President-Comandante Daniel and Compañera Rosario, Vice President of Nicaragua,
in the Event marking the XVII China - Latin America Business Summit
November 18th 2024
Address by Compañero Laureano Ortega M.
Presiding this event are the President of the Republic of Nicaragua, Comandante Daniel Ortega Saavedra; the Vice President of the Republic of Nicaragua, Compañero Rosario Murillo Zambrana; Compañero Yang Zhen, Vice-President of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Council; Compañero Chen Xi, Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to Nicaragua.
We will now have the ceremony to hand over the flag of the China Latin America and Caribbean Business Summit. Compañero Ma Zhifeng, Vice Mayor of the City of Zhengzhou, receives the Flag; Compañero Erving Ramirez, Vice Minister of Industry and Trade of the Republic of Nicaragua, hands over the Flag.
The City of Zhengzhou will host the XVIII China-Latin America and Caribbean Business Summit.
We invite Compañero Ma Zhifeng, Vice-Mayor of Zhengzhou City, to offer a few words
Address by Compañero Ma Zhifeng
Vice-Mayor of Zhengzhou City
Esteemed Mr. President Ortega; Esteemed Madam Vice President Murillo, and Mr. Minister Ramirez; esteemed Vice President Yang Zhen; Mr. Ambassador; Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends, good evening.
A few moments ago, in the presence of the Leaders of China and Nicaragua, as well as the Business Representatives of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, I solemnly received, on behalf of the Municipal Government of Zhengzhou, the Flag of the China-Latin America Business Summit, from the hands of Mr. Jesús Bermúdez. I feel very honored that Zhengzhou will assume after Managua the mission and responsibility of organizing the XVIII China-Latin America Business Summit in 2025.
Managua is not only a political, economic, cultural and transportation center, but also a beautiful city, full of charms, thanks to its countless parks and gardens.
Today, Government Leaders and Representatives of the Business Sector that have come from China to Latin America and the Caribbean are meeting at the XVII China-LAC Business Summit to discuss and explore new opportunities for Economic and Trade Cooperation, demonstrating once again the friendship that unites China and Latin America, with the motto “Those who share the same Ideals are not separated by mountains or seas”.
Zhengzhou is the capital of Henan Province, a region noted for its economy, population, agricultural production, its culture and its emerging industry.
Henan occupies an important place in the development of Chinese Civilization, while its Capital Zhengzhou is a Metropolis both ancient and modern.
In recent years, guided by President Xi Jinping's Thoughts on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, Zhengzhou has implemented new development concepts, firmly promoting innovative, green, high-quality development focused on the well-being of the People.
The City is working hard to become a center of innovation, advanced manufacturing, openness and talent, an international node of comprehensive transportation, a national benchmark in the transmission of Chinese historical civilization, and an international center for modern consumption; in addition, it is promoting the liberalization and facilitation of trade, investment and the flow in mobility between people, creating a world-class modern business environment
Zhengzhou has become a City globally recognized as a logistics center promoting industrial opening and scientific innovation, with a solid foundation to promote the development of friendly, high-quality relations in various fields between China and Latin America.
We are determined and confident that the XVIII China-LAC Business Summit next year will be a successful and fruitful International Event, which will contribute to writing another new chapter in China-Latin America friendship via Henan's contribution.
At this moment the Chinese People are working to achieve the great Dream of National Revitalization, while the Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean are struggling to achieve the Latin American Dream of Unity, Cooperation and Development. Shared dreams and aspirations unite us closely.
We are waiting for you next year in Henan and Zhengzhou for the XVIII China-Latin America Business Summit. Henan welcomes you. So welcome to Zhengzhou.
Thank you very much.
Remarks by Compañero Laureano Ortega M.
The Government of the Republic of Nicaragua thanks President Xi Jinping, the Communist Party of China, the People and Government of China, and the Chinese Council for the Promotion of International Trade for organizing this Summit in Managua, a key meeting to promote Cooperation for the Common Good and for the Development of Peoples, which China has been putting into practice with all Countries.
