09/08/15 09/08/15 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> i would like to take this opportunity given to me by new zealand to express my deepest for theand apologize accidental death. amy: thirty years ago, french secret service blew up greenpeace's rainbow warrior

ship killing a portuguese , photographer as the ship was heading to protest in the south pacific. now the french intelligence agent who led the deadly attack has come forward for the first time to apologize for his actions. we will air a special report from tvnz in new zealand. plus, we will get the latest from guatemala where a television comedian has won the first round of presidential elections just days after otto pérez molina resigned as president and was arrested. and we will go to mexico city where an independent report has dismissed the mexican government's official account of the disappearance of 43 students following an attack by police in the southern state of guerrero last september. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. tens of thousands of people

traversed europe over amidst an increasingly violent crackdown from right-wing governments and mounting grassroots efforts to show that refugees are welcome. by monday, as many as 20,000 people had arrived in germany, where many were greeted by crowds expressing support and distributing food, tea, and clothing. germany says it can accept half a million refugees each year with german chancellor merkel calling on other countries to act. following massive pressure, many other western european governments have agreed to accept additional refugees come although, the figures remain only a fraction of the number who have entered europe this year alone. france has said it will take 24,000 people over two years, england will accept 20,000 people over five years will stop in finland, which will accept 1000 people this year prime , minister juha sipila announced he would open his guest house to

refugee families. meanwhile, in hungary, tensions continue to rise as authorities have blocked people from boarding trains and attempted to herd them into holding camps, forcing thousands to set off by foot on the side of the highway. on monday, hungary's defense minister resigned. he had been one of the key officials responsible for the ongoing construction of a massive border fence on hungary's border with serbia. in israel, prime minister benjamin netanyahu also has rejected calls to take in more syrian refugees, instead saying israel is continuing plans to construct a fence along its border with jordan. authorities in the czech republic, meanwhile, came under fire for writing numbers on the arms of people who they had pulled off trains, which for many brought back memories of nazi concentration camps. on sunday, pope francis called for the world to offer sanctuary to those forced to flee their homelands.

>> faced with the tragedy of tens of thousands of refugees who are fleeing deaths from war and from hunger and who are on the road in the hope of a better life, the gospel calls us and asks us to show solidarity to the smallest in the abandoned, and to give them real hope. parishes, thee religious communities, the monasteries and sanctuaries of all europe to show the true meaning of the gospel and take in one family of refugees. in a united states is facing increasing criticism for not accepting more refugees. a whitehouse government petition to meaning united states take in at least 65,000 syrian refugees by 2016 has garnered nearly 50,000 signatures, while

thousands more have pledged to host syrian families through a new campaign called open homes open hearts u.s. in news from mexico, an independent report has dismissed the mexican government's official account of the disappearance of 43 students following a police attack in the southern state of guerrero last september. the team of international experts commissioned by the inter-american commission on human rights said they found no evidence to support the government's claim that the students from ayotzinapa teacher's college were incinerated in a trash dump in the town of cocula. mexican attorney general arely gomez has said she will order a new investigation. parents of the disappeared students have long disputed the government's claims about what happened to their sons. we'll go to mexico for more later in the broadcast. in guatemala, a television comedian has won the first round of the nation's presidential elections.

just days after guatemala's president otto perez molina resigned and was jailed on corruption charges. sunday's previously scheduled election went ahead despite calls for its postponement. the comic actor jimmy morales received about 24% of the vote, far short of the 50% needed for an outright victory. sandra torres, the ex-wife of former president alvaro colom and conservative businessman manuel baldizon were virtually tied for second place. a runoff has been set for october 25. we'll get more from allan nairn in guatemala after headlines. in turkey, conflict between the government and kurdish militants has intensified. on monday, turkey launched a wave of airstrikes against kurdish insurgents in the mountainous region on the border with iraq. the strikes come after kurdistan workers party, known as the pkk, killed at least 16 turkish soldiers on sunday, in what is being described as the

militants' deadliest attack since the collapse of the two-year-old ceasefire. meanwhile, 10 turkish police officers have died in a bomb attack on a police bus in eastern turkey this morning. no one has taken responsibility for the attack, but turkish officials have blamed the attack on the pkk. british prime minister david cameron says england has launched its first drone strike into syria, killing two british citizens accused of working with isil. england does not have a parliamentary mandate to take military action in syria. cameron said the strikes were conducted in self-defense to prevent attacks planned by eisele -- isil in britain. the announcement comes on the heels of news that a u.s. drone strike killed another british citizen in august, after approval from the british government. meanwhile, the pentagon has announced plans to redesign the $500 million program to train and arm so-called moderate rebels in syria, after syrian militants linked to al qaeda attacked the u.s.-backed rebels in july.

