Reply All: #25 Favor Atender

May 23, 2015 7:13 AM

In the United States, the idea of having a conversation with the President is pretty outlandish. But in Latin America, it's a regular occurrence. The most accessible president on Latin American social media is Ecuador's Rafael Correa. But what's it like to get the attention of a head of state when you may not exactly want it? This story was adapted from a Spanish Language version that originally appeared on the radio show Radio Ambulante. Listen to that here: http://radioambulante.org/en/audio-en/correa-vs-crudo SPONSORS: Framebridge: http://framebridge.com (offer code "reply") Stamps.com: http://stamps.com (offer code "reply") Animoto: http://animoto.com (offer code "replyall")
posted by bq (1 comment total)

Just heard this yesterday, one of the better Reply All's that they've done for awhile. It was already long for an episode by their standards, but I think they should have gone into the standards of anonymity and free speech in Latin American countries, or at least gotten some opinions on the matter. Is the reason that Correa can get away with what he's done is that there's no expectation in Ecuador that people can post anonymous criticism online? Or is he just very broadly popular, so he can afford to spend political capital like this? I'd like to hear more about that.
posted by skewed at 8:25 AM on May 23, 2015