Paula Lugones
06/16/2020 - 17:37
- Clarín.com
- Politics
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, proposed a man of his confidence, Mauricio Claver Carone, to lead the Inter-American Development Bank, a maneuver with which it dealt a strong blow to the aspirations of the Argentine Gustavo Béliz to preside over the organization regional credit.
The Treasury Department said that it supports Claver Carone, adviser for Latin America of the National Security Council, to preside over the organization and thus breaks with the old tradition of the Bank, which since its founding in 1959 had four presidents, all Latin American, while The United States reserved the executive vice presidency.
"We are confident that your leadership at the IDB will strengthen your skills for development in the region, " Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.
The Colombian Luis Alberto Moreno's mandate, which took over in 2005, ends at the end of September. Argentina never hid the desire to occupy that chair. During Mauricio Macri's government, the candidate was Interior Minister Rogelio Frigerio , whose dreams evaporated when Cambiemos lost the election. The government of Alberto Fernández promptly promoted Gustavo Béliz, now Secretary for Strategic Affairs, who worked in the agency between 2006 and 2013, to that position.
The president of the organism is chosen by the board of governors. The United States has 30% of the shares - the most significant partner - while Brazil and Argentina are second (11%) and Mexico fourth with 7.2%. Béliz's chances were high given that Brazil had withdrawn from the race and because Mexican President Andrés Manue López Obrador had expressed support for Argentina. Claver Carone's entry drastically modifies the scenario.
The next president will have to face strong challenges in the region, which is severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic and also by the crisis in Venezuela. C laver Carone is one of the Trump advisers who has most criticized the Nicolás Maduro regime.
The official is an old acquaintance from Argentina. Before assuming his position in the White House, he was director of the United States for the International Monetary Fund, just when this body approved the loan of $ 57 billion in 2017, during the administration of Mauricio Macri. The US support on the IMF board was then key for this historic standby to emerge.
From good contacts with the Macri administration, especially with the former secretary of International Relations Fulvio Pompeo, Claver Carone began his relationship with the Alberto Fernández government with a strong shock: he had traveled to Buenos Aires for the presidential inauguration but left annoyed because Officials from the Maduro government had been invited to the ceremony.
Washington. Correspondent