knocked out in the group stage of the World Cup finals, its professional football league, the UJ League, had launched, with six teams competing in its first season.

Libertad Stadium sold out every weekend.

Games between rivals Tortilla Energy FC and International Steel FC had already captured the nation's interest.

The world took notice of San Marcos's development.

CNN produced a special documentary.

[San Marcos: The Singapore of Latin America.]

The Financial Times ran a lengthy analysis comparing Yu-jin to a twenty-first-century Lee Kuan Yew.

China denounced the Caribbean Belt and viewed it warily.

The growing strength of the dollar economic zone in Latin America stood in the way of its strategy to internationalize the yuan.

But it was difficult to challenge the Caribbean Belt head-on with the United States backing it.

The response in Korea was enthusiastic as well.

Articles about San Marcos and Yu-jin flooded the Korean media day after day.

[Choi Yu-jin, the Great Leader Who Saved a Nation]

[Special Feature: San Marcos, a Nation Built by a Korean, Seven Years On]

[News Desk: Six Months After the Caribbean Belt's Launch, a Korean President Reshapes Latin America]

[Goryeo Daily: From One of the Poorest Nations to a Middle-Income Country! President Choi Yu-jin Ushers San Marcos into the Era of a $100 Billion GDP]

[The Caribbean Belt and Opportunities for Korean Businesses]

Among them, a Goryeo Daily editorial drew widespread attention.

Editorial: The Question Yu-jin Choi Poses to Korea

[More than seven years have passed since a Korean became the leader of San Marcos.

In that time, San Marcos’s GDP has grown from $3 billion to $100 billion.

Unemployment has fallen from 40% to 1.2%, and per capita national income has risen from $300 to $12,000.

Now he has formed an economic bloc called the Caribbean Belt and even secured US support.

What should Korea feel as it looks at these figures?

President Choi Yu-jin's core strategy had three elements.

First, he ensured the people's basic survival by making the country self-sufficient in food and energy.

Second, he built up the private sector, transforming the economy from one led by the government into one driven by the market.

Third, he formed an economic bloc with neighboring countries to achieve economies of scale that would have been impossible for San Marcos alone.

Looking back, Korea followed a similar path: industrialization, export-led growth, and expanded economic cooperation with ASEAN. What President Choi Yu-jin has done so far amounts to replicating Korea's accelerated growth in Latin America.

The problem is Korea as it is today.

An economy mired in low growth, ever-deepening political conflict, a shrinking population, and a rapidly aging society.

Are we forgetting how to grow?

Of course, we cannot simply copy San Marcos's approach to growth.

Our economic structures and political circumstances are different.

But his ability to get things done, his speed, and his policy philosophy of putting people's lives first are worth learning from.

Yu-jin Choi... no, Choi Yu-jin is Korean.

His achievements show just how much Koreans are capable of.

We must be able to put that strength to work within Korea as well.]

The editorial received thousands of comments.

↳ Honestly, if Yu-jin Choi were Korea's president, I bet our GDP would've hit $3 trillion.

↳ Exactly. Look at our youth unemployment rate. Just count the “just resting” youth and it shoots straight up.

↳ That bit about political conflict hits close to home lol. San Marcos is too busy working to fight. We're too busy fighting to work.

↳ Thirtyfold GDP growth in seven years? Is this some kind of game?

↳ I heard from a younger acquaintance who works at Taeyang Apparel that Koreans get treated well in San Marcos. The income tax is low too, so I'm seriously considering emigrating.

↳ Is it true the three Caribbean Belt nations' combined GDP has already reached half of ours?

↳ Looking at Yu-jin Choi's achievements, isn't he basically San Marcos's Sejong the Great?

↳ Please send our National Assembly members to San Marcos for training. Go learn how to do your jobs.

↳ Conclusion: One person can change a country. But our country doesn't have that person.

And Yu-jin, at the center of all these changes, received a report that the redevelopment was complete.

***

“Your Excellency, the Libertad redevelopment project is now fully complete.”

The Libertad redevelopment.

The monumental project to rebuild the hurricane-destroyed city was finally complete, after a little over a year and a half.

Paving roads, laying sewers, connecting electricity, putting up buildings, creating parks, building schools, constructing hospitals, opening markets, expanding the port.

The report displayed before-and-after photos side by side.

The difference was so great it was hard to believe it was the same city.

Yu-jin closed the report and spoke quietly.

“Excellent. Thank you for your hard work.”

“It's all thanks to your leadership, Your Excellency.”

Beside him, Isabella nodded as if that went without saying.

“Was the commemorative speech scheduled for this afternoon?”

“We've scheduled it for five.”

“We should get going soon.”

“I'll make the preparations right away.”

A little later. Downtown Libertad.

As the car entered the redeveloped area, Yu-jin asked.

“How satisfied are the citizens?”

“Objectively speaking, satisfaction is very high.”

