This informative article from La Prensa focuses on a recent study of Panama Society by the United Nations and summed up in their latest National Human Development Report. When a nation ignores laws and only those who can pay get justice, the people naturally become conditioned to believe that corruption is the only way to get ahead. Here are some sobering statistics.
According to the study, 54.6 percent of Panamanians make decisions based on personal interest rather than on principles and mores, often disregarding what is commonly recognized as correct behavior.
Panamanians claim that corruption seems to have seeped into every corner of society, with government institutions, political parties and police thought to be the most crooked; some 69 percent admitted that they were convinced that breaking the rules makes it easier to achieve one’s goals.
85.8 percent of those polled saying they no longer trusted their fellow citizens, and 78 percent saying they had little interest in seeking collective solutions to societal issues.
What this says that the Panamanian people have given up hope. They have given up and over to accepting the way things are. They are so conditioned to it that they accept corruption as the norm instead of the aberration.
If you are going to live or do business in Panama, you need to understand this mindset. Is it no wonder that people are lackadaisical in their work and educational levels are so poor? What good does it do to play by the rules when the deck is stacked against you from the outset. This is a country of laws run by the lawless.
