January 28, 2005
By Manuel Quintero

QUITO, Ecuador – Church leaders commented on a recent report from Transparency International, based in Germany, which places Latin America among the most corrupt regions in the world.

According to the so-called 2004 Global Corruption Barometer, Latin American politicians are among the worst. The Barometer is based on surveys carried out in 64 countries around the world and polls more than 50,000 people. Those polled are asked about how certain institutions (politicians, legislators, police, among others) are affected by corruption.

According to its citizens, Ecuador has the most corrupt politicians in Latin America. On a scale of one to five, with five marking extreme corruption, Ecuador scored 4.9 points, followed by Argentina and Peru with 4.6.

However, according to Abelardo Schvindt, executive secretary of the Evangelical Reform Church of the River Plate (IERP), the Transparency International report is biased.

In a globalized world, and above all given Latin America's history, it is not enough to demonstrate corruption with a point system, he said.

The Transparency International report is barely one side of the coin and it is worth asking whether or not this type of report is beneficial and whether corruption can be seen isolated from the history that has both promoted and generated it, said Pastor Schvindt.

In Argentina, he added "we cannot reduce corruption to a single crime of ‘influence peddling' in the current government as corruption is not only related to economics and policies. It has to do with other agents and individuals as well as situations and circumstances and is a much more complex issue that spans every level of life," he said.

While it is correct to point out the corruption in the political, military and police power it is also necessary to address people's basic attitudes, he said.

"From the bribe we pay to avoid a traffic ticket to jumping the line in the hospital because we are friends with the head nurse, or paying the customs officials to allow us to bring in an elephant. Not to mention those who adulterate their balance books or add earning that are, as Scripture says, unjust," he said.

Pastor Estuardo Lopez, president of the Ecuadorian Evangelical Confraternity, shares this view. According to Lopez, corruption is not limited to government circles and economic and political power, but to average citizens who participate in acts of corruption seeking personal advantages. "There is a generalized culture of corruption throughout the country," he affirmed.

Lopez underlined that the Confraternity has impelled a series of activities to expose the reality of corruption in the country and to challenge the Church and society to adopt a "new life style, a life style based on the values of the Gospel."

"Now that Evangelical Churches have grown and have the possibility of being heard, we must be the salt and light in society, to battle the spirit of materialism, which is one of the causes of corruption and propose a spirit of service and solidarity with the neediest," said the CEC president.

Schvindt, for his part, believes that Churches themselves "are not free from suspicion when we talk about corruption and the exercise of power. For this reason we must work for full transparency both within the Churches as in the interior of our societies."

We must denounce what we see and announce who we are. From there we must construct a critical relationship with culture and society, aimed at life together that is based on building a common project of life. Because corruption, he concluded, kills and generates death, he said.

Latin American and Caribbean News Agency