Peruvian bishop says tolerance for corruption challenges church

Published: 2004-02-12

LIMA, Peru (CNS) -- Survey results revealing that more than half of Peruvians said they had a fair or high degree of tolerance for corruption pose a challenge to church leaders, a Peruvian bishop said. Bishop Miguel Irizar Campos of Callao said he was struck by "people's passivity, the acceptance of corruption as something normal, something cultural." "We need to create a much stronger ethical and civic culture, with respect for the law and without impunity," said Bishop Irizar, a member of a commission that drew up recommendations for fighting corruption after the 2000 collapse of President Alberto Fujimori's government amid such charges. The survey by Proetica, the Peruvian branch of the watchdog group Transparency International, came amid a series of corruption accusations against government officials and allies of President Alejandro Toledo, who took office in 2001. The corruption issue is a sensitive one in Peru; scores of former Fujimori government officials, legislators, business officials and military officers are in jail awaiting trial on hundreds of corruption charges. "We lack oversight, and we lack the institutions that should be providing constant oversight to prevent corruption," said Bishop Irizar. He said the commission he was on "did a serious study and drew up proposals, because we foresaw that after everything that had happened under Fujimori ... the problem had not ended, and these things could happen again. And I believe that has occurred," he said.

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