Alejandro Salas is the Regional Director for the Americas at Transparency International. The following article was first published on Fox News Latino.
December 9, declared as International Anti-Corruption Day by the United Nations in 2003, should be a day of concern and reflection for every citizen around the world. We are all affected, in one way or another, by the damaging effects of corruption, many times without even noticing it.
Did you know, for example, that two out of every ten pesos of income of poor families in Mexico is spent on petty bribes? Probably not. Most likely many victims have not realized the full extent of this either. Have you ever imagined that countries with weak control of corruption, government effectiveness and rule of law have a 30 – 45 percent higher risk of civil war and a significantly higher risk of extreme criminal violence?