"The game at the IDB goes from 21 to 4 and whoever loses wants to take the ball from the field"

The United States announced at the beginning of the summer that, for the first time in history, it would present a candidate to preside over the Ibero-American Development Bank (IDB): Mauricio Claver-Carone, adviser to Donald Trump for Latin America and defender of the strong hand against the Castroism and Chavismo.

The proposal stunned half the region, not only because of Trump's usual disdain for multilateral organizations, but also because of the break with the tradition that grants a Latin American the presidency of this bank.

Several countries are trying to postpone the election, called on September 12 and that Claver-Carone would win comfortably, with the aim of waiting for a 2021 in which Trump may no longer govern, as the Republican also faces his own reelection in November .

To do this, a group of countries, led by Argentina (which is presenting a candidate), tries to prevent the meeting of the

Minimum

of 75% necessary to validate the vote.

Claver-Carone, born in Miami (Florida), of a Spanish father and a Cuban mother, who grew up between Florida and Spain, claims to be Latin American.

In an interview in the gardens of the White House, he criticizes the

maneuver

and defends his independence from the US Administration if he is elected.

Question.

There are very few days until the election in the Ibero-American Development Bank (IDB).

Do you think it will be celebrated?

Reply.

An election has to take place.

If not, the bank is in limbo, without leadership.

In order to legitimately postpone an election, a resolution with a majority of countries and a new date for the election would be required.

On July 9, all the bank's countries unanimously proposed September 12 as the date for the IDB election.

That date is between August 27, which was the election for the president of the African Development Bank, and October 7, which will be the election of the president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

What we are hearing is the narrative that the media and some countries have created of how to hijack a vote at that time.

However, this does not create a postponement or a new date for the election, it is simply a short-term tactic to waste time, but the consequences would be very important.

If an election does not occur before October 1, the bank is left with an interim president who is the bank's lawyer and, ironically, is an American.

But it leaves the bank without a mandate, without objectives, without mobilizing resources, without addressing the needs of the region and with a lack of perspectives in the government that could cause a credit rating downgrade.

Q.

And what would the US Administration do if that happens?

A.

The election must take place.

Leaving a bank paralyzed, in limbo, would not only be unacceptable for the United States, but for the majority of shareholders.

The bank will need a majority for a new resolution with a new date.

We already know that this is not going to happen because the majority have already said in a statement that they want the election to take place on September 12.

One way or another, to govern as an institution, you need a majority project.

The IDB contests have been very competitive.

In 2005, when Luis Alberto Moreno won, he received 56% and 44% of the shareholders opposed it.

If that 44% instead of voting against or in favor of their candidate, simply tried minority tactics to deny the

, there would not have been an election.

Q.

But that tactic, in any case, only needs 25% support (so that there is not enough

) and it seems that there is.

R.

The only country that has declared itself in favor of a

tactic

to hijack an electoral process in September is Argentina.

Other countries, such as Chile, Costa Rica and Mexico, have announced that they support a postponement, which means a resolution passed by a majority and a new date.

Q.

Are you not disappointed by the position of Mexico, after the good harmony shown in the visit of the president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador?

R.

We have a great relationship with Mexico and we will continue in talks.

The Finance Minister basically stated that the elections should be postponed to March.

If Mexico presents a resolution and receives the support of the majority, obviously we respect that.

Mexico has the right to support or oppose the candidate it wants, but it must respect the rules of the game because no one wants a paralyzed institution.

P.

One of the arguments that your critics point out is that this position has traditionally been occupied by Latin Americans.

R.

Of the four presidents that the bank has had in 61 years - and there is already a governance issue that does not reflect our values ​​- none of the last two was born in Latin America.

Enrique Iglesias did it in Spain and Luis Alberto Moreno, in Philadelphia, United States, and is a US citizen.

Couldn't Luis Alberto Moreno be president of the IDB because he was born in the United States and is also an American?

Enrique Iglesias couldn't because he was born in Spain and is a Spanish citizen?

The rules are the same for everyone.

I have been presented, not only by the United States, but also by Guyana, Haiti, El Salvador and Paraguay, I am the only IDB candidate officially presented as a candidate from a country from each subregion, North America, Central America, the Caribbean and South America.

Our candidacy is equally valid as that of Moreno and Iglesias.

P.

They are also afraid that you will run the bank based on the harmony that each Latin American country has with the Donald Trump Administration.

A.

It cannot be.

If elected, I would be the first IDB president to have been executive director of an international financial institution since Felipe Herrera, the first president, who was Chile's representative at the International Monetary Fund.

I understand how the governance of an international financial institution works: the agenda is governed by directors and governors and one is a lawyer for the agenda.

Today I work for the United States Government, but if I am elected, I work for the 48 member countries of the IDB.

It is a question of governance and transparency, as we have always wanted for the IDB and which has been lacking.

These 15 and 20 year presidencies have created a culture of avoiding the board of directors, that's what I've heard from every governor.

If elected, they rule the agenda and I would essentially be an enforcer, an advocate for their agenda, a lawyer and a very effective enforcer for the region.

