The end of a historical tradition in the IDB presidency?

In June, the United States nominated, for the first time since the institution’s creation in 1959, a North American candidate for the presidency of the Inter-American Development Bank (IVD).

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In mid-June, the President of the United States, Donald Trump ,  As candidate for the presidency of the Inter-American Development Bank -IDB-, Mauricio Claver-Carone, current advisor for Latin America of the National Security Council, was nominated.

The nomination jeopardizes the old IDB tradition that the agency’s presidency always rests with Latin Americans, while the vice presidency is held by an American. Thus, since its creation in 1959, only four presidents have held the presidency of the Bank, all of them from Latin America: the Chilean Felipe Herrera (1960-1970), the Mexican Antonio Ortiz Mena (1970-1988), the Uruguayan Enrique Iglesias (1988 -2005) and the Colombian Luis Alberto Moreno (2005-2020). Although the IDB’s Articles of Agreement do not establish any determining factor in relation to the nationality of the person who must hold the presidency, there is an unwritten norm from its very creation by which the body must be directed by a person from the region. It was even one of the conditions for which it ended up accepting that the Bank’s headquarters be in Washington DC. This type of unwritten norms regarding the nationality of its presidents can also be found in other multilateral institutions. For example, the presidency of the World Bank has always been held by a person from the United States, the International Monetary Fund – IMF – has historically been chaired by a representative of Europe and, as mentioned, the IDB by a person from Latin America.

The new IDB president, who will be elected by the IDB Group Board of Governors on September 15 in Barranquilla, Colombia, will replace Luis Alberto Moreno, who has been in the Bank’s presidency since 2005. In addition, with the nomination of The US reduces the chances for the Argentine Gustavo Béliz, since Latin American countries such as Brazil, Ecuador, El Salvador, Jamaica, Colombia and Uruguay support the Claver-Carone candidacy.tional Security Council.

More informatio

• Rejection of former Latin American presidents to the US intention to run to preside over the IDB – scope
• The risk of Trump breaking with the IDB for nominating a candidate for the presidency of the bank – Agencia EFE
• Trump wants to control the IDB amid the deep economic crisis in Latin America – Agencia Telám
• Mauricio Claver-Carone, candidate to preside over the IDB: “My candidacy represents a great commitment on the part of the United States” – Infobae

Authors

• Gonzalo Roza 
• Sofía Brocanelli 

Contact

Gonzalo Roza, gon.roza@fundeps.org