Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) whistleblower Hada Mendoza served as the executive secretary to the Bank’s Representative in Paraguay from 1998 until 2006. She began to suspect that Alvaro Cubillos, the IDB Representative in charge of the office in 2003, was diverting project funds through a personal relationship with Cecelia Guanes Mersán, a Paraguayan national well-connected to the Ministry of Foreign Relations in Asunción. Although the IDB claims to implement a whistleblower protection policy, after Mendoza blew the whistle about the Cubillos affair, retaliation was swift and serious.
GAP has long been critical of the IDB’s whistleblower protection record. Click here to read GAP’s full report,Whistleblowing and Retaliation at the IDB: The Case of Hada Mendoza.
Bea Edwards is Executive Director and International Reform Director for the Government Accountability Project, the nation’s leading whistleblower protection and advocacy organization.