The millionaire fraud committed by the main executives of the Banco Intercontinental (Baninter) against the holders of shares and savings accounts in the Dominican Republic updates us once again about corruption as the cancer of Latin America.

We only have to enumerate the Latin American presidents of the past decade to corroborate the kind of thieves that have governed our countries: Carlos Andres Perez (Venezuela, removed from power, charged and sentenced for embezzlement and peculation). Carlos Menen (Argentina, prosecuted as alleged chief of an “illegal partnership” that sold weapons to Ecuador and Croatia. Almost 50 ex-functionaries of his administration have been linked to corruption cases). Alberto Fujimori (Peru, was dismissed for moral incompetence by the Peruvian Congress after fleeing the country and resigning to the presidency from Japan. The bribery perpetrated by his assistant, Vladimir Montesinos, has surpassed any other incident of corruption in the region). Carlos Salinas de Gortari (Mexico, disappeared from the country amid severe accusations of corruption such as money laundering and mysterious acquisition of wealth), Abdala Bucaram (Ecuador, left the country before the Supreme Court could issue an order for his capture and extradition to make him face charges for embezzlement. Arnoldo Aleman (Nicaragua, currently charged and prosecuted for money laundering, misappropriation of public funds, embezzlement, state fraud, and unlawful partnership). The exhibit is endless.

Some countries were not included in this black list of depredators not because they lack corrupted rulers but because we don’t have enough room in this editorial. We apologize to our readers.

The governments that ruled Latin America in the last decade have been responsible for the largest political looting suffered by the region in the course of its entire modern history. With the consent and the complicity of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, defending neoliberalism by any means, they destroyed the national industry any liberally gave away our countries to foreign interests.

All the nations of our Latin America have suffered and still endure the same deception of these Mafiosi politicians who asked the people to be frugal while they were stealing to such extent that their actions bordered unreality.

These thieves not only stole the national treasures but our people’s hope. This is the reason why in these day and age the youth of our continent store distrust towards the political sectors even under the guardianship of formal institutions of the mother countries. Why should they trust them? History has taught them that the democratic system, as practiced in Latin America, is the least trustworthy in the world. After all, the same political parties and the same politicians share the country and the government among themselves decade after decade.

How can we come out of this chaos and restore the right to life and dreams to the Latin American nations?

First of all, recovering the memory and the dignity. It is time to review history, to remember those who looted our countries, and to punish them. The recent and shameful defeat of Carlos Menen is a clear message from the Argentinean people to the political leadership of that beautiful and punished nation. At last, there is light at the end of the tunnel!

To practice solidarity would be another sensible measure, one that our people have been reluctant to exercise. United we should confront the unfair payment of the external debt which is the endless bleeding of the national treasures. Bringing our forces together we can present a common front to negotiate with the international financial institutions that extort and govern us from abroad.

Finally, to have faith in the possibility that things can change. As said by Eduardo Galeano, reality is not a destiny but a challenge. We have the right to the future.