Outcry against corruption

The demonstrator's voice distorts as he screams: "Where should he go?" The answer that the crowd shouts back to him is clear: "Away, get rid of him!"

The same scene plays out every Friday in the Central American country of Honduras. Thousands of angry citizens march through the streets demanding the resignation of President Juan Orlando Hernandez.

Demonstrators want the same fate for their leader as that of his colleague in neighboring Guatemala. On September 3, following an investigation by the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), President Otto Perez Molina was forced to step-down from office on corruption charges.

Test of democracy

Mass demonstrations in Guatemala and Honduras, opposition protest marches in Venezuela, teachers' strikes in Mexico, peasant farmers' revolts in Colombia, disappointed students in Chile, rage against Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff: all of Latin America seems to want to run their governments out of office.

Are crime and corruption undermining young democracies in Latin America?

Guatemala's Ambassador to the United States, Julio Ligorria Carballido, fears exactly that. In a recent editorial in the Spanish daily "El Pais," he wrote, "corruption is the explosive charge that threatens to destroy Latin American nations from within." Bribery has transformed countries into vulnerable organisms that are unable to fulfill their fundamental civic responsibilities.

Statistics confirm the problem. Between 1990 and 2015, 15 Central American leaders in six countries have been indicted on corruption charges. However, only four ex-presidents have been sent to jail: Rafael Angel Calderon (1990-2004) and Miguel Angel Rodriguez (1998-2002) of Costa Rica, Arnoldo Aleman (1997-2002) of Nicaragua and Alfonso Portillo (2000-2004) of Guatemala. Former El Salvador President Francisco Flores (1999-2004) is currently under house arrest.

"In Latin America, the number of citizens that are saying: 'We're not going to put up with this anymore,' is growing," explains Sabine Kurtenbach of the German Institute of Global Areas (GIGA), a social science research institute in Hamburg. Yet, she says that mass protests against corruption are no guarantee that anything will actually change.

Powerful public prosecutors

Kurtenbach goes on to say that the resignation of Guatemala's now ex-President Otto Molinas was only possible because of the successful investigation of the CICIG, which was supported and aided by top Guatemalan public prosecutors. Adding, "I don't see that same willingness in Honduras."

Reggie Thompson, Latin America expert at Stratfor, a Texas-based think tank, emphasizes that the fight against corruption has more to do with judicial expertise than with protest movements. "The anti-corruption protests in Honduras pose no threat to the government, because there are no judicial investigations directed toward the president," explains Thompson.

That is exactly what has been driving citizens in Honduras onto the streets. Despite press reports that President Hernandez has already admitted to having illegally funneled cash from domestic social security programs into his 2013 election campaign, there have yet to be charges brought against him for the misappropriation of public funds.

Voting with their feet

For that reason, more and more people in Honduras, as well as Mexico, are calling for an institution of independent investigative committees against impunity, much like the one in Guatemala. Without external legal assistance, investigations tend to go nowhere and local investigators' lives are often endangered.

In "El Pais," former Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda has urged the United States to replace its anti-drug policies with anti-corruption initiatives. "If the USA would financially support the institution of a commission against impunity in the future, it would mean real progress for the region," wrote Castaneda.

Sabine Kurtenbach of GIGA wants political leaders in Central America to live up to their own obligations. The number of young people emigrating from countries like Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador is extremely high. "All of those who want to change something, leave," explains Kurtenbach. "As long as the elites don't recognize that there is no way that the system can work in the long run, nothing will change."