17 09/20/17 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> the ground started moving. the windows started to break. people started to leave their homes. this building in front collapsed. amy: we'll go to mexico, where more than 200 people are dead and hundreds more are missing after a massive earthquake. in puerto rico is hit by what could be the most catastphic hurricane to hit the island in a century. it just and landfall. then to healthcare. >> count me in for an idea that gives a patient a voice there would never have under single-payer health care. amy: we will go to washington, d.c., for more on the republicans' latest effort to

repeal and replace the affordable care act. then we'll look at the military crackdown against muslim rohingyas in burma. >> because myanmar has refused access to human rights investigators, the current situation cannot -- sorry, cannot yet be fully assessed, but the situation remains or seems the textbook example of ethnic cleansing. amy: and we go to havana, cuba, where the officials have slammed trump's attack on cuba during his address to the u.n. general assembly, saying trump's comments are disrespectful, unacceptable, and meddling. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in mexico, a massive 7.1-magnitude quake struck 100 miles southeast of mexico city tuesday, collapsing dozens of buildings around the capital

city, trapping school children, workers, and residents beneath the rubble. the government said this morning at least people are dead, but 217 that number is expected to rise as rescuers with sniffer dogs work to cut through collapsed structures. among the dead are least 21 students at a primary school in southern mexico city and 15 worshipers who died during a catholic mass when the earthquake triggered an eruption at a volcano southeast of the city. the disaster struck just hours after an earthquake preparedness drill held to mark the 32nd anniversary of a 1985 earthquake that killed 5000 people. it came less than two weeks after the most powerful earthquake in a century struck near the coast of the southern state of oaxaca, killing at least 90 people and leveling thousands of homes. in the caribbean, hurricane maria struck the u.s. territory of puerto rico this morning as a major category 4 storm, the most intense hurricane landfall in

puerto rico since 1928. the eye of the storm made landfall on the island south headed to san juan, home to 400,000 people. overnight memory a lash the virgin islands threatening to turn rubble and debris left over from hurricane irma into deadly projectiles. in dominica, over 90% of buildings were left damaged or destroyed in what the country's prime minister called mind-boggling devastation. we will have more on hurricane maria and the earthquake in mexico after headlines. president trump gave his first address to the u.n. general assembly tuesday, boasting about the size of the u.s. military, threatening to withdraw from the iran nuclear deal, hinting at an intervention in venezuela, and threatening to totally destroy north korea. the 40-minute speech was reportedly written by trump's senior adviser stephen miller and did not call out other authoritarian countries that are u.s. allies, including egypt, turkey, and saudi arabia. in his sharpest of many threats, trump called north korean leader

kim jong-un "rocket man" and said the u.s. was prepared to destroy an entire nation of 25 million people. pres. trump: the united states has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy north korea. rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime. amy: north korea's ambassador walked out of the general assembly just as trump took the podium. iran's government condemned trump's remarks as shameless and ignorant, while venezuelan president nicolas maduro said from caracas that trump is the tler" of international politics. trump's u.n. speech came a day after the u.s. senate voted 89 to 8 to approve a $700 billion bill to fund u.s. wars and the pentagon. the national defense authorization act for fiscal year 2018 would boost military spending by $80 billion annually, far more than the $54

billion increase president trump asked for. critics note the spending boost is nearly double the cost of a bill sponsored by vermont senator bernie sanders that would make public colleges and universities in the u.s. tuition-free. in syria, at least three hospitals were hit by airstrikes tuesday in the rebel-controlled province of idlib, killing medical workers and cutting off access to healthcare for thousands of residents. residents blamed either russian or syrian warplanes for the attacks. meanwhile, the battle continues in raqqa, where the local journalistic monitoring group raqqa is being slaughtered silently reports u.s.-led coalition airstrikes have struck the al-shomati mosque and a college in raqqa in recent days. in nigeria, the united nations is warning of a new cholera outbreak in borno state that's killed at least 44 people and sickened about 2300 others. the u.n. says the water-borne disease is spreading rapidly due to squalid conditions in camps for the 1.8 million people

