(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump’s administration plans to nominate a U.S. official to lead the top development bank for Latin America, seeking to break the organization’s six-decade tradition of choosing a chief from the region.

The Treasury Department said it’s supporting Mauricio Claver-Carone, the senior director of the National Security Council for Western Hemisphere Affairs, for to head the Inter-American Development Bank. Since its founding in 1959, the IDB has had four presidents, all coming from Latin America, with the executive vice-president typically nominated by the U.S.

“We are confident that his leadership of the IDB will strengthen its ability to deliver development impact to the region,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

The current head, Luis Alberto Moreno of Colombia, took over in 2005 and is set to step down at the end of September. The next IDB chief will face a number of challenges, including a humanitarian crisis in Venezuela and Latin America’s growing role at the epicenter of the global pandemic. The region has 8% of the world’s population but about half of the new virus deaths.

A spokesman for the IDB didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

A lawyer by training, Claver-Carone was one of the Trump administration’s staunchest critics of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, playing a key role in shaping U.S. policy toward the South American nation since he began his post in 2018. That included rallying international support behind opposition leader Juan Guaido and dialing up sanctions against the Maduro regime.

The former Cuban-American talk-show host, Claver-Carone previously served as the U.S. executive director for the International Monetary Fund, leading support for a $56 billion loan to Argentina, then-led by President Mauricio Macri. He also worked as senior adviser for international affairs at the Treasury Department.

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