We have had the participation of 250 Representatives of Institutions and Companies of the People's Republic of China and more than 70 Delegates from Latin America and the Caribbean: Colombia, Panama, Argentina, Peru, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Honduras, Ecuador, Uruguay, Bolivia, China, Brazil, Guyana, Venezuela, Suriname and Mexico.
Nicaragua has managed to conclude Agreements and Contracts in different sectors, such as Infrastructure, Renewable Energy, Industry and the Pharmaceutical Sector.
We wish the best of success for the XVIII China-Latin America and the Caribbean Business Summit in the City of Zhengzhou.
We will now listen to the words of Compañero Yang Zheng, Vice President of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
Address by Compañero Yang Zheng
Vice-Chairman of the Advisory Political Council of the People of China
Esteemed President of the Republic of Nicaragua, Comandante Daniel Ortega; Compañera Rosario Murillo, Vice President; Ladies and Gentlemen, Business Representatives, good evening.
Just now we have been able to work together and witness the handover of the Flag of China-LAC, this signifies the great success of this Session.
On behalf of the Government of China, we would like to thank the Government of the Republic of Nicaragua for its great support and work, and its great contribution to the China-LAC organization.
I also want to thank all the Business Representatives from Latin America and the Caribbean for their great work on our friendly Cooperation. We will continue working hard to carry on promoting our relationship, to make it more enduring.
We are sure that the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean are an important part of the Global South, and also in 2021 with their efforts to secure and continue the Region's Independence and Sovereignty, and for 10 years now we have established the China-LAC Community so as to achieve Joint Development and Globalization for the Region and the World.
This month APEC was held in Peru and the G20 in Brazil, next year we are going to hold the BRICS Summit in Latin America and also the COP Conference, this signifies the importance of the Americas at a Global Level, also we are also marking the beginning of the moment of Latin America and the Caribbean.
China maintains our efforts to continue working to promote Global Multilateralism, so that we can achieve equal treatment among the different Countries of the world, without interfering in the internal affairs of other countries. Whether large or small, countries have the same sovereignty and share the same rights. The global future should be decided by everyone.
The Chinese side is always supportive of Latin America and the Caribbean in its globalization and so we pay close attention to the development of relations with Latin America and the Caribbean.
We are committed to continue making progress in mutual support, in order to be able to open up our Shared Future with equal treatment, and also to be able to overcome any challenges, so as to be able to provide a healthy environment and join forces towards a Future of Globalization with the most Equitable, Inclusive and Mutually Beneficial Outcome.
With these Initial Principles, we are ready to continue working with Latin America and the Caribbean to achieve Mutual Benefits, maintaining the concept of inclusion, in order to develop pragmatic cooperation for the Well-being of the People.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends, Economic-Trade Cooperation is fundamental and can be considered as stabilizing the economy and the relationship between the two Regions.
China remains the second economic and trade partner with Latin America, marked by a total volume of US$500 billion.
In November, the Report on Latin America's expectations in terms of International Trade was published.
The Region continues to work hard on its relations with other countries, with China being the market with the highest growth.
The Business Sector is the most important Force supporting the Economic and Commercial Development of both Regions. We hope that Entrepreneurs will continue to work hard and be able to promote more supportive openness and innovation as well as initiating Projects offering more open Cooperation and at a higher level, implying greater contributions.
Looking to the future, the Chinese side is ready to continue working with Latin America and the Caribbean based on the concept of Unity, in order to be able to implement the Initiatives for Global Development, Global Civilization and Global Security, so as to be able to lead everyone towards a Better Future.
We are waiting for you in Zhengzhou next year. Thank you very much, everyone.
Compañero Laureano Ortega M.
The following is the speech of the President-Comandante Daniel Ortega Saavedra.
Address by Daniel
Good afternoon, Brothers and sisters who are visiting us from the People's Republic of China, a Delegation headed by our Brother Yang Zhen, Vice President of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
Talking to you earlier, I was telling you that we, boys at that time of 14 or 15 years old, were already making our combative way with a movement that was called the Nicaraguan Patriotic Youth.