who've been displaced by fighting between the government and boko haram. the new outbreak comes as the world health organization says the number of cholera cases in yemen has reached 700,000, with some 40,000 suspected infections in the last week alone. and health groups warn haiti could face new cholera cases due to flooding from hurricanes irma and maria. in burma, the country's de facto leader and nobel peace laureate aung san suu kyi broke her silence tuesday on the plight of the rohingya muslim minority, after more than 400,000 refugees crossed into neighboring bangladesh in recent weeks, fleeing government-sponsored violence. during her address, suu kyi refused to criticize the burmese military, which the united nations has called a "book -- "textbook example of ethnic cleansing." >> i understand many of our friends around the world are concerned of reports of villages

being burned and hordes of refugees fleeing. there have been no conflicts .ince the fifth of september we, too, are concerned. we want to find out what the real problems are. there have been allegations and counter allegations. and we have to listen to all of them. and we have to make sure that these allegations are based on solid evidence before we take action. amy: in response, amnesty international said in a statement -- "aung san suu kyi today demonstrated that she and her government are still burying their heads in the sand over the horrors unfolding in rakhine state. at times, her speech amounted to little more than a mix of untruths and victim blaming." we will have more in the crisis in bournemouth later in the broadcast -- in bournemouth later in the broadcast. turkish president recep tayyip erdogan says president donald trump called him last week to apologize after a grand jury indicted 15 members of erdogan's security detail on felony charges for attacking a group of peaceful protesters in

washington, d.c., last may. video from the scene shows president erdogan looking on during the assault outside the turkish ambassador's residence, which came just after erdogan was welcomed to the white house by president trump. this is president erdogan speaking with "pbs newshour." >> i am very sorry about that. callede, president trump me about a week ago about this issue. he said he was sorry and told me he was going to follow up on this issue when we come to the united states within the framework of an official visit. were insulting us and screaming and shouting. the police failed to give improperly. amy: it's not clear if erdogan gave the order for the attack, which left nine anti-erdogan protesters hospitalized. in privacy news the credit , monitoring company equifax has admitted a security failure left personal information for 143 million people exposed to hackers last march in a data

breach separate from one reported earlier this month. the latest breach involves employee tax records, and threatens to spawn a rash of phony tax returns, as identity thieves may seek to steal tax refunds. a separate breach left the -- public filings show equifax spent $1.1 million last year, and over $500,000 so far this year, lobbying congress for legislation that would limit the amount equifax would be forced to pay over data breaches. and in new york city, three democratic members of congress were among 10 activists arrested at a nonviolent civil disobedience action outside trump tower tuesday, as they protested president trump's plan to rescind daca, an immigration program that shields 800,000 young immigrants from deportation. among those arrested, congress members luis gutierrez of illinois and raul grijalva of arizona. residenceld trump's

here in new york city. we're going to denounce the end of daca and we're going to demand justice for our immigrant community and for himo end his white supremacist and the xenophobic attacks against our community. >> we have to make a point. the point is, we need an agreement to be done immediately. >> where here united. we're not going to stand for bigoted policies that require families apart. that is not what this nation supports. >> that last voice is bigger of the new york city council who was arrested as well, along with commerce men of new york in the nonviolent civil disobedience action outside trump tower. to see democracy now!'s full report on tuesday's protest in support of daca and undocumented dreamers, visit our website democracynow.org. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

juan: and i'm juan gonzalez. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. we begin today's show in mexico, where a massive 7.1-magnitude quake struck 100 miles southeast of mexico city tuesday, collapsing dozens buildings around the capital city and trapping school children, workers, and residents beneath the rubble. at least 217 people are dead and hundreds more are missing. among the dead are least 21 students at a primary school in mexico city and 15 worshipers who died during a catholic mass when the earthquake triggered an eruption at a volcano southeast of the city. amy: the disaster struck just hours after residents participated in an earthquake preparedness drill held to mark the 32nd anniversary of a 1985 earthquake that killed 5000 people. tuesday's quake follows another earthquake less than two weeks ago, which killed at least 90 people and leveled thousands of homes after it struck near the coast of the southern state of oaxaca. r more, weo noto mexico

city to speak th laura carlsen, director of the mexico city-based americas program of the center for international policy. laura, thank you so much for taking time to speak to us. i know you yourself had to relocate. can you describe the scene in exeter city? >> amy, it was a terrifying moment. for anyone who hasn't felt a major earthquake, it is deeply humbling and horrifying experience. i was on the roof of a very old building in the downtown area when we began to feel the movement. the alarm went off almost at the same time the earthquake started because there was no prior warning and the epicenter was so close to mexico city. so we had to go down two flights of fire escape-type stairs. we did not know if we could hold on it was swaying so heavily. by the time he got into the streets, the streets were filled with people. there was glass and dust and the smell of gas in the air. people were crying inconsolably

