Rafael Correa and Donald Trump Totally Agree

Former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa wrote a column in Granma that was translated into English and then published at TeleSur. It claims to cover the "strategic challenge" of the Latin American left, but he never actually mentions strategy. Instead, it is Correa's list of grievances. Knowing Correa, there should be no surprise that his two main enemies are the media and the current president Lenín Moreno.

His beef with Moreno is well known and mirrors the Uribe-Santos split in Colombia. It's tough when your chosen successor, your person, decides he has his own brain and does not need to blindly copy what you do.

The attacks on the media, though, are more troubling and Correa has always been in the middle of it. Journalists are being harassed and killed across the region because they threaten the powerful. No matter whether you are left or right, when you hold the presidency then you are powerful and the press has the obligation to follow their leads. Of course, we see the exact same dynamic with Donald Trump here. Correa calls the media the "main opposition" to the left, while Trump says it is the "opposition party" of the right.

It's disheartening to see the Latin American left and United States right converge, but there we are. TeleSur and Fox News are two sides of the same coin. Correa and Trump agree wholeheartedly about their disgust with freedom of the press.