the deadly warehouse fire in oakland. cuba bids farewell to fidel castro. and in our signature segment: >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. judy and josh weston. the cheryl and philip milstein family. the john and helen glessner family trust-- supporting trustworthy journalism that informs and inspires. sue and edgar wachenheim, iii. barbara hope zuckerberg. corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual

and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. from the tisch wnet studios at lincoln center in new york, alison stewart. >> stewart: good evening and thanks for joining us. officials in oakland, california said earlier today that the death toll from this weekend's tragic warehouse fire is at least 30 people, and is expected to rise as they find more victims. several dozen people initially reported "missing" have been reunited with their families, but officials are asking relatives of the missing to save items that might have dna samples of their loved ones. emergency responders are working in 12-hour shifts to sift through the site where a two- story warehouse collapsed after rapidly igniting and burning for five hours late friday night and early saturday morning.

firefighters and other responders have scoured only 20% of the site, moving debris bucket by bucket. >> this will be a long and arduous process, but we want to make sure we're respecting the victims, their families, and our firefighters' safety. >> stewart: that process is expected to take several more days, as are the official notifications to families. >> we anticipate the that number of victims will rise and it will increase. in regards to the amount of people that are still missing, yes, it's a significant number. >> stewart: josette melchor is a community organizer and digital art curator who has six friends on the "missing" list. she had been inside the warehouse before and was concerned it was not safe. >> it was entirely made of wood. reused furniture. and the key thing that i think everyone is thinking about is just the sense that you've got when you climbed up this ladder,

or this staircase. at a you just couldn't get -- that you just couldn't get back down fast. there was no way she was going to happen. >> stewart: she hosted a vigil last night for friends in this close-knit community waiting for word from the authorities. >> are we're all realizing that we need to remember people's lives and remember the people surrounding us and remember the smiles and facings that are always around us in this community. and how much we cherish them. >> stewart: her nonprofit group the gray area foundation >> stewart: her nonprofit group, the gray area foundation for the arts, started a relief fund that rose quickly to its goal of 150- thousand dollars. >> it's incredible to see how many people are coming out from all over the world to support such a small community. >> d.j. augie sanchez had performed >> stewart: d.j. augie sanchez has performed at parties like the electronic music event that was underway at the warehouse friday night when the fire broke out. two of his friends were performing there at the time. >> being a performer, i've been

in similar buildings with questionable construction. we take these risks because we don't really have that many options for venues. people not making much money from their art; doing this for love of what they do. >> stewart: devin katayama of kqed news in san francisco has been covering the story and joins me now from oakland. >> stewart: dirchg from kqed news in san francisco, the people unfamiliar with this area this part of oakland can you describe what the community is like there? is a big latino neighborhood. it's been neglected by a lot of the development that some other parts of oakland are seeing, another part of oakland being gentrified. fruitvale has not hit that level yet. right on international boulevard is right where the building is off of and 31st avenue, and so there is crime in that neighborhood as well. there is also a lot of artists who live in that neighborhood but also congregate obviously in warehouses like you saw over the past day and a half. it's a part -- it's partly because of the rent is cheaper in that neighborhood as well.

amazon th>> stewart: the buildis been the focus of complaints recently, can you tell us about that? >> sure, i want to speak to that very carefully this is something they have been investigating but right now they are focusing on the people. from what we understand the building was ermt abouted as a one-story warehouse, not permitted for entertainment, not permitted for people to live in. both things that have reportedly come out that this warehouse was being used for. obviously a lot of people are looking for somebody to blame. a lot of people are wondering who these owners were and who was throwing off this event and why there were so many people in a building such as this building for a party. now i think something that's important to know about oakland is that these kinds of spaces are actually part of what gives oakland its character. when you speak to a lot of people they speak to these warehouse parties and it is a part of oakland's culture.

