Don’t Let Brazil Become Venezuela
This piece was updated on March 7. The next week will be critical to the future of Brazilian democracy. The temporary detention of former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for questioning related to the Petrobras probe is indeed a sign that no one in Brazil is above the law. But it also brings the … Read more
The Brilliant Names of Brazil’s Anti-Corruption Operations: A Guide
This piece was updated on March 7. Operação Lava Jato, or “Operation Car Wash,” isn’t the only odd-sounding police sting to make waves in Brazil in recent years. Here are some of the names and stories behind the country’s most scintillating anti-corruption busts: Operação Lava JatoIn March 2014, a Brazilian currency exchanger named Alberto Youssef was caught … Read more
Brazil’s Historic Corruption Probe May Be at Risk
To date, President Dilma Rousseff has done a mostly admirable job of handling the historic corruption probe underway in Brazil. Even as the investigation of graft at state-run oil company Petrobras drew closer to her inner circle, and threatened to culminate in her impeachment, Rousseff allowed federal police and prosecutors to do their work with … Read more
AQ Event Tuesday: Latin America’s “Corruption Busters”
Corruption has been a problem in the Americas for centuries. But something different – and, we believe, historic – is happening right now. From Brazil to Guatemala and beyond, a new generation of prosecutors, judges, and activists is prosecuting offenders and sending them to jail in unprecedented numbers – no matter how powerful they are. … Read more
Mexico’s Next Big Chance to Tackle Corruption
Empowered by a political reform that was approved in 2014, Mexico’s top civil society groups, academics and activists gathered last Tuesday in a press conference to present a bill that would establish clear penalties for acts of corruption. This citizen’s initiative, known as Ley 3de3, could be discussed in Congress as early as this spring, … Read more
How a New Breed of Bounty Hunter Is Helping Countries Get Their Money Back
This article is adapted from our 1st print issue of 2016. For a look at our Top 5 Corruption Busters special feature, click here. Early on the morning of March 22, 2004, one day before the elections that ended the Antigua Labor Party’s 28-year hold on power, several boxloads of government files were hauled out … Read more
El increíble caso que demostró que la ofensiva de América Latina contra la corrupción va en serio
Read in English ¿Guatemala? ¿De verdad? Confieso: esa fue mi reacción en el momento en que Guatemala fue más lejos que cualquier otro país en la campaña contra la corrupción que ahora se propaga en América Latina. Una cosa es que Brasil o Chile, que tienen una historia más larga de instituciones fuertes, investiguen a … Read more
Es hora de tener mayor transparencia en América Latina
Read in English Durante las últimas décadas, diversas investigaciones han demostrado el enorme impacto nocivo de la corrupción en el desarrollo económico, político y social de los países. Sin embargo, a pesar de toda la evidencia existente –cuyos sólidos argumentos revelan que la corrupción incrementa la desigualdad y la pobreza-, esta sigue diseminándose en nuestros … Read more
Time to Clean Up: A Case For Greater Transparency in the Americas
This article is adapted from our 1st print issue of 2016. For a look at our Top 5 Corruption Busters special feature, click here. Leer en español Corruption – a longstanding obstacle to development in Latin America — was often overlooked during the commodities boom of the 2000s, as the region experienced a boost in … Read more
AQ Top 5 Corruption Busters: Viridiana Rios
This article is adapted from our 1st print issue of 2016. For an overview of our Top 5 Corruption Busters, click here. Last April, Mexico’s Congress passed a sweeping anticorruption law that would, among other things, increase oversight on public officials and establish a special prosecutor to take on corruption cases. The Sistema Nacional Anticorrupción … Read more
AQ Top 5 Corruption Busters: Sérgio Moro
This article is adapted from our 1st print issue of 2016. For an overview of our Top 5 Corruption Busters, click here. “Brazilian of the Year.” “Personality of the Year.” One of Brazil’s “Most Influential People.” Sérgio Moro is a star, and it’s no mystery why. The young Brazilian judge pried the lid off a … Read more
AQ Top 5 Corruption Busters: José Ugaz
This article is adapted from our 1st print issue of 2016. For an overview of our Top 5 Corruption Busters, click here. José Ugaz was just a few years out of law school in his native Peru when a client came to him with an unusual request: A judge was demanding $1,000 to settle a … Read more
How Students Turned the Tables on Corruption in Paraguay
Add Paraguay to the growing list of Latin American countries where citizen protests are successfully holding public officials accountable for alleged abuses of power. In the past month, a student-led response to revelations of corruption within Paraguay’s largest university has landed the institution’s highest official behind bars and disrupted the status quo in a country … Read more
