05/24/16 05/24/16 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> he is dead. if something happened of my son, myself andt mine -- that families shoes. that verdict is not correct. somebody got to be responsible for that murder. amy: a baltimore police officer is acquitted of all charges in the 2015 death of freddie gray who died of spinal injuries last year in police custody. will anyone be held accountable? four more officers still face trial. we will speak to an attorney for the gray family and a prominent baltimore pastor.

then to honduras. >> we are gathered here today to demand an independent investigation of her murder to end u.s. military aid to honduras and to stand against the coup in 2009 that led to these events. protesters are continuing to push the obama administration to stop funding the honduran military following the assassination of indigenous activist berta caceres. we'll get the latest. then, immigration agents target undocumented students heading to high school. >> i just wanted to express how devastating the event is to families here at riverside high school to have wildin detained. there is so much fear and are committed to because, unfortunately, he is not the only child they have detained.

amy: we will look at the case of wildin acosta who was detained in january as he prepared to drive to high school in durham, north carolina. four months later, he remains locked up, facing deportation to honduras. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in brazil, a key figure in the interim government has resigned after explosive new transcripts revealed how he plotted to oust resilient -- brazilian president dilma rousseff in order to end a corruption investigation that was targeting him. the transcripts, published by brazil's largest newspaper, folha de sao paulo, document a conversation in march, just weeks before brazil's lower house voted in favor of impeaching president rousseff. romero juca, who was then a

senator but became a planning minister after rousseff's ouster, was speaking with a former oil executive, sergio machado. both men have been the subject of the so-called car wash investigation over money corruptionand stay -- and corruption at the state-controlled oil firm petrobras. in the conversation, the men agree that ousting rousseff would be the only way to end the corruption probe. juca notes the impeachment would "end the pressure from the media and other sectors to continue the car wash investigation." he also says he has spoken with military commanders, who are supporting the plan, and who are "monitoring the landless workers movement," which supports the policies of rousseff's party. and juca also says he has secured involvement by justices of the brazilian supreme court, saying "there are only a small number" of justices he has not had access to. writing for the intercept, pulitzer prize-winning journalist glenn greenwald said

-- "the transcripts provide proof for virtually every suspicion and accusation impeachment opponents have long expressed about those plotting to remove dilma from office." on monday, the planning minister said his comments were taken out of context but he would step , down. as brazil's new interim foreign minister visited argentina, protesters gathered in buenos aires to condemn rousseff's ouster as a coup. >> this is a coup which has been made legitimate by the brazilian national congress, but it is not legitimate. it is illegal. it is a coup to put those corrupt criminals in power. amy: a baltimore police officer has been acquitted on all charges for his role in the arrest of freddie gray who died of spinal injuries last year after he was arrested and transported in a police van. officer edward nero faced misdemeanor charges of second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, and two counts of

misconduct in office. a total of six officers were charged -- four were directly charged in gray's death. judge barry williams handed down the verdict in a bench trial on monday, ruling that the state has not met its burden to prove nero's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. the ruling was met with little surprise from the community in a case that many said was the state's weakest. gray family attorney bill murphy reacted to the news. is they areation reacting to this the same way they reacted to everything else. reacting calmly. the judge gave detailed reasons for why he thought the evidence was insufficient and why the laws did not compel conviction in this case. you could not have asked for a better judge to do it. he was the local prosecutor here for many years. he was a federal prosecutor of corrupt cops for many years. in needham is pretty convincingly he was not and would not be swayed by any element of the communities preconceived notions about what

the result both to be. amy: the supreme court has overturned the death sentence of an african-american man sentenced to die by an all-white jury in georgia. timothy tyrone foster was convicted of killing a white woman in 1986. records revealed prosecutors marked the names of african-american jury candidates with a "b" and highlighted in green. the race was circled on questionnaires and all were placed on a list marked "definite no's." in one case, an investigator hired by the prosecution wrote "if it comes down to having to pick one of the black jurors, might be ok." in striking down timothy tyrone foster's death sentence, supreme court chief justice john roberts concluded -- "the focus on race in the prosecution's file plainly demonstrates a concerted effort to keep black prospective jurors off the jury." foster will likely face a reach while.