Then the Sandinista Front was formed and all of us in the Patriotic Youth joined the Sandinista Front, and what admiration, respect and affection we had for the People's Republic of China and for that Great Historical Leader, Compañero Mao Tse-Tung, Hero of Heroes, a driving force of that Great Nation.
He laid the foundations for China today to be a World Power, a World Power whose Way is Socialist, and to be Socialist is to be Christian, because Christ said: Love your Neighbor as yourself. And that is the practice of the Chinese Communist Party with its People, which reaches out to impoverished, enslaved, colonized Peoples, such as the African peoples, who have received Solidarity, Affection, Respect, accompaniment, to escape from misery, to escape from slavery, from the People's Republic of China
For Nicaragua, this is indeed real, a historical fact, that with this small country at the waist of Immortal America, as Neruda said, tiny Nicaragua, here in the middle, the South opening out and the North opening out, and here in Central America is the waist, and Nicaragua is at the center of that waist.
And who could have imagined that a Power like the People's Republic of China would make the gesture of convening here a Meeting of the XVII China- Latin America and the Caribbean Business Summit.
This says a lot about what Nicaragua's history has been and is now, it says a lot about the pain and grief that Nicaragua has suffered and the Values that have been raised up in Nicaragua, to redouble the Struggle for Peace, the Struggle for Stability, the Struggle for Security, which are fundamental conditions in every country in the World, so that our Peoples can develop, so that they can develop from the smallest business to the largest undertaking.
Where there is no Peace, there is no Development. Where there is no peace, there is only pain, poverty, misery, even among the great Powers.
Our poet Rubén Darío, when he was coming back to Nicaragua he passed through New York, and wrote with an aching Soul because he saw the contrast between wealth and misery, of the poor sleeping under bridges, sleeping in the streets, dying of cold; and Darío said: But the saddest thing, dear God, is that they are dying of pain, of grief and pain.
When there is no Solidarity, when there is no Love of Neighbor, situations like these arise, and what the People's Republic of China has done is offer its hand, first of all to the African and Asian Peoples.
Africa, the Continent that has suffered the most in the history of the Planet, the Continent where they turned Human Beings into pack animals, into slaves, and the Europeans walked them out, exhibiting them, taking them to the fields where they were exploited and where they were sold as merchandise.
Human beings turned into merchandise, yes, that must not be forgotten, it cannot be forgotten; and Children, whole families sold as merchandise, and there the Europeans came to choose who to buy, they bought them and there they had them, the slaves already in chains, the Father, the Mother, the Children.
The buyers arrived and then the ships left Africa and sailed via Europe, and in Europe the slave traders were very well received and very well treated.
The European Powers did not have any shame that these Human Beings were shipped through their Ports, that they bought a few slaves right there to stay in France, while the others continued on. And they passed through England and in England they also bought a good number of slaves, because they were then already bringing slaves to these Lands that had been conquered by the Imperialists of the Earth.
They had taken over the whole of America and they were bringing in slaves and treating them worse than animals. The life of a slave depended on the will of the one who had bought that slave, they could punish them with lashes or they could hang them, they could kill them, and nothing would happen.
That is the greatest horror movie, a horror movie embodied by those who have presented themselves and continue to present themselves as the most civilized, the most respectful of Human Rights, but they did not treat the Peoples of Africa that way, nor the Original Peoples of Our America.
None of these Powers, even the North American Power that once dictated "America for the Americans”, that is, America for the Yankees, not even they have had the initiative, being where we are in their backyard as they say, they have not made the gesture of promoting Meetings like this one, to combat Poverty, to combat misery, to build housing for people living in extreme poverty.
To bring water and energy to Peoples where there is still neither water nor energy; where there are still millions in Latin America and the Caribbean, there are still millions in Africa, and those who call themselves the parents of Democracy, the parents of Human Rights, do not appear for that, we never see them, they have never convened a Meeting like this.
Nor in the time of Somoza, who was their ”son of a bitch,“ as Roosevelt clearly said when asked why they supported Somoza: He is our ”son of a bitch," he said; and that's why he supported him. But back then they didn't worry about bringing even education to Nicaragua, because educating a people gives them the tools to be able to survive.
