It is not part of the famous Decalogue. But it should be.
14ymedio, Federico Hernández Aguilar, San Salvador, 3 August 2025 — In recent days, after a lengthy trial that began in 2012, former President Álvaro Uribe Vélez was sentenced to 12 years of house arrest, becoming the first Colombian president to receive a criminal conviction. According to the judge in charge of the case, Uribe is guilty of bribery and procedural fraud, following a lawsuit in which the former president was the initial plaintiff for alleged slander against him.
Beyond the details of the scandal, or whether Uribe has reason to consider himself a “victim of justice,” the truth is that the sentence has exacerbated the conflict between the former president’s supporters and detractors, further polarizing—if possible—the already heated political climate in Colombia.
In Spain, meanwhile, Pedro Sánchez’s government is facing ruin. Allegations of illegal overcharging, inflated public works contracts, money laundering, and even sex trafficking have shaken the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) to its foundations. The bets are now focused on how long Sánchez will endure this storm. The prestigious British magazine, The Economist, has dedicated a catastrophic note to the stubborn PSOE leader: “To restore confidence in Spanish democracy, the Prime Minister should assume his responsibility and step aside. There is no valid reason for him to remain in office.” It couldn’t be said more clearly.
Today, countless Republican voters are demanding transparency in the Epstein case and are loading the dice against Trump.
The dark story of tycoon Jeffrey Epstein, who died in 2019 while serving a prison sentence for sex trafficking of minors, has ended up splashing on the White House for reasons that shouldn’t surprise us, as they feed on the tangle of conspiracy theories that Trump’s own followers, sometimes instigated by him, have concocted with vigorous passion in recent years.
Today, countless Republican voters are demanding transparency in the Epstein case and are loading the dice against the leader who taught them how to redirect neurons through the liver’s ducts. Of course, as in the cases of Uribe and Sánchez, this is not the place to offer a definitive opinion on Donald Trump’s culpability. The only certainty is that the moral bankruptcy of the current political leadership, in most of the world, is manifest and unquestionable.
I think every well-born citizen, wherever he or she lives, would like to see corrupt officials struck by lightning when they approach the state coffers with malicious intent, just as were those who dared to touch the Ark of Yahweh in biblical times. We would like officials who enrich themselves unduly to be punished by an infallible, supreme law, so that they would always remember that the place where public funds are kept is sacred.
Corruption, fraud, and influence peddling are certainly not crimes our societies should tolerate. They divert valuable resources intended for purposes far more noble than lining the pockets of scoundrels. Worse still, they seriously jeopardize the credibility of our institutions and their leaders. Unfortunately, there are still plenty of sleepless anarchists and socialists who take advantage of the unacceptable shortcomings of some public servants to proclaim the end of democracies and propose authoritarian tendencies (which then end up being equally or more repugnant than the replaced leadership).
I think every well-born citizen, wherever he or she lives, would like to see corrupt officials struck by lightning
The Austrian jurist and philosopher Hans Kelsen already warned us in this regard: “The tendency towards clarity is specifically democratic, and when it is lightly stated that certain political inconveniences, especially immoralities and corruption, are more frequent in democracy than in autocracy, a judgment that is too superficial or malevolent of this political form is issued, since these inconveniences occur equally in autocracy, with the only difference being that they go unnoticed because principles prevail there that are opposed to publicity,” that is, to denunciation, to freedom of expression, to the guarantees for and by the truth that liberal systems provide.
You and I, dear reader, have the right to demand that the money we give to the State be converted into public works. You and I have the right to demand that those who dishonored their office and vehemently deceived to cling to power not be protected.
Corruption and lies are highly corrosive: they degrade, undermine, and erode. In addition to contributing to the depravation of politics, they rob citizens of the trust that is essential for institutional systems to function properly. Quality of life suffers irremediably, because everything tends to collapse.
It is therefore our responsibility to demand that corrupt and mendacious individuals be brought down with effective prosecutions and strict laws. Regardless of what ideas they preach, officials who debase their work must be assured that their crimes will never go unpunished
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