IDB first multilateral financial institution to recognize Guaidó

Guaidó, fighting for power with the president Nicolás Maduro for almost two months, In early March, he appointed Ricardo Hausmann, a renowned US-based economist from Harvard, Venezuela's representative to the IDB.

The agency, the main source of funding for development projects in Latin America and the Caribbean, approved the appointment Friday, according to a statement sent to AFP.

"In a separate vote, the governors of the Inter-American Investment Corporation (IDB Invest), the private sector lending arm of the IDB group, also approved the appointment of Hausmann," the text says. The appointment of Hausmann is effective "immediately", says the institution.

At the IDB, decisions must obtain more than 50% of the votes, knowing that they are weighted according to the capital of the 48 countries of the world which compose it.

Washington has 30% of the vote on the IDB board, compared to 50% for members from Latin America and the Caribbean, including 11% for Argentina and Brazil.

The United States delegate for the Venezuelan crisis, Eliott Abrams, he congratulated Hausmann. "This is part of the takeover of Venezuelan foreign badets by the government of Guaidó", he told reporters.

White House national security advisor John Bolton last Friday called on US allies to support the appointment.

Venezuela, one of the founding countries of the IDB in 1959, was declared last May in default with the institution, He said he would not make more loans to the country until the payments were settled.

Then, the total default of Venezuela's loans with the IDB was $ 212.4 million, out of a total debt of $ 2.011 billion, The Bank reported that as of March 31, 2018, Venezuelan debt represented 1.6% of the agency's total badets.