Eric Farnsworth, vice president of AS/COA, spoke to Shery Ahn on Bloomberg's Balance of Power about the current events in Brazil, Argentina, and Venezuela. Farnsworth first addressed the fires in the Amazon rainforest and the actions being taken by Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro to deal with the situation.

"Even before he was elected, President Bolsonaro suggested that he was going to open up more development in the Amazon...as a way to build Brazilian economy," he said.

When asked if international monetary aid would help combat the fires in the Amazon rainforest, Farnsworth replied that it would take a lot more than $100 million to bring them under control.

Shifting the focus over to Argentina, Ahn asked Farnsworth if he was experiencing déjà vu after seeing International Monetary Fund (IMF) officials in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Farnsworth replied he and others "hoped we wouldn't have to see [this] ever again in any emerging market," but that the primary elections earlier in the month were a bracing effect on investors. He touched on what this cound potentially indicate for the October presidential election. 

"Based on the anticipated results, you’re going to have some changes, perhaps and that’s going to definitely affect the interests of the economic community," Farnsworth said.

Farnsworth noted that if there is a change in government, there would probably be a different Argentine position in Venezuela. He said there is a "stasis" on Venezuela after the uprising at the end of April/early May, citing discussions in Barbados between the opposition and the interim government of Juan Guaidó, as well as the Maduro regime.

"They're looking for people to say, 'Well we don't want to support Mr. Maduro anymore, but our own equities will be taken care of. We're willing to work for transition.'"

Speakers:

• Geert Aalbers, Senior Partner, Control Risks
• Susan Clancy, INCAE Faculty
• Roberto Simon, Senior Director for Policy and Head of the Anti-Corruption Working Group, AS/COA (moderator)

At a Miami event on the AS/COA Anti-Corruption Working Group's Capacity to Combat Corruption Index, experts discussed the results, methodology, and context of the report ranking Latin America's largest economies. They also covered the correlations between corruption and countries' GDP and competitiveness levels. "When you look at the three dimensions on social progress, [the report] is giving policymakers and people who care about corruption a sense of where would you actually start if you want to do something about corruption," said Susan Clancy.

• Learn more about the Anti-Corruption Working Group. 

Brian Winter, el vicepresidente de políticas públicas de AS/COA y editor en jefe de Americas Quarterly, habló con Cuestión de Poder de NTN24 sobre la nueva edición de la revista, la cual se enfoca en el movimiento anticorrupción en Latinoamérica.

"La corrupción todos sabemos que es un mal social", dijo Winter. "Pero nosotros desde aquí en la revista siempre lo tratamos como una señal positiva porque la pregunta no era, '¿Por qué la corrupción es más masiva ahora que antes'? sino, '¿Por qué es que se están detectando esos casos'? Nos parece una historia de progreso y lo hemos resaltado de esa manera".

Winter explicó que uno de los problemas que sigue en el movimiento anticorrupción es el abuso de poder de parte de los fiscales y jueces en la región. Un ejemplo de un problema que podría afectar el progreso es la detención preventiva, una práctica en muchos países de la región. Winter también dijo que México y Brasil son dos de los países más desilusionados con la democracia, según un informe de la organización Pew Research Center.

Ante la pregunta de cómo recuperar confianza en la democracia, Winter respondió con tres cosas que él cree que son necesarias:

"Primero es paciencia. Las instituciones judiciales han mejorado, pero no son capaces de erradicar o reducir la corrupción en un periodo de solo cuatro o cinco años.

La segunda cosa es autocrítica. Los fiscales y los jueces tienen que conocer sus límites y cuando cometen infracciones, esas infracciones tienen que ser castigadas.

Y la tercera cosa son las reformas. Hay que cambiar las prácticas que están a la raíz de la corrupción".