Joe Biden is jumping into the battle for control of Latin America's main development bank, opposing President Donald Trump's nomination of a Cuban American hard-liner on Cuba and Venezuela to head the institution.
In response to a query I had sent last week, the Biden campaign told me in an email that the presumptive Democratic nominee for president considers Mauricio Claver-Carone, Trump's candidate to head the Washington, D.C.-based Inter-American Development Bank, to be "overly ideological" and underqualified for the job.
Claver-Carone's nomination to head the IADB has made headlines across the hemisphere because it would break a tradition, since the bank's inception in 1959, that it has been led by a Latin American official.
Claver-Carone is Trump's top national security adviser on Western Hemisphere affairs. He has worked at the Treasury Department and as a U.S. representative to the International Monetary Fund. Since taking his current job in 2018, he has been one of the administration's leading voices in demanding tougher U.S. actions against the Cuban and Venezuelan dictatorships.
Claver-Carone's nomination is opposed by Argentina, which has its own candidate for the IADB's top job, and, unofficially, by Mexico. Several respected former Latin American leaders _ including Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico, Ricardo Lagos of Chile and Julio Maria Sanguinetti of Uruguay _ have signed a public letter opposing Claver-Carone.
The 28-country European Union has officially asked to postpone the IADB's September elections until after the Nov. 3 U.S. presidential elections. It would be counterproductive to have a Trump appointee heading Latin America's top development bank if Trump loses, European officials say.
Democratic leaders in Congress are divided on the issue. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the ranking member of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, has supported Claver-Carone's nomination, while Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, the ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has opposed it.
The Biden campaign had not taken an official position on the issue until now. But campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz told me in the email that, "Trump's nominee for the Inter-American Development Bank is like most of his appointees: overly ideological, under qualified and hunting for a new job after November."
Munoz added, "This is especially concerning during one of Latin America and the Caribbean's most challenging periods, when the IDB will need to play a pivotal role in the region's economic recovery."
The election to replace long-time IADB president Luis Alberto Moreno is scheduled for Sept. 12-13. In addition to the United States, Brazil and Colombia have said they will support Trump's nominee. Claver-Carone has said he has the support of at least 15 countries, which would make him a clear favorite to get the job.
But critics say that if Biden wins in November, the IADB's ability to get much-needed new U.S. funding would be endangered. Biden would not be likely to go out of his way to help a political foe, and Democrats on the key Senate Appropriations Committee would be even more reluctant do so.
Mark Feierstein, a former adviser on Western Hemisphere affairs in the Obama administration, said of Claver-Carone: "Almost everyone who would have influence over the U.S. contributions to the bank opposes him."
I'm not worried about Claver-Carone being a hard-liner on the Cuban and Venezuelan dictatorships. In fact, it would be great to have more U.S. officials demanding greater diplomatic pressure to bring about free elections in both countries.
But there is a practical issue that should be taken into account to postpone the IADB election: Claver-Carone's appointment before the U.S. elections would turn the bank into a political battleground between Republicans and Democrats in Washington, D.C., which likely would paralyze the IADB's operations.
Granted, if Biden is elected, he could call for Claver-Carone's resignation and a new IADB election. But that would take many months, at a time when the IADB badly needs emergency U.S. funding to cope with Latin America's COVID-19 crisis.
Latin America is going through its worst economic crisis in nearly a century. The last thing the region needs is to run the risk of political gridlock with one of its main sources of development funds.
