Correa was categorical in stating that health cannot be a commodity, especially in times of the COVID-19 pandemic. | Photo: Telam

Brussels, July 6 (RHC)-- The former president of Ecuador Rafael Correa called on Monday for "greater articulation among Latin American leaders," while strongly criticizing the role of the regional media in their role as disseminators of information.

Correa noted that had he been able to run in last February's elections in his country, he would have prevailed over current Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso.  "They prevented me from returning to the country.  But if I had returned, we would have easily won the presidential elections," he said.

Despite having affirmed that "progressivism remains as an important political force" in Latin America, after "a furious anti-democratic onslaught of the right wing since 2014," the former Ecuadorian president acknowledged that "there is a need for greater articulation among the leaders" of the Southern Cone.

Correa mentioned that the progressive candidate in the elections, Andres Arauz, could not beat Lasso due to his "own mistakes" of his political party and that they lost "against the worst candidate"; while he criticized the role of Justice and the media in the region.  In this sense, he highlighted the suspension of the cases against the former president of Brazil Luis Inacio Lula da Silva in the Brazilian Justice.

Rafael Correa added: "What happened in Brazil should serve as a lesson for the groups that practice lawfare (political warfare by judicial and media means against Latin American leaders), and for the hegemonic press," said Correa and remarked that "as long as we do not resolve the media issue, we will not have true democracy in Latin America. We need information and truth."

The former president also said: "There are things that cannot be bought and sold, such as health," and that, although he said he is aware that the world is "ruled by power relations," the pandemic taught us all that in order to be well, "the other has to be well, the poor have to be well, everyone has to be in good health."

In this regard, he considered "totally correct what Joe Biden is doing" with the taxes on large U.S. companies, but clarified that he is not betting on a change in the geopolitical position of the United States in relation to Latin America, with the examples of the blockade of Cuba and the illegal sanctions against Venezuela as the most notorious examples of this new administration in the White House.

For the sake of this articulation between leaders of the Latin American left, on June 10th, with Correa himself as honorary president, the Eloy Alfaro Institute for Democracy (IDEAL) was created, an organization whose purpose is to generate leadership, research and create knowledge and exchange of successful governance practices.