LATIN AMERICA : Belief That All Is Corrupt Unites a Weary Venezuela

The Historia bookstore is sold out. The four branches of the World Book Store can’t keep it on the shelves. It’s the same all over town. Volume III of “The Dictionary of Corruption in Venezuela” is a bestseller.

The editors of the three thick paperbacks list only those cases that reached some official level of investigation between 1959 and 1989, a total of more than 300 incidents.

Left out are the many others reported in the media and whispered about in the halls of the National Assembly.

And because the dictionary stops at 1989, it makes no mention of the growing charges that the current government of President Carlos Andres Perez is melting in an acid bath of venality.

These include an investigation by the federal attorney general into allegations that Perez profited by several millions of dollars in 1989 when he and other officials manipulated government funds in a currency exchange scam.

Also not mentioned is Cecilia Matos, who is usually described in the press as Perez’s “longtime companion.”

She has fled to New York City, with a child she reportedly had by the president, to escape scrutiny about charges that she used her influence to obtain government contracts for close friends and supporters of Perez.

Nor does the dictionary mention either of two close Perez aides and former government officials who have fled the country to avoid arrest warrants on charges of appropriating public funds.

It appears that the one thing uniting Venezuelans these days is the belief that the country is being ruled and ruined by corruption, particularly the thieving, bribing and influence peddling of politicians and officials.

Venezuelans blame corruption for nearly all the nation’s ills: the failing water system, the lack of telephones, inadequate bus service, poor health facilities and rising inflation.

Behind the almost-universal loathing for Venezuela’s political system is the conviction that all is corrupt, from the president down to the petty bureaucrat selling exit tax stamps at the airport.

According to Allan R. Brewer-Carias, a prominent attorney and a leading constitutional expert, “People here talk about inflation, crumbling services, but what really upsets them generally is the perception of universal corruption.”

That is easy to understand, according to an influential diplomat. “The depth and breadth of corrupt penetration into government and all society,” he said, is “unmatched.”

Whether such a sweeping assessment is true is beside the point. It is believed.

It is believed that Perez not only manages a crooked administration but also has illegally profited from his office, as shown by a recent poll giving him a 91% disapproval rating.

It is believed that the national Congress is even more corrupt, according to the opinion surveys.

When rebel military units mounted coup attempts last February and again late last month, they cited corruption as their primary motivation. When ordinary people are interviewed, they widely reject the idea of a coup, but they praise the rebels for claiming to want to rid the country of corruption.

Rooting out corruption is even given as the reason for the formation of a terrorist group that has targeted several hundred supposedly corrupt government officials and private influence-peddlers.

And how about the record of the corruption-fighters? It could be better. Throughout all the years of investigations, charges, warrants and legislative hearings, only one Venezuelan has been tried and convicted for corruption.