so these spaces exist. and in many ways these spaces are places where people who you know feel like they don't have any other outlet may be able to go to to be entertained, to have parties like this. certainly there are questions raised about how many of these spaces exist and how close of an eye the city is keeping on these spaces. and that's going to be coming out in the next days, months, however long it takes. >> stewart: and also the issue of whether the people are using the space for residences or places to stay for short periods of time right? >> certainly we have heard stories of people who may have been homeless who were served by this community as well. you speak to -- you hear from a lot of people that this was both a beloved community, this group of folks who spent time in this building, threw parties in this building and then you hear a lot of people who are really angry at the people who either throw these parties or own this space,

saying that they have been warned before. again these are all reports so i can't confirm any of this but i think that's what we're going to be looking for in the coming weeks. >> stewart: yes, story still developing. devin katayama, from kqed news. thank you for sharing your reporting. >> stewart: today in santiago, cuba, the remains of former president fidel castro, who died ten days ago, were interred in what the government called a simple ceremony. no other man in the 20th century ruled his country long as he did-- 49 years, before he stepped down in 2008. his supporters saw him as a brave champion of the people, and opponents saw a ruthless dictator. with the help of the pulitzer center for crisis reporting, newshour weekend special correspondent nick schifrin is in cuba outside the funeral and joins us now from santiago. nick? >> reporter: allison, good evening. this is the city that birthed

the hero's myth of castro as revolutionary, where he descended from the mountains behind me in 1959 to overthrow a corrupt, u.s.-backed dictator. he dominated cuba for the next half century with a combined charisma and cruelty, convincing his people he was their destined savior repressing them with zero tolerance for dissent. but in this city you hear no loathing-- only love. >> reporter: fidel castro's final journey ended in the city where his revolution began. a military convoy pulled a flag- draped, cedar coffin containing his ashes through santiago's streets. his successor, and 85-year-old younger brother, raul, took that box and placed it inside a boulder-like tomb. the final resting place for the man who outlasted ten u.s. presidents, is inscribed only with his first name that became synonymous with his country. outside the cemetery, with the cuban flag at half staff, 56- year-old rogelio del toro vowed to run the 500-mile route that castro's remains took to get here.

>> ( translated ): i will run this route to show the new generation the physical resilience of our commander in chief and what the cuban people are capable of." >> reporter: del toro's sense of patriotism means he glosses over the castro's economic policies, which prevented him from escaping poverty. >> ( translated ): he is the father of the revolution, and we will move forward with the traditions of our commander. >> reporter: that adulation was also on display last night at revolutionary square, for the final public farewell to the man they call their eternal commander. cuban president raul castro has promised to continue his older brother's work. and amid the flying flags, we found no fidel critics. no critics of the cuban government's persecuting its enemies or curtailing freedom of speech. norah bosque is 69-years-old and has lived in santiago all her life. >> ( translated ): the people who don't agree with us can say whatever they want. but for those of us who love him, he will always be our commander-in-chief. >> reporter: even the government's opponents admit

these sentiments are genuine. daniela morales is 16. >> ( translated ): he will always be our commander even if he's not here physically. we owe him our freedom and independence. >> reporter: for her, freedom and independence means the state's safety nets: free education from pre-k through university, and free health care. she wants to be an actress. >> ( translated ): our government, our state guarantees everything we need. i think our salary is enough to have a stable and comfortable life. i want everything to stay the way it is. >> reporter: but the fact is, during the last decade everything in cuba has not stayed the way it was. 32-year-old angel garcia is one of a half million cubans who's been allowed to enter the private sector. his old government job only paid 10 dollars a week. he quit and now works at this high-end salon, where a single haircut costs about that much. >> ( translated ): we prefer to work in the private sector now, because we make much more money than in any government job. >> reporter: he's eager for more opportunity. and he thinks the country can provide that without challenging the revolution's

core principles. >> ( translated ): we have education, we have free health care. our problems are small. that allows us to move forward and put our energy toward finding the right changes. going forward, cuba's leaders will have to figure out a way to maintain the socialist safety net and, at the same time, ease economic frustration. it's not clear if that's possible, but alison, what that likely means is that cuba will evolve-- but very, very slowly, and while it maintains the repression that is one of fidel's main legacies. >> stewart: nick, one of president obama's legacies has been normalizing relations. what are cubans saying about that trend continuing under president-elect trump? >> reporter: president-elect trump could reverse president obama's executive actions that increased travel and business opportunities. that's what trump seemed to threaten in a recent tweet, vowing to quote terminate the