“What are the sale prices for the new homes?”

When Yu-jin brought Korean construction companies into the redevelopment project, he had promised that construction margins would be kept to a minimum, while the government would take on any unsold units.

“Global inflation means they can’t be called cheap, but the prices are reasonable. With a bank loan, people can afford to buy one.”

“Are the homes selling well?”

“They aren't changing hands at a premium, but units aren't going unsold either, I'm told. As economic conditions improve, it seems more people are looking for good homes.”

“Is that so?”

Yu-jin nodded slowly.

The people of San Marcos had never been particularly concerned with having nice homes.

‘It is a country where even the coldest day in the dead of winter is 13 degrees.’

If they'd cared that much about their homes in the first place, they wouldn't have been living in shacks in 2020.

“That isn't bad. But we must make absolutely sure the property market doesn't overheat. If most of the public's disposable income flows into the housing market, everything will be thrown off balance, starting with the domestic economy.”

“Of course.”

Yu-jin got out of the car and walked the streets of Libertad, where redevelopment was now complete.

Every step filled him with emotion.

An alley that had been piled with garbage seven years ago now housed a café.

Children's libraries had been built everywhere.

Children ran around carrying brightly colored picture books. Posters for the UJ Stories series hung on the walls.

A small football pitch had been built on the vacant lot where homeless people used to light fires.

Teenagers were kicking a ball around while children watched and cheered nearby.

Trees now lined the streets that had once overflowed with sewage.

Beneath them, paving stones had been neatly laid, with clean benches set in place.

Yu-jin stopped and looked around.

‘I've finally made it this far.’

He felt himself choke up a little.

Exactly ten years since he'd come to Libertad.

He had finally succeeded in making the country a decent place to live.

How hard he had worked all this time.

How badly he had wanted to retire!

Overcome with emotion, Yu-jin reached the platform that had been set up in advance.

As Yu-jin stepped onto the platform with practiced ease, thousands of eyes turned toward him.

There were old people and young people.

There were mothers holding children and students in school uniforms. There were men in work clothes who looked as though they'd just finished their factory shifts.

Every one of these people had shared in that seven-year journey.

With the microphone in hand, Yu-jin took a moment to steady his breathing, then spoke.

“A year ago, I stood in this very spot. As I looked at the collapsed buildings, cracked roads, and piles of garbage, I made myself a promise that day. I would rebuild this city.”

Yu-jin looked around.

“And I have kept that promise. I have built new homes where the hurricane swept through.”

Wooooooo!

Cheers erupted.

“But.”

As Yu-jin lowered his voice, the crowd fell silent.

“I am not the one who built this city.”

Yu-jin looked at the citizens.

“It was you, the people, who built this city. You rose at dawn, went to the factories and the fields, and hauled cargo at the port. Your sweat made this possible. I merely paved the road, and you were the ones who walked it.”

Sobs broke out among the citizens.

“And there is one more thing I hope for.”

Yu-jin spoke, taking a breath.

“We have accomplished a great deal over the past eight years. But there is one thing we have yet to achieve. That is for you, the people, to lead this country yourselves.”

Yu-jin paused.

Then he spoke slowly.

“A nation led by its own people. I want to build a nation of the people, by the people, for the people.”

The citizens began to murmur among themselves.

“That is the future I dream of for San Marcos. And when that day comes, I will gladly step down.”

At that moment.

A wail rose from the crowd, almost a scream.

“You can't, Your Excellency!”

A middle-aged woman standing in the front row wailed.

“How can we live without you, Your Excellency? You can't go!”

Her crying spread through the crowd.

“Your Excellency! Don't go!”

“You can't abandon us!”

“Without you, Your Excellency, this country is finished!”

One person cried, and then ten cried. Ten cried, and then a hundred cried.

Soon, the wails of thousands filled the sky over Libertad.

A young mother holding a child lifted the little one into the air, tears pouring down her face.

“Please stay at least until this child grows up!”

And when Yu-jin saw their reaction...

“No, I'm not saying I'm leaving now, just sometime later...”

He was completely flustered.

“For life! Stay with us for life!”

“You mustn't leave, Your Excellency! Ever!”

“We've only just gotten to where we can live decently... How can you say you're leaving!”

Someone began to shout.

“Viva Yu-jin! Viva Yu-jin! Viva Yu-jin!”

Then everyone joined in.

“Viva Yu-jin! Viva Yu-jin! Viva Yu-jin!”

Thousands of voices joined as one and tore through the sky over Libertad.

Yu-jin raised both hands to calm them, but it was no use.

‘Wait, how long am I supposed to keep working...’

And Isabella stood below the platform, looking up at Yu-jin.

Her face was as expressionless as ever, but her eyes were different.

Deep and resolute.

She fixed those eyes on Yu-jin and thought.

‘You cannot leave that position, Your Excellency.’

Yu-jin's retirement.

It still seemed a very long way off.

*****

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