Inter-American Development Bank: The edict of Nancy

Almost a year ago this month, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) said goodbye to staff association president Isabel Larson, after 30 years' loyal service. Staff and guests at a ceremony in the bank's huge glass-roofed atrium included IDB president Enrique Iglesias and vice-president Nancy Birdsall, who in the past two years has conducted the biggest upheaval in the IDB's 37-year history. Birdsall probably expected fond words and perhaps a few tears from Larson.

If so, Larson must have surprised her. "Before I conclude," she said, "allow me to make a few personal remarks. This is my last act and I retire ... with mixed feelings." Along with many of her colleagues, she said, she was "not convinced by the results of the reorganization". The changes had been "too traumatic"; the impact of them might have "profound and adverse consequences on the institution". She expressed concern at the "balkanization ... into...