Symposia Series: Anticorruption, Transparency and Integrity in the Americas

Between February and May 2019, the Inter-American Dialogue’s Peter D. Bell Rule of Law Program and the Inter-American Development Bank hosted a series of events focused on addressing issues of corruption in the Americas. The Symposia Series on “Anticorruption, Transparency and Integrity in the Americas” convened preeminent regional experts and policymakers to identify lessons learned from recent corruption cases, analyze continued challenges, and outline the agenda for future reform.

Context

Corruption is a longstanding challenge in the Americas, hampering development, undermining citizens’ trust in their governments, and even, in some of the most egregious cases, costing lives. High-profile grand corruption scandals in recent years prompted heightened citizen demands for transparency and accountability. In at least some cases, judicial and political systems began to respond to these demands, and in several countries citizens elected presidents on the promise that they would root out graft. Against this backdrop, the Symposia Series took stock of regional developments and prospects by focusing on three critical themes: corruption prosecutions in comparative perspective; political finance and state capture; and the anticorruption mandates of new governments in Latin America.   

Publications

 

Events

(1) Corruption Prosecutions in the Americas: A Comparative Analysis	The Inter-American Dialogue  Feb 5, 2019 Event Page Event Video	Speaker Presentations The Fight Against Corruption in Guatemala (Claudia Paz y Paz) Eng – Spa Analyzing Lava Jato – Country Comparisons (José Ugaz) Eng – Spa The Role of the FCPA in Corruption Prosecutions (Kevin Gingras) Eng – Spa Investigations of Grand Cases of Corruption in the Americas – Successes and Setbacks (Rodrigo Janot) Eng – Spa – Por
(2) Political Finance and State Capture in the Americas	The Inter-American Dialogue  Mar 5, 2019 Event Page Event Video	Speaker Presentations Political Finance Regulation in Latin America – Which Way Now? (Kevin Casas-Zamora) Eng – Spa Money and Politics: Recent Reforms in Chile (Eduardo Engel) Eng – Spa Political Finance, Corruption and State Capture in the Americas: A Panorama (Delia Ferreira Rubio) Eng – Spa State Capture and Political Finance in the United States (Ann Ravel) Eng – Spa
(3) Mandates for Change: Anticorruption and Latin America’s New Leaders	The Inter-American Dialogue  May 23, 2019 Event Page Event Video	Speaker Presentations Paraguay’s Anticorruption Agenda Under Mario Abdel Benítez (Benigno López) Eng – Spa  Brazil’s Anticorruption Agenda Under Jair Bolsonaro (Wagner de Campos Rosário) Eng – Spa El Salvador’s Anticorruption Agenda Under Nayib Bukele (Félix Ulloa) Eng – Spa