in news from afghanistan, the u.s. military is denying reports by afghan officials that an airstrike by u.s.-led coalition forces has killed 11 afghan police in the so-called friendly fire incident in the southern helmand province. meanwhile, unnamed military officials have told the "new york times" that germany and sweden have been working with the u.s. to decide who is targeted by u.s. drone strikes in afghanistan. both countries have denied that they are involved in the so-called kill decisions. one official told the "new york times" that at the coalition headquarters in kabul, officials from the three countries would watch video screen monitors of targets and decide whether to strike by "giving thumbs up or down, like gladiators in a stadium." in an escalation of the ongoing crisis in yemen, qatar is deploying ground forces for the first time, amid increasing airstrikes by the u.s.-backed saudi-led coalition.

overnight on monday, airstrikes killed at least nine people in the capital sanaa. meanwhile, the united arab emirates launched strikes across yemen over the weekend, after an attack by houthi rebels killed dozens of emiratis soliders on friday. the ongoing conflict between houthi rebels and pro-government forces backed by the saudi-led coalition, has killed at least 4000 people and sparked a humanitarian crisis. in the west bank, thousands of palestinians marched in a funeral procession monday to mourn the death of 27-year-old riham dawabsheh, the mother of the 18-month-old palestinian infant who was killed when the family's home was firebombed by jewish settlers in july, allegedly. riham is the third member of the family to die following the attack. her husband died on august 9. the former french secret service agent responsible for bombing the greenpeace flagship rainbow warrior has broken his silence

and apologized to his victims, 30 years after the attack on july 10, 1985, jean luc kister led the dive team that actually planted the bombs on the rainbow warrior, sinking the ship in a harbor in auckland, new zealand as the vessel was preparing to head to sea to protest against french nuclear testing in the south pacific. a greenpeace photographer was killed in the bombing. kister apologized in an interview with tv new zealand. >> i would like to take this opportunity given to me by the tv of new zealand to express my deepest regrets. amy: we'll air more of the interview with jean luc kister after headlines. in kentucky, the county clerk jailed for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses has appealed a judge's decision to hold her in contempt of court. davis says she opposes same-sex marriage for religious reasons. she stopped issuing all marriage

licenses rather than comply with a landmark supreme court ruling in june legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide. on friday after kim davis was jailed, her deputy clerks in rowan county began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. today republican presidential , candidate mike huckabee is expected to visit kim davis in jail and lead a rally to support her. president obama has announced a new executive order that will require federal contractors to offer up to seven days of paid sick leave. obama made the announcement in boston on labor day. >> let's face it, nobody wants a waiter who feels like they have to come to work when they are coughing or contagious, but if they don't have sick leave, what are they going to do? they've got to pay the rent. that's not good for anybody. unfortunately, only congress has the power to give this securities all americans, but where i can act, i will.

by the way, i just did. as we were flying over here, i signed a new order requiring federal contractors to allow employees who work on our contracts to earn up to seven paid sick days a year. amy: a second review of emails hillary clinton received on her private email server as secretary of state has backed an earlier finding the emails contained highly classified information when she received them. the "new york times" reports the second analysis, conducted by intelligence agencies, affirms earlier findings by an inspector general, which clinton's campaign and the state department have disputed. on monday, clinton told the associated press "what i did was allowed." meanwhile, national security agency whistleblower edward snowden has criticized clinton's exclusive reliance on a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state, saying the idea her server was more secure than government channels is "completely ridiculous."

worker at theary state department nor the central intelligence agency were anything like that were sending details about the security, alleged to be in her e-mails, meetings with private government officials, foreign government officials in a statement that were made in confidence, over an unclassified e-mail system, they would not only lose their job and clearance, they would very likely face prosecution when the unclassified systems of the united states government which have a full-time security staff regularly get hacked. the idea that someone keeping a private server in a renovated bathroom of a server farm in colorado, is more secure, is completely ridiculous. amy: that is edward snowden speaking in an interview with al jazeera. on saturday, snowden was awarded a prize for freedom of speech by the norwegian academy of literature and freedom of expression. the latest polls on the democratic presidential race show vermont senator bernie sanders leading hillary clinton

