KINGSTON, Jamaica – The Jamaica Peace Council (JPC) has issued a statement urging governments across the region to vote for former president of Costa Rica Laura Chinchilla to head the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

Chinchilla, who was president of Costa Rica from 2010 to 2014, is going up against national security adviser on Western Hemisphere affairs in the Trump administration, Cuban American Mauricio Claver-Carone, in the IDB elections set for September 12 and 13.

“Since the bank’s creation in 1959, its previous four presidents have been from Latin America. The election of an American would therefore be a departure from a significant established tradition,” the JPC argued.

The current IDB president is Luis Alberto Moreno of Colombia.

“The Inter-American Development Bank plays too important a role in the economies of the Caribbean and Latin American for Cuban American Mauricio J Claver-Carone to emerge with the mantle of leadership from the elections which will be held on September 12 and 13, 2020,” the council said.

A report in The Costa Rica News states that Chinchilla has given a commitment to strengthening the entity with ‘a vision of union’ so that it may continue to be the main source of access to credit for the region and a partner for recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.

In discussing her candidacy, Chinchilla described the IDB as the region’s most important financing companion and the main source of access to credit and technical assistance.

“To guarantee the IDB that we need in the future, it is essential to have people with a vision of effective leadership and far from any politicisation. An institution and leadership above any specific political ideology, that does not divide or polarise and can summon different forces in and between countries,” she said, according to the Costa Rica paper.

The current Costa Rican government which supports Chinchilla’s candidacy highlights her ability to manage complex processes, build agreements and mobilise resources, as well as “her solid knowledge of development challenges in the Latin American and the Caribbean region”.

Claver-Carone, meanwhile, is reputed for his hardline stance on Cuba and Venezuela.

“This is a clear indication that he would not be fit to offer the quality of leadership and build unity in the best interest of the region, based on the role that is required of the IDB,” the JPC argued,

JPC said while the fundamental nature of the IDB as a “tool of imperialism to manipulate and dominate the nations of the region through loan conditions” will not change with Chinchilla’s election, the current intensified thrust of the Donald Trump government in the region towards “isolating and destroying nations that dare to choose their own development paths and assert their sovereignty over their natural resources” would make Claver-Carone a greater danger were he to become president.

Some 48 countries contribute funds to the IDB. The US is the greatest contributor and controls 30 per cent of the vote.