A clear light for Latin America

The country that made the most progress against corruption last year offers up lessons on where honesty in governance begins.

The Monitor's View

Located at the heart of the Caribbean, the Dominican Republic is a major point for drug transit by organized crime. Its democracy is less than three decades old. And lately it has felt the spillover effects of violent chaos in Haiti, its island neighbor. Yet despite such head winds, the country of 11 million was the only one in the Americas last year to make significant progress against corruption, according to Transparency International.

Its rise on that watchdog’s corruption index stands out because efforts against corruption in Latin America have lately stalled or declined. The region is looking for fresh inspiration on how to create honest governance. It may now find it in the Dominican Republic.

Much of the credit for the country’s progress is given to the election of a new president in 2020, Luis Abinader, a popular anti-corruption crusader and former executive in the tourism industry. He has appointed prosecutors without political links, improved the judiciary, and set up auditing of public spending. So far, the number of convictions of former officials for graft has been modest. Much still needs to be done to reform the national police, who are often associated with drug syndicates.

All of that helps explain why the president says he finds his work incomplete and seeks a second term in May 19 elections. He’s projected to win. Also, he has lately appealed to the source of his political rise – a grassroots protest movement of youth and others in 2017-2019, known as the Green March, which called for an end to impunity and corruption.

In a speech to young people last October, Mr. Abinader acknowledged how much citizens now feel empowered to bring transparency and accountability to government. “When you work with ethics and honesty, resources yield more and the possibilities of solving problems expand,” he said.

“Wherever you see something that is going to affect the national interest, that is being done against transparency and honesty, you shout, you protest.” He added that ethical thinking is a quality that accompanies every human being and helps create an environment of trust.

The nonprofit group Citizen Participation, which is the local arm of Transparency International, describes the work of volunteers against corruption as “spiritual sublimation,” or building a just society “without asking for anything in return.”

For those in Latin America looking for advice in fighting graft, the Dominican Republic may be getting it right.