Corruption in Venezuela: the Lady does protest too much
By Daniel Duquenal | Venezuela News and Views
20.10.05 | Transparency International publishes a yearly index where it ranks the different countries according to their perceived global corruption. This measure is by definition always subjective since after all some of the countries ranked might consider some practices normal that would be looked in horror in some other countries. However there is a certain methodology (surveys, actual measurement, interviews, etc…) in the measuring of subjectivity to give some confidence to the result and usually it seems to work well. Countries which seems to function reasonably well, with a reasonably independent judicial system seem to always rank on top. And countries which are in a permanent messy state, and who usually rely on some strong leader to solve their problem tend to rank at the bottom. Thus no reader of this blog should be surprised that Venezuela ranks in the bottom positions of the survey.
Now, the only person that does not seem to agree with this year result, which placed Venezuela in a dismal 130 out of 158 measured countries, is the vice president Jose Vicente Rangel, who in a fit declared that actually Transparency International was BOUGHT! Imagine that!!! He should know about buying since according to T.I. Venezuela is buying a lot of people. But let’s look, for the sake of it, at a few results. Rather than give you all the details of the T.I. report, I have drawn a simple summary table to my taste. There I do divide the results according to what I think are acceptable levels of corruption (being rather a cynic I have long accepted that corruption is a fact of life and that the goal is to make sure it does not get out of control: after all, there must be a way to finance political campaigns, no?)
Corruption levels | Countries | Result and rank |
"Acceptable" levels of corruption (between 9 and 7.5) | Iceland (on top) | 9.7, FIRST |
Singapore | 9.2, 5th | |
Australia | 8.8, 9th | |
Canada (best in the Americas) | 8.4, 14th | |
The US of A (chavismo favorite whipping boy) | 7.6, 17th | |
France | 7.5, 18th | |
Corruption perceptible to bothersome, but countries probably trying to do something about it (between 7.4 and 5) | Ireland | 7.4, 19th |
Chile (top of the class in Latin America) | 7.3, 21st | |
Japan (just to say that Chile is as good as Japan!) | 7.3, 21st | |
Israel | 6.3, 28th | |
Oman (just to prove that Islam even under an authoritarian regimes can manage some decency) | 6.3, 28th | |
Botswana (top of Africa) | 5.9, 32nd | |
Italy (well, what can I say) | 5, 40th | |
Corruption a real problem (between 4.9 and 2.5) | Tunisia | 4.0, 43rd |
Greece | 4.3, 47th | |
Namibia | 4.3, 47th | |
Colombia (imagine that!) | 4, 55th | |
Cuba (No sweat!) | 3.8, 59th | |
Saudi Arabia (fundamentalism and autocracy at work) | 3.4, 70th | |
Argentina (Oh well…) | 2.8, 97th | |
Zimbabwe (Chavez good friend) | 2.6, 107th | |
Better stay clear of these countries if you want to hold onto your money(less than 2.5) | Russia | 2.4, 126th |
Burundi | 2.3, 130th | |
Republic of Congo | 2.3, 130th | |
Venezuela (after 7 years of purifying revolution) | 2.3, 130th | |
Sudan | 2.1, 144th | |
Chad | 1.7, 158th |
No wonder why the Vice President (accidental pun intended) is so upset. After years of glorious bolibanana revolution, firing justices right and left, screaming and shouting against the corrupt past, we are right where we started. Indeed, El Universal article is is accompanied by a little chart on the IPC index over the recent years and I have taken the liberty to upload it.
The real reason behind Rangel outburst is that corruption is AGAIN seen in Venezuelan public opinion as one of the major problems. And Rangel knows very well that this is a sure regime killer. Thus his best defense, an attack on the messenger, a specialty of ALL corrupt and morally bankrupt regimes.
But the saddest part of it all is that Jose Vicente Rangel, with a decent past as an inquisitive journalist has lowered himself to accusations that he would not have been caught dead uttering no so long ago. I do not know how corrupt financially he might himself be now, but one thing is certain, through this blog his moral corruption has been well documented, not to mention a bevy of prestigious journalists that have written aloud in the papers what ever happened to the once moral fighter that Rangel was.
Now instead we have a political hack, clinging to the privileges of his office, complaining about Transparency International when he should be watching what happens in his own dispatch offices. He even threatened T.I. to send them the Venezuelan comptroller to investigate them. Indeed, if Clodosvaldo Russian is as effective to investigate T.I. as he has been investigating Venezuelan corruption, T.I. may sleep soundly.
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PS: I found this logo quite appropriate for the end of this post. It is the signature of Marcos1204, a participant of the Noticiero digital forum. There is no e-mail address so I could not ask for permission. If anyone knows, or if he reads it, my deepest acknowledgements. Incidentally the link I give for the forum is to a thread who gives dramatic pictures as to the cost of corruption for Venezuela. Please, go and visit, and then weep.
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