Dante Mossi's non-reelection was decided “unanimously” at CABEI

The Board of Governors of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), meeting in the Dominican Republic, decided “unanimously to convene a competition to elect a new executive president and a new comptroller.” With this decision, the request of the Honduran Dante Mossi to continue in the presidency for five years was rejected, and a process was opened to elect and appoint new officials.

“This is humiliating for him, with all the Central American money that he has spent on clientelism: giving away trips, offering technical assistance, gifts for presidents, perks for directors and staff, and now this confirms that he no longer has the (support of) directors or staff. When he leaves, the corruption cases will come out, because those who know will align with whoever comes next in order to survive,” Ottón Solís, former representative of Costa Rica at CABEI, said to CONFIDENCIAL. 

For political scientist and former political prisoner Felix Maradiaga, Mossi's “clientelist performance,” in his relationship with the Bank's directors – whom he shielded with high salaries, and offered trips as a reward or punishment – is totally inappropriate for such an instance, and enough reason to say no to his request to stay in the position for five more years.

The former president of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla, pointed out that although the governors had already announced that they were putting the post of executive president of the Bank out for competition, and gave themselves time until the end of the year, “in the circumstances in which the Bank finds itself, the governors should have proceeded immediately” to audit the management of the outgoing president. 

In addition to declaring her satisfaction that Mossi's contract was not renewed, she admits that there was an interest in having “a strong audit” carried out, which would allow “cleaning up undue, irregular or unjustified procedures.”

“This was the moment. In eight months it will not be so easy for whoever comes next. I don't see countries requesting audits and inspections when the person they are going to audit is still in there,” she reiterated. 

Mossi will remain in office until November, although Ottón Solís believes that some governors would like him to stay only a few months and have him leave perhaps in August. The former representative of an extra-regional nation to CABEI, who asked to keep his identity confidential, said that if Mossi's term is cut short in this way, in practice “they would be kicking him out.”

Failed administration

From the Nicaraguan perspective, Mossi's closeness to Daniel Ortega was reason enough to ask that his mandate not be extended for five years. Beyond the political and human rights dimension, there were also sufficient financial reasons to thank him and ask him to leave.

Solís emphasizes that under the Mossi Administration, some indicators have deteriorated that are decisive in analyzing and determining the financial soundness of an institution such as CABEI, an entity that has also seen its staff grow disproportionately.

He also adds “ethical reasons,” in reference to accusations of corruption, or the wasteful use that Mossi has made of the bank's resources, among others, to increase the salaries of officials during the pandemic, “while the people of Central America were in a very bad situation.”

According to Solis, “in order to look good with the governments, he offers resources or approves projects that were not ready to begin,” because “he likes votes,” which would also have led him to ally with regimes such as Ortega in Nicaragua; Juan Orlando Hernandez in Honduras, and Nayib Bukele in El Salvador.

“I see no reason for him to stay: he is not an expert in financial economics; neither in development nor in personnel management; Dante represents a past of clientelism and corruption that must be overcome in Central America, a region that needs development, which includes respect for human rights, democracy... and he has failed in that,” he asserted.

In making her own evaluation of the Mossi Administration, former President Chinchilla believes that the Bank is not in good shape, because “he multiplied the expense budget, and the cost of payroll grew almost 30%, in the middle of the pandemic. What has happened is obscene. The deterioration of some indicators, such as administrative expenses or financial profitability, reflect the delicate situation in which the Bank finds itself.”

Decline in transparency

For Maradiaga, the most powerful argument to deny him reelection is that “his administration is seriously questioned, not only by human rights organizations but also for his technical performance, integrity, transparency, and liquidity”, which are not in accordance with the best practices that a bank of that size should have.

He recalled that there is another element that is pointed out from the Nicaraguan perspective, and that is the fact that the Mossi administration granted copious financing to the dictatorship, including projects that benefit the National Police. “If the Bank's mission is to promote development, why continue financing a dictatorship that is incompatible with Inter-American law?” he questioned.

The former extra-regional representative said he did not agree with those who advocated separating Mossi from the Bank, “because he is the banker of the dictators, but because his management in many areas is a disaster.”

On the other hand, he explained why it is not so easy – for Mossi or for whoever replaces him as of December 1 – to cut off Ortega's credits, because in that case “it would be enough for Nicaragua to stop paying, for the Bank's rating to collapse, and that would make it cease to be useful for the citizens and for the governments of the region”.

Although the Bank could improve its performance – and its image – by creating and implementing a democratic clause, he recognizes that this is difficult, “because of the Bank's governance, but also because of the regimes headed by the Central American governments, and also because if this clause were approved, it is possible that in the end, only three countries would remain in the Bank.”

He pointed out that the Bank urgently needs to “correct the shortcomings of Mossi's management,” including the fact that it has ceased to be a project bank and has become a provider of freely available resources; and to turn it into a transparent bank, with good design and monitoring of projects until their completion, which exercises good control of the money it lends, and monitors how it is executed.

In view of the process that is now open, former President Chinchilla advocated that it should be “as transparent as possible; that the candidate should be chosen on the basis of suitability, and not by political ties, and that it should guarantee the independence of criteria from the point of view of technical decisions.” 

This article was originally published in Spanish in Confidencial and translated by our Staff