Central America Archive

Transparency International released its 2015 rankings on perceptions of corruption today, revealing that public-sector graft remains pervasive around the world. But the report also cited progress that offers some reasons for optimism. The index’s scores draw on expert analysis of citizen perceptions of government accountability and responsiveness, as well as the presence of bribery or embezzlement in public institutions. The U.S. and U.K. improved their scores, and familiar countries—including New Zealand, Switzerland and Canada, as well as those in Scandinavia—filled the top spots. But many usual suspects from Europe to Latin America scored dismally. Corruption has become an increasingly powerful […]

On Jan. 16, El Salvador commemorated the 24th anniversary of the peace accords that ended the country’s 12-year civil war between the government and the then-rebel Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN). But despite a quarter-century of peacebuilding, El Salvador continues to face the scourge of widespread violence: In 2015, the country’s homicide rate hit 104 per 100,000 people, a dramatic increase from 61.8 in 2014 and the worst in the world. To put the magnitude of that proportion in context, the World Health Organization classifies a rate of 10 per 100,000 people as an epidemic. El Salvador’s murder rate […]

For several regional observers and much of the media, the string of conservative electoral victories from Argentina to Venezuela late last year was the last nail in the coffin of Latin America’s left. With Brazil’s leftist government floundering and other signs of discontent among its neighbors, leftism’s appeal appears to be on the decline in the region. But despite setbacks, it’s too soon to declare the left dead in Latin America, given the perseverance of more mainstream leftist governments and ongoing socio-political and economic realities in a region still defined by huge inequality. Admittedly, 2015 did not end well for […]