http://www.eluniversal.com/economia/111202/ti-venezuela-haiti-with-a-high-corruption-perception-indexHaiti and Venezuela became the two worst ranked Latin American countries in the Corruption Perception Index 2011. The indicator was released on Thursday by Transparency International (TI), a non-governmental organization that monitors and publicizes corporate and political corruption. According to experts, both countries lack a strong institutional framework.
"These two countries are in the bottom of the list due to the lack of public institutions or their weakness, rather than by the fact that they do not have an anti-corruption system," said Alejandro Salas, Transparency International's regional director for the Americas, DPA reported.
"I am thinking of much more basic things, such as a sound Executive Office, reliable policies, a Parliament that acts as a counterweight of the Executive, and independent authorities," Salas added.
Venezuela, which ranked last among Latin American countries in 2010, fell this year from the 164th to the 172nd position out of 183 countries with a score of 1.9 on a scale of 1 to 10, in the perception of a highly corrupt country to a very clean country.