This week Transparency International released its 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), an indicator of public sector corruption that scores 180 countries based on perceptions of public sector corruption. The 2022 CPI shows that corruption remains prevalent across the Americas, as rates remain stagnant in the region:
“Throughout Latin America, leaders have failed to take decisive action against corruption and strengthen public institutions. This has allowed criminal networks to strengthen their hold, wielding significant power over politicians in many countries and aggravating violence in the region with the highest per capita homicide rate.”
In particular, corruption has weakened public institutions, allowing criminal networks to flourish, thereby destabilizing governments and increasing violence across the region. And weak law enforcement institutions and high levels of corruption have allowed drug cartels to expand to the Caribbean.
Countries with high CPI scores facilitate corruption in countries with low CPI scores when they tolerate or profit from money laundering:
“Corruption is also a threat to global security, and countries with high CPI scores play a role in this. For decades, they have welcomed dirty money from abroad, allowing kleptocrats to increase their wealth, power and geopolitical ambitions. The catastrophic consequences of the advanced economies’ complicity in transnational corruption became painfully clear following Russia’s full-scale invasion of...
Published on April 28, 2026 In a determined effort to protect the reputation of one of Africa’s most iconic wildlife destinations, Kenya’s Tourism Regulatory Authority has strongly denied false cl...