international transparency, The first and largest organization to fight against Corruption Globally, it was announced this Tuesday (01/30/2022). Annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), It shows the impact of corruption on the public sector of 180 countries and territories on a scale of zero (most corrupt) to one hundred (most “clean”).
within it Edition for 2023, The index reveals that most countries have made little or no progress in fighting corruption in the public sector.
In Latin America, Uruguay and Chile are the top-ranked countries with scores of 73 and 66 respectively, meaning they are considered to have low levels of corruption.
At the other end are Nicaragua and Haiti (with 17 points) and Venezuela (with just 13 points), considered the most corrupt.
DW interviewed Luciana Torchiaro, US regional advisor at Transparency International, about the causes and perspectives of the fight against corruption in the region.
DW: How would you define the current state of the continent in terms of the fight against corruption?
Luciana Torchiaro: Unfortunately, the region is caught up in the fight against corruption. This year, for the fifth year in a row, the region scored an average of 43 points out of a possible 100 – where 100 is considered clean and zero is considered corrupt.
But that's not all: only two of the 32 countries, Guyana and the Dominican Republic, have shown significant progress in the fight against corruption in recent years. All others have stagnated or worsened. Corruption is eating away at the region.
To change the situation, the causes must be identified: What is important?
There are many, but I will first mention the concentration of executive power and the growth of dictatorship in some countries such as El Salvador, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
Another fundamental reason is the lack of independence of the judiciary to guarantee impartial implementation of the law. When this power is weakened, not only does it not control the other powers of the state, but it begins to turn into a machine that responds to specific interests and not to the interests of the general population of society.
Another factor that explains the progress of corruption is the violation of fundamental rights such as right to information, freedom of press, association and expression. We see this especially in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.
A direct consequence of this situation is impunity.
That's right, when the Judiciary is weak, on the other hand there are no voices of condemnation, those that are are silenced and what we have is impunity. And this makes people trust public institutions less, they are increasingly perceived as corrupt, and this distrust leads to the growth of populism.
According to the index, are there specific reasons that explain the situation in countries that are lagging behind in the fight against corruption?
There is the case of Guatemala, which has experienced the consolidation of dictatorship in recent years, where a political and economic elite combined with state institutions to undermine anti-corruption mechanisms and the judiciary. A new president is now tasked with restoring those completely damaged institutions.
And Argentina also presents a significant drop. The country has structural problems. In the area of procurement and contracting, it may be more transparent than that, and levels of policy integrity are much worse. In a society already weary of corruption, the country presents the same challenges as many others in the region.
How do countries that top the index achieve what many countries on the continent do not? Where is the big difference?
The best are traditionally the same: Uruguay, Chile and Costa Rica. I believe there is political will on the one hand and consensus in societies on what is good and what is not. Also, they have more solid democratic institutions than others.
After all, corruption is often associated with abstraction.
Yes, we should ignore this thought because we all are affected by corruption in our daily life. If the quality of education is not good, if there is financial malpractice, if the health service is not good, if medicines are not bought in good condition, it affects all of us.
It is also a source of insecurity because it fuels this internecine violence that exists today between criminal groups and public authorities, and it affects us all.
If this continues, what are the future prospects?
If things continue like this, it's a very bleak future… If things don't change in the region, we're going to create more violent, more unequal societies, and poverty rates are going to increase.
Is the continent at a defining moment?
We are currently at a decisive moment, because we are experiencing a super election cycle that started last year and continues this year, and the installation of new governments opens up opportunities for us to put new priorities on the political agenda: we are at a critical moment to advance this agenda.
(ers)
