Corruption still a major problem in Brazil -perceptions index

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL –  According to a survey conducted by Transparency International and released in the early hours of Tuesday (25), Brazil has dropped two places in the world ranking of corruption.

Among 180 countries surveyed, Brazil ranked 96th in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) last year. In 2020, the country was ranked 94th. The better the position in the ranking, the less the country is seen as corrupt.

On a scale of 0 to 100 points, Brazil scored 38 points – the third-worst result in the historical series and the same result as in the last edition.

Brazilian performance was below the global average (43 points), Latin American and Caribbean countries (41 points), and G20 countries (66 points).

In Transparency International’s report, Denmark, Finland, and New Zealand scored the highest (all 88 points). They were followed by Norway, Singapore and Sweden (85 points).

The lowest scores were given to Venezuela (14 points), Somalia and Syria (13 points), and South Sudan (11 points).

CORRUPTION IN BRAZIL HAS BECOME ENDEMIC UNDER THE LEFT

Transparency International notes that Brazil is “stagnating at a very poor level in terms of perceptions of corruption in the public sector.

In Brazil, after nearly two decades of left-leaning governments under Presidents Lula da Silva, Dilma Rousseff and Michel Temer, corruption has indeed become part of the culture.

Under President Lula da Silva, corruption became so widespread in the country that an unprecedented purge (Project Car Wash) had to be instigated.

Lula da Silva turned out to be one of the most thieving presidents in Brazil’s history, was imprisoned for it, but was miraculously acquitted by his allies in the Supreme Court so that he can now run for president again.

Corruption has become deeply ingrained in the collective consciousness of Brazilians and is now applied in virtually every situation. Citizens are therefore as much a part of the problem as the elite.

It will take a generation or more to gradually remove the integration of corrupt behavior from popular culture.

Brazil’s conservative President Jair Bolsonaro, the first in nearly 20 years, has promised to tackle the problem of corruption. Since then, the left has tried everything to accuse him of corruption himself, but so far without success.