emergency. In February 2020, before the declaration of a health of possible corruption and coordinated actions with the Office emergency, a presidential decree had imposed restrictions on of the Comptroller General of the Republic and the Office of the the recruitment of new staff in the federal government. In those Attorney General of the Nation to provide a response that would countries where competitive recruitment processes were being instill trust among the citizens with respect to the state’s actions undertaken or where the status of temporary staff was being to protect government resources. regularized, the institutions in charge continued following their plans and assignments—as in Colombia and Peru—and hired The population is not indifferent to this type of action undertaken staff on a regular basis. One exception was Chile, where the by government agencies in response to breaches of the principle government adopted an emergency recruitment program to of integrity. When cases of corruption or gross negligence in employ 9,000 additional health professionals and technicians high-profile institutions that are important to the population are to meet the requirements of higher demand for health services. disclosed, public trust in the government is severely impacted, which in turn brings harm to governance. The timeliness and The demand for the activities of the institutions in charge of visibility of the response also influences public perceptions. An ensuring public integrity, however, was quite distinct. In most example of the above can be seen when protection supplies cases, there was a demand for action, whether preventive or were purchased for the Peruvian police force: in April 2020, the reactive, in response to criticism and whistleblowing. At the start Ministry of Justice investigated direct purchases of protection of the pandemic, in several countries consulted, government equipment by staff of the National Police, with evidence of measures to protect the population were criticized, to differing overpricing, from companies not engaged in supplying the above- degrees, by several stakeholders, which is characteristic of mentioned equipment. It was one of the many cases involving healthy democracies. In many cases, the criticism paved the senior commanders and officers of the institution. This occurred way for opportunities to participate, provide information, and in August 2020 after more than 400 police officers had already improve the situation analysis, which led to a better response died of COVID-19, an affair that led to radical repudiation and from the state. In other cases, the criticism challenged, through disparagement of the government by the Peruvian population. institutional media, the capability of authorities, and that was the case in Chile, where charges on constitutional grounds Furthermore, in several countries, lower levels of oversight at were filed against the minister of health at the time. subnational levels were clearly evident. In Colombia, although there were national authorities investigated for corruption, many But in most countries consulted, questions were raised about of the whistle-blowing cases processed by the Office of the the uprightness of government procedures and there were even Prosecutor General of the Republic brought charges against reports of illegality in procurement and distribution processes subnational authorities (governors and mayors) who were involving medical and protection supplies, as a result of which involved in decisions for the purchase of medical supplies and the integrity of certain public institutions was targeted for for the irregular distribution of resources. The same happened in investigation. Brazil, and it is assumed that these failings are common to most of the region’s countries. The weakness of internal and external In this type of case, the ethical leadership signals transmitted oversight at the subnational level, as well as organizational by authorities at the head of government and senior authorities environments with a more vulnerable culture of public integrity, in charge of the institutions involved turn out to be of vital exposes civil servants to illegitimate pressure from corrupt importance to inspire trust or prevent mistrust from spreading decision makers and deprives citizens of the urgent services that among the public. In Argentina, for example, in response to the state must provide in times of crisis. whistleblowing about government procurement of allegedly overpriced medical supplies, the President of the Republic ordered measures declaring the suspect procurement null and void. Furthermore, the staff involved in managing said procurement were dismissed, and monitoring of operations was tightened to prevent further difficulties. In Colombia, external oversight authorities, who perform a key role in promoting and protecting government integrity, responded to a call for action from the public, which required them to work in a coordinated fashion. The Office of the Prosecutor General of the Nation received more than 1,000 whistle-blowing reports Cultivating a culture of integrity in the civil service in times of crisis 31