Corruption in Colombia

Corruption in Colombia is a pervasive problem at all levels of government, as well as in the military and police forces. A general culture and awareness of this corruption permeates society as a whole.

Various factors have contributed to political corruption in Colombia including: drug trafficking, guerrilla and paramilitary conflict,[1] weak surveillance and regulation from institutions, intimidation and harassment of whistle-blowers, and a widespread apathy from society to address unethical behavior.[citation needed] The government is continuously taking steps to measure and reduce levels of corruption at all levels through anti-corruption policies. Initiatives have also been headed by the private sector in the interest of facilitating and encouraging business activities.[2]

A Global Corruption Barometer survey from 2010 found that the institutions seen as most corrupt were the political parties and the parliament, followed by the police and public officials, the judiciary and the military.[3]

Transparency International's 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index, based on experts' and businesspeople's perceptions of corruption in the public sector, gave Colombia a score of 40 on a scale from 0 ("highly corrupt") to 100 ("very clean"). When ranked by score, Colombia ranked 87th among the 180 countries in the Index, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector.[4] For comparison with worldwide scores, the best score was 90 (ranked 1), the average score was 43, and the worst score was 11 (ranked 180).[5] For comparison with regional scores, the highest score among the countries of the Americas[Note 1] was 76, the average score was 43 and the lowest score was 13.[6]

  1. ^ Langbein; Sanabria, Laura; Pablo (June 2013). "The Shape of Corruption: Colombia as a Case Study". The Journal of Development Studies. 49 (11): 1500–1513. doi:10.1080/00220388.2013.800858. S2CID 154694122.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ "Latin america politics: Corruption's taint". EIU ViewsWire. 2008.
  3. ^ Gutierrez, Hernan (2013). "Colombia: Overview of corruption and anti-corruption" (PDF). Transparency International.
  4. ^ "The ABCs of the CPI: How the Corruption Perceptions Index is calculated". Transparency.org. 20 December 2021. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
  5. ^ "Corruption Perceptions Index 2023: Colombia". Transparency.org. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
  6. ^ "Corruption Perceptions Index 2023: Americas". Transparency.org. CPI2023_Map_Americas_EN.pdf. Retrieved 22 April 2024.


Cite error: There are <ref group=Note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=Note}} template (see the help page).