​It's hard to imagine tweeting at the president and receiving any sort of response. The @BarackObama Twitter account is just anodyne recitations of policy points. This week, the president debuted the @POTUS account, which claims to be the actual Twitter account of the president, but so far, the only person he's tweeted at is Bill Clinton.

But in Latin America, Twitter offers a direct line to heads of state. And no Latin American president is more engaged online than Rafael Correa.

This week on Reply All, Radio Ambulante's Daniel Alarcon tells the story of Crudo Ecuador, an anonymous critic of Correa who gained presidential attention in a way he hadn't bargained for.

According to the US public relations firm Burson-Marsteller, Rafael Correa is the world's second most responsive president on Twitter. Not only does he tweet prolifically, but he spends a lot of time responding to the concerns of his followers.



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In October of 2014, Correa passed a $42 tax on all international online purchases in an effort to prevent Ecuadorians from bypassing their country's economy. Soon after, Correa took a trip to Holland where he was spotted by Ecuadorian immigrants in a shopping mall. The two immigrants posed for a photo with President Correa.

The photo was posted to Facebook and eventually found its way to Crudo Ecuador, a prominent social media satirist, critical of Correa's administration. Crudo turned the photo into a meme by adding this text:

For the rich people (pelucones) who buy things on the Internet and are affecting national production, tax: 42 dollars. They are pelucones who bring things from abroad. We will not allow it. But to be found shopping in a luxurious mall in Europe is priceless.



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Crudo's meme blew up. It reached President Correa who took time out of his weekly televised address to acknowledge the the photo. He explains his trip to the mall:

It was cold, and we went into a department store, but mostly for the heat. You believe me, right? Like always, one brings gifts and all that. But one always forgets one gift. One of my daughter's friends had a birthday and we wanted to visit her. We bought her a little present at the store. I ran into some migrants, who were like "President, take a photo with us!" Perfect. And then they took the "Correa shopping in a luxury mall." Neither luxury mall, nor shopping.

And then, Correa turns his attention to Crudo. He starts to make outlandish claims: Crudo is a paid operative for Correa's political opposition. Crudo used some kind of specialized software to scour the Internet for mentions of Correa and then automatically turn those mentions into a mocking meme. He implores his fans to storm Crudo's website and "react to these stupidities and acts of manipulation."

And then, Correa says this: "Let's see if he's so funny when we know his name."

So what is it like to have the ear of the president when you may not exactly want it? Turns out, it's pretty scary. Hear the rest of the story on this week's episode of Reply All.

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