Bi-Presidential Politics

Earlier this evening, I caught parts of the meeting between President Rafael Correa and President Hugo Chavez on bilateral relations between Ecuador and Venezuela respectively. There were many clips that featured Chavez's praise of Ecuador and the country's push for agricultural sovereignty and rich natural resources. Chavez, afterall, is visiting Ecuador (Salinas, Ecuador to be exact), not the other way around so it makes sense that he is trying to make nice.


credit: Noticia al Dia

But, from what I have read about them, both Correa and Chavez are already on good terms. They consider each other personal friends outside of politics. And I can definitely tell from their interaction and banter during the meeting. For some reason, news shows focused on clips of Correa's snickering and looking a tad bit bored while Chavez appeared very agreeable. I guess they were interested in showing the human side of the President or maybe I was watching a very bias broadcast against Correa... I couldn't tell because I was mainly enamored with with how extremely light-hearted Chavez came off. He was shown laughing, practically giggling at times. My host mother caught his really childish chuckle and couldn't stop laughing herself. For all of Chavez's portrayal in American media as a "radical socialist dictator," this more forbearing perspective from Latin American news sources was very intriguing.


Awwwwwwww!
credit: Tierra Noticia (España)