Episode description

In the 2010s, corruption investigations dominated news headlines in Latin America, from Lava Jato in Brazil to La Línea in Guatemala. Nowadays, prosecutors, activists and journalists across the region continue their work of holding powerful politicians and business leaders to account, but they face a more difficult environment. That's the conclusion of the fifth edition of the Capacity to Combat Corruption (CCC) Index, produced by the Americas Society/Council of the Americas and Control Risks. In this episode, Geert Aalbers, a partner at Control Risks, explores some of the reasons behind these challenges and discusses the delicate status of anti-corruption efforts in places like Brazil, Mexico and Guatemala. Aalbers also explains why countries like Uruguay, Chile and Costa continue to rank high on the index and describes how Panama and the Dominican Republic improved their scores.