PUBLIC OFFICIALS AND THEIR “CORRUPT MANEUVERS”: CORRUPTION ON THE NORTHERN BORDER OF CHILE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 20TH CENTURY

The presence of Chilean State in the Province of Tacna, particularly in border areas, was in charge of hundreds of public officials, especially in minor positions that could make a homeland in precarious working and salary conditions Despite the narrative that considers the probity of public officials as a characteristic of the Chilean ethos that has been maintained throughout much of the 20th century, the administrative and newspaper documentation of the province of Tacna shows that complaints about corruption, abuses, and smuggling involving the border police and border guards were practices that were far from exceptional in the northern region. This article aims to analyze the issue of corruption through police and customs officials in the province of Tacna in the first decades of the 20th century in the context of the economic difficulties that affected the country’s northern provinces. Thus, it seeks to contribute to completing the history of probity and corruption in Chile and decentralize studies regarding the corruption of public officials outside the capital space.