Ximena Reynoso, Mexico

Marketing student

It starts with education — both in the home and the classroom. We need a system that focuses more on forming students with strong ethics and less on feeding academic competition.

José Ugaz

Peruvian lawyer, former global head of Transparency International

The fact is that corruption is a historic, structural and systemic problem in Peru. It has existed since the country’s origins, as an inheritance from the colonizers who set up a clientelist network of social and economic relationships. This created an institutional weakness from the beginning, with the state organized according to an extractive neopatrimonialism.

This incipient corruption permeated the foundations of the state and became a part of the power dynamics. Further, citizens have normalized corruption. It is considered part of everyday reality, a natural way to live, to gain from the system, and to ascend socially. The normalization of corruption presents a cultural challenge: helping people understand that corruption can, and should, change.

Since corruption is a complex problem with many causes, it’s difficult to think about a single solution that would enable us to reduce it. Even so, if I must choose a measure, I would say that what we need is an ethical leadership of the highest level that would take on this challenge and provide the political will and strategy needed to make it possible. 

Luísa Rodrigues, Brazil

Circus performer

We need to organize at the grassroots level. People in the favelas, minorities … we’re the bottom of the pyramid, but if we work together we can bring down the corrupt, traditional power class.

Susan Segal

President and CEO of AS/COA

Corruption is the highest tax paid by a country’s citizens and the greatest threat to democratic institutions. It is also the most important issue for the millions who will go to the polls in Latin America during 2018. Voters are tired of both corruption and the impunity that gives the corrupt a complete pass.

So how do countries once and forever alter corrupt behavior? In my opinion, the key is changing the cost-benefit analysis. Instead of building big bank accounts, the corrupt must be tried and, if convicted, go to prison as well as lose the spoils of their corrupt practices. Examples must be set to show that no one is above the law.

But to force people to reconsider engaging in corrupt practices, much must change. Countries need credible leadership that is truly committed to eliminating corruption. Additionally, there must be a strong, credible and independent legal system that is willing to take on the corrupt in a timely manner, no matter how powerful.

This is the path to eliminate corruption and change the direction of Latin America forever. 

Laura Alonso

Head of Argentina’s national anti-corruption office

When we discuss a policy agenda against corruption, there are a few components that tend to get all the attention: clear rules and solid institutions, freedom of speech and competitive markets, transparency and accountability, oversight and integrity, professional staff and resources, benchmarking and international standards. 

However, I believe that an engaged, open and inspiring leadership is as important a component as the others.

Argentina has been undergoing a major, gradual and constant political, economic and social transformation since December 2015. The new administration under President Mauricio Macri has achieved important institutional and administrative reforms built on a sustained social demand and political consensus in a minority Congress. These reforms have paved the way out of populism under the motto of reformismo permanente (Macri’s mantra) and represent a significant change in expectations about the future among the majority of the population. Macri has challenged the private sector, trade unions, political parties, the provinces and its governors, the judiciary and NGOs to think and behave out of the box. People showed in the 2015 and 2017 elections that they were tired of decay, inefficiency, and corruption, and ready and hungry for a different and effective recipe for individual and national progress. Interest groups have started to adjust to the new context. The institutional agenda is big enough to cross party lines, sectors and administrations. Now, under the presidency of the G20, Argentina has the chance to accelerate reforms and take a gigantic step. It is more than possible: It is happening.