Let us, for the educational purpose of looking at concrete examples, consider the corruption in the Mexican bureaucracy and the corruption in mineral?rich African governments.

The first corruption to which pre-self-government British Hondurans traditionally became introduced, was that across the border in Mexico. It was called ?mordida,? and it was chronic inside Mexican government departments, specifically and especially immigration and customs, the two departments with which we British Hondurans/Belizeans were most involved and acquainted. Mexican lower level government functionaries refused to accept and honor any document presented to them, even if you just paid for it across the corridor or down the road from them. It has always appeared to us Belizeans that every Mexican government official has to get his personal cut of every process/transaction, under the table or over the table, but always in his personal hand. It was called ?mordida? ? the bite.

In British Honduras, which was what Belize was called before 1970, we had no such experiences in our public service. Public officers who were dishonest in British Honduras were arrested and tried in court, and some served time in Her Majesty?s Prison. This was the way the British colonialism worked.

And the same British colonialism ruled African countries like Nigeria, Ghana, Malawi, Rhodesia, etc. etc. Other African countries, like Senegal and Algeria, were ruled by the French. Mozambique and Angola were ruled by the Portuguese. The Belgians ruled the Congo. We can?t speak for the countries where the British were not the colonizers, but we can assure you that in British colonies all over the world, it was the same as in British Honduras ? public service corruption was not tolerated.

The majority of the African countries began achieving political independence in the 1960?s. Africans became the prime ministers and presidents who led these countries after independence. African countries, where minerals, strategic metals, diamonds and natural resources are concerned, are the richest in the world. But the factories and companies who wanted to pay top dollar for African gold, diamonds, petroleum, copper, uranium, titanium, nickel, chromium, and so on, were located in the developed, industrialized world ? in Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Scandinavia, Great Britain, the United States, Canada, etc. African leaders and government bureaucrats were offered bribes and personal benefits by foreign factories and companies who wanted special deals on African natural resources. The African nations remained poor while individual African leaders and bureaucrats, who went the way of personal corruption, became extremely wealthy. This was much bigger than Mexican ?mordida.? (And it is not to say that Mexican corruption does not exist on the macro level.)

Mexican ?mordida? appears to be derived from a generally accepted notion that low-level government functionaries are underpaid, and have some kind of a right to augment their salaries by charging personal fees for their services. The corruption in Africa includes this type of lower-level public service hustling, but in countries like Nigeria and the Congo, billions are being stolen at the level of national leadership.

To understand the history of corruption in Belize, you must be aware of the period of self-government, which began in 1964 and lasted until 1981. During that period, Belizean politicians took over the public service, but Great Britain remained in charge of defence and foreign affairs. Belizean corruption did not begin immediately following self-government, because all the senior and middle- level public officers were trained in the British era. Corruption in the judiciary was unthinkable, because the police and the courts were still led by British expatriate appointees.

The marijuana trade, which had begun to involve exports to American markets in the early 1960?s, was seen to corrupt elements of the Belize Police Force in the early and middle 1970?s.

But real corruption in Belize began with political independence in 1981, when the American CIA quickly moved to include the Belize army and police leadership on their payroll. The case you want to research which exposed secret American interference in Belize, involved the movement of cocaine through the Belize International Airport in the early 1980?s. Apparently the Belize police and army were protecting the cocaine transshipment operation, which was part of CIA financing for the contras fighting against the Nicaragua Sandinista government, but the United States? Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), unaware of the CIA nature of the operations, issued indictments in Florida for five Belizeans, including a senior Belizean police officer (now deceased). This took place in 1983.

In the middle 1980?s and afterwards, because of the excessive demand for Belizean immigration papers, passports and land, on the part of wealthy Chinese in Hong Kong and Taiwan, the immigration and land departments in Belize, as well as Cabinet officials and the local lawyers, began to go the way of serious corruption. The Belizean economy experienced growth because of the injections of foreign exchange from Hong Kong and Taiwan, but the long term negative effects of the corruption associated with these processes, have been felt by roots Belizeans and will become worse.

The cocaine business has badly damaged the judiciary, which had already been weakened by politicians. The so-called ?officers of the courts? have contributed to the undermining of the judiciary, and they have done so without conscience or compunction.

We, the people of Belize, can?t just be pointing fingers at those we believe to be corrupt. Corruption has become a culture in Belize, and all of us are part of that culture. As long as it benefits us and our friends and family, most of us are willing to countenance, if not participate in, corruption. This is how this evil has spread and grown over the last 35 years. We are a small country, and we have been willing to close our eyes to corruption when it benefits our friends and family. But Belize is so small, it sometimes seems like almost everyone is a friend or a relative.

We no longer have principles in Belize. And the excuse we have always used is poverty. Belize has become a free-for-all. Institutional controls have been badly damaged. It?s now a case of whom you know, and whom you pay. Belizean corruption is real.