agreements unless cuba made a better deal for the cuban people. raul castro has been allowing slow, modest openings here, including those private sector jobs. and most analysts here and in the u.s. warn that halting the normalization could lead to more crackdowns, and fewer openings. >> stewart: nick schifrin reporting from santiago, cuba. thank you. >> reporter: thanks, alison. >> stewart: key figures in the in north dakota have achieved a temporary victory. the standing rock sioux tribe and the federal department of interior have announced the u.s. army corps of engineers is halting construction of the 1200 mile pipeline. the army corps won't grant an easement to allow the sejts to be built under a lake until the completion of an environmental impact agreement. leaving the site where they have been camped out for weeks.

key figures in the incoming trump administration >> stewart: key figures in the incoming trump administration are defending the president- elect's decision to take a phone call friday from the president of taiwan, which prompted a diplomatic protest from china. vice-president elect mike pence said today the taiwanese leader was simply making a "courtesy call," and it did not indicate any shift in america's "one china" policy. the u.s. broke off diplomatic relations with taiwan in 1979 after recognizing the beijing government. incoming white house chief of staff reince priebus said today mister trump had already talked to chinese president xi and described the taiwan call as pragmatic. >> look, we've got a lot of problems to solve in this country, and we're not going to solve them by just, you know, making believe that people don't exist. this was a two minute congratulatory call. >> stewart: green party presidential candidate jill stein will ask a federal court tomorrow to issue an emergency order requiring pennsylvania to carry out a recount of last

month's presidential vote. stein dropped her state court petition after the judge ordered her campaign to post a million dollar bond to cover the costs. stein says she can't afford well as in wisconsin andania, michigan, three states where president-elect trump narrowly beat hillary clinton. >> stewart: the right-wing populist wave in europe took a step back today. in austria norbert hofer of the anti-immigration "freedom part"" lost the presidential election run-off to left-leaning, former green party leader alexander van der bellen, who is pro-european union. >> see more images from fidel castro's funeral procession at pbs.org/newshour. >> stewart: although rape has been considered a war crime since the end of world war i, a new documentary takes an in- depth look at the difficulties of prosecuting mass rape in international courts. the film, called "the uncondemned," reviews the landmark case about rwanda that changed how mass rape could be prosecuted as an act of genocide. "newshour weekend"'s ivette

feliciano has more. >> reporter: in the spring and summer of 1994, an ethnic cleansing campaign in rwanda left 800-thousand people dead, even while united nations peacekeepers were on the ground and the rest of the world did virtually nothing to stop it. toward the end of a civil war, rwanda's government, then run by its ethnic majority, the hutus, systematically murdered 70% of the country's ethnic minority, the tutsis. as the toll of the carnage became clear, human rights groups successfully pressured the united nations to convene the first ever international tribunal for genocide in history. between 1998 and 2012, the international criminal tribunal for rwanda convicted 62 individuals for the genocide and other serious war crimes. part of the story rarely told involves the brutal mass rapes of an estimated 250-thousand women, men and children during

the genocide and the world's first prosecution of rape as a war crime. a new documentary, "the uncondemned," sheds light on this atrocity and the struggle to bring justice for the rape survivors journalist michele mitchell directed "the uncondemned," which refers to the perpetrators of mass rape not held accountable until the landmark prosecution. the film revisits the events and the case that would change international law. why is this an important story to tell today in 2016? >> rape has been a crime of war since 1919. but it took almost 80 years for rape to be prosecuted for the first time. and the reasons why they finally prosecuted continue on to this day. and those include it happens in every conflict around the world, with all religions, and it's almost never taken as seriously as other crimes of war.

