[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 117 (Thursday, June 25, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3306-S3307]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE INTER-AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. Presisent, according to press reports, the Trump
administration plans to nominate Mauricio Claver-Carone to be the next
president of the Inter-American Development Bank, IDB. It is also my
understanding that a number of Latin American governments have already
expressed support for his nomination.
As someone who has supported the IDB for decades, including at times
when amendments were proposed to eliminate or reduce the U.S.
contribution, it is important to be aware that this nomination could
jeopardize U.S. support for and cooperation with that institution.
Further, if the U.S. Treasury Department and other IDB shareholders
believe this nominee will help to build support for a capital increase
for the Bank in the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, of which I am
vice chairman, Mr. Claver-Carone is the wrong nominee to make the case
for such an increase.
This nomination would break a 60-year precedent that a Latin American
serves as president of the IDB and a U.S. citizen serves as executive
vice president. That precedent exists for a reason. The Bank is an
institution working to improve the lives of millions of people in Latin
America and the Caribbean, and absent a compelling reason to the
contrary, it should continue to be led by a person from the region it
serves. There are any number of Latin Americans who are well-qualified
for the job and who would be supported by the United States.
I am disappointed, albeit not surprised, that the Trump Treasury
Department would nominate such a controversial candidate as Mr. Claver-
Carone. As senior director for Western Hemisphere Affairs at the
National Security Council, he has been the architect of President
Trump's most ideologically driven policies toward Latin America,
policies that have failed to achieve any of their stated goals. In
fact, these ineffective policies have made resolving conflicts with
governments we disagree with more difficult, and they have complicated
our relations with friends and allies.
Mr. Claver-Carone's idea of diplomacy is often to admonish and impose
sanctions, which in Latin America more often than not means unilateral
sanctions, which have isolated the United States, emboldened those who
the sanctions are intended to punish, and harmed people in those
countries who we want to help. While there are circumstances when well-
designed sanctions make sense, Mr. Claver-Carone seems to believe that
even when it is obvious that sanctions have failed the solution is to
tighten them rather than fix them. This approach to regional problems
is wholly unsuited for the IDB, whose shareholders have traditionally
supported the institution, in part, because of its long history of
addressing regional priorities. A polarizing American at the helm could
intensify divisions, weaken shareholder support, and diminish the
Bank's ability to carry out its mission on behalf of the people it was
established to serve.
I also worry that a Claver-Carone presidency at the IDB would set the
Bank on a collision course with its largest shareholder, the United
States, should Vice President Biden win in November. Electing Mr.
Claver-Carone to a 5-year term just weeks before the U.S. Presidential
election, coupled with his unpopularity with some Members of Congress,
including key members of the Senate and House Appropriations
Committees, would not bode well for U.S. support for the Bank in the
coming years.
For these reasons, I urge the IDB board of governors to carefully
consider the enormity of the economic, public health, political, and
other challenges currently confronting Latin America, and the
implications of Mr. Claver-Carone's election shortly before the U.S.
Presidential election. These challenges have been greatly compounded by
the COVID-19 pandemic, which will have grave ramifications for the
social, economic, and political stability of the region for years to
come.
The need for steady IDB leadership that can build consensus during
this time of regional uncertainty has never been more evident than it
is today.
I ask unanimous consent that an article in The Economist on the
Claver-Carone nomination be printed in the Record.
[[Page S3307]]
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[From the Economist, June 20, 2020]
A Gringo Takeover Bid for the Inter-American Development Bank
The United States breaks a gentlemen's agreement
Since it was founded in 1959, the Inter-American
Development Bank (idb) has had just four presidents: a
Chilean, a Mexican, a Uruguayan and, since 2005, Luis Alberto
Moreno, a Colombian. Under the gentlemen's agreement by which
it was founded, Latin America has the presidency and a small
majority of the capital while the United States has the
number-two job and some informal vetoes over how the bank is
run. The idb has not been free of the faults of such
institutions, such as bureaucracy and a degree of cronyism,
but it has played an important role in the region. It lends
around $12bn a year for infrastructure, health, education and
so on, does some useful research and advises governments. It
has also been a channel of communication between the two
halves of the Americas.
Donald Trump doesn't believe in gentlemen's agreements, and
his administration this week broke this one. The Treasury
Department named Mauricio Claver-Carone, the top official for
Latin America at the National Security Council (nsc), as its
candidate to replace Mr Moreno, who is due to step down in
September. Mr Claver-Carone, a Cuban-American, is technically
qualified for the post. He has been an adviser to the
Treasury and a representative to the imf, and was involved in
the Trump administration's initiatives on development
finance. He has told interlocutors that he would serve only
one term at the idb, would bring fresh ideas and would be
better placed than a Latin American to get the Treasury's
crucial support for a capital increase that would give the
bank resources to mitigate the covid-19 slump in the region.
These are things that many in Latin America might welcome.
But Mr Claver-Carone is a controversial choice, and not
just because his nomination breaks with tradition. At the nsc
he has been the chief architect of Mr Trump's Venezuela
policy, which has failed in its aim of getting rid of the
dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro. ``He's a guy who comes with
very Miami-type baggage, adversarial to Cuba and Venezuela
and representing a conservative alliance,'' says a Latin
American diplomat. ``He would bring ideology directly into
the bank.'' Mr Claver-Carone walked out of the inauguration
of Argentina's president, Alberto Fernandez, in December
because of the presence of a Venezuelan minister. Many who
have dealt with him describe him as arrogant and
confrontational.
Given the Trump administration's cold war against China, Mr
Claver-Carone's appointment as head of the idb might force
Latin America to choose between the two countries, which the
region is reluctant to do. Although China is granting fewer
loans to Latin America than it did recently, it remains one
of the region's most important trade partners. The Trump
administration was furious with Mr Moreno for agreeing to
hold the bank's annual meeting in China in 2019 (though in
the event it was delayed and moved to Ecuador because of a
row over who represented Venezuela). Mr Claver-Carone has his
own animus against Mr Moreno, who vetoed his appointment as
the bank's vice-president.
For Latin America the loss of the idb presidency would be a
big diplomatic defeat, reflecting the region's weakness and
ideological division. Its leaders are a generally
unimpressive bunch. They have failed to unite behind a
candidate of their own. Diplomats expected the job to go
either to Brazil or to Argentina. Jair Bolsonaro's government
in Brazil informally canvassed support for Rodrigo Xavier, an
experienced banker. Argentina's putative candidate, Gustavo
Beliz, is a competent former idb official, but its centreleft
government has few allies in the region. Brazil looks likely
to back Mr Claver-Carone, mainly because Mr Bolsonaro has
aligned himself closely with Mr Trump. Other smaller
countries may, too, because they are desperate for money.
The new president must secure a double majority, of
countries representing 50% of the idb's shares (the United
States has 30% and Brazil 11%) and separately of the 28
members in the Americas. That may yet be a problem for Mr
Claver-Carone.
The biggest reason to oppose his nomination is that he
represents a polarising administration that may well lose an
election in November, making him ``the earliest lame duck in
history'', as a South American official puts it. The sensible
course would be to extend Mr Moreno's term until next year,
both to give time for other candidates to emerge and to see
whether Mr Claver-Carone really represents the United States
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