Meeting of President-Comandante Daniel
and Compañera Rosario, Vice President of Nicaragua,
with Brother Dante Mossi, CABEI Executive President
March 17, 2022
I've explained to the President of the Bank, Dante Mossi, that we are inaugurating the Bank here, because yesterday the Bank opened its doors, and here today we are holding the First Session, the First Meeting at the Bank's headquarters here in Nicaragua.
Here we are with the President of the Central American Bank and the Nicaraguan Authorities within the Bank, the Officials, I would not say all of them, but a good number of the Officials, Ministers, Directors of Autonomous Entities, etc., who have relations with the Bank and who have to do with the Projects that we have been carrying out and continue to carry out in our Country.
Well, I have in mind first, I would say, the Minister, because he is a Minister at the same time, he is the President of the National Assembly, yes, but as he is a Doctor he also attends to the Health Sector, and he has had the task of coordinating efforts to bring the vaccines to Nicaragua. Something vital for the Life of Nicaraguans, for the Life of Adults, for the Life of Youth, and for the Life of Children. And on that matter we have had the support of the Bank.
And we also continue to bring vaccines, because we know already that this COVID is by now an Endemic Disease, it is Endemic, and we have to face it as we face other Epidemics every year in the World.
As I explained and we told the Nicaraguan families the day we met with Dante, on the afternoon of the 15th, this is a Bank for Life and for Peace. For whom? For the Central American Peoples, who have among our priorities the fight against Extreme Poverty and Poverty.
And we already know that in order to combat Extreme Poverty and Poverty, really Health, Education and Housing are fundamental, because they have to do with the quality of Life, in the end, for Nicaraguan Families; Hospitals are fundamental for Health, Schools for Education, Roads for the development of our Country.
In what was being broadcast on television last night, the highways were shown there, including the highways that today reach the North Caribbean Autonomous Region and the South Caribbean Autonomous Region. It has been miraculous, the fruit of more than 60 years of effort, of work, of a Bank that was born, as you explained, with minimal resources and that today has managed to attract ever more resources whereby every country also contributes, and thus allows us to access financing that allows the growth of the country's economy.
In fact, yesterday Ivan made a good presentation on the subject, so I am not going to go into detail on what growth has meant for the country. In spite of the obstacles, the difficulties we have had to face, we have managed to resume, despite all the obstacles, after the difficulties, we have managed to resume the growth of the country's economy.
But the growth of the country's economy means more schools, more hospitals, more housing, it is not a question of more money upwards... No, it is more money that is distributed to the people... No! No! It is more money that is distributed for the benefit of Nicaraguan Families. And the wealth is distributed, the collection that has reached a record here in Nicaragua, that collection means that more Schools can be built, that the salaries of the Teachers can be paid, hat the salaries of the Health Workers, of the Workers in our Ports, of those who work in the Highways, of those who work in the Countryside can be paid.
That is to say, we have the resources that will allow us to do this, despite these very difficult current conditions, because I was saying to Dante, these meetings we are holding in Nicaragua today and since the 15th we have been meeting, this seems like a surrealistic Meeting, because we are talking here but if we look a bit further afield, that is, at the difficulties, at the crisis that is affecting the World, great difficulties, wars, very large scale wars shaking the economy of the most Developed Countries, and as they say, those who have the most to lose are those who do lose the most from these wars, while those who have the least to lose, manage to survive.
But here we are managing, in the midst of these convulsions, to give continuity to our Programs, to our Projects, to our Government Plan, to the Plan of our People-President, we are fulfilling them, we are carrying out the Programs, step by step, as they say, advancing every day. And in doing so acknowledging the Bank's Management, because we have a Bank Director, Dante Mossi, who has been able to lead the Bank, has been able to develop efforts to attract more resources to the Bank, and then direct those resources towards the Programs that the Peoples of the Central American Region demand the most.
How grateful we are to the countries and organizations that contribute resources to the Bank, because up to now, despite the crisis and the problems that exist at the global level, they have continued to channel resources, continued to support those resources. And we recognize that these resources come from Peoples, from Nations that have a greater development, but where there is the spirit, the goodwill to cooperate with the Central American Region.
We recognize this, we value it, this goes beyond ideologies; it is a clear sign that all is not lost, and as long as there is a Sense of Cooperation, of Solidarity, then we have a starting point from which to move forward.
So, Dante, we are very pleased with your visit to Nicaragua and we look forward to seeing you again when you hold the First Session here in this Room, which is the Meeting Room of the Bank's Board of Directors and which we are inaugurating here today, inaugurating it in this meeting.
Speech by Dante Mossi
Mr. President, thank you very much, honor to you and Madam Vice President, and of course to our Governors, and to all the Directors, to Don Ramón Uriel, who has really been an anchor in the leadership of this Bank. In other words, I represent the mandate that the Governors express to their Directors, and that interaction is what makes possible this Bank in terms of what I and our team contribute.
Actually, Mr. President, I believe that, really I'd rather invite you to watch a brief video that we have, rather than talking, because ther those talking about the work that has been done are the protagonists and they are people who really appreciate the expansion Health services, Water services, Electricity services.
As I was saying with the Minister of MTI, we stopped at one point to talk to a man waiting for the bus, and I asked him: "So what has changed? He said: "Everything! I have access to a Dignified House. Before I had just four cardboard walls held together with sticks, now I have a house, next to it (by the way I think that area is called El Crucero, a very nice place) I have access to a first class street, from there we have access to the school, to the Health Center, without any problems.
I think this is the kind of evidence that makes the work we do for the Nicaraguan people, as you say, so rewarding.
So, thank you very much for meeting us here, and we have a quick video, it is three minutes long, I know you are very busy, but I think it is a testament to what the Ministers and Heads of the decentralized institutions do, it makes all the effort we are making here worthwhile, Mr. President.
So do please play the video, it is a short video, but I think it is worth listening to. I hope it works, the system is just getting started, so do forgive us. If you want, we would like to show you the plaque while getting ready. We are really very proud, it is an honor for us to open this office here in Nicaragua, it is the most modern office we have, so we are very proud to open it for the first time.