Republic of Korea in Yeokcheon - Chapter 259



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#259. Since when have you been like that?

January 22, 1957.

Lee Kang-cheol arrived in Mexico, the first country on his tour of Central and South America.

“Welcome, President Lee Kang-chul! We sincerely welcome your visit to Mexico.”

“Thank you for the welcome, President Cárdenas!”

The current President of Mexico is the same man who just warmly welcomed Lee Kang-chul, President Lázaro Cárdenas del Río.

He participated in the Mexican Revolution as a revolutionary against dictators Porfirio Díaz, Madero, and Victoriano Huertas, and after the revolution, he joined the National Revolutionary Party (PNR), the predecessor of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which ruled Mexico as a one-party dictatorship for over 70 years throughout the 20th century, and rose to the position of president.

His political leanings were quite radical leftist, as were most early 20th century revolutionaries, but he governed Mexico surprisingly well.

During his first term, from 1934 to 1940, for six years, Cárdenas cleverly overthrew the local warlords, the caudillos, implemented land reform, and also worked to improve the treatment of workers.

At the same time, he expanded compulsory education, nationalized the oil industry, and focused on the treatment of soldiers to prevent the military from making subversive moves, leading to stable growth in Mexico.

In short, in modern Mexico, if you were to choose a great president in history, he would definitely be one of the few decent presidents, but in fact, this person should not have been president at the time.

Mexico’s presidential system has always adhered to the principle of a single six-year term since the National Revolutionary Party, the predecessor of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, took power. So even though Cárdenas served as Minister of Defense after leaving office, he could not become president again.

But history changed, and Cárdenas returned to the presidency 12 years after leaving office.

There are only two reasons why this happened.

The first is the collapse of the Soviet Union by South Korea.

Since the original home of communism was destroyed by the South Korean military, the left wing that was popular throughout Central and South America could not help but become mild.

In other words, the extreme communist forces have almost disappeared, and only the mild leftist and socialist forces remain.

So, because the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union had melted away before it could even begin in earnest, America’s wariness of the left wing also eased, and it became very tolerant of leftist and socialist regimes in Central and South America.

In short, he was saying that there was no need to work on anything except extreme communist forces.

And the second thing that really nailed it was the advice Lee Kang-cheol gave to the two US presidents, Roosevelt and Truman.

The idiom “friendship from afar, attack nearby” naturally applied to the United States, and it actually did so. To be honest, even though South Korea is a blood ally of the United States, there were many dirty operations that were difficult to forgive and to the point where they could not be shielded during the Cold War in the United States’ actions in Central and South America.

And the ringleader was Kissinger, who was disguised as a political realist.

얼마나 욕을 많이 먹었는지 100살까지 잘 먹고 잘살다가 죽었는데, 미국에서도 그 인간 별명이 ‘불멸의 개새끼’였다고 한다.

But this time, Lee Kang-cheol’s advice was deeply engraved in the minds of Roosevelt and Truman.

It showed in detail how dirty and disgusting the US was inflicting on South America during the Cold War, and how as a result, most countries in Central and South America became anti-American.

In short, both presidents are presidents of the United States.

There is no need to go as far as to call them grandiose realists like the immortal bastards, but they are people in an important position to represent America’s national interests, and they are people who do not hesitate to get blood on their hands if necessary.

Of course, personally, they are incomparable to the immortal somethings, but the weight of the seats they sit on makes it so.

But listening to Lee Kang-cheol’s words, it seems that it did not help America’s national interests at all and instead only increased anti-American sentiment.

Moreover, the situation has changed and there is no reason to take sides with the socialist regime. Do you think we should repeat the same old story, just because we are crazy?

More than anything, it was drugs that brought them to their senses.

Lee Kang-cheol said that Central and South America are structurally plagued by corruption and extreme income inequality, which has led poor farmers to fall into a vicious cycle of dependence on coca cultivation, and as a result, they have become the largest supplier of drugs distributed to the United States.

The photos and videos that Lee Kang-cheol showed were enough to terrify Roosevelt and Truman.

The photos and videos that Lee Kang-cheol showed were of addicts in the middle of the city, frozen in bizarre positions due to their addiction to fentanyl.

“W-This is San Francisco?”

“Oh, no way! This is Philadelphia?”

Lee Kang-cheol did not specifically say that the drugs they consumed were fentanyl made from Chinese raw materials.

Drugs are drugs, so they showed shocking images while they were at it.

Anyway, the effect was great.

“This is happening in our great United States of America?”

“To put it simply, it means that we will end up like the Qing Dynasty that collapsed because of opium.”

“That can’t be happening! Uh, our America!”

“It’s true. No government can stop it, no matter how much money and people they pour in.”

There was no need for any morality or anti-American sentiment.

Will the America of the future end up like the Qing Dynasty that fell to opium?

If you keep quiet after hearing things like this, you are not a president.

