Transparency International’s world review of 180 countries
The 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index ranks Nicaragua 172nd among the 180 countries evaluated.
HAVANA TIMES – Nicaragua ranks among the nine most corrupt countries in the world, according to the 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) released on January 30th by Transparency International. It ranked as the most corrupt country in Central America, and second only to Haiti on the American continent.
According to the CPI, Nicaragua’s public sector scored 17 points, on a scale of 1 – 100 (where 100 is “very clean” and 0 is “highly corrupt”). This puts it on a par with North Korea, Equatorial Guinea and Haiti. Countries perceived as even more corrupt included Yemen (16 points); Venezuela, Syria and South Sudan, (13 points each); and Somalia (11 points).
“Venezuela, Haiti and Nicaragua presented the lowest scores, with a context of widespread impunity and a total absence of independence in the judicial branch,” noted the NGO based in Berlin, Germany.
In Venezuela and Nicaragua, two countries that have been ranked near the bottom in past years as well, scores dropped still further this year. “We’re speaking about dictatorships” where there’s no division of power of any kind, and opaqueness reigns, while the borders between the legal and the illegal are extremely diffuse,” Luciana Torchiaro, Transparency International’s regional advisor for Latin America and the Caribbean, told the EFE news agency.
Other Latin American countries that are perceived as sunk in corruption but fall in a more moderate range are: Cuba (42 points); Colombia (40); Argentina (37); Brazil (36); Dominican Republic (35); Panama (35); Ecuador (34); Peru (33); El Salvador (31) and Mexico (31).
Among the countries with the least perceived corruption are Denmark, once again receiving 90 points, followed by Finland with 87, and New Zealand with 85. The only three Latin American countries scoring above 50 were Uruguay (73), Chile (66) and Costa Rica (55).
Public confidence damaged by the perceived impunity
“The sense of impunity and the inability of prosecutors and judges to proceed impartially and guarantee fair trials and equality before the law significantly impacts public trust in the judiciar
