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To the Editor:
The warm United States welcome to Teodoro Nguema Obiang, the forest and agriculture minister Equatorial Guinea and the son of its president, is appalling. There are strong reasons to keep corrupt officials and their family members out of the United States.
Corruption is commonly correlated with war. Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index 2009 shows that the countries with the worst perceived level of corruption are also conflict-ridden.
The countries with the least perceived corruption have seen no wars on their soil in decades.
The United States should take every step it can to interrupt the conflict-corruption downward spiral to prevent future wars and mitigate against continuing fighting. Each denial of a visa because of credible evidence of corruption is one small step forward. Each granting of such a visa is a giant leap backward.
If we condone corruption, we are implicated in the wars or military juntas that will spring up where it runs rampant.
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