A less crooked continent?

By The Data Team

TWO-THIRDS of Latin American countries languish in the bottom half of Transparency International’s “corruption perceptions index”, and the region's long, rich history of corruption shows few signs of abating. In Brazil, 34 sitting politicians are suspected of participating in a multi-billion-dollar bribery scandal involving Petrobras, a state-controlled oil giant. Allegations of graft continue to be levelled at Argentina's president Kirchner as well as her predecessor, her late husband. And in Mexico the disappearance of 43 students in the southern state of Guerrero, and their apparent murder by drug-traffickers in league with police, have sparked protests since September 2014. But such public demonstrations offer one glimmer of hope. Huge anti-government demonstrations took place in dozens of cities across Brazil on Sunday, and these vocal displays of indignation against sleaze and corruption are becoming harder to ignore. And there are other reasons to be optimistic. Chile will soon close loopholes in its campaign-finance legislation, the Mexican Congress is pushing through anti-corruption reforms and Honduras’s president, Juan Orlando Hernández, has signed an agreement with NGOs to act as “parallel auditors” in education, health, and other government services. Latin America’s young democracies may be starting to get to grips with one of their worst and most enduring problems.

Read the full 'Corruption in Latin America' article here.