the supreme court's decision in foster's favor was seven to one, with the sole dissenting voice coming from the court's only african-american justice clarence thomas. yemen, isis has claimed responsibility for an explosion that killed at least 40 yemeni army recruits in the southern city of aden. the attack it recruits as they lined up to enlist. capital of the saudi backed yemeni administration, which is fighting houthi rebels. a british main cluster bomb has been found in the yemeni village, bolstering reports the saudi have had led u.s. backed coalition fighting the houthis has been dropping the weapons. amnesty international found the unexploded on in northern yemen. cluster bombs contain bomblets which fan out over a large area and often fail to explode until civilians pick them up later. greek auorities have begun clearing thousands of stranded refugees from a makeshift camp along the border with macedonia.

at least 8400 people have been camped at idomeni after macedonia restricted and then shut down its border. refugees have sought to remain in the area, hoping to cross with smugglers or wait for the border to reopen so they can continue their route to other parts of europe. but earlier today, hundreds of riot police descended on the camp to evict them and transport them to processing stations further south. president obama sought to drum up support for the trans-pacific partnership trade deal during his visit to vietnam. the pact among 12 pacific rim countries, including vietnam, appears unlikely to pass the u.s. congress before the november election. all three presidential candidates have opposed it among a wave of public opposition. among those who say it is at the expense of health and environmental regulations. but obama said he believed it would one day pass. >> moreover i support cbp

because of its important strategic benefits. vietnam will be less dependent on any one trading partner and enjoy broader ties with more partners, including the united states. amy: later this week, president obama heads to japan. he will become the first sitting u.s. president to visit hiroshima, where the u.s. dropped an atomic bomb toward the end of world war ii. the governor of okinawa, which houses about two-thirds of the 50,000 u.s. troops currently stationed in japan, has requested a meeting with obama. the request by takeshi onaga, who was elected on a platform of removing a u.s. airbase from the island, comes after last week's arrest of former marine for the murder of a japanese woman. for decades, okinawa residents have called for the expulsioof u.s. troops in large part over a history of sexual assaults. the governor spoke on monday. >> over the last several years, we have heard nearly 100 times that will be a full enforcement of discipline and a thorough plan to prevent this from

happening again but the reality is is that nothing has changed. amy: that was the okinawa governor. in austria, a former green party leader has defeated his far-right opponent by a narrow margin in the presidential race. alexander van der bellen won 50.3% of the vote, defeating far-right candidate norbert hofer who won 49.7%. hofer ran on an anti-migrant platform and would have become the first far-right head of state elected in europe since 1945. back in the u.s., the democratic national committee has allowed vermont senator bernie sanders to appoint five members to the committee that authors the party's platform. democrats said clinton was allowed to pick six while sanders picked five, based on the number of popular votes they had each won to date. dnc chair debbie wasserman schultz will choose four members. sanders chose the scholar and racial justice activist cornel west, leading environmentalist and 350.org co-founder bill mckibben, native american

activist deborah parker, minnesota congressmember keith ellison who chairs the progressive caucus, and palestinian rights activist and scholar james zogby. attorneys for an indiana woman sentenced to 20 years in prison for what she says was a miscarriage have asked the indiana court of appeals to overturn her sentence. last year purvi patel was convicted of feticide and neglect of a dependent, becoming the first person in u.s. history sentenced to prison for what the state said was an attempt to end her own pregnancy. patel arrived at a hospital, leading and later acknowledged , disposing of her stillborn fetus in a dumpster. prosecutors accused her of taking abortion-inducing pills, even though there was no evidence of drugs found in her system, and used a discredited float test to argue the fetus was born alive. in a statement, national advocates for pregnant women said --

>> we support ms. patel because we believe that there is no point in pregnancy when a woman should lose her civil and human rights. we know that arresting or bringing criminal charges against people for ending a pregnancy, experiencing a miscarriage or stillbirth, or for being pregnant and giving birth, puts all pregnant people at risk," they said. and the leading anti-nuclear advocate michael mariotte has died at the age of 63. mariotte served as executive director of the nuclear information and resource service for three decades, leading successful campaigns to defeat two nuclear facilities and uphold restrictions on the transportation of radioactive waste. he also co-founded the newspaper the newsper that became the "washington city paper." mariotte died of pancreatic cancer at home in kensington, maryland on may 16. , and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy

now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we begin today's show in baltimore, where a police officer was acquitted on all charges for his role in the arrest of freddie gray who died of spinal injuries last year after he was arrested and transported in a police van. officer edward nero faced misdemeanor charges of second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, and two counts of misconduct in office. a total of six officers were charged -- four were directly charged in gray's death. judge barry williams handed down the verdict in a bench trial on monday, ruling that the state has not met its burden to prove nero's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. the ruling was met with little surprise from the community in a case that many said was the state's weakest, however a few protesters gathered outside of the courthouse and expressed disappointment in the verdict. >> this is not right. that boys back got broke. he is dead. if something happened to my son, i put myself in that families shoe. that is not right. the verdict is not correct.