by nine points in new hampshire. the nbc/marist polls show sanders with 41% of democratic voters in the key primary state, while clinton has 32% and vice president joe biden has 16%, even though he hasn't announced if he is running. without biden, sanders' lead over clinton increases to 11 points. in ohio -- iowa, clinton remains ahead, but her lead over sanders has decreased from 24 points in july to 11 points in the most recent survey. harvard law school professor lawrence lessig is officially running for president. after exceeding his goal of raising $1 million by labor day, lessig has formally announced his bid. he says if he wins the presidency, he will serve only as long as it takes to pass

routing campaign finance reform, then he would resign. to see our interview with lawrence lessig you can go to democracynow.org. rebekah brooks has returned to the helm of rupert murdoch's newspaper unit in britain. brooks resigned in 2011 amid a phone-hacking scandal which shuttered murdoch's tabloid news of the world and rocked his media empire. brooks was acquitted last year of phone hacking and bribery. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. 30 years ago, french secret service blew up greenpeace's flagship rainbow warrior ship in auckland, new zealand, killing a portuguese photographer as the ship was preparing to head to sea to protest french nuclear bomb tests in the south pacific. now the french intelligence agent who led the deadly attack has come forward for the first time to apologize for his actions, breaking his silence after 30 years. on july 10, 1985, jean luc kister led the dive team that actually planted the bombs on

the rainbow warrior, sinking the ship and killed greenpeace photographer fernando pereira. tv new zealand's program "sunday" tracked down jean luc kister in northern france and spoke to him about what happened that day. reporter john hudson also spoke with peter willcox, the captain of the greenpeace ship, as well as fernando pereira's daughter, and the le monde journalist who helped break the remarkable story. this video report begins with jean luc kister, the french secret service agent, admitting his involvement in the fatal bombing. plant toe was to bombs. >> he led the dive team and set the bombs. for 30 years, he remained hidden, guarding the secret of what really happened the night the rainbow warrior was sunk. >> for member of the secret service, we never talk. >> but finally, he is talking.

>> we were not cold-blooded killers. we did everything to preserve life of the people aboard the rainbow warrior. >> from your point of view, which were part of the operation a success? >> for me, was not successful. it was a big, big failure. >> july 1985, the rainbow warrior sales into auckland's harbor a company by a flotilla ready to join the greenpeace ship that approaches against french nuclear testing. >> we're preparing to go to french polynesia where we are going to protest the nuclear testing of france. >> with the french government had other ideas. it's an 13 members of the secret service to sink the rainbow warrior before it left auckland. >> the french had always claimed they did not want to kill anybody. in my opinion, either they were blatantly incompetent or they did nala to kill anybody, they

really did not care if they did. >> just before midnight, july 10, to do bombs exploded. the first blew a two square meter whole in the engine room. the second smaller bomb was attached to the keel. >> the force of the second explosion trapped them. >> two days after the bombing, detectives acting on a tip arrested to french agents. they were traveling on fake passports, posing a swiss honeymooners. a charter he ought that brought the bombs to new zealand was searched in norfolk island and then released. at first, discarded equipment from the only clues to the agent who planted the bombs. so who were they? how do they get away? we know the french government ordered the attack to be carried out by the french secret service , but what about the agent responsible for planting the

bombs that sank the rainbow warrior? here in northern france, "sunday's those quote has tracked him down. -- "sunday" has tracked him down. city in the rain province. it is now home to colonel jean luc kister, a former head of the combat dive team of the french secret service. so you put both of the bombs on the hull yourself and set them. >> yes. yes, i was the team leader. ford the responsibility this part of the operations. surprisedmbers being when told of the plan to stop the rainbow warrior. >> for us, the members, we were engaged problem makers, but not very dangerous. we were amazed, that such an

operation could happen. >> this was the time of the cold war with the soviets. >> we were told greenpeace, who was infiltrated by the kgb. this was the explanation given to us. >> jean luc kister has become a military cadet at just 17. a 1985, he was the captain in the combat dive team, highly trained professional soldier. so why was the decision taken a blow it up and sink it in auckland harbor? >> one option would have been to plant the bomb -- or oakland, and then to delay the explosion when the boat would be offshore. this was certainly the safest for the operators, but the more dangerous for the crew. and it was immediately abandoned. >> another option, to

contaminate the ship's fuel with syria was also abandoned. >> i don't know why we decided to sink it, but it was clear in auckland, this was easier and the fact that the ship was docked was less dangerous for the crew. if the boat was sank, it will a on the bottom, not totally submerged. it was decided the explosion could occur around midnight. it was thought that nobody would be in the engine room. >> why two bombs? >> one bomb was expected to make the people to evacuate the vote in the second to sink it. >> but jean luc kister has revealed that is not what happened. she placed the larger bomb on the hull next to the engine