and hugging each other. you have to remember, there are a lot of people who recall the 1985 earthquake when thousands died and they lost relatives. inthere is a deep trauma mexico city whenever this happens. we had one just about 10 days ago. very, very scared. most of them were in the streets. there was no communication for the most part, so they were worried about relatives and trying to get a hold of loved ones that they did not know what had happened to them. juan: what is the situation in terms of power, electricity, and water and the damage to the infrastructure as far as you can tell? you mention in 1985 earthquake. there was much criticism of the mexican government at the time for its slow and haphazard response to that disaster. >> right. well, there was no electricity. there is still no electricity in a good part of the city.

service.also no phone we finally got some phone service and electricity back to my but that still a crisis for many people. when it is dark, it creates a security situation. the for the most part, things have calmed down quite a bit. the government is trying to avoid criticism this time. but as always, for the most part, it is the people who are going out on the rescue missions and taking control of helping others, taking people into their homes because there are a lot of homeless people now. amy: the building next to you collapsed? five blocks away, entire building collapsed. that is when you have the biggest danger and when people are trying to get the rubble cleared away so they can find out if there are people trapped in there. there are a lot of people that are disappeared. my friends have cousins they're still searching for, unfortunately.

one who died. there is going to be a couple of days here at least of digging out and trying to find more survivors. amy: you arrived a year after the september 19, 1985 earthquake in mexico city. earthquakethat this comes on the 32nd anniversary of the earthquake that killed 5000 people? can you talk about the stories of the people you chronicled from then? >> i think people are really traumatized by that coincidence. they feel there is some kind of terrible fate about it in some way. again, as i mentioned, recall those terrifying memories. when i got here, the city was still in ruins. a large heart of the city was in rubble across the entire city. people were still trying

rebuild, trying to find housing. i began working with the september 19 organization because there was a section of town where the sweatshops were. that particular section was hard hit. the owners would not let the women out of the building. when the rubble -- you could hear cries coming out of the rubble. the owners arrived to rescue livingaterial and left bodies, which caused a huge reaction among the populist. form a women'sto union, an independent union. what happened out of the earthquake, despite the terror and the fear, there was a huge coming together of society that has marked mexican society since then. this capacity to stand up and say, "i'm going to risk my own life." there is always a danger of being out there. "i'm going to risk my own life

and give my own time to try to rescue people." y, theyar, just last night had a call and asked young people to come and take a short training to be a rescue worker. thousands showed up at the university. they are all over the city try to help out with water, with flashlights, and see if they can find any more survivors in the shortest term possible. amy: we want to thank you so much for joining us, laura carlsen, thank you for joining us from mexico city. of course, we will keep people updated. the latest number is something like 217 people dead, but it is believed hundreds of people are missing in this earthquake. in mexico city and beyond. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we turn now to look at hurricane maria, which just made landfall on puerto rico this morning as a category 4 storm, just down from category 5 hurricane. puerto rico's governor ricardo

rosello has called maria "the biggest and potentially most catastrophic hurricane to hit puerto rico in a century." this is the puerto rican resident grisele cruz. this is going to be catastrophic for our island. at this point a many parts of the island, we are without power because of the first storm that came through, irma. we are without water. can you imagine this? catastrophic. we're going to be without services for a long time. amy: hurricane maria has are ready killed at least two people on the island of waterloo and devastated the island of dominica. guadeloupe andterlo devastated the island of dominica. your sister lives there? juan: she was preparing for the hurricane, but injured around 5:00 this morning. it came in an unusual path. they came from the south on the

southeast part of the island. apparently, has gone through the center of the island. most hurricane that hit order ago come from the east and come pathst but this one is a that could create the most destruction. i think 88% of the island is lost electricity from what i understand because it is already a fragile electrical grid the sustained a big hit during hurricane irma. 88%we are seeing as much as of the people have hourly lost their electricity. the question is, the rains. in puerto rico, a big problem with hurricanes, the massive rainfall creates these huge flash floods. that is when most people end up being killed. hopefully, this won't happen. i understand the weather experts are talking about as much as 25 inches of rain in a very short