you should have gotten something. somebody has got to be responsible for that murder. amy: freddie gray died in april from a spinal injury sustained while being transported in the back of a police van. gray's family and attorney say his voice box was crushed and his spine was "80% severed at his neck." nero was one of six officers charged in gray's death. officer william porter was the first one to go to trial, charged with involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, and misconduct in office. in december, judge williams declared a mistrial in porter's case after jurors were unable to reach a verdict on any of the charges after three days of deliberation. now all eyes are on the upcoming trial of officer caesar goodson, the driver of the police van, and the only officer charged with murder in gray's death. four -- for more we're joined by , gray family attorney billy murphy who recently won a $6.4 million settlement from the city of baltimore for the family of freddie gray. also with us is dr. heber brown,

pastor of pleasant hope baptist church and member of baltimore united for change. we welcome you both to democracy now! pastorto begin with heber brown. your response to the equal? -- acquittal? >> as you say, it is no surprise to those of us who recognize that justice in the courts, especially for black folk in this country, is oftentimes more marathon then sprint. and so people here are looking at ways to continue organizing in our local communities. we're not waiting with bated breath for the decision of any judge or jury to determine what justice looks like or should look like in our communities. amy: billy murphy, you're the attorney for the gray family. what was their reaction? >> theirs was the same as it was to the hung jury and the run-up to these trials, and that is

that justice did not have award "tilting" or not guilty, justice is the result of a fair price worth both sides present all of the evidence and the judge makes as here ruling as capable of doing by applying the law and finding the facts. as long as that was done, the family is satisfied because they did not put their fingers on the scale here. they did not think in advance "i want that officer to be found guilty." rather, they let the system do its job. and they had confidence in the system because that a black judge who was exceptionally qualified because he was a former prosecutor of police misconduct for the federal government for six years. and they believed both sides are capable of presenting their case, and they left it up to that designated representative of our community, judge williams , to make the decision. now, it would be different if there was a lack of confidence

in him as the process, but so far the community is exceptionally happy with judge williams handling of the use cases. therefore, confident he is able and willing to administer justice. he also showed the community he was not willing to be swayed by any segment of the community in determining for himself whether or not based on all of the evidence the officers are guilty or not guilty. for that, we all applaud him because judges should be above the pressures of the community. and this is our turn to put the pressure on the system. and we don't want to be in a position where that pressure causes a miscarriage of justice, rather, we want everyone to play their normal role in the normal fashion with exceptional people in charge of the decision. amy: after the not guilty verdict was handed down in the case against officer nero, baltimore bloc, a grassroots coalition, tweeted --

"we do not believe it was mosby's intent to seek justice for freddie gray; truly doing so would mean upsetting the status quo in which she is all too comfortable, and it would mean risking her office's relationship with the corrupt and brutal baltimore police department. the type of illegal arrest that led to freddie gray's death is the same type of arrest that leads to mosby's office prosecuting people like freddie gray every day." pastor heber brown, your thoughts? >> well, i think that is an example of the growing discontent with not only the legal system, but all the systems here in baltimore. mr. murphy is an expert jurist here and has knowledge of the inner workings of how the legal system works, but for everyday people, for lay people like myself who don't have that level of expertise, there is a great frustration with the case of this case and the results of the

case as well as the especially when you consider, amy, those who were charged in vandalizing stores were convicted with great deliver speed but it seems like those who were involved or connected in the death of freddie gray, the process slows down to usand so i think that statement is an example of what i spoke of earlier. people more and more are saying, enough with looking to this legal system or the city hall to provide justice for us, we can work ourselves. so it baltimore united for change involved, organizing and building for power. what that means on the ground is, establishing black like organizations, supporting black led organizations from public policy think tanks to freedom schools to solidarity economies and cooperative economics and even an alternative food system. we are taking the role and responsibility to define what justice should look like for us

