Paula Lugones
06/18/2020 - 20:40
- Clarín.com
- Politics
Four former Latin American presidents this Thursday expressed their disagreement with the government of the Donald Trump proposal to nominate a US candidate for the presidency of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a position that was also aspired by the Argentine minister Gustavo Béliz. They say it is an "aggression" by the United States government for the multilateral system, which "does not augur good times."
In a surprise move, the United States announced Wednesday that it will nominate a Trump henchman, Secretary of State for Latin America Mauricio Claver-Carone, to preside over the agency as successor to Colombian Luis Alberto Moreno. The IDB was never led by an American in its six decades of history.
There is a tacit agreement between the distribution of ownership of international organizations. Traditionally, the World Bank is chaired by a person from the United States, the International Monetary Fund by someone from Europe and the IDB by a representative from Latin America. The IDB's terms are for 5 years, but its presidents usually opt for two re-elections. Thus, only four people led the organization: the Chilean Felipe Herrera, the Mexican Antonio Ortiz Mena, the Uruguayan Enrique Iglesias and the Colombian Moreno.
In a statement released this Thursday, Fernando Henrique Cardoso (Brazil), Ricardo Lagos (Chile), Julio María Sanguinetti (Uruguay), Ernesto Zedillo (Mexico) and Juan Manuel Santos (Colombia) assured that the US announcement. it implies "a break from the unwritten norm, but respected from its origin."
They refer to the fact that, since its foundation, the IDB has been led by a Latin American. The institution's vice presidency has always been in the hands of a US citizen, as has the agency's headquarters, which is Washington.
"This was the spirit of the commitment of President Eisenhower (USA) himself in his speech at the United Nations in August 1958, when he said: for this institution to be successful, the function of leading it must belong to Latin American countries" recalled the former presidents.
Furthermore, according to the signatories, the proposal "is not just a matter of protocol alteration", since it will have "obvious" political consequences in the organism's tasks.
“The proposed appointment of a North American citizen at the IDB would not announce good times for the entity's future, which leads us to express our dismay at this new aggression by the United States government on the multilateral system based on rules agreed upon by the countries. members ”, says the letter.
The former presidents called on other IDB partners to oppose the Trump administration's proposal, arguing that this is not the time to further complicate the situation facing the region with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“With this proposal, another wall is raised in the way of understanding the relationship of the United States with the rest of the continent. It is still time to show, with arguments and determination, the high inconvenience of accepting the imposition sought by the United States government, ”the statement concludes.
Moreno's term, 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 Manuel López Obrador had expressed support for Argentina. Claver Carone's entry dramatically changed the scenario.
From what Clarín was able to gather , Carone's candidacy already has the explicit endorsement of Brazil (despite the fact that he had his own candidate), Ecuador, Paraguay, Jamaica and Colombia. Mexico has not yet ruled on whether or not to support the US official.
Claver Carone 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. 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 Nicolás Maduro government had been invited to the ceremony.
Washington. Correspondent
