The Dictators’ Bank

Dante Mossi, the president of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), likes to say the bank sponsors dreams. Where other development banks see obstacles, he says, CABEI sees possibilities.

“CABEI differs from other development banks because it lets countries dream big,” he said during an online event last year.

Established in the midst of the Cold War, CABEI was born of a dream to give Central American countries more control over their own development. Today it accounts for nearly half the region’s development finance, playing a crucial role in providing funding for large-scale projects that otherwise would never have a hope of being built.

But some of these big dreams have gone bad.

While CABEI aims to support “balanced” development in Central America, OCCRP and its partners found the bank has funded projects that led to environmental destruction, and others where funds were diverted for corrupt practices or used to fund the pet projects of dictators.

For Central America, the bank’s lending practices have big implications. CABEI has faced criticism for providing billions of dollars in funding for the region’s dictators, who rely on the bank to access cheaper funding from international markets.

“CABEI needs to consider the region’s track record of human rights violations and growing authoritarianism,” said Nicaraguan lawyer and political activist Juan Diego Barberena.

“The bank has lacked regulations that ensure transparent governance in how it grants funding. A reevaluation is needed, starting with an end to financing antidemocratic, human rights-violating, and corrupt regimes.”