instead of waiting for the systems to tell us what justice should look like. amy: while none of the six officers have been found guilty in the death of freddie gray, allen bullock, an 18-year-old who turned himself in for participating in last year's uprising, pleaded guilty in february. he agreed to a deal that included a 12-year prison sentence with all but six months suspended, five years' probation after serving that term, 400 hours of community service, and he has to earn his high school equivalency certificate. bullock had faced a bond of $500,000, higher than any of the officers. this is allen's stepfather maurice hawkins and mother bobbi smallwood last year reacting to -- speaking to the guardian. >> that is my son on top of the police car with the cone in his hand hitting the window. we don't condone that and we believe in peace. i just want justice to be held and not to be in looked at as a career criminal or a thug. child.on is not an evil

he is not someone that just goes round and hurts people. theas really upset about policeman walking free. you gave my son $500,000 they'll for breaking a police window and you gave these cops nothing for murder? that is crazy. that is not fair. >> that is not justice. amy: gray family attorney billy murphy, your response? >> i think the have a legitimate grievance. and i think there is disparity in the system for bail. i think judges are more afraid than ever not to give these ridiculously high bails, which is totally unjustifiable. neither the officer nor this kid deserved a bail anywhere near that, and indeed, you can make an argument that both should have been released on their own recognizance without having their families burdened by the

bail system where they no longer have the resources left to hire a lawyer after they get the person out on bail. this is been a problem for a long time. we fought hard against it. many of us got together to help a professor at the university of maryland to assure that lawyers are present at bail hearings because up until last year, it wasn't done in maryland. so there are lots of problems with this criminal justice system that make the outcomes him and give the cases, far too many, totally unfair. i agree with every thing that she said. i don't think it is one of the other, i think both were inappropriately -- bails are set inappropriately in both cases. why $1 million bill for police officer who is not going anywhere? there is no place for him to go. he's not going to commit a crime while he is out on bail, because he is not on duty. why is it so high for a kid like this in an incident that is seemingly so minor? why so high suspended sentence

when the mother's point of view and fathers point of you are correct? until we strain out this excessive sentencing and the excessive bails, the system will be far from fair -- not only to black people, but to poor people across the country, and especially in maryland, which is a progressive state, relatively speaking. there is a lot of work to do on this system. neareforms are nowhere complete. amy: pastor brown, i want your response to jean rhein, president of the baltimore city fraternal order of police who issued a statement monday in response to the nero verdict. he said in part -- "officer nero is relieved that for him, this nightmare is nearing an end. being falsely charged with a crime, and being prosecuted for reasons that have nothing to do with justice, is a horror that no person should ever have to endure. none of these officers did anything wrong. the state attorney's office responded to the riots and violence in baltimore by rushing to charge these officers rashly

and without any meaningful investigation." pastor brown, your response? >> the nightmare continues for black people in baltimore. the nine or has been generations long. everybody knows the name of freddie gray now. people don't know the name of thomas probus, a black man killed by baltimore city police officer in the 1940's. many of you don't know the name of tyrone west, a black man killed by 12 to 15 baltimore city police officers just a couple of years ago. while he might be glad the nightmares over for officer nero, we are living in a nightmare. when you have one and for baltimore's living in a food desert, young people who go to schools that have led in the pipes in the water so they cannot drink from the water fountains, when you unemployment, record unemployment highs, developers who get tax breaks from city hall while our communities are suffering and falling apart, our nightmare continues and will continue. we're not waiting anymore for any wizard of oz in city of paul or anyone to do it for us.

i am part of a growing group of people who have a frustration with the system as it stands, not waiting around but using what god has given us to build the systems and structures we need and to build for a power in baltimore. because waiting for any of these systems is not going to work. >> by the way, we both speak from personal experience with the system. i was brutalized and arrested in the process of were -- i was thrown faced first into a set of lockers by an officer who , purely me for nothing because of my aggressive representation of someone in front of the commissioner. fortunately, i was acquitted. but i had to hire a lawyer and i had to fight against that unfair and unnecessary charge against me. incidentally, instead of my being released on my owner cognizance, the commissioner put a $5,000 bail on me and i said, why did you do that? you know i'm not going anywhere.

