Against Agustín

Rogelio Ramírez de la O thinks sending Carstens to the IMF would be a bad idea:

The Mexican government is mistaken thinking that the designation of the director of the Fund should be for merit, because it's not an issue of merit, but rather economic and geopolitical support to overcome the global economic crisis. Unless you want to run the risk of a new director that can't secure the support of the large economies to overcome a crisis, such as Europe, this should be a political and not a technical decision.

That's certainly a fair argument, but it's worth mentioning that the argument about winning over the support of the major nations could be a perennial case against taking the leadership away from Europe. If the developing nations are to play a larger role in running the IMF, that argument will need to be ignored at some point. Though with so many European nations in financial trouble, perhaps now is not the ideal time.