The Caribbean will have every interest in keenly monitoring developments at the very apex of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) following the recent decision by its Board of Governors to remove its President Mauricio Claver-Carone from his position in the wake of an ethics scandal relating to a relationship he shared with another bank employee.
Coming as it did a full three years before his term of office is due to come to an end, interest, from a Caribbean perspective, now focuses on who will eventually succeed Claver-Carone. From Monday, September 26, Executive Vice President Reina Irene Mejia Chacon, a Honduran citizen, will serve as interim president as decided by the board.
The decision to part with Claver-Carone was announced this week following an investigation which began in March over a disclosure that he was in breach of the IDB’s Code of Ethics on account of his intimate relationship with a subordinate.
There is a dimension of parochial American politics to the circumstances that account for Claver-Carone’s appointment as IDB president. His nomination to the position was piloted by former US president Donald Trump. Both the now dismissed former IDB president and his subordinate with whom he reportedly had the relationship had previously worked for the Trump administration.
Claver-Carone reportedly did himself no favours by not fully cooperating with the investigation and reportedly withholding information, such as e-mails and a bank-issued cellphone that were germane to the investigation. His removal as president of the bank had reportedly been unanimously recommended to its Board of Governors by its Executive Board and the final decision was made on Monday.
The first American to hold a post usually reserved for Latin American nominees, Claver-Carone was perceived as a hawk reportedly with a strong ideological position. Whether his fall is likely to see a return to reserving the office for a Latin American candidate is left to be seen.
Watchers in the Caribbean will now, presumably, be monitoring the extent to which a change at the top will impact the bank’s overall posture towards a region that continues to be heavily dependent on it for development financing.
Back in March the IDB had launched its 2022 Call for Proposals for the Regional Public Goods Initiative in Latin America and the Caribbean, which supports regional projects involving three or more countries.
Claver-Carone’s removal from office falls amid criticisms being levelled at high-profile international organisations. Among them is the United Nations, which has come under scrutiny for alleged sexual harassment of women employees as well as for mistreatment of its humanitarian charges in Sudan and Haiti, as well as other places.
