There is a big irony in Latin America’s latest headlines: While many of us in the media are writing articles about the corruption scandal that is rocking Brazil, as we certainly should, few are paying any attention to the vastly greater corruption taking place in Venezuela.
It’s almost as if Brazil is paying a heavy price for being a democracy with a free press, while Venezuela and other authoritarian kleptocracies — or governments run by thieves — can get away with looting their countries’ resources while keeping their scandals hidden from the public.