Q.

And not a lawyer and an enforcer of Trump policies?

A. The

United States is a shareholder member of the IDB in the same way that there are 47 other shareholders.

It is the majority of directors and governors who set the agenda, and that is the agenda that the president, by his legal duty, must accept.

Q.

Why do you want the position?

The Donald Trump Administration has not been characterized by interest in multilateral organizations.

R

.

Because Latin America and the Caribbean are the region that suffers the greatest lack of financing in the world, something that has been worsened by the crisis and the pandemic.

Simply put, for small and medium-sized businesses the lack of financing reaches 87,000 million dollars.

In the United States, neither Republicans nor Democrats cared about the IDB in the past, they never did anything for the IDB, when IDB Invest was created, no capital was injected, that was a mistake that we want to correct.

China filled those gaps in recent years with its state banks and began lending money to the region.

But those loans have dwindled enormously.

The best we can do is work with all of our allied friends and all IDB shareholders to make the IDB a true financial powerhouse.

It is much better for the United States and the region to do it than, out of desperation, to seek funding from other countries.

Q.

What do you think of the harsh letter from several former presidents, including the Spanish Felipe González, against your candidacy?

A.

Presidents of the past are always going to be stuck in the past.

If there had been a North American candidate for the IDB in 1959, he might be called John Smith or John Wayne, but my name is Mauricio Claver-Carone.

My father was born in Madrid, my mother was born in Havana and I was born in Miami.

I speak Spanish just as well as any other candidate.

The United States is the second largest Spanish-speaking country in the world, more than Spain - that is said by the Cervantes Institute - and after Mexico.

What makes us less Latin American than they?

I see criticism of my nationality, but I would ask for a proposal.

The President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, presented a proposal for Latin America in June, saying that international financial institutions should create a cohesion package to help the region.

You are correct, we want to help you execute your vision.

Almost four months have passed and no one has done anything for the region, which is the one that is going to suffer the most from this pandemic and the financial crisis.

If these presidents wanted to do something positive, those four months that they have spent criticizing my nationality could have proposed a positive agenda to help the region emerge from the crisis.

Q.

Could the United States freeze its capital contributions to the IDB if the election is still blocked?

A.

The IDB is a self-financing entity, which is self-sustaining.

We want to contribute more capital if the directors and governors of the IDB so agree.

We think that the candidacy could bring more confidence from the United States Government, which has not had the confidence to contribute more capital for a long time, as we saw in 2015 with IDB Invest.

Luis Alberto Moreno had to go to China to find money for IDB Invest and now we have to correct that.

Q.

Do you want the IDB to counterbalance this increasingly important role of China as a lender?

R.

It is not a matter of counterbalancing, but of filling a void that exists, because it is already a void that is neither being filled nor fulfilled by international institutions, nor is it being fulfilled by China.

Q. I

had thought to ask you if you were considering withdrawing your candidacy, but I see that ...

A.

Not at all.

How is the candidacy that has the support of two thirds of the region going to want to withdraw?

21 countries have publicly supported the support for our candidacy, four that have spoken against.

When a football game goes 21 to 4, it can be finished, but some countries want to catch the ball and run off the field to dominate the game.

21 to 4 is a greater margin of victory than that obtained by Luis Alberto Moreno in 2005.

Q.

What do you expect from the countries of the European Union after the statements by Josep Borrell [the high representative for Common Foreign Policy and Security defends postponing the elections]?

R.

The European Union does not have a vote in the IDB, it is the individual countries that do.

We have spoken with the governors of the countries of the European Union and they have clearly told us that Mr Borrell does not represent the point of view of each country.

P

.

How do you interpret the pardons approved by Nicolás Maduro for political prisoners and persecuted deputies?

R.

It is an old game that dictatorships sometimes play, a vicious circle.

They take political prisoners, people who should never have been in prison, and auction them off.

In a moment of need, they are released, they take new ones, etc. ... Obviously it is good and we celebrate that they are free, but they should never have stopped being free and Nicolás Maduro is not going to receive any kind of congratulations for having committed a crime.

Q.

Do you think it can be a signal for more dialogue?

A.

It is a sign of despair.

Nicolás Maduro was accumulating political prisoners to find the moment to receive some kind of relief from the international community, it is what he is looking for now that with this theatrical gesture.

A person who takes innocent prisoners does not have to receive any kind of relief by releasing them, the other way around.

We must ensure that the pressure on the rest is maintained, because there are more than 200 political prisoners in Venezuela and we are very concerned about their well-being.

Q.

Is the US Administration considering tightening the sanctions on oil, lifting the exemptions that allow some foreign companies to continue operating, such as Repsol or Eni?

R.

The State Department and the Treasury Department are looking for a way to continue exerting pressure on Nicolás Maduro, whose government is illegitimate and who is also a person indicted by the United States Government for drug trafficking crimes.

Obviously, we are going to keep looking for ways to increase that pressure, but those deliberations are taking place in the State Department and the Treasury Department.