When the Revolution triumphed in Nicaragua 60% of people were illiterate, under the rule of Somoza and Somoza under the rule of the United States. And there was no freedom of trade here, everything was monopolized by Somoza and his family.
It is really an extraordinary gesture that President Xi Jinping is making, to whom we send greetings and thanks for having thought of Nicaragua so that this Extraordinary Event can be held here. That this is an Event for Peace, for Love, so that business can multiply much more, from the smallest business to the largest business, because that will bring benefits to our Peoples.
So we greet the 250 Representatives of Chinese institutions and companies who come to our Countries with that at heart. They do not come with the Heart to exploit, or to oppress, or to enslave, rather they come with the Heart to share Love, to share Joy, to share Profit, to share Programs, Investments, Projects of all kinds, to lift our Peoples out of immiseration, to lift them out of Poverty.
And how glad we are that 70 Delegates from institutions and companies from Latin America and the Caribbean are here. There is Strength in Unity, and that is a gigantic step we are taking; all of us united, including small Countries like ours, but accompanied by a Power that has a great deal to contribute for the Well-being of our Peoples.
Our Affection, our Embrace, for the People of Bolívar, for the People of Chávez, for the People of Nicolás Maduro, for the Venezuelan people.
Our greeting, our Embrace for the People of Martí, the People of Fidel, the People of Raúl, the People of Miguel Díaz-Canel.
Our greeting and our Embrace for the fraternal People of Honduras, the People of Morazán who fought for the Unity of the Central American Region, and died by firing squad for fighting for Central American Unity.
For the People of Panama, the People of Omar Torrijos, that Heroic, Patriotic, Solidarity inspired General.
For the People of Colombia, that People who today with President Petro continue to strive, striving for Peace, striving for Stability, fighting against those who do not want Peace for our Peoples, do not want Peace for our Region.
Our greeting, our Affection for the People of Argentina, the People of Carlos Gardel and the People of Comandante Ernesto Che Guevara, the Heroic Guerrilla.
Our affection, our Greeting to the People of Peru, a People who have also struggled and continue to struggle to escape from misery, backwardness, injustice; a People and a Nation that live permanently destabilized.
Our greeting, our Love, to the People of Jamaica, a People that has stood up with Leaders, with political Leaders, with Fighters who have been very close to us. And here we have to remember, we can't help but remember that brave Jamaican, Michael Manley.
To the People of Costa Rica, a fraternal People, we are indeed fraternal Peoples, with differences, but differences in government policies; for we have fought together with the Costa Rican People, they have fought alongside the Nicaraguan People, Costa Rican brothers and sisters whom today we remember, and we greet the Costa Rican businessmen who are participating in this Event.
For the People of El Salvador, a Combative People, a Heroic People, a Brave People, the People of Farabundo Martí, the People of Schafik Handal, the People of that Holy Martyr, Monsignor Oscar Arnulfo Romero.
For the People of Ecuador, who also have Latin American Brothers and Sisters participating in this Meeting, all our Affection for the Ecuadorian People, and we always remember that extraordinary Artist, Creator, Guayasamín.
Guayasamín shared with Nicaragua, he visited Nicaragua frequently, an Extraordinary Painter, who carried in his Soul the Sense of the Struggle for Independence, for Solidarity in the Struggle for Life... Oswaldo Guayasamín!
We also greet the Brothers and Sisters who come from Uruguay, a Heroic, Courageous People, which we have had the opportunity to visit on several occasions, and how much Affection, how much Solidarity, how much Love, on the part of the Uruguayan People.
And from Bolivia, Bolivian brothers and sisters, Bolivian Compañeros and Compañeras, Bolivian Traders, Bolivian Businessmen, Heroic, Courageous, Combative People, who are going through tragic, difficult moments at the moment; but in Unity there is Strength, in Unity there is Victory, that is all we can say to you.
Division causes nothing but the defeat of Ideals, of Principles, and of those who have fought for those Principles, those Ideals, for Justice, for the Poor. If there is no Unity, there are no Victories, instead there are defeats and suffering. Therefore, the responsibility is on the Leaders, there is the responsibility to unite, to win. All our love for the Bolivian people.