period of time. amy: do you know how many people are in shelter and did your sister just use not to leave? >> i understand about 11,000 people are in shelters, which is a small number compared to the total population of 3.5 million people. most people are batting down. many of the houses have storm proof windows and are hoping to ride it out. the problem is also the rains could trigger mudslides. many houses are built on the sides of hills. amy: people must be suffering powerful ptsd because you already have them coping with irma. it did not hit puerto rico as hard as expected, but everyone was terrified it would. it did suffer some damage. and now you have this. juan: and this is a direct hit theeas irma sort of glanced island and did not go directly

over it. this is possibly the worst scenario. the biggest hurricane ever in terms of damage to puerto rico was back in 1899 when more than 3000 people were killed in that hurricane. and the only other category 5 hurricane was in 1928. this is an unusual event, even in an island that is prone to hurricanes. amy: thank you. we will continue to cover this as well as hurricane maria has made landfall in puerto rico as this broadcast takes place. when we come back, we go to washington, d.c. republicans last-ditch effort to repeal and replace the affordable care act. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!,

democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we turn now to senate republicans' last-ditch effort to repeal and replace the affordable care act. vice president mike pence and other trump administration officials spent tuesday on capitol hill lobbying republican senators to support the latest health care plan. it's known as the graham-cassidy bill after its main architects, bill cassidy of louisiana and lindsey graham of south carolina. the center on budget and policy priorities says the graham-cassidy bill would cause many millions of people to lose coverage, gut medicaid, eliminate or weaken protections for people with pre-existing conditions, and increase out-of-pocket healthcare costs to individuals, all while showering tax cuts on the wealthiest americans. as the "new york times" editorial board wrote in a piece published tuesday -- "it is hard to overstate the cruelty of the graham-cassidy bill." on tuesday, late-night comedian

jimmy kimmel railed against the republican health care bill. >> i don't know what happened to bill cassidy, but when he was on his publicity tour, he listed his demand for health care bill clearly. these were his words. he said he wants coverage for all, notice commission based on pre-existing conditions, lower premiums for middle-class families, and a lifetime caps. guess what? the new bill does none of those things. and this guy, bill cassidy, just like right to my face. do you believe every american regardless of income should be able to get regular checkups, maternity care, etc., all of those things that people who have health care get in need? >> yep. >> yep is washington for no. there's a new jamaican will test called the light detector test. amy: that is jimmy kimmel, who does a the least, this not find health care funny with his

infant baby son born with heart disease, and the us make us one of his most important issues, just returning to late-night to talk about this bill. an administration official told cnn tuesday that president trump is prepared to sign the graham-cassidy bill, if it reaches trump's desk. but first, republican senators have to muster enough votes to pass the bill by september 30th, when a deadline allowing the senate to pass the legislation by a simple majority expires. as our next guest writes -- "they're close, but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades." alice ollstein is a politics reporter at talking points memo focusing on healthcare. her recent piece is entitled "where things stand with the senate's last-ditch obamacare repeal push." alice, where do they stand? >> like i said, they are close, but i think we should take with a grain of salt that the people saying "oh, we are extremely close was what are the authors of the bill themselves. i think there are some that everyone does the previous effort to repeal the vertical

care act, the so-called skinny repeal bill, will vote for this one. but there's a differen. the previous one was pitched as a way to advance the process to get the conference with the house and to keep making tweaks and improving it. this was presented as a final bill. the clock is ticking. they have to finish this by the end of the month that they want to use the 50 vote threshold. this is it. i think some senators will be scared away by that. "the new york times" is reporting as the bill is structured, many blue states reductions much more in federal assistance to the health care insurance versus the red states that will gain more. it is almost as if it is politically written to hurt the blue states. >> that's right. while pitting against each other might succeed in the senate, it

is a heavier lift in the house rehab representatives of both parties representing a single state. the already have some new york republicans speaking out saying this is bad for hours to -- constituents and i'm pretty nervous. even if this does pass the senate, it could run into trouble and the house for those reasons. this is -- it is about red and blue states, but also about states expand medicaid. we've seen various political leanings do that. this states that did that and have gotten that federal support for expanding medicaid for more low air income people, will see a sharper reduction in this bill. amy: looks like they are being punished for expanding medicaid, which was both democratic and republican governors. speaking of which, both have written a joint letter protesting this bill. ohio,ve john kasich in

