Do you see the pattern?


I made this wee map based on the data provided by the World Bank here.

Red, pink, orange, yellow and green show different scales of corruption control in South America. There was no data for the little countries in grey (basically Guyana and Surinam, the third dwarf is French Guyana).

Below you have the table with all the values. The coloured column is the corruption control as percentile rank for the year 2008. The next column represents the variation from the previous year and the last one the standard error.

I connect that with this: yesterday, Chavez rewarded the National guard who gave that disgraceful political speech after his men threw tear gas to the opposition. The message from the Fat Man in the Palace is clear: protect me, "El Pueblo", and I will be good to you.

At the same time Jesse Chacón, minister of Science and Technology, declared Venezuela is the country in Latin America that gives the highest percentage of its budget to science and technology. That is a joke blogger Miguel has written about (the latest post on that is here). Venezuelans can have fancy BlackBerries and wear the trendiest clothes on Earth (at least the better off or those trying to show off as if they were better off), but they are falling behind in real points and they are getting more out of touch by the day. The government shows numbers that have either no backup (literacy) or no real consequence (relative percentage of money without independently measurable results)

You can take the map above as showing the countries with the highest potential for development in South America. They are definitely the ones in green.


RGENTINA


40.1-0.440.14
BOLIVIA


38.2-0.470.15
BRAZIL


58.5-0.030.14
CHILE


87.0+1.310.14
COLOMBIA



50.2-0.250.14
ECUADOR



22.7-0.790.16
PARAGUAY



17.4-0.930.17
PERU



49.3-0.260.14
URUGUAY



83.6+1.120.17
VENEZUELA



9.2-1.130.14