By Adam Turteltaub

Corruption is a well-known risk in Latin America, but how great the risk is on a country-by-country basis is less well understood. To fill in those blanks and many more, the law firm Miller & Chevalier just released its 2024 Latin America Corruption Survey.

The firm has been fielding this survey every four years since 2008, reports Matt Ellis, Latin America Practice Lead. It provides comprehensive, country-by-country data as well as, more granular information on the risks of dealing with various governmental entities.

This year’s report, he shares on the podcast, had interesting news for the compliance community. It found that, although corruption remains a pervasive problem, corporate compliance programs, more so than enforcement, are perceived as being the key driver for change.

The survey also revealed significant nuances in the anticorruption risk picture:

Chile, Uruguay and Costa Rica are generally perceived as the lowest risk countries

Venezuela, Bolivia, Honduras and Argentina are on the riskier side

In general, political parties are perceived as being corrupt as well as municipal governments

Brazil’s customs authority, Peru’s judicial branch, Argentina’s executive branch and Mexico’s police and local governments were all singled out as areas of concern

Listen in to learn more about what the survey revealed, including corporate trends in investing in anti-corruption efforts.