Americas, it should be clear to all of us that we have a problem. And that we will continue to have it. Corruption is a hereditary, autoimmune disease of any political system where human beings are its operators. It does not recognize borders of any kind, whether ideological, political, or even levels of institutional strength.
In recent years, corruption scandals across the continent have brought the problem further to the surface, giving the impression that the phenomenon is new, or more pronounced in democratic contexts. This couldn't be further from the truth. The disease of corruption, which destroys the healthy and well-intentioned parts of politics, has been relentless and omnipresent throughout history, especially when people have sought to ignore it.
It is not because of democracy, but thanks to it, that the problem is aired more openly today and forces us to face it.
What must be fought is the disease, not the system. When we judge corruption, as is done today in good
In part of our countries, the picture is no longer so pessimistic.
The intention here is to be realistic. Realism is needed regarding the problem of corruption to even attempt to address it. It is necessary to start from an essential premise, whose logic I steal from the Nobel Prize winner in literature, John Steinbeck: “It is not that the bad thing wins—it will never win—but it is that it does not die.” Corruption cannot be completely destroyed. There is no country in the world that has zero corruption. Some have more, others less. But we must beat him. And we must beat him in terms of democracy.
The first good news, as I pointed out, is that we are facing it throughout the continent and it has been shown that although corruption may never die, it can be cornered, it can be defeated, and it is possible to achieve the necessary cultural changes.
Thus the ideal of the North American nation
To beat him, it is necessary to understand the causes and new expressions of corruption in democracy, especially in young democracies such as Latin American ones. There are every reasons to need to prevail against corruption. Many refer to the ethical argument that abuse of power and impunity are immoral — which is true.
It is obvious: whoever holds public office should not steal from people's taxes or use influence for personal purposes. Those who seek public service must understand once and for all that politics is not a career to make money. If they want to make money we must push them towards different jobs. Others have quantified the economic cost and opportunity cost of corruption, to the detriment of higher levels of economic and social development. Also a correct reflection.
Regarding the connection between corruption and human rights, at least two different perspectives have been analyzed. On the one hand, it is studied whether corruption itself, as an action carried out by public officials, implies a violation of human rights. Undoubtedly and essentially it is, as it harms the basic principles of a democracy of equal opportunities for citizens. Only those who can buy them have access to rights. It also collides with the public interest, originating from the overlap of public and private interest of those responsible.
It is the second perspective, which is clearly a consequence of the first, that concerns us most. That is, when corruption reaches extremes of institutional weakening that lead to the consolidation of impunity. When this happens, the guarantees of the right disappear completely. Rights are relativized, shaking or completely denaturalizing the rule of law. The space for civil society to denounce is reduced to a minimum when the counterweights established in the constitutions to guarantee the rights of citizens—and which serve as a fundamental limit to a power or powers of the State—are no longer effective. legally and are no longer valid instruments to stop corruption, human rights violations or environmental disasters. The “law enforcement” forces can overwhelm rights without reason with the complicity of the other powers of the State and the conditions are generated for the worst aberrations. The most corrupt societies are also the societies with the deterioration of human rights.
In this case, I will refer to the reasons that I consider most relevant, given the regional situation.
Corruption begets corruption, and at a faster rate than democracy can defend itself. This abuse causes political instability and undermines formal institutions while building a parallel one, characterized by contagious bad practices.
Presidents who have resigned, who are prosecuted and imprisoned, or who are pressured to act and end up taking measures to conceal and diffuse the pressure, an honorable one.
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