she said, frankly, mr. murphy -- a white woman -- i think you are a danger to the community. well, you know, there it is. i am a lawyer. what other danger do i present? amy: last year i spoke with kevin moore, who lives in the gilmor housing projects and actually filmed part of the arrest of his friend freddie gray. moore talked about the relationship between the community and the police. >> i have been through so much personally in my life in west baltimore, just a hard place to grow up income you know? all weurvival is concentrate on. in light of that, it is like, what do you do when you are placed in a position where you have people that are supposed to come and serve and protect in the police, right, but you can't trust them because they brutalized people? they heard people, they dehumanize people.

you know what i am saying? it is very belittling to me when you say, we're supposed to trust you when you can come out with the police bill of rights and protect these animals from the very laws that they break. it is amazing to me. amy: pastor heber brown, your response as well as we wrap up on this issue, what the schedule is now of the trials and what is happening in the community. >> yeah, well, we're continuing to organize in the community and continuing the tradition of what our ancestors and elders have done. they created spaces and institutions to advance what they feel to be their priorities and to address the material conditions of their communities from the mississippi freedom democratic party to the black panther survival programs to their freedom schools of 1964. we come from a long tradition of people who find creative ways to

address our material conditions. we will continue to observe and keep eyes on what is going on in the legal structure, but as i said earlier, we're not holding our breath and baltimore. we're going to continue to activities onn solidarity economies, freedom schools, public policy think tanks, alternative food systems, and so much for ourselves -- so much more for ourselves. we believe the system is wicked and immoral and grossly and woefully deficient. we will not wait anymore for it to provide for us what we know we have the right to. >> i agree 100% with everything he just said. don't let the smile full you. amy: billy murphy, i want to ask you about a different issue. the issue of flint, michigan. in february, you brought a federal class-action lawsuit against state and local officials in flint over lead contamination of the city's drinking water. can you tell us the state of whos class-action suit,

you're representing, and what you expect to come out of it? .> yes, it was a simple suit it was to get a refund for all of the water bills that had been paid for the two years that the water was undrinkable and otherwise unusable. absolutely fair case. we brought it under the federal constitution because we alleged that the government interfered with the contract of the citizens of flint had with their city that the water would come from the detroit, michigan, source, which is clean, and instead, the special manager out there who took over the entire government by governmental fiat, switched the water supply on the citizens without making the proper precautions, making the water and draggable. that is the suit we filed in michigan. amy: i want to thank you both for being with us. billy murphy is the attorney for

the gray family, for freddie gray's family who was killed in april 2015 in police custody. six police officers are on trial. one had a mistrial, now another has acquitted. and because with a mistrial, there are still five trials to go. also, billy murphy is representing the class-action suit dealing with the contamination of flint's water supply. dr. heber brown, pastor of pleasant hope baptist church and -- in baltimore. will talkme back, we about honduras. who is been arrested for the death of the world-renowned ,nvironmentalist berta caceres stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!,

democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the department of homeland security secretary jeh johnson has returned from a visit to tegucigalpa, honduras, where he that with the president to discuss migration and security. johnson reiterated the united states pledged to continue providing hundreds of millions forollars in pledge prosperity plan. according to the white house out of the $750 million slated for honduras, l summit or, guatemala, $222 million -- el salvador, and guatemala, $222 million is allocated for international narcotics control and law enforcement, while an additional $30 million is allocated for foreign military financing and military education and training. johnson's visit comes as a growing number of activists in honduras and in the united states are calling on the united states to stop funding the honduran military over accusations that state security forces have been involved in

human rights violations, extrajudicial killings -- and the murder of internationally renowned environmentalist berta caceres. before her death, berta and her organization copinh was long the target of repression by elite honduran security forces and paramilitary organizations. only hours before she was killed, berta gave a workshop in her hometown of la esperanza, where she accused the military, including the u.s.-funded special forces tigres unit, of working on behalf of international corporations. >> we have to understand why these projects are so important. the government has all of its institutions at the service of these companies because they are , because these businesses are capable of moving anti-terrorism command is like the tgires, the national police, security guards, hitmen, etc. amy: that was berta caceres,

criticizing the honduran military. only hours, berta was killed in her home by armed gunmen. earlier this month, four people were arrested in connection with her murder -- including army major mariano diaz chavez and edilson duarte meza, who is reportedly a retired captain. press accounts report diaz chavez graduated from the prestigious u.s. ranger-supported honduran special-forces course teson -- raising questions about whether u.s.-trained were involved in carrying out berta's murder, and her family continues to call for an indepennt investigation into her death. for more we're joined by annie bird. she's the director of rights and ecology, a project of the center for political ecology, which tracks the connections between economic and development policy and human rights violations. annie, welcome back to democracy now! can you talk about the latest in honduras, what you understand the homeland security secretary was doing in honduras and the latest on those arrested for caceres' murder?