room. >> it was decided by the chief of operations to make the first one to explode in order that when there would be water inside the boat at that time, everybody will evacuate. >> but the ship sank much faster than they had expected. the second smaller bomb clamped on the keel was designed to keep people off the boat. but in fact, it killed a man. so how long was the delay between the two explosions? >> we triggered with a four-minute delay between the two bombs. everything was done to prevent anybody to come back. >> was four minutes long enough for people to evacuate? >> it was thought it was enough time, and we did not expect the boat will sink so quickly. >> the plan was to sink the rainbow warrior while keeping the crew out of harms way. but they got it wrong.

we now know the french agents blew a hole in the rainbow warrior far larger than they had expected. before the bombing, combat divers were watching their target. >> and we had seen a sailing ship along the rainbow. >> they have been ordered to place the larger bomb port said, but realized this would have endangered anyone on board the yacht alongside. >> i decided to put it under star board, always thinking not to hurt anybody. >> there were three agents on the zodiac carrying two bonds to sink the ship. jean luc kister and another with a combat divers. boatman.s the the to combat divers looked into the water and were towed under the inflatable and released 500 meters from their target. >> and we all linked together by rope because we're operating in the darkness. >> whereabouts on the boat did

you set the bomb? on board, birthday party was underway. >> we were fortunate because the first bomb blew hole in the side of the hull. the boat sank and 45 seconds. >> when you are planting the bombs, were you are where they were people on board? >> no. no, we did not know anything on what was happening. if there were some people on board, everything was done in order they could evacuate. >> wasn't there a real danger the first blast could have killed people? >> no, we thought nobody would be in the engine room at midnight. >> this is a photograph of the damaged him by the bomb. >> it is a big hole. >> much bigger than you would have thought. >> we do not expect that such a large hole in the hull. >> shrapnel ripped through. to do calculate that could have killed people? >> no, it was not expected to

have any damage. we had -- we never have the opportunity to test the real effect on the real vote fortunately, no one was in the engine room or on the upper decks. >> the first bomb had gone off half an hour sooner, we would have lost 20 of us. 1985, peter willcox was the skipper. he was in bed asleep when the first bomb exploded. >> we barely had enough time to get everybody off. >> and not everybody to get off. >> that is fernando. fernando have been in the mess and had gone to his cameras to get his desk on to his room to get his cameras. the second bomb trapped him in his cabin and drown him. >> the second smaller bomb supposedly designed to keep the crew off the boat caused the drowning of photographer fernando pereira. the captain of the rainbow warrior peter willcox as this was murder, that unit people were on board. >> yes, i understand his point

of view. but for us, on our side, we think it was unfortunately an accidental death of an innocent. .> my dad has been murdered i don't see this manslaughter. i don't see it as accidental killing. >> 10 years ago, "sunday" spoke to marelle, who is just eight when her father died. why?metimes you think, >> i would like to take this opportunity given to me by the tv of new zealand to express my deepest regrets and apologize to for theand her family accidental death of fernando pereira. >> are you hoping when marelle

sees this that she will find it in her heart to forgive you? >> yes, i would like that she express any forgiveness for me, for us, for the team because we didn't intend to kill anybody during this operation. >> and the apologies did not stop there. >> i want to apologize also to greenpeace members who were on board the rainbow warrior, and i want to apologize to the people of new zealand for the unfair clandestine operation conducted in a friendly, peaceful country. >> why has it taken 30 years for you to make that apology? >> 30 years ago, i was a soldier. and after that, i was engaged in many operations. also with the united nations to obey tod i had the orders at that time. but now i am retired from active

service, and i want to clear my consciousness. >> but an apology 30 years on doesn't wash with peter willcox. >> soldiers have to have some level of her style responsibility. obviously, they had none. >> so it is not good enough to say a was acting on orders? >> it's not. i think that is modern morality. i think the men that plaintiff the amount of explosives that they did prove without a doubt they did not care how many people they killed. >> peter willcox as it is not good enough for soldiers to simply say they were taking orders, they need to think through the morality of their actions. >> normally, a soldier should not obey an illegal order. this was an order given at the highest level of the government, so, yes, we had to obey the orders. >> wasn't is a terrorist act? >> for us, it was a sabotage

