Venezuela and Nicaragua among the most corrupt

Corruption continues to be a predominant problem and without any type of improvement for more than five years in the vast majority of the countries of the Americas, according to a report released Tuesday by the organization Transparency International, which lists Venezuela, Haiti and Nicaragua as the most corrupt nations in the region.

Uruguay and Canada, on the other hand, appear as the least corrupt countries, followed by the United States.

The average score of the Corruption Perception Index 2022 in the region is 43 points, out of a total of 100, and almost two thirds of the countries have less than 50 points. In 27 of the 32 countries in the Americas, no progress has been seen since 2016, said Transparency International in its annual report on the Corruption Perception Index (CPI).

Created in 1995, the index ranks 180 countries and territories based on perceptions of the level of corruption in the public sector. It uses a scale that goes from zero, for the most corrupt, to 100, for the least corrupt. For its preparation, Transparency uses information from 13 external sources, including the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, private consultants and experts.

rise of authoritarianism

“I am very concerned because I see the Latin American region in a clear decline,” said Delia Ferreira Rubio, president of Transparency International. “What we see is an increase in authoritarianism, an increase in populist governments that come through elections and attack democracy from within, attacking the judiciary, control agencies, the media, organized citizens, the opposition,” he said in a recent phone interview with Associated Press from Berlin.

Uruguay and Canada are the least corrupt countries in the region, with 74 points. They are followed by the United States, with 69. Venezuela, on the other hand, appears as the most corrupt, with 14 points, followed by Haiti, with 17; and Nicaragua with 19.

Chile and Costa Rica, which traditionally obtained the best performances in the index of Latin American countries, are not prioritizing the fight against corruption, and remain in the same position, with 67 and 54 points respectively, according to the report.

Colombia has 39 points, Brazil 38, Peru and Ecuador 36, El Salvador 33, Dominican Republic 32, Mexico 31, Honduras 23.

Combating corruption is not a priority task at the global level either: 95% of all countries have made only minimal or no progress since 2017, according to Transparency International.

The organization, based in Berlin, points out that there is a close relationship between violence and corruption. Governments with more corruption lack the capacity to protect people, and in turn, in these contexts, public discontent is more likely to lead to violence, Transparencia pointed out. She explained that it happens from Sudan to Brazil.

The scores assigned by the index, which has become one of the leading indicators of public sector corruption worldwide, reflect the perspectives of experts and businessmen.

For the 11th year in a row, 43 of the world’s countries remain unchanged, with more than two-thirds scoring below 50.

Denmark appears as the least corrupt country, with a score of 90, followed by Finland and New Zealand, with 87 points each. Sudan and Somalia appear among the most corrupt, with indexes of 13 points.

Guatemala, meanwhile, is one of the 26 countries that have reached historical lows, with 24 points. Others are Qatar, with 58, and the United Kingdom, with 73.

Among those that fell the most are Honduras, which appears with 23 units, Nicaragua, with 19, and Haiti, with 17.

In the Americas, countries have not adopted forceful measures to combat corruption and strengthen public institutions, which has favored the consolidation of criminal networks that exercise considerable power over political actors, the report indicated. This, in turn, deepens the violence, he noted.

To respond to such criminality and gang violence, some governments have implemented measures that concentrate control in the executive branch, thus weakening transparency, threatening human rights and encouraging more opportunities for corruption, he explained.

“The omnipresence of corruption in the Americas fuels many other crises that the region is going through,” said Ferreira Rubio. “The only viable path is for leaders to prioritize anti-corruption measures to root it out and allow governments to fulfill their primary role, which is to protect people.”

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