>> secretary johnson was visiting honduras to witness the from the deportees united states to honduras. he said since october of last year, over 22,000 people have been deported to honduras and el salvador, so he was witnessing a return of some of those people. , and what weem is see in the case of berta caceres , the u.s. entities to support onomic pies continu to support the economicolicies as well as military and security forces involved in human rights abuses and are whether perceived by the population -- widely perceived by t population to be part of the violence and there are many cases that illustrate this. and at the service of organized interested or you

know, generating so much instability and violence. amy: annie bird, can you talk about who has been arrested for berta caceres' murder? go through each person. >> two of the people were employees of a hydroelectric to moment company -- electric company, which was building the agua zarca dam. she had protested against the dam. environmental engineer a the narrative by the public prosecutor's office, rodriguez, with the help of another man who ben sheets of security for the same company but was also a retired military officer, hired an active-duty military police instructor --

who you mentioned, mariano diaz themz, to help with murder. he then hired three hitmen, two of which the alleged hitmen have been arrested and worked when brothers. wasfirst one, adelson, aitially reported to be retired military officer also. but then as the reporting continued the next few days, despite the spokesman for the honduran military having affirmed he was not a retired captain, after a few days, they began reporting yet not been a military officer. and in his twin brother was also arrested.

though at the time, it was not reported. he was only reported to have been arrested after his twin brother pleaded not guilty. and then prosecutors then prosecuted him for in construction to the murder. there is a third alleged material author who is currently, you know, being looked for by police. amy: can you talk about the link between major chavez, one of those arrested, and the u.s. ranger supported honduran special forces course called teson? reportedlyor diaz is to have served in iraq much a work for -- two of worked for peacekeeping missions and also to have completed this elite intense training program called the teson training program, the rangers help to start.

it is almost undoubted that he has received is some point must military training probably on multiple occasions. this also raises concerns because in the thesis that i described of the company hiring him as a rogue officer to carry out these assassinations, people -- there is large concern that what that narrative does is remove the crime from the chain of command and that this killing may well actually have been a crime of the state. so when that -- that these says is prosecutor, stick a protecting people higher in the military. one of the flags raised is major diaz was a rising star in the military. he was among the military elite and for him to do a rogue operation like this is not -- does not seem very likely. amy: i would like to turn to the

daughterberta caceres' olivia who was on democracy now! in march. >> today we are here to demand justice and a nation for the crime of the death of my mother,. i am her oldest daughter and we have launched a struggle, a battle at the international level to exert pressure in order to demand that the aid agencies that fund these multinational corporations that come to plunder to exterminate our blood and spill our our territories, to greet territorial conflicts, that they stop being financed. and that they lead our country because we don't want international companies that come to finance debt, blood, and extermination in our communities. amy: annie bird, i was wondering if you could respond to this and also sent berta caceres's assassination, coping has reported multiple attacks, including the murder of nelson

garcia, who we have reported on. what happened to nelson? what are these other attacks? and how this linking up with the prosecution of those that the state is accusing of being involved with berta's murder? >> i think bolivia's comments are very important that -- livia's, it's a very important. it comes at the expense of the river. people having the right to the river. the day of the killings -- the day of the arrest, the very day that an active-duty military officer was arrested, the honduran president began participating in a central america energy summit with a different presidents of central america and joe biden in the white house and, you know, usaid

and the state department affirmed their commitment and even announced increased commitment to funding energy projects like the dam in honduras when the justice system is absolutely dysfunctional. there is no way protecting people from defending their basic rights to their means of livelihood, to their land and there are dozens of projects like this been promoted throughout the country. palm oil production, hydroelectric dams, mines which are taking away people's access to a way of making a life for themselves and supporting their families, which is obviously something that fuels migration and the need to migrate. and as you mentioned in the introduction of the program, confirming their commitment to the alliance with prosperity, and, you know, there's this $750