And the People of Chile, A Thousand Times Heroic Chile! Suffice to say Salvador Allende and we are talking about the most Heroic, the bravest President Our America has ever had, who was assassinated by the coup mongers.
We are talking about a People that continues to struggle, because the foundations that Pinochet laid there in the Laws, in the Norms, have not yet been completely uprooted; but the Chilean People are a Brave People and the time will come when, as Allende said, the wide boulevards will open, and the Chilean People will march along them with joy.
Brazil, a People we visited, we met with, after the Triumph of the Revolution. After the Triumph of the Revolution we went to Brazil, and those who were governing Brazil had imprisoned Lula and other Fellow Labor Union Leaders, there was still no Workers' Party, they were Labor Union Leaders.
We went there and met, Lula and other Compañeros had just left prison and we met with them and shared those hard moments of theirs, but always with encouragement, and we shared the Joy of the Victory in Nicaragua.
Then Lula came to Nicaragua, we invited him, together with Fidel, and then came Lula's struggle to get into government. It was not easy to get into government even when they had a very strong, very powerful Party, the Workers' Party. There were the forces of the military dictatorship, of capital, of the media, enemies of Lula and enemies of the Workers' Party.
I was watching very closely there, when Lula began looking for how to take part in elections, to win by electoral means, it was the route that they could take. I used to tell Lula: Look, we have to take it on, it's a path forward, but the military may make a coup against you at any moment.
They did not have a majority in the National Assembly, which made their work ungovernable; then they launched accusations against the PT leadership, against Lula, and put him in prison. Why? Because after all reaching Government in those circumstances does not give the same strength as when you get there via a Revolution, because with a Revolution the People take Power.
Via the electoral route, well, they can only do so much, as is the history in all these countries, the military, the millionaires, the rich, who monopolize wealth and do not let the middle or small producers lift up their heads, since they see any other competitor as an enemy.
And now, as Lula has said very well in recent days, that he respects what Venezuela decides, what Nicolás decides. It doesn't do to be getting involved, really, because it's like when there's a neighborly dispute in the neighborhood and another neighbor wants to try putting things in order. There is no way, family disputes are arranged by the family... Yes, there is no other way!
He also talked about Nicaragua, he said that Nicaragua really had to be left alone, that he could not be meddling in the internal affairs of Nicaragua or Venezuela.
We have never, except in solidarity, talked about Lula and Brazil, for example condemning when they put him in prison, condemning when they arrested Dilma, but we have never meddled in their internal affairs at all, never, we do not meddle, because that is a Principle, a State is a Family that has to be respected and no one from outside should get to tell them what to do.
They are the ones who have to say what they are going to do, if they did well, magnificent, if they did badly, really, the day will come when they are going to do well, but we don't get involved. We respect the Principle of Non-Intervention, we respect the Principle of Sovereignty.
So Brazil indisputably a Power, where the Group of 20 is meeting, while the situation is still complex, there is Bolsonaro who comes from the Army, always ranting, longing, but of course that will have to be solved by the Brazilians themselves, and we wish them luck, we wish the best to Lula and the Workers' Party. Because to the extent that Lula and the Workers' Party do well, then Business people and Traders, those involved in economic activities in Brazil will do better too.
And Guyana, here we have Brothers and Sisters from Guyana, our Love, our Greetings to the Guyanese People. From Suriname, the same, our Greetings, our Affection for the People of Suriname.
And from Mexico, Zapata's Mexico, Villa's Mexico, Hidalgo's Mexico, the Mexico of that great Leader who said that the Principle of Non-Intervention must be respected, Benito Juárez. The Principle of Non-Intervention was established by Juárez as something Sacred, that Mexico should not intervene in any other Country, that the Sovereignty, Self-Determination, and Independence of Peoples should be respected.