operation. and no more. priceody is ever pay the for fernando plus murder. nobody. frank has an even apologized for it. they don't care. i think that is just a couple. >> after sitting the bombs, jean getaway tomade his the harbor bridge. >> we heard on the radio that some of you was killed and everybody was very, very shocked. >> when did you realize that morally this was the wrong thing to do? >> immediately when i knew the fernando pereira died. >> is this something that has plagued you for the last 30 years, been on your conscience? >> yes. many times i'm thinking about

these things because for me, i have an innocent death on my consciousness. >> a week after the bombing, jean luc kister and his dive buddy were photographed at a youth hostel. >> we stayed in the country 10 or 12 days, in the south island. >> then they left new zealand using all's passports. how did you feel you found out it was the french who were responsible? >> shop. so completely shocked. how could a bunch of hippies on an old steel trawler scare a superpower so much they would set out to murder us? what possibly could we have done? we were speaking truth to power, that is about it. is that what scares them so badly? >> were the repercussions about this? was there a debate about what happened? >> there was no real debating at the headquarters because there was so much occupied -- they

were so much occupied with the problems in france. he was a real political fiasco. it could have been a french watergate. they could have proved -- >> by early september 1985, the french government was under pressure. >> no one in the ministry received an order to commit an attack against the rainbow warrior. >> the defense minister denied ordering the bombing. the french agents arrested and imprisoned in new zealand he claimed had simply been observing greenpeace, but then revealedaper le monde a 13 a french combat divers had planted the explosives. >> it is a very traditional investigation. finally, the truth was revealed by the press. >> the police reporter on le monde. was someinbow warrior

i a 13 a french military. it was the missing link. >> he and his colleagues discovered the combat divers through a process of elimination. >> finally, we succeed to bomb.fy those who put the when you ran that story, what was the government reaction? >> we published our information and he was dismissed on friday. three days. the truth is that france organized this bombing, and must apologize. >> the decision to sink the rainbow warrior came directly from the top in french politics. 30 years ago this month, the defense minister resigned over his role in the affair. but what about the president? he lasted in office for a further 10 years, even though funding for the operation came

directly from his office. >> the documents about the finance exist. >> he says after he resigned, the french government continue to campaign of misinformation to protect the president. >> they say until many months there was no third team. >> did laurel fabius no what was going on? >> no. >> and yet he was the prime minister. >> the premise was not involved. only the army, the minister of defense, the president. in france, the president is the chief of the army, so sometimes there's a direct link between the ministry of defense and the chief of the army. >> he was cut out of the loop. >> yes. >> however, jean luc kister believes someone in the prime minister's office lead his name to the media. -- leaked his name to the media.

>> i thought the leak was coming from the politician level. >> on this point i don't agree with jean luc kister. the reason we knew the name was not just the prime minister give us the name. >> jean luc kister says being named as the diver who planted the bombs on the rainbow warrior cost him dearly. >> my family was very shocked. my wife was shocked by the fact summit he died in this operation because before the operation, she did not know where i was. a few years later, i get divorced, like many of us. >> jean luc kister told me he is been involved in many clandestine operations. he is been wounded several times. he is the recipient of france's highest order. however, bombing the rainbow warrior was not his finest hour. >> breast, it was just like

using boxing gloves -- for us, it was just like using boxing gloves to crush a mosquito. it was a disproportionate operation, but we had to obey the order and we were soldiers. >> to emphasize how disappointed he feels about the all the bombing, jean luc kister wanted to take us to this world war ii memorial, one of many scattered across northern france. why is it important to you to bring this year? 7780 soldiers died in france during the to do world wars. >> are among the aussies, canadians and brits, killed while fighting to liberate france. for jean luc kister, this more than anything is a situation why the operation was ill-conceived. >> it was wrong. a very wrong decision to conduct such an operation in a friendly country.

this are the memories of between france and new zealand and we will always remember the sacrifice done for our country. >> the president of france remained close friends with former defense minister long after sacked him. both men have since died. meanwhile, peter willcox is still with greenpeace saving the planet and rainbow warrior iii. try to prevent climate change and overfishing. for him, jean luc kister's apology changes little. >> they're the ones that have to live with themselves. they have made their bed, let them sleep in it. ispeter willcox said probably 30 years too late.

