Crooked Politicians in Latin America

Aah, Nicaragua. There must be something in the water, because Nicaragua is to crooked politicians what the Dominican Republic is to baseball players: the birthplace of stars that will one day make the Big Leagues. Anastasio Somoza García and his two sons ruled Nicaragua from 1937 to 1979, treating it like their own family business. They nationalized productive farms and sold them to family members for next to nothing. Industries they could not personally exploit -- such as mining, for example -- were given away for massive bribes to foreign companies. It is difficult to assess just how much the Somozas got away with in forty years, but it was certainly in the high millions.

Will the real Alberto Fujimori please stand up? Is it the tough-on-terrorism hero who put an end to years of terror by shutting down the nefarious Shining Path? Or is it the man with the squeaky-clean image who actually stole an estimated $600 million from the people of Peru? Fujimori allegedly stole the money during his years in office (1990-2000) with the help of Vladimiro Montesinos, his head of National Security and Intelligence. Montesinos, in prison, has always claimed that he was working for Fujimori, who has claimed ignorance of Montesinos' activities. Fujimori broke one of the Cardinal Rules of Crooked Politicians: don't go back. He returned in 2007 to Peru to "clear his name" and has been in prison ever since.

Antonio Guzmán Blanco was a crook of the amusing variety. He ruled Venezuela from 1870 to 1888 and actually did a good job stabilizing the nation after years of political upheaval. He loved to indulge his legendary personal vanity: he ordered numerous portraits of himself, delighted in receiving honorary degrees from universities and was very fond of his formal and informal titles such as "The National Regenerator." He also loved to spend money on himself: he was fond of trips to France, from where he would rule via telegram to his subordinates back home. It was during one of these trips that the people of Venezuela decided to kick him out: they took to the streets, demanding his resignation, and Guzmán simply remained in Paris.

No crooked politician hall of fame is complete without Don Porfirio, who held ultimate power in Mexico from 1876 to 1911. Not many others on this list can claim that it took a major revolution to remove them from power, and in this case, the dust would not settle for decades. Porfirio modernized Mexico, adding railroads, new industries and international investment. The country took great leaps forward, but the benefits all went to Diaz' buddies. A former military man, Díaz did not lead a very decadent personal life, but his friends raked in countless pesos off the sweat and blood of Mexico's peasants.

Ah, Cuba in the 1950's. Glitzy hotels, opulent casinos, Frank Sinatra doing shows, all of the Hollywood A-list partying in Havana...it was a great time to be Cuban. If you were one of Batista's buddies, that is. If you were some poor sap working in the sugarcane fields, then life was tougher than ever. Batista and his cronies turned Cuba into a haven for American mobsters, and such figures as Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano made millions. Of course, Batista skimmed his share, and when the Cuban Revolution finally kicked Batista out in 1959, he left a wealthy man.