Beloved Brothers and Sisters, beloved Compañeros and Compañeras, you have in your hands the tools to join with and attract more and more Entrepreneurs, more Business people, large, medium, small, of all sizes, to this Forum. Because in the degree to which this Forum strengthens, then the Economy in your Countries will also strengthen, and so long as the Economy strengthens in your Countries, then there will also be better conditions to end Poverty, end Hunger, end Illiteracy, end the Misery that we see in all our Countries, there are always pockets of Immiseration.
But these pockets of Misery must end, and with the Strength which that can bring it also guarantees Peace, which is fundamental Peace, Stability, Security, so that a Country can make its way.
I want to conclude by referring to an issue that explains why the United States is so cruel to Nicaragua. It is clear that trade is growing more and more in the world, it is also true that following the route of President Xi Jinping, the Silk Road, well, more and more routes are being opened that are bringing Well-being to the World's Peoples.
It is also true that one of the routes that Entrepreneurs, Large Companies, Medium-sized Companies use the most, well, they use airplanes, it is true, or they use railways too, also trucks, but there is one transport that is fundamental: Water transport, ships, which transport many tons of goods.
And the Panama Canal, well, there were two routes that the United States had appropriated, the Nicaragua Canal route and the Panama Canal route, because they really were the only routes, and after all the United States had sent its Navy Forces here to make studies on the San Juan River to see how to channel it and then emptying the San Juan River into the Lake, advance to the Isthmus of Rivas and the Isthmus of Rivas to open a small, 40, 50 kilometers strip there so that the Atlantic and the Pacific would be joined with a maritime route, one that they had used it before, the North Americans were the first to use this route.
When the Gold rush began in the United States and North American families were leaving in desperation on wagons making trips across the desert, there came a maritime entrepreneur, Cornelius Vanderbilt and it occurred to him that one could look for a safer, shorter and even faster passage than crossing the entire desert of the United States because of all the dangers it exposed.
And he thought about this route, because the route was already in place, the River was already there, the Lake was already there, all that was missing was what? To put stagecoaches on the Isthmus of Rivas so that the ships coming from New York, big ships, when they arrived at the entrance of the San Juan River, smaller ships were waiting for them there, because those big ships could not enter through the San Juan River.
Then smaller boats and in those smaller boats they put the passengers, and so thousands of Americans traveled down the San Juan River and then crossed the lake, a lake of 9,000 square kilometers, they crossed the lake and reached the shore of the Pacific Ocean.
And there were the Stagecoaches of the company; they transferred the passengers to the Stagecoaches and in the Stagecoaches they arrived at the port there, where there was another big ship waiting for them that took them to San Francisco, to the area where the big Gold mines were.
That was a natural canal that was at work for years and years, but then, well, they already wanted to have their very own canal and they mentioned Panama, because Panama was under the domination of American companies; and they also mentioned Nicaragua, and here they sent the Navy to do the Studies, there are the Studies, in the year 1888 they were doing Studies.
Then there was a debate in the United States Congress on which route for the Canal, and the vote was for Panama. The Panama Canal was built that became a base of the United States of America; but well, it fulfilled its mission as there was fluid traffic there at that time.
And the United States imposed a law on Nicaragua, where the Nicaraguan rulers of the time, who were “sons of bitches” as Roosevelt himself put it, well, the Foreign Minister Bryan signed the Treaty, Bryan who was the Gringo Foreign Minister, Chamorro the Nicaraguan Foreign Minister...so the Chamorro-Bryan Treaty.
In that Treaty, Nicaragua swore to the United States that it would never allow an inch of land to be touched in our country looking for works on a canal. That is, it put a ban on Nicaragua at a time when there were attempts by Liberal governments that made a Revolution and sought contact with Europeans to help them build the Canal.
Then they made the change, overthrew the Government of General José Santos Zelaya, they overthrew him and there came the North American occupation. That's where the famous Chamorro-Bryan Treaty came from.
Now in these times we are seeing the difficulties that the Panama Canal has, they already have problems with water, these problems have been holding them up for a long time in terms of fluidity, that is, the ability for ships to pass, ships to come and go, the Panama Canal no longer operates as it did to begin with.
Now the traffic is slow and with waits of days or weeks for many boats loaded with products, with goods and that also makes trade more expensive if it has to pass through the Panama Canal. And there are no alternatives, but there should be an alternative.