governor phil scott, john -- brian sandoval. can you talk about the significance of this letter? >> is important we saw some governors speaking out in the last effort to repeal the affordable care act. it is more important now because this bill is about giving power over health care back to the states, back to those governors. the fact the governors themselves are speaking out and saying "hey, this is a bad idea, and evenf that formula though this gives more decision-making power back to the state, in many cases, gives much less money to cover the population and provide health care." that said, many senators have shown themselves perfectly willing to buck the governor's wishes. bill cassidy is one of them. there was a strong letter from the governor of louisiana

against this bill, and he is not going to change his mind on that. amy: john mccain will since the governor of arizona said he would support this. >> right. he is one to watch. john mccain's gripes about this bill are a lot about process as well a substance. the process they're using to force this bill to the floor before the end of the month is a little crazy. sort of a crude imitation of regular order. they have all of the pieces, but not complete. they're getting a cbo score next week, but he won include information on how many people could lose their health insurance or whether premiums would go out or down under this bill because the cbo does not have time to make that analysis. they're going to have a single hearing, potentially mere days before a vote, and that is in the finance committee. the top democrat, ron wyden, has said he was not consulted at all about setting up the hearing and called it a sham process.

that is not usually what happens in the senate with the villa this magnitude. usually there are many hearings -- ifrkups and getting the bill goes to the floor, it will only get 90 seconds of debate before they immediately go to voting on and then it's because this is -- the whole bill's position as an amendment to the previous health care bill of the senate already passed. amy: let's not forget it has not been cbo scored. the question is, if they would vote on this, one fit of the u.s. budget without the scoring by the congressional budget office. let's also not forget that bernie sanders with 15 cosponsors has introduced a medicare for all bill. alice ollstein, thank you for being with us politics reporter , at talking points memo focusing on healthcare. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez.

we turn now to e humanitarian crisis in burma, where more than 400,000 muslim minority rohingya have fled the country to escape a brutal burmese military operation. according to human rights watch tens of thousands of rohingya homes have been burned to the ground. some 214 rohingya villages in burma have been destroyed. before-and-after satellite photos distributed by human rights watch show wide swaths of rakhine state have been destroyed in recent weeks. last week, the u.n. high commissioner for human rights zeid ra'ad al hussein accused the burmese government of waging a book example of ethnic cleansing. >> last year, i warned the pattern of gross violations of the human rights of the rohingya's adjusted a widespread or systematic attack against the community, possibly amounting to crimes against humanity.

because myanmar has refused access to human rights investigators, the current situation cannot yet -- sorry, cannot yet fully be assessed, but the situation remains or seems a textbook example of ethnic cleansing. juan: on tuesday, human rights watch called on the united nations general assembly to condemn the burmese military operation. burmese nobel peace prize laureate, aung san suu kyi, who is now burma's de-facto president, is facing mounting criticism for her handling of the violence. last year, she attended the united nations general assembly as burma's much esteemed new civilian leader. this year, she has refined from attending the gathering, choosing to avoid questions about the burmese military's crackdown on the rohingya. during a nationally televised speech on tuesday, suu kyi refused to blame the military or address the u.n.'s accusation of ethnic cleansing. >> since the fifth of september,

there have been no armed clashes . nevertheless, we are concerned to hear the number of muslims are fleeing across the border. why thiso find out exodus is happening. we would like to talk to those who have fled as well as -- amy: well, for more, we go now to chicago, illinois where we're joined by azeem ibrahim is the author of the book, "the rohingyas: inside myanmar's hidden genocide." he's a senior fellow at the center for global policy. azeem ibrahim, welcome to democracy now! just a cliff vacation since we use the name "irma" for the state, it was renamed myanmar, why these two different ends people here for the same state. can you talk about the situation of the rohingya's now can also ?om

