Gustavo Béliz spoke with Pedro Castillo and managed to get Peru to support Argentina’s candidacy for CAF leader

President Alberto Fernandez obtained the support of Peru to support Christian Asinelli, the Argentinian candidate for the presidency of the Latin American Development Bank (CAF). The expectation of the executive power is to prevail in the elections for the multilateral credit body to be held on July 5, which would strengthen the position of the Front de Todos administration at the regional level.

The President contacted Pedro Castillo by phone last Thursday to obtain his support in the internal elections. Until then, Peru had endorsed the candidacy of the Colombian Sergio Diaz-Granados, the other candidate who came forward to chair CAF. But this accession predated the convulsive presidential elections that the Andean country went through, where Castillo apparently beat Keiko Fujimori.

Although the process in Peru remains judicialized and remains the verdict of electoral justice, the approval of Díaz-Granados was already an old photo that did not represent the political turning point that Castillo represents. This is why the Casa Rosada accelerated the negotiations with the future head of state to redefine the meaning of the Peruvian bank in the financial body.

In telephone conversations, Castillo assured Alberto Fernández that Peru would support Christian Asinelli to lead CAF. The Secretary for Strategic Affairs of the State, Gustavo Beliz He considered making a “lightning trip” to Lima to meet the future president, but finally the membership materialized by an express communication via Zoom, of 25 minutes, to the Beliz which he presented Asinelli in front of the leader of the “Free Peru”.

In this way, Alberto Fernández secures key favor from new ally in regional showdown to occupy a strategic place in international financing. CAF is made up of 19 countries and 13 private banks. In addition to Argentina and Peru, the organization is made up of Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Spain, Jamaica , Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela.

In the next multilateral bank elections, not all votes have the same importance. Since its creation in 1968, the Andean region has the preeminence in CAF: Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela add with double vote.

According to official calculations, the Argentine government has the membership of Bolivia (2), Venezuela (2), Mexico (1) Portugal (1), Spain (1) and now Peru (2). Asinelli needs ten votes, and so far he has nine confirmed. Castillo’s support is assured, but ultimately the materialization of this vote will depend on the resolution of the conflict around the presidential elections before July 5. Peru’s official change of power is slated for July 28, a few weeks after the development bank competition.

The bet candidate Alberto Fernández is a Colombian candidate, lawyer and former Minister of Trade and Industry Sergio Diaz-Granados. Current Executive Director of Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the applicant already has the essential guarantees of his own Colombia (2), Ecuador (2), Brazil (1) and Uruguay (1).

Yesterday, the explicit support of Jair Bolsonaro’s government was formalized, with a photo included in Itamaraty, the Brazilian diplomatic headquarters. And 24 hours later, via a tweet from the Uruguayan Ministry of Economy and Finance, Lacalle Pou confirmed that he would vote in favor of Díaz-Granados.

The support of the two candidates expresses the ideological framework of the alliances in the region. Sign of their paralysis and their internal differences, the Mercosur bloc remains far from Alberto Fernández’s intentions. In this context, Brazil and Uruguay will vote against Asinelli, the Argentinian candidate for CAF.

Today, faced with parity of votes, Alberto Fernández’s strategy is to finish convincing Paraguay. On the weekend he spoke with the president Abdo Benítez. And the outlook remains uncertain: Benítez continues to support Díaz Granados.

Asinelli leads the provisional count. But the history of Latin America was built on political surprises. And Colombia and Brazil do not intend to hand over the presidency of CAF to Argentina.

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