Soon after, the United States dramatically changed its policy toward Central and South America.

By declaring so-called ‘proper politics’, he said that he would not support any immoral government, no matter how pro-American it may be.

At the same time, he did not tackle any democratically elected governments, whether leftist or socialist, and did not spare support for reducing the gap between the rich and the poor by even encouraging land reform.

Here, it was strictly forbidden for American big capital to collude with local power holders and force farmers into slave-like labor.

덤으로는 트루먼이 불멸의 개새끼를 진작에 지옥으로 보내 주었고.

As things turned out this way, the forces shouting anti-Americanism in Central and South America gradually disappeared.

No, when a vicious regime came to power, the United States imposed sanctions and even helped a democratic regime come to power, which repeatedly resulted in the voices praising the United States growing louder.

Meanwhile, the political situation in Central and South America also changed differently from the original history, with Cuba being a representative example, and Mexico also changing significantly.

The biggest problem with the Mexican political system was that the single six-year term of office meant that the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party would alternate six-year terms, which made it difficult for reformists like President Cárdenas to govern without a break in policy.

What this means is that if you try to get things done by pushing forward policies in a harsh manner, you have to step down. This may be fine for a country that is on track, but it is by no means a desirable system for a country like Mexico at the time, which had a mountain of reform tasks piling up.

Ultimately, Truman was fed up with the worsening corruption of the regime of Miguel Alemán Valdez, the successor to President Cárdenas, and ended up abolishing the construction project.

By mobilizing not only the State Department but also the CIA, they persuaded Valdez and other members of the National Assembly to abandon the single six-year term and introduce a two-term system by any means necessary.

Valdez had no reason to refuse, as the United States had secretly promised support and had actually provided it.

If you do it well, you can eat it until you die.

But Valdez was hit in the back of the head as soon as he revised the constitution.

The United States, which had been considered so supportive, suddenly changed its attitude and withdrew its support.

Well, Valdez doesn’t know, but the CIA secretly collected information about his corruption and leaked it to the press without any hesitation, so he is in a situation where he can’t even hope for a second term and is worried about going to prison after retirement.

And the partner that the United States chose was none other than Cardenas.

It was not specifically Lee Kang-cheol who made the promise, but the U.S. government judged Cárdenas to be the most trustworthy Mexican politician, and indeed, after Cárdenas became president with U.S. support, he worked hard to reform Mexico as if he had some regrets about the reforms he could not complete during his first term.

Thanks to this, Mexico has become, and is becoming, a pretty good country, at least in Central and South America.

“ha ha ha!”

“ha ha ha!”

Lee Kang-cheol also respected President Cardenas, who was helping to build Mexico, so it would have been strange if the atmosphere at the summit had been bad.

As President Cárdenas, it felt good to have the president of the world’s second largest economy showing his goodwill.

I was so happy that I went to the airport to see Kang-cheol Lee off on his way to the next country.

“No, President Cardenas? Why did you come out when you are busy?”

“Hahaha! I think that even though we only met once, we became true friends just from that one meeting. Is it just me who thinks so?”

“Hahaha! No, that’s what I was thinking too.”

“Then that’s fine. My friend is going on a long journey again, so of course I have to come see him off, right?”

“Thank you. Not only between me and the President, but also between our Republic of Korea and Mexico, we will become good friends.”

“Haha! Next time, I will go to South Korea.”

“You are always welcome.”

Thus, the first visit to Mexico, the country in Central and South America, ended successfully.

The next country to visit was Venezuela, a resource-rich country.

Although it is a heavy oil country, it ranks first in the world in terms of oil reserves.

But it was shocking that in the 21st century, such a country was completely destroyed and all of its citizens, except for a very small number, became beggars.

The current ruling party is the center-left Democratic Action Party (AD. Acción Democrática), which was also a result of US intervention.

Originally, the military, which had seized power through a coup, was supposed to be in control of the government, but two years ago, the United States pressured the military to hold democratic elections.

Thanks to this, the military junta, which was originally supposed to collapse in 1958 through a civil revolution, was ousted more than three years later, and now AD has taken power through democratic elections.

Lee Kang-cheol was positive about Venezuela, which has changed in a positive way, although not as dramatically as Mexico.

I hope that we don’t have a tragedy where the entire nation becomes beggars while they are just laying oil.

After passing through Colombia and visiting Brazil, I was welcomed and finally arrived at the airport in Argentina, the last country on my tour of Central and South America.

“Welcome! We welcome you to Argentina!”

“Sister! Welcome!”

“… … .”

Eva Peron, who frequently visits South Korea and now calls First Lady Lee Sun-young “sister” in Korean, had a nice flush on her face.

“Sister? Since when have you been like that?”

“Oh, really! Eva is so close to me. She even told me that she’s your brother-in-law, so don’t be embarrassed if Eva calls you brother-in-law in private.”

“… … .”

The world of women was really difficult to understand.