The culture of corruption across the Amazon Basin 

Journalists typically treat corruption as an issue of governance. However, dishonesty is not an attribute of constitutional and legal structures, but of the behavior of individuals. Moreover, corruption transcends public institutions and infects private entities, while NGOs must also contend with financial fraud and unethical conduct. Too often, individuals who are fundamentally honest are induced to act unethically: they may be pressed for time, desperate to resolve a problem, or simply take the path of least resistance. Most people behave ethically in their day-to-day interactions with colleagues, friends and family but, if they believe a system has been corrupted, they are more likely to tolerate fraudulent behavior and, unfortunately, participate if the opportunity arises or necessity dictates an unethical choice.

People forced to live in an environment defined by dishonesty are fully aware of its impacts and exigencies, which fosters a culture of distrust, selfishness and cynicism. Corruption in all its manifestations, and there are many, is a massive impediment to sustainable development because it undermines the social contract between the state and its citizens, while distorting the economic leg of a three-part development paradigm. The citizens of the Pan Amazon are dissatisfied, even disgusted, with the status quo; unfortunately, they have been unable to discover a pathway out of their predicament.

The diversity of venality

The stereotypical corruption scandal involves the embezzlement of public funds by a government functionary, such as a mayor, governor, cabinet minister or head of state; however, there are many different types of dishonest behavior that infect public and private transactions. Historically, the largest source of graft in the Amazon has been the plundering of its natural resources, particularly its land, timber and minerals; to a certain extent, this was the official policy promulgated by governments promoting the so-called colonization of the Amazon. Times have changed, however, and even larger sums of money are transferred via kickbacks associated with construction projects for highways, hydropower plants and railroads, as well as schools, hospitals and other basic infrastructure.

Some view kickbacks, a type of corruption commission, as less obnoxious than outright embezzlement, arguing that at least society benefits from the construction of an infrastructure asset useful to the region’s inhabitants. The fallacy in this logic is obvious: corruption distorts investment decisions because projects are not subject to genuine due diligence, which allows vested interests to collude with crooked politicians to build things that are either not a priority or completely unnecessary, or which are shoddily built or use poor materials.

Corrupt practices are hidden by subterfuge, so it is difficult to document the real levels of corruption that plague a country, which is why academics who study corruption rely on the opinion of individuals in a position to observe acts of malfeasance. The most widely cited metric is the Corruption Perception Index (CPI), which is compiled from a survey that queries multilateral officials and business executives regarding levels of (a) bribery, (b) diversion of public funds, (c) use of public office for private gain, and (d) nepotism in the civil service. Starting in 2017, Transparency International, the curator of the CPI, included a fifth element: (e) state capture, which describes when a select group of individuals (oligarchs) or entities (criminal mafias) monopolize government actions.

The CPI ranks countries based on a scale of 0 (most corrupt) to 100 (least corrupt); unsurprisingly, the countries of the Amazon rank poorly. Corruption encompasses many types of behavior (bribery, extortion, nepotism, self-dealing), which can subvert multiple publicly funded activities (building infrastructure, contracting personnel, procurement of goods and services, regulatory enforcement and licensing), while spanning multiple sectors (justice, tax, land tenure, health systems, natural resources) and jurisdictions (national, regional, local). Statistical metrics, such as the CPI, mask this complexity and inadvertently reinforce the public conception that it is a generic problem that can be resolved by electing better politicians or improving law enforcement. Surveys fail to capture sophisticated modern forms of corruption, particularly in the category of quasi-legal bribes camouflaged as campaign contributions, or when ‘state capture’ occurs via legal means, such as an election. One recent approach to improve our understanding of corrupt behavior proposes using a logical framework to better understand who is involved and the magnitude of the impacts of different types of unethical transactions.

This unbundled approach identifies the most common manifestations of corruption in Amazonian societies: paying a bribe to avoid a traffic fine or a ‘propina’ to advance a bureaucratic procedure. These seemingly innocuous habits, however, are symptomatic of a rotten system where powerful individuals embezzle money or rig the system via a quasi-legal payment or non-transparent exchange of information to ensure a desired outcome. All four types of corrupt behavior persist because they exist within long-established permission systems that assume ‘everybody does it’.

Another widespread form of petty corruption occurs when societal connections or political patronage are used to obtain employment. Academics refer to this as a patronage system, which is characteristic of new democracies that have yet to successfully organize a nonpartisan civil service. Referred to as clientelismo or padrinazgo, the phenomenon is common as an entryway into the professions of policemen, clerks, maintenance staff, managers, postal workers, health care providers and other civil service positions that can provide a middle-class lifestyle.

A seemingly minor societal shortcoming, which many view as a feature rather than a flaw, patronage systems have deleterious long-term consequences by contributing to institutional mediocrity. Although commonly associated with political affiliation, patronage systems also use class and ethnicity as determinants of opportunity – or, more precisely, the lack of opportunity for individuals without societal or political connections. Inequality is the logical consequence and reinforces the behavior of cynical people who participate in other forms of malfeasance.  Those excluded from the patronage system due to class, ethnicity or party affiliation, when awarded an administrative post, all too often participate in the same corrupt practices that vexed them as outsiders, arguing that it is ‘my turn’.

Non-elite corruption is common to all Amazonian countries, but it is more acute in Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador and less so in Colombia, Brazil, Guyana and Suriname. Nonetheless, the overall opinion of citizens of their public servants remains low (Figure 6.16). Elite corruption is also widespread and flagrant, but the cynicism of the general populace is the consequence of the impunity enjoyed by its practitioners, which is the consequence of a dysfunctional and corrupt judicial system.

The most notorious scandals are usually associated with the Executive Branch because, as an infamous bank robber once said of his targets, ‘That’s where the money is’. The practice of paying off politicians with suitcases full of money remains common in all eight countries, but cash bribery has been superseded by more complex kickback schemes for large infrastructure projects. These complex contracts typically include numerous sub-contractors and consulting services, which can easily conceal an inflated price or a non-existent service, while payments are channeled to a similarly disguised bank account controlled by the so-called public servant. (see below)

This type of malfeasance comes with a hidden price tag, because none of the parties is motivated to question the wisdom of the project. How many roads have been built or paved because politicians and their patrons were speculating on land? How many clinics stand empty because there is no budget for support staff and equipment? How many half-finished sports stadiums are abandoned because they are larger than the resident population?

Banner image: Industrial rubber plantation. Image by Rhett A. Butler.

“A Perfect Storm in the Amazon” is a book by Timothy Killeen and contains the author’s viewpoints and analysis. The second edition was published by The White Horse in 2021, under the terms of a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).

To read earlier chapters of the book, find Chapter One here, Chapter Two here, Chapter Three here, Chapter Four here and Chapter Five here.