>> the rohingya have faced wave after wave of violence in the last half century. if you would say go is probably the worst we've ever experienced. been named the most persecuted in the world. over the last few weeks, we have seen over 412,000 rohingya cross forcibly over the border into bangladesh. country like bangladesh pacifica unable to absorb those kinds of numbers. this is exactly what the human rights commissioner said. this is text ethnic cleansing -- textbook ethnic cleansing on a massive scale. juan: some claim the rohingya were not really indigenous to their country, but actually came over in the 1940's. you're done research on that. what have you uncovered? >> this is a claim that is gained a lot of traction in the public mind and myanmar, these

rohingya for all illegal immigrants from bangladesh that came over in 1942. some even put a date on it and said they came over in march 1942 and constructed this term rohingya in this term did not exist before that. all politicians in myanmar, including aung san suu kyi, refuse to use the term " rohingya." she refuses to say the word rohingya." i look at this claim. i dug up documents. some of these dating back to 1824 and 1826 when berm a or myanmar was a british colony. the british did extensive survey that states clearly that one in hkine arels in the ra

origin.gya it does not stand up to the struggles group need. some historians say the rohingya have more than eight centuries of history in that region. narrative unfortunately has gained a lot of traction in the public mind that they are all illegal immigrants from bangladesh. just last week, the chief of army actually said on his facebook page that removing the rohingya from this country is unfinished business from 1942. amy: i want to ask you about burma's de facto leader, aung san suu kyi. silence, she insisted thursday discrimination against muslims. >let me play a clip of what she said. >> all people living in the rahkine state have access to

education and health care services without discrimination. healthcare services are being provided throughout the state, including hard-to-reach areas with new mobile clinics. the government has upgraded 300 schools. the vocational and technical training programs have begun. muslim students also have access to higher education without any discrimination post of amy: aung san suu kyi also addressed criticism that the rohingya are not granted burmese citizenship. >> citizenship, a strategy which specific timeline has been developed to move forward the national verification process. but this is a process which needs cooperation from all communities. in some muslim communities, the leaders have decided that they are not to join in the verification process. we would appreciate it if all friends could persuade them to join in the process because cap

nothing to lose by at. you azeem ibrahim, could explain this process and also talk about the significance of aung san suu kyi, a number of nobel peace prize winners, have called for her peace prize to be revoked. >> aung san suu kyi simply evolved from a campaign into a politician. she is the plea made a political calculation the issue of the rohingya simply not worth utilizing any political capital over, simply no point in her alienating the military or the british clergy. she is went through immense sacrifice and struggle to get to where she is to become leader of our country, and she's not willing to give that up for the human rights of this minority group. the clip you just played in terms of the rohingya having access to health care, education, and verification process for citizenship gek?

that is false. they are confined to these massive concentration camps which they have immense restrictions. this idea to have access to health care is totally untrue. i have seen myself approximately one doctor to about 80,000 people in those camps. approximately 3% attend school. what she's referring to is from 1993. is so complex and absurd and every rohingya us to demonstrate that crosses the border into bangladesh has to produce papers as to [indiscernible] they have to demonstrate where they have lived in men mark, which they can't because their houses have been burned down. they have to demonstrate

identity cards which were never issued. it is essentially a process in terms of trying to pacify the international community. it is telling that her speech was made in english and in many channels it was not translated. this was an attempt to pacify the international community and try to -- this was a delaying tactic on her behalf until the military finishes all of its operations. it is deeply unfortunate she's become a shield for this military action. juan: the rohingya are in effect for stateless people. they have neither citizenship in myanmar or anyplace else, right? >> a recent harvard study before this crisis described the rohingya, described one in eight stateless people on the globe are of rohingya origin. after this crisis, we can essentially say that has gone up quite considerably more. current rate, 30% to 40%

of the rohingya population has been ethnically cleansed into bangladesh. on the current trajectory, we can expect the entire population to be ethnically cleansed by the end of the year. it will probably be no more rohingya in myanmar. the probability of them coming back is a must zero. the houses have been completely destroyed. another myanmar -- i know the myanmar have been watching the borders to make sure they can never come back. amy: more than 420,000 people have signed a addition calling on the nobel committee to revoke aung san suu kyi's peace prize. desmond tutu wrote an open letter to his "julie beloved younger sister" in which he said -- finally, azeem ibrahim, what are the rohingya calling for? what are you calling for?

usually have worked on this issue, study them, wrote a book about this for so long? >> the rohingya want to live and own country, the country of their birth, the country of their indigenous people and have full citizenship of their country. their citizenship was stripped of them in 1982, making them all stateless. they are essentially amongst the crudest of the people you will come across. there's hardly any among some of even a basic education. they are farmers. they are powerless people. the u.n. described them not only is the most persecuted minority in the world, also described them as the most defenseless because there's nobody advocating for them at any level on the international stage. they simply want to be citizens of their own country and live their lives as normal people. amy: we want to thank you for being with us, azeem ibrahim, author of the book "the rohingyas: inside myanmar's hidden genocide." he's a senior fellow at the center for global policy.