And we have the alternative here in Nicaragua and there now I show it to you, look, there I am showing it to you. These are studies that have been done for a long time, and while the shorter route passes through the lake, there is always the risk of an accident in a freshwater lake, so this first Route that had been made to pass through the Lake, even though it was shorter, but no, it's better, even if the route may be a little longer, the Project now is to start at the Port of Bluefields, which is a Port in the Caribbean about to be constructed, and then the route goes opening, opening, opening, until it leaves via the Port of Corinto.
But it is a very wide Canal, very wide, so wide that it makes it easy even for the largest of ships to enter so they can cross it, the largest of ships with huge loads can cross it too, it was already designed with that criterion; with a length of 445 kilometers, and so it is a Canal that would start at the Port of Bluefields and arrive at the Port of Corinto. There is a Port already in Corinto along with another Port, Puerto Sandino, and the Port which is going to be built in Bluefields, where work is already under way.
So then, what is missing? Well, what's missing is that we join efforts, first of all with Latin American and Caribbean business people, and of course, that the Brothers and Sisters of the People's Republic of China accompany us, and if there are other Countries that may want to accompany us, the doors are open for everyone.
I am talking about an issue that is sensitive, as you know very well, every day the passage through Panama gets more complicated, and really, this is the alternative; and this is an alternative that has caused conflicts and even wars and occupation back in the years 1854, 1856, when during the dispute over that Canal from the San Juan River to the Lake, the traditional, the original, dispute over it, a group of Americans came, combatants of the Southern Army of the United States, racists, slavers, and their plan was to take over Nicaragua.
1854, imagine, and William Walker, a Southern slaveholder, came with a phalanx of well-armed men, with weapons much more modern than those the liberals and conservatives here had, who were also fighting and killing each other and Walker took advantage of that.
Then suddenly we had William Walker as President in Nicaragua, he rigged the fiction of an Election, and himself as President of Nicaragua, and at the time of the inauguration the Yankee Ambassador, here and those in the United States too celebrated, with the State Department congratulating him, they thought they then had a President installed in Nicaragua. That's where the first anti-interventionist, anti-expansionist war of the Nicaraguan people came about, a popular struggle, the people fighting with their fingernails, but Walker was defeated.
Before fleeing, Walker, as he was being defeated, set fire to the City of Granada that some of you may have known, he set fire to the City of Granada and left a sign there, nothing more. But it was the first defeat of Yankee expansionism here in Nicaragua. They couldn't prevail! They couldn't! And it was all because of the Canal issue.
Then came other interventions and yet more interventions, interventions by the American troops simply because they did not want Nicaragua to be independent enough to be able to find someone with whom to build that Canal.
And the president who came to power here in Nicaragua who wanted to open spaces with European governments, in the time of Napoleon III there were ideas for a canal, that president sent a reconnaissance mission to see how France might manage building a Canal. Immediately the United States reacted and that's why they said “America for the Americans”, which meant that no Europeans could enter here to do business; it was only America for the United States.
But after all, these are different times and I'm sure even North American businessmen would be interested in investing in this Canal. Why? Because they do a great deal of business and need smooth transit through the sea lanes.
So, beloved Brothers and Sisters, I conclude by telling you, Nicaragua is here ready to contribute to that step which will give greater fluidity to maritime transport, to trade, and we invite you, we invite you all and we will send you more information, because many Studies have been done, first of all as I told you, the one United States Marine Corps of Engineers did, in the year 1866, take a look.
Of course, as Nicaragua was on fire fighting Walker, they did it via Costa Rica, the Study, they got it done via Costa Rica, since they didn't dare try doing it in Nicaragua because Walker had been defeated by then.
This is what Nicaragua can offer for the benefit of the world's Peoples, for the benefit of commercial activity, to benefit the growing Economy in all our Countries such that we have better conditions for Peace, for Stability, for Security, and too, with this, we will be able to put an end to Misery, we will be able to put an end to Poverty, we will be able to live with Dignity.
Long live the Peoples of Our America and long live the People's Republic of China!