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[Global corruption report 2003] Central america, mexico and the caribbean
Rodas-Martini, Pablo
Rodas-Martini, Pablo
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"The emergence of anti-corruption initiatives in Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean in the last year has not generally been accompanied by appreciable improvements in government transparency. Aware of the power of the corruption issue, a number of candidates made pledges of honesty and presented anti-corruption platforms during the election campaigns of the last year. Voters, in turn, have come to expect that these promises – once broken – eventually provide fodder for accusations against elected governments. When accused of corruption, government parties have been less than eager to explore the issue; rather, they call for proof of misconduct. One consequence of this type of abuse of the corruption issue is the weakening of people’s trust in a democratic regime and in the system of political parties. The region continues to exhibit asymmetries in corruption. While corruption charges have been relatively infrequent in some countries, such as Costa Rica, other states – including Guatemala, Panama and Nicaragua – have seen a backward trend in recent years. Even though the ‘culture of bribery’2 is still strong in Mexico, this country is the only one in the region to have made important advances against corruption in the last year. International and bilateral donors have put in place dedicated anti-corruption programmes in the region, yet their approach has become unduly tolerant, even when faced with clear cases of fraud or malfeasance. This attitude is evidenced by an unimpeded flow of assistance – on the part of such actors as the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) – despite the lack of any appreciable improvement in transparency in the region’s governments. In the last year, the corporate sector has continued to express concern about corrupt activities. Besides declarations and public statements, however, the sector failed to present any substantial initiatives against corruption. Perhaps because businesspeople in the region often encounter corrupt behaviour, some have come to think of its effects as an inevitable operational cost."
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2003
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1861974760
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With permission of the license/copyright holder