he is speaking to us from chicago. when we come back, president trump hit hard against a number cuba inries, including his speech before the u.n. general assembly. we will go to havana to get response and also talk about a new film out called "embargo." stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: singing live at central park summer stage last week. to see more of his performance, you can go to democracynow.org. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: we end today's show by looking at the united states and cuba. on tuesday, speaking to the united nations general assembly,

president trump railed against the cuban government and said the u.s. would not lift its sanctions against cuba. trump's comments were his administration's latest attacks on the cuban government. he has moved to reverse the normalization of relations between the u.s. and cuba and reimpose travel and trade restrictions. secretary of state rex tillerson also says the u.s. may close the embassy over a host of unexplained health problems that embassy workers are suffering, including hearing loss and brain injury. the health problems appear to because by some form of sonic attack. cuban officials deny any involvement and are cooperating with u.s. officials to investigate the incidents. i want to play -- we have it now, trump speaking on tuesday at the general assembly. pres. trump: the united states has stood against the corrupt and destabilizing regime in cuba

, and embraced the enduring dream of the cuban people to live in freedom. my administration recently announced that we will not lift sanctions on the cuban government until it makes fundamental reforms. amy: for more, we go directly to josea, cuba, to speak with pertierra is a cuban attorney based in washington, d.c. he represented elian gonzalez in 2000-2001 and also represented the venezuelan government in its efforts to extradite luis posada carilles. can you talk about this latest comment by president trump and the response in havana where you are? first of all, good morning, amy. it is good to be with you again. we usually find ourselves in strange places. now inna, before in -- havana, before in caracas. president trump's comments are

not surprising. we had been railing against half the worlds population and his own since before he became president. tillerson's comments on sunday that they are considering closing the embassy are troubling, however. backuld be scaling dramatically president obama's moves to normalize as much as possible, diplomatic relations, between the two countries. i can tell you this is a proud country. this latestrvive attempt i and american president to continue to blockade it, but it is a disappointment because obama had gone so far and now trump once to take it all back -- wants to take it all back. amy: we don't know the extent to which trump is going to reverse the executive order of president obama, trying to normalize relations with cuba. they just said they are working

on it, whatever that means. but if you could also comment on this sonic attack and what you understand has taken place with so many people in the u.s. embassy sickened by -- well, it is not clear what. know, themy, you sonic attack, nobody seems to know what was used to cause these hearing problems on the part of american diplomats. i can tell you every time i come back from cuba, i am half deaf because we and cuba seem to yell at each other all the time. we can't week a normal tone of voice. more seriously, -- amy: it is americans and canadians. part of some people -- correct. americans and canadians. there have been attempts over the years by some people to scuttle good relations between the two countries. in 1976, there were secret negotiations going on

between the ford administration and the cuban government. and we know that some cuban exiles and gauged in the worst -- engaged in the worst year of terrorism because they wanted to provoke the cuban government into her response and for a rupture to the secret negotiations. i would not be surprised that anybody was involved in these attacks, it would be somebody in miami or somebody in the united states who did not want normal relations between the two countries. i would be absolutely shocked if it was the government of cuba. president castro is even i -- invited the fbi to come here. he is spoken to the american ambassador. this is unprecedented. l is baffled as american health authorities about this whole thing. juan: we want to look at a new documentary about u.s.-cuba relations called "embargo." it is premiering this week in new york. this is a clip of the trailer

that begins with robert f kennedy, junior, th. of hisather spent most days in the white house and said we had to be good soldiers and show up at school. and if there was a cuban war, the none of us would want to be around afterwards. >> [indiscernible] dad virtually told me nothing about cuba. when castro came in to overthrow batista, my father must've been pretty thrilled, actually, because he could remember batista was not such a good guy. >> we are still being lied to today. this unholy alliance between the

