Spain's legacy to the world

Spain has bequeathed the world with its art, culture and religion. But there is another gift "Made in Spain" that history books never talk about - corruption

Ok, I'll be the first one to admit: Spain did not invent corruption. Corruption, at least its essence, has been around since the beginning of time. The actual term originates in the middle ages and is defined by Merriam Webster as "the impairment of integrity, virtue or moral principle; inducement to wrong by improper or unlawful means (as bribery)."

Let's face it, as Lord Acton once wrote to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." This quote primarily stemmed from the fact that monarchs and emperors were all absolute rulers. Thus, Caligula Caesar, Pope Alexander VI, Henry VIII and Napoleon to name a few were all corrupt.

But whereas these people were morally vacuous individuals, Spain embraced corruption, developed it into a cottage industry, expanded it on an industrial scale and then exported it.

Need proof? Just take a look at the world around you. Every country Spain has ever colonized, with the exception of Costa Rica and Puerto Rico, is underdeveloped and due primarily to corruption. Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Chile, Paraguay, Argentina, the Philippines are all corrupt countries. Anything, including murder and justice, can be had for a price.

And then there's Cuba. Cuba was the jewel in the Spanish crown that India was to the British crown. And we all know how that ended up.