He finally stepped down from the post on August 1970, just months before the inauguration of President Luis Echeverría. His resignation took many by surprise, but a few months later the governments of Mexico and the United States announced they were supporting his bid to become the next President of the Inter-American Development Bank, replacing Chilean Felipe Herrera, its founding chairman. Both Argentina and Venezuela nominated different candidates, but on 27 November 1970 Ortiz received the majority of votes, although the U.S. Secretary of Treasury, David M. Kennedy, reported to Richard Nixon that the election had been "contentious".