mix of them off yet and the cia still impacting us today. >> at no time has the cia engaged in any political activity that was not approved at the highest level. made it the united states policy to assassinate fidel castro. >> wow. this is not what we bargained for. we just thought we were going to get rid of a corrupt government. amy: for more, we're joined by , director and producer of the documentary "embargo." why did you do this? talk about what these -- what do people in that film clip are saying about this 50 year history? >> first of all, i would to cuba originally in 2002 at senator

cantwell and a group of women from the university of washington. i am an american i grew up during the cuban missile crisis generation and the assassination of president kennedy. those were hidden scars i did not really understand that i had until the day that i met fidel castro in havana. after i met fidel castro, what he said to our group of women, which was kind of shocking to me as an american, he said "i tried to create utopia and i did not succeed and i don't have time to fix it." us all the humility of this man that i had for my entire life. was a monster in this country that i was terrified of. i saw a very different view of that when i went. americans are really allowed to go to cuba in a traditional sense and i came home from that trip and met the people that are in my film, bobby kennedy ,jr., colin powell, colonel will

wilkerson. lucy arnez. father-son,f a daughter story, a generational story. pretty much aimed at young people -- amy: what was desi's involvement? >> we all think it started in 1959. he escaped cuba in 19 33 under batista because his family was in the government and they tried to murder him. they burned his farm. he came to this country, like the cubans they came in 1959, with nothing and built up, you know, what we fell in love with lucy" show.ve juan: your film explores the connection between batista and richard nixon and the cia. what did you find out? >> first of all, i found out there is a link through our american history between the

assassination of kennedy, between watergate, iran-contra all the way up to today. if you until the onion that is the history between the united states and cuba, you're going to find a lot of the links to why we are where we are in the world today. at the end of the film, it does address marco rubio and president trump rolling back the history, back to basically 1962 where we are again talking about nuclear war. and what has changed? amy: what about richard nixon? we know about the kennedys. what is richard nixon's involvement? >> he was for a close to the bush family. when he originally was the vice president, fidel castro had come to the united states in 1960 to meet with eisenhower. eisenhower refused to meet him, according to bobby kennedy, jr.,

because he had a golf game so he gave him to richard nixon. richard nixon refused any assistance to castro and help the revolution go forward after batista had left the country with $400 million and left them completely broke. 's so richard nixon history come all the way through watergate, he worked with raboso and that a bank and miami where they were laundering money. there was so much corruption and bribery between the mob, the cia, and richard nixon. you get the basis -- there's a great book, and author of the movie, that does watergate "the secret history. when you go back, watergate was not about what we thought it was about. it was about a dossier that fidel castro had given to the chilean government. it was about the assassination attempt on his life and when you talk about the bay of pigs, which bobby kennedy in the movie says richard nixon was the

author of and then you talk later about that bay of pigs staying that richard nixon talks about in watergate. they are connected. in the assassination attempts and the cia -- it is a very complicated story. it took me 14 years to tell in the film "embargo." amy: i want to go back to jose pertierra. the significance of what jeri rice found in "embargo" and that history in terms of where we are today? well, amy, the significance is that there is a whole lot of people in the united states who through the years have wanted to better relations between the two countries, but there is an awful lot of other people who have not. right now, cuba has suffered from a terrible hurricane, for example. what cuba-americans should be

doing is helping the cuban people. what the american people should be doing instead of making accusations against cuba, it should be offering an ol;ivive e didhe neighbors do is cuba to the island to suffered from the same hurricanes. but we see a president in the united states who seems to have more enemies than you can shake a stick at. he is the enemy of most of the world and a good part of his own population. he is accusing the cuban government of corruption. there is not a shred of evidence that is true. but there is a whole lot of evidence that he and his cronies are the ones that are corrupt. i would hope the american people resist the trump administration, get rid of it, get somebody sane in the white house again. in thesehere someone, last seconds, that he is responding to -- that even the conservative cuban community,

especially young people, are against the embargo, want to open up relations gekko who is he responding to, president trump? >> well, there are five congressman that are cuban-americans who respond to the interest of the money classes in miami. trump has seemed to have ceded his policy in latin america to the policies of senator markey rubio, who everyone agrees when he was running for president, is nothing more than an empty suit. but it this marco rubio calling the shots on cuba policy, i'm venezuela policy, on mexico policy. really, the united states policy should be sitting in washington. amy: we have to leave it there, jose pertierra and jeri rice. we will do part two after the broadcast. juan, you are speaking in new work and in kansas city. 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

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