million commitment from the white house. but in addition, $22 billion in investment protected from the development banks. the development banks are funding the ifc, the private sector lending arm of the world about- i went with berta a year ago to present a complaint against 49 projects that would take livelihood away present anities, to complaint to the wing of the world bank saying against these projects. with the expectation that many of these are likely receiving funding from the world bank because so much of their money is going into the private -- into private banks and investment funds. ifc's answer was, they cannot tell if the ifc's money is ending up funding it any of these almost 50 projects that she denounced because there is not control and the world bank is not able to determine,

really, whether it is complying with its mandate of eliminating poverty and promoting shared prosperity. in fact, communities across honduras are saying the investments are instead generating poverty and inequality and increased inequality. amy: we're going to be wrapping up in a minute and i wanted to quickly ask about the roles of activist in berta's families for the u.s. to cut off military funding to the honduran government. >> right. so they have called for the cutoff of military funding and also the funding to these kinds of development projects. they continue to demand the cut off of military and security thinks and, you know, i the arrests earlier this month showed the honduran secured forces are deeply involved, you

know, in human rights abuses. amy: finally, i want to get your response to our colleague democracy now!'s one gonzalez raising the issue of honduras with hillary clinton during a meeting with the "new york daily news" editorial board. he asked about hillary clinton's decision as secretary of state in 2009 to not declare the ouster of then-president of honduras zelaya coup. do you have any concerns about the role that you played in that particular situation? again try to put this in context. or the national legislature in honduras and the national judiciary actually

followed the law in removing president zelaya. now, i did not like the way it looked or the way they did it, but they had a very strong argument that they had followed the constitution and the legal president. as you know, they really undercut the argument by spiriting him out of the country in his pajamas, were they sent the military you know to take him out of his bed and get him out of the country. mixeds began as a very and difficult situation. if the united states government declares a coup, you merely have to shut off all aid, including the military and made -- humanitarian aid, development aid, the support that we were providing at that time for a lot of very poor people. and that triggers a legal

necessity. there's no way to get around it. so our assessment was, we will just make the situation worse by punishing the honduran people if we declare a coup and we immediately have to stop all aid for the people, but we should try to stop anything that the government could take advantage of without calling it a coup. amy: that is presidential candidate hillary clinton. she was secretary of state at the time of the coup against zelaya. annie bird, your response to what she said? tothere is no other way categorize what happened in 2009 other than a military coup with no legal basis. the u.s. is not willing to cut off assistance to honduras, and that is the only reason it was not called a military coup. today -- at the time, berta caceres called for the assistance we cut off and today her children are calling for it

u.s. cut off because the assistance is actually adding fuel to the fire and stoking the economic interests of the people behind the coup, supporting -- investing not in the poor, but in the wealthy and the corrupt sectors of honduras that are, you know, generating so much poverty and violence. amy: i want to thank you very much, annie bird, for joining us director of rights and ecology, , a project of the center for political ecology. goinge come back, we are to go to the story of a high school student in north carolina who was picked up on his way to school and targeted for deportation. he has remained in jail for many months. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: performing live here in our democracy now! studios. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. are immigration agents targeting undocumented students? that's what students at riverside high school in durham, north carolina are saying as , they gather on capitol hill today to demand the release of their undocumented classmate, 19-year-old wildin acosta. acosta was detained by immigration agents in january while he was on his way to class. he had no criminal record and was in his final semester of high school. his family is from olancho, honduras one of the most violent , regions in a country with one of the highest murder rates in the world. wildin was scheduled to be deported in march, but his teachers and peers gathered together, held vigils, lobbied their local representatives, and took to social media with hashtags like #freewildin and #educationnotdeportation. this is one of his supporters, riverside high school teacher ellen holmes. >> my name is ellen holmes. i have worked with wildin acosta who was sitting by immigration

-- detained by immigration. i want to express how devastating it is w to haveildin detained. i also think there's so much fear in our communities, but unfortunately he is not the only child that they have detained. his grading absences and dropouts in our schools. it is creating just a huge feeling of fear inside our school and inside our community. i'm asking that we stop taking children and we return them to their families. amy: wildin acosta remains detained in georgia's notorious stewart detention center. his case is in the appeals process and has gained the attention of lawmakers like democratic representative g.k. butterfield of north carolina, but his supporters fear he could be deported any day. wildin is one of several teens in north carolina -- sometimes referred to as the "nc6" -- who has been targeted by immigrations customs and

