Corruption, more than a ghost, seems to be omnipresent in the Venezuelan State. The recent report by Transparency International (TI) once again places the South American country as one of the most corrupt in the world and the main one on the continent.
(Also read: What did Verónica Alcocer, wife of Gustavo Petro, go to Venezuela?)
With a score of 14 out of 100, Haiti follows with 17 points and Nicaragua 19. Since 2021, Venezuela has maintained the same rating. However, the region in general did not present major advances.
For this annual report, TI evaluates indicators such as bribes, diverted funds, officials involved and the State’s capacity to deal with cases, which in this case is perceived to be quite low.
In the country, it is difficult to obtain official figures, the State prefers not to disclose indicators. However, the Public Ministry (MP) has provided some data. The Attorney General of the Republic, Tarek William Saab, has assured that his team is working to dismantle any corruption network.
In recent statements, Saab indicated that from August 2017 to November 2022, the MP made 15,390 accusations and 5,757 accusations for acts of corruption.
However, he did not present details such as the number of convictions per year, the names of the officials, which institution filed the most cases or how much money is involved in bribery.
EL TIEMPO asked the prosecutor for a comment on the TI report but received no response.
For Transparencia Venezuela, the figures presented by the MP present inconsistencies and “the opacity in the management is evident.” Most of the cases reported by Saab have to do with plots within Petróleos de Venezuela and in which Rafael Ramírez, former president of the State company, is targeted.
“The great corruption of Venezuela has reached such a level that it has left Venezuelans defenseless. We have nowhere to turn because all public bodies are captured by the corruption network that also has alliances with organized crime,” Mercedes De Freitas, executive director of Transparencia Venezuela, told EL TIEMPO.
De Freitas has also insisted that corruption not only limits the rights of Venezuelans, but also worsens the crisis and gives results – just to name one of them – the massive outflow of migrants.
The great corruption of Venezuela has reached such a level that it has left Venezuelans defenseless
According to TI the fight for corruption has stalled in America. In the last five years, no country presented improvements. The American countries perceived as less corrupt in 2022 were Canada (74), Uruguay (74) and the United States (69).
“Fragile governments fail in their work to curb criminal networks, social conflict and violence, and some exacerbate threats to human rights by concentrating power under the pretext of responding to insecurity,” said the president of Transparency International, Delia Ferreira Rubio.
The tentacles of corruption
One of the slogans of the Venezuelan opposition has been to point out that Chavismo is corrupt, however, the tentacles seem to have extended to those who are trying to remove Nicolás Maduro from power.
“The challenge was to show that we could be different from Maduro. But with absolute responsibility I must say that some characters showed to be more of the same in terms of lack of scruples and corruption”, says the opponent Julio Borges in his most recent book entitled “La Patria que viene”, in which he recounts of everything that happened with the so-called interim government headed by Juan Guaidó.
(Read also: Guaidó assures that the United States maintains support for his leadership in Venezuela)
Scandals within opposition deputies, accusations for handling money, and the most notorious case: Monomenos, tarnish opposition actions.
On January 26, Juan Guaidó made public his accountability after four years as interim president, but more doubts remained than ever. He limited himself to saying that between 120 and 150 million dollars were handled during that period, but there was also no detail of what was done with all the money, where it went or how it was handled.
The Transparency International report places Denmark with the best score (90), followed by Finland (87) and New Zealand (87), being the least corrupt. At the moment it seems that Venezuela is far from those results.
ANA MARIA RODRIGUEZ BRAZON
WEATHER CORRESPONDENT
CARACAS
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