Say it ain't so!

Transparency International today issued its 2009 Corruption Perception Index and, to no surprise, Argentina ranked among the lowest - down there as #106 in the world, in the same category as such progressive nations as Tonga, Niger, and Benin. The index examines public-sector corruption in all areas of government.

Since moving here, I have seen countless muggings where the police officer barely looks up before going back to sending a text message to his wife/girlfriend or spends most of his day in the local confiteria talking with the staff and (most likely) eating for free. Additionally, the easiest way for anyone with money to expedite their immigration paperwork is to simply pay an attorney who has connections in the government to bring you to the front of each line, avoiding having to wait days to deal with a bureaucratic nightmare. I was even told that, in a certain barrio of Buenos Aires, you can buy real passports from Paraguay for a little over $1,000 USD from friends/family of employees in their consulate.

Not surprisingly, Uruguay and Chile were amongst the least corrupt nations in South America, with scores similar to those in Western Europe and North America. Click here to see the full results and Argentina's embarrassing ranking.