ZCZC
BCN-16
VENEZUELA-IDB-ECONOMY
IDB is first multilateral lender to recognize envoy of Venezuela’s Guaido
WASHINGTON, March 16, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The Inter-American Development Bank
on Friday officially recognized the representative named by Venezuela’s
opposition leader Juan Guaido, the first multilateral institution to take
that step.
Self-proclaimed interim president Guaido named respected Harvard economist
Ricardo Hausmann, an exiled former Venezuelan government minister, to
represent him at the IDB — the primary source of financing for development
projects in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The IDB board of governors “today approved a resolution recognizing the
appointment by Mr Juan Guaido of Ricardo Hausmann as IDB Governor for
Venezuela… effective immediately,” a statement from the New York-based
institution read.
It is the latest sign of international support for Guaido, the head of
Venezuela’s opposition-ruled National Assembly. Guaido has already been
backed by more than 50 countries in his bid to unseat President Nicolas
Maduro, who has presided over an economy in freefall and a worsening
humanitarian crisis.
The United States holds 30 percent of the voting power on the IDB board,
against 50 percent combined for Latin American and Caribbean members.
A “sufficient” number of governors have already approved the nomination,”
even before voting officially closed, the bank said.
Guaido’s envoy to the United States, Carlos Vecchio, celebrated “an
important step into multilateral bodies” and uploaded a photo alongside
Hausmann to Twitter.
“It is a first step that is going to allow us to start work on planning and
preparation, and obviously the real effectiveness of any financing depends on
if Maduro actually leaves,” Mariano de Alba, a Venezuelan lawyer and
international affairs expert, told AFP.
But the International Monetary Fund, which aims to ensure stability of the
global monetary system, has said it is awaiting a decision of its members
before recognizing Guaido rather than Maduro.
Hausmann served as IDB chief economist from 1994 to 2000, and was
Venezuela’s planning minister when the government implemented a major
economic reform package, which was the focus of a coup attempt in 1992 led by
Hugo Chavez, who was jailed but later elected president.
BSS/AFP/SR/1945 HRS