The Government of Guyana yesterday announced support for the unprecedented United States nomination of a candidate to head the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) – the controversial Trump Administration official, Mauricio Claver-Carone.
It is unclear whether the support for Claver-Carone’s nomination at the September 12-13 elections for the presidency of the IDB was the policy of the former APNU+AFC administration or the recently elected President, Irfaan Ali. No Minister of Foreign Affairs has yet been appointed by the Ali administration.
A statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that “The Government of Guyana is pleased to support the candidacy of Mr. Mauricio Claver-Carone who has been nominated by the United States of America for the post of President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
“Mr. Claver-Carone’s experience in senior positions of the US Treasury Department, the US National Security Council and as US Executive Director of the IMF augur well for his presidency”.
Takuba Lodge added that Claver-Carone’s nomination demonstrates the US commitment to leadership in important regional institutions, and the advancing of prosperity and security in the Western Hemisphere. It said that his leadership of the IDB – a key financier for Guyana – is expected to “strengthen its ability to deliver development impact to the region”.
The nomination of the hawkish Claver-Carone has divided Latin America which traditionally holds the presidency of the IDB. There is an ongoing effort to postpone the September election in which Argentina is a key figure. The controversy has even seen intervention by the European Union – not a member of the IDB – but which appears to have reacted to concern about Claver-Carone. The candidate has been also known for his hardline positions on Venezuela and Cuba.
For Guyana, there are also other dimensions to the nomination. Analysts have located the US bid for the IDB presidency as a move to roll back China’s financial influence in Latin America and to give greater leverage to Washington in the hemisphere.
The Reuters news agency reported this week that Claver-Carone is the favourite to win the leadership election in September, with the backing of countries including Brazil – which under Jair Bolsonaro has been a close ally of the US – and Colombia.
Claver-Carone would be the first person from outside Latin America to lead the Washington-based IDB since its founding in 1959.
Reuters reported that Argentina, which has its own candidate, favours delaying the vote until after the Nov.3 U.S. election in the hopes of weakening Claver-Carone’s position should Trump lose. Mexico is also said to be likely to back Argentina.
China was “definitely an important factor” in Washington’s decision to put forward a candidate, one senior U.S. official told Reuters.
In an interview with Reuters last week, Claver-Carone acknowledged there had been some regional push-back, but brushed it off and said that he had “overwhelming” support, pointing to public backing from 15 countries and six more privately.
Overwhelming
“I think there’s possibly going to be even more, all want to see us succeed because it’s good for their countries,” he said. “Any effort by one country to try to delay the election goes against the will of the overwhelming majority of the region”, he added, according to Reuters
He also told Reuters that he wants to boost the bank’s capital and help countries that he said had been saddled with non-transparent Chinese lending.
He also said the United States is looking at offering incentives to companies to bring as much as $50 billion in US investment back to the Americas from Asia.
A candidate needs support of at least 15 of the 28 regional member countries and a majority of the total vote to win. Reuters said that the percentage of voting control relates to each country’s shares in the bank and there must be at least 75% for quorum or the election must be rescheduled.
Blocking the election of Claver-Carone may prove tough as the United States holds 30% of the bank’s voting power.
Argentina, the IDB’s largest borrower last year, has just over 11% of the voting share, while Mexico has above 7%,
meaning they would need more support to hold up a vote, Reuters noted.
An Argentine government source told Reuters that the US bid for the IDB position was less about the region’s development and more about countering China, as well as an attempt to win over voters in Florida who agree with Claver-Carone’s hardline approach on socialist-run Cuba and Venezuela.
The source said delaying the election by forcing a postponement would be “difficult, but not impossible.”
A second Argentine official told Reuters that a delay beyond the Sept. 12 vote was “an option that would suit us” and said the country was confident its candidate would gain Mexico’s backing.
Chile and Peru, which are run by centrist governments and control less than 5% of IDB votes combined, have yet to state their position.
Latin American former presidents and ministers from across the political spectrum have expressed opposition to the nomination of Claver-Carone, including from Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Colombia. In the United States, Reuters said that Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy said Claver-Carone was “the wrong nominee,” calling him the “architect” of Trump’s “most ideologically-driven policies” toward the region.
Susana Malcorra, a foreign minister in Argentina’s previous conservative administration who signed a letter opposing the U.S. candidate, told Reuters the region needed “to find a way to put a halt to this process” to give Latin American countries a chance to settle on a consensus candidate.
Benjamin Gedan, director of the Wilson Center’s Argentina Project in Washington, said that a rejection of Claver-Carone “would be a black eye for the Trump administration, showing waning influence.” If Trump loses the presidency, and Claver-Carone won the vote, Latin Americans may end up with a lame duck head of the regional bank, he posited.
On Sunday, a top European Union diplomat called for a delay in the vote to choose the new president.
In a July 30 letter seen by Reuters, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell cited the coronavirus pandemic and the nomination of Claver-Carone as reasons to postpone the planned Sept. 12 vote until after March.
“This postponement is more advisable if we consider the submission, without precedent, of a candidacy to preside (at) the Bank by the United States Government,” Borrell wrote in the letter to Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya.
A senior U.S. administration official told Reuters the EU was not party to the IDB as an entity, and all member states had agreed to the virtual September election.
“Any effort by a minority of countries, let alone by non-regional countries, to hijack the election process would be an affront to the region and be challenged,” the official said.
Luis Almagro, Secretary General of the Organization of American States, also pushed back in a tweet on Sunday: “The region is independent, sovereign and can maturely make its own decisions.”
