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The Board of Governors of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) elected this Saturday as the new president of the institution the American Mauricio Claver-Carone, who will become the first non-Latin American leader in the history of the multilateral organization.
In a closed-door vote and by electronic means, the governors elected Claver-Carone, the only candidate left in the running and who is currently an adviser to US President Donald Trump, for a five-year term that will begin on October 1. the IDB reported in a statement.
“This victory is for Latin America and the Caribbean,” Claver-Carone said in a statement sent to EFE shortly after his election, which will make him the first US president of the IDB in its 61-year history.
The lawyer of Cuban origin received 23 regional votes and 66.8% of the support, sources from the National Security Council of the White House, where Claver-Carone still holds the position of director for Latin America, told Efe.
According to IDB regulations, the president-elect needed to obtain a majority of the total votes of the 48 member countries of the institution, in addition to the support of at least 15 of the 28 regional member countries.
The voting process was secret, and neither the IDB nor the White House confirmed which countries supported Claver-Carone, who will replace Colombian Luis Alberto Moreno on October 1, who has held the position since 2005 and was reelected in 2010.
Claver-Carone, born in Miami 45 years ago and with Cuban roots, promised this Saturday to “work tirelessly” to “build a strong team and act on the priority issues in the region.”
“My commitment remains the same: to work with the member countries of the IDB to design a strategy that strengthens the bank, responds to the needs of the region, and creates opportunities for shared economic prosperity and growth,” said the president-elect in his release.
Apart from the United States, Claver-Carone’s candidacy was presented by El Salvador, Guyana, Haiti, Israel and Paraguay; and his appointment was also supported by countries such as Colombia, Brazil, Bolivia and Uruguay.
A group of countries, led by Argentina and followed by Mexico, Costa Rica and Chile, had promoted the postponement of the elections until March 2021 so that it would take place after the US elections next November, in which Trump – for whom Claver-Carone works now – could lose, but the initiative did not prosper.
The candidacy of an American provoked irritation in Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica and Mexico, who argued that this Saturday’s vote should be postponed again since the pandemic did not allow adequate debate. That is why Chile abstained.
In addition, in recent days, Argentina also withdrew its candidate Gustavo Béliz, who was the only one competing for Claver-Carone’s position, when it became clear that the American had the votes to win.
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