enforcement agents as part of the obama administration's so-called operation border guardian. to washington, d.c., where we're joined by two guests. axel herrera is a senior at riverside high school in durham, north carolina. wildin acosta was a student at the same school. and paromita shah is the associate director of the national immigration project of the national lawyers guild. welcome to democracy now! paromita shah, talk about what happened on the day that wildin was picked up. where was he and what are the grounds for him being imprisoned from january right through now? we're talking, what, five months? >> the story began a couple of years ago when wildin commended the country as a minor. froms fleeing persecution honduras and he came into the united states. he was detained by customs and border patrol and eventually he

finally made his way to his mother and his family in north carolina where he explored how he could apply for asylum. but, you know, in north carolina and georgia, these cases are extremely difficult to make. judges have a terribly low grant rate. something beyond anything else in the country, 1%. and he just did not do the asylum case. he took an order of deportation. after that, ice agents were going to go six months later, showed up in a predawn raid at his house while he was on his way to school. they arrested him in front of his mother, threw him to the ground, and took him to stewart immigration detention center where he has been for the last -- over 90 days now. amy: i want to turn to wildin's mother who spoke to wtvd-tv last month. >> i love him.

he is my life, my heart, and i miss him. it is like they have taken my heart away. amy: axel herrera, you are a senior at riverside high school, but we are talking to not and durham were a good high school, but in d.c. why are you in the nation's capital? >> well, the importance of this issue has grown tremendously, not just in riverside, but other schools in our community and around. -- durham. we have talked to representatives, made calls, sent letters come and gotten support from a few of our congressmen in north carolina to ask for the release, but we have not had the response we wanted, which is to have wildin have 6's back in other nc her schools. we're coming here to talk to representatives, talk to congressman about this issue and have them released. that is our goal. amy: is wildin's situation the same as yours? >> somewhat.

i came here a lot younger. i was seven. i came in 2005. i am also from honduras and many of my family in honduras have experienced simla situations that wildin has. the only difference i could say from maybe me being in a place of wildin, i was able to receive daca, and that status gives me a legal opportunity to stay here. without that, i could potentially be in the same situation as him in the process of deportation. director month, ice sarah saldana defended operation border guardian. member democratic, as gerry connolly of virginia questioning her. >> so a student on the way just goal, supreme court ruled respective of status, if you are a student, you show up, you are entitled to a public education, correct?

>> i'm not sure. i take your word for it. >> that is case law. that was the supreme court ruling. amy: that was a hearing ice for the head. if you would respond to, paromita shah, to talk about this operation guardian. "the new york times" has a very strong editorial talking about the story of deporting people to recent migrants to el salvador, guatemala, hundreds, saying though the numbers are small, the way they are treated poses a critical moral test for the administration, a test it is failing. these countries the most violent in the hemisphere. >> they have elected to pursue this policy of deterrence where

they think engaging in brutal, aggressive tactics against communities rounding people up for deportation, people they call priorities under this administration, is the way they think that we should be dealing with people fleeing persecution. amy: and operation border guardian? >> it is that exactly. it began in january 23rd and it was a targeted operation, supposedly, that is what dhs says, that was levied against people who came from those countries as minors him and then turned 18 years old or 19 years old in the united states. that was the focus of operation borderuardian. he did not take into account whether people had try to apply for asylum. it does not take into account whether people had good confident counsel or what people were actually fleeing. it really is simply a deportation program that is focused on -- joint amy: is

there any hope of wildin acosta jailng out, getting out of or he is been held for a number of months now? or what is the chance is that he won't be deported? >> we have been asking for his release for a long time. you should be released. i mean, 90 days by any standard is an egregious amount of time to be spinning and attention and we don't know. that is why we are here. we're pressuring groups, the students, the teachers, the activists in north carolina. amy: i want to thank you for being with us, paromita shah and axel herrera. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

(music playing) ♪ so look at that beautiful creamy burrata i have here. it just came straight out of the oven. i know you're going to love it. i'm just going to put a little fresh pesto on it, and i have some prosciutto ham that i'm putting on top. it's easy to eat; you will love it. so once we're at that stage, i'm going to flip over the bread, put two little picks in here, cut it in half delicately, and you see how beautiful and nice the sandwich is. ♪ here we go. on today's show, i have some great brunch items that i will share with you. first i'll make a pear galette, or a free-form tart, made with a golden brioche dough, pastry cream and deliciously poached pears.