>> reporter: it's a vital story now because as we are sitting here and talking, we know that it's going on in syria, in iraq, by isis. we know that boko haram is doing it. south sudan, i could name any number of places where this is happening as we're having this conversation. >> reporter: are there complexities about sexual violence in times of war that you think are often misunderstood? >> one thing that i have consistently heard over the last three years as we were making this film is that, ¡oh, well, rape is just something that happens in war; it's always happened. the act of sexual violence will rip apart a family and a community, and by virtue of that, a society, for several generations. and it's not just the shame that happens. a lot of times you are physically incapacitated after that incredibly violent act. >> reporter: "the undocumented" focuses on the case brought against a mayor jean-paul akayesu, who was charged with genocide and crimes against humanity for ordering mass murders and rapes that occurred

in his township, taba. mitchell interviewed rape survivors as well as the prosecutors and aid workers who took up their cause. >> they would say, "we begged to be killed after the rapes," you know, "please kill us." a lot of the hutu militias would say, "no, we are going to leave you alive so that you will die of sadness," and that's with these women said: "we are dying of sadness." >> reporter: an american-led legal team convinced a panel of u.n. judges that akayesu had used mass rape as a form of torture. pierre prosper, then a los angeles assistant district attorney, was one of the prosecutors. can you talk about that moment when you realized that prosecuting rape was essential to akayesu's case? >> it really became critical for us in the akayesu case when one witness told us about an event where women were being taken back to the back of the city

hall, and systemically distributed and violated, and that akayesu was there. it became clear to us that this was really part of the scheme, part of the genocide, part of the torture, part of the destruction of the fabric of the society. so it was a designed plan to diminish a population. >> reporter: with no legal precedents, the under-resourced and under-funded legal team had the difficult job of making the case that mass rapes are just as detrimental as murders during genocide. once the trial began in 1997, there were high expectations. >> we had the pressure coming out of the west, whether it be new york, the united nations, or western governments looking at us and saying are you going to win? because they needed us to win in order to send a message to the international community that there will be accountability for genocide.

>> reporter: as the film recounts, prosper and the legal team convinced three rwandan survivors to step forward and testify against akayesu in court, sharing that many women in their town were forced to endure multiple acts of sexual violence commissioned by him. >> i remember putting witnesses on the stand, and you leave at the end of the day just emotionally drained, and you say to yourself "i have just now heard the worst that i've ever heard in my life." the next day, the next witness comes on, and then you say "no, no, today is the worst," and it was like that throughout the entire process. >> reporter: how did akayesu's conviction and the concept of rape as a war crime, how did it change the game? >> it did a couple of very important things. it set the

precedent. the whole reason why we can prosecute rape as a crime against humanity, crime of war and a crime of genocide is because of the akayesu verdict. and the other thing it did, which was really interesting, is that it took gender out of it. and that's incredibly important, because men are raped in conflict as well. >> reporter: after a 20 month trial in arusha tanzania, the rwanda war crimes tribunal sentenced akayesu to life in prison. in the years after his precedent-setting case, international tribunals showed greater resolve in recognizing wartime rapes, such as in the tribunals that held serbs accountable for their treatment of bosnians in the former yugoslavia. more recently, crimes of mass rape were prosecuted by tribunals following atrocities in sierra leone and in the democratic republic of congo. but prosper believes even today, the global community could be more responsive in conflicts like south sudan.

>> i think we've lost a bit of our footing, and i actually think that what happened is once the permanent international criminal court was created, people looked at that as, ¡oh, we've arrived.' and the politicians around the world said, ¡we've done our job, there's this court, we need now focus on these issues.' it creates this gap, a gap of inaction. so i think the international community needs to wake up, governments need to wake up, and realize that their responsibility continues. >> reporter: a responsibility that international reporting keeps in the spotlight. >> because the men and women of the press corps who covered what happened in bosnia and also rwanda and covered the sexual violence and wrote about it and put it on television and kept it in the public eye, that created interest on the part of the public, who then wrote letters to the tribunals saying, "we want you to prosecute this. we're going to be watching." it goes all the way around to the fact that the public got involved and demanded that their leaders take this seriously, do

something. so if it worked then, it can work now." >> that's all for this edition of pbs newshour weekend, i'm aisles aisles, goo aims aisles >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. judy and josh weston. the cheryl and philip milstein family. the john and helen glessner family trust-- supporting trustworthy journalism that informs and inspires. sue and edgar wachenheim, iii. barbara hope zuckerberg. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. additional support has been provided by:

and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

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