Politics
Latin America’s main challenges according to Blinken: corruption, security, and the economy
U.S. Secretary of State Blinken addressed the setback in democracy around the world, especially in Latin America.
October 21, 2021 11:28pm
Updated: October 26, 2021 3:58pm
The three challenges that Latin America faces are corruption, security, and the economy, said Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in Ecuador on Wednesday.
On his second day of an official visit to Ecuador, Blinken delivered a speech at the University of San Francisco in Quito (USFQ) titled "Making Democracy Work for the Americas.” In his speech, he addressed "how our democracies can close the gap between what we promise and what we deliver."
Blinken pointed to the setback that democracies around the world are experiencing, particularly in Latin America, where only 63% of Latin Americans consider it to be the best government system.
Corruption as a global challenge
Out of the three pressing challenges that the United States considers critical in the region, Blinken said corruption is the most important since it can represent up to 5% of global GDP.
According to Blinken, most of the recent social uprisings around the world started as a reaction to corruption, which “takes state resources that should be used in schools, hospitals, and so on.”
For President Joe Biden, corruption is a central issue, Blinken added. As well as for Latin American leaders, who pledged to take concrete actions in the battle against corruption at the 2018 Summit of the Americas.
“Because corruption has no borders, no country can fight it, that is why we are developing new tools and programs to improve governments, investigative journalists, and anti-corruption activists,” Blinken said.
The root causes of the challenges
Blinken stressed the importance of "repairing the social fabric and investing in law enforcement" in countries where there is substantial drug abuse.
“The causes of these three challenges are the main topic addressed in a series of dialogues about insecurity with the Government of Mexico in recent weeks,” and in more recent dialogues with Colombia and Ecuador, where the fight against drug trafficking and insecurity have been discussed.
