Corruption in Venezuela permeates all aspects of politics, business, law enforcement, and other sectors.[1] The discovery of oil in Venezuela in the early 20th century worsened political corruption.[2] Under the Chávez and Maduro regimes, corruption reached unprecedented levels, considered among the worst globally. The high levels of corruption and mismanagement in the country have resulted in severe economic difficulties, playing a major role in the crisis in Venezuela.[3] A 2014 Gallup poll found that 75% of Venezuelans believed that corruption was widespread throughout the Venezuelan government.[4] Discontent with corruption was cited by demonstrators as one of the reasons for the 2014 and 2017 Venezuelan protests.[5]
According to Transparency International's 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index, Venezuela scored 10 on a scale from 0 ("highly corrupt") to 100 ("very clean"), its lowest score ever. When ranked by score, Venezuela ranked 178th among the 180 countries in the Index, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector.[6] For comparison with worldwide scores, the best score was 90 (ranked 1), the average score was 43, and the worst score was 8 (ranked 180).[7] For comparison with regional scores, the highest score among the countries of the Americas[Note 1] was 76, the average score was 42 and the lowest score was Venezuela's, 10.[8]
In 2023, Transparencia Venezuela announced that the amount of money in judicial cases of 26 different countries investigating government corruption amounted to at least $70 billion dollars.[9]
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