>> it is never too late to apologize. amy: that report by john hudson for tv new zealand plus program "sunday." it was about the blowing up of greenpeace's rainbow warrior in july 1985 as the ship was preparing to head to sea to protest against french nuclear bomb tests in the south pacific. french secret service agent jean luc kister who placed the bombs reportedly asked to meet fernando pereira's daughter to offer an apology for killing her father, the portuguese photographer on board the rainbow warrior. arelle declined saying -- "the fact that he seems truly remorseful is enough information for my family and i. he has to live with himself know what he did and what he was a part of." the tv program "sunday" also contacted greenpeace new zealand's executive rector bunny mcdiarmid for a comment. she said -- "i'm glad someone from that

murderous fiasco apologized. but it's 30 years later, nobody was held to account for the murder of fernando." that does it for our report. you can visit our website for our interviews with peter willcox. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. trump metho donald with at a news conference he held in new york. first, we go to guatemala city to find out about the elections in guatemala after the president was imprisoned. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

as we turn now to guatemala where television comedian has won the first round of the nation's presidential elections. sunday's vote came just days after guatemala's president otto perez molina was arrested and jet on corruption charges. his former vice president and several other close aides have also been imprisoned. sunday's previously scheduled election went ahead despite all for postponement. the comic actor jimmy marlis received 24% of the vote, far short of the 50% needed for an outright victory. sandra torres, the ex-wife of the former president colom and conservative businessman were virtually tied for second place. just before the broadcast, democracy now! allan nairn in guatemala city, journalist, activist, who is covered guatemala since the 1980's. >> guatemala has been in the midst of an uprising that has brought down the president general perez molina and helped bring him to jail. in just a few hours, perez molina will be returning to

court or he is facing corruption charges, but he could and should later also be charged with mass murders he committed in the countryside during the campaign of general rios mont, campaign for which rios mont was convicted of genocide against the indigenous mayan population. now this astonishing popular uprising has been temporarily interrupted by an election, the election which was held sunday. there was a mass outcry to postpone the election because it was seen as rigged from the start. only those with backing from the oligarchy or the organized crime gangs, especially the drug dealers, had a chance in the election because those are the only ones with money. the postponement did not happen.

the election went forward. two candidates emerged, jimmy marlis and apparently sandra torres in second place. morales is the candidate who is backs by the officers most implicated in the highland massacres, and assassinations, disappearance. but he ran his campaign as the man who was the enemy of the establishment. he is a professional tv comedian. he is a very good, very sharp, very funny speaker. in the race, he was the one who best articulated the case against the corrupt establishment. theon election night when preliminary results started to

come out and it became clear that jimmy marelle us was in the need,--morales was in the are saying this is an anti-system vote for the guatemalans by choosing jimmie, when in fact, as everybody knows, it is no secret that jimmy is the candidate of the massacre general, the massacre generals who are the favorites of the u.s.. but as anyone on the street will tell you in guatemala, these are the better choices that they were presented on this ballot. there was no way to vote against the army. there was no way to vote against the mass killing of civilians. there was no way to vote against the oligarchy. there was no way even to vote against mayor corruption, against the theft of money because all of the candidates who had an actual chance were the candidates of the generals and the oligarchs in the drug

dealers. the second candidate who appears to have made it into the runoff round, which will take place and a couple of months, is sandra torres. some supporters of the uprising have made the case that she is badleast bad of a very options. in the past when she was first lady of guatemala, she supported programs for the poor. on the other hand, she and her family and her local political apparatus have been extensively implicated in corruption and received a great deal of money from the drug cartels. and everyone knows this, but some say, well, you take your choice of the criminals. you choose one or you choose the other. the bigger question is, what happens now with the uprising? apparently, either morales or to thewill ascend

presidency. the question is, what will the popular movement make them do? because the popular movement essentially made the guatemalan congress accept the stripping of immunity from general perez molina, the previous president. that is what made it possible to remove him from the presidency and to make him face justice now for corruption in a guatemalan court. acting on their own, it is clear that neither morales or torres would make any moves to dismantle the power of the oligarchy or the killer officers or the foreign investors, mainly u.s. and also canadian mining companies, the helped to dominate guatemala and prop up this system. but under popular pressure, if this uprising can continue, perhaps some of that can be possible. and that is the real test. testis the true political

that guatemala is facing in the coming weeks. many people, i think rightly, view this election is a bit of a sideshow. amy: award-winning journalist allan nairn reporting from guatemala city on the elections there. as we move to the u.s. presidential elections, on republican presidential hopeful thursday, donald trump held a press conference in new york city's trump tower. while much was made of his announcement to refrain from considering a third-party run, little attention was given to trump's star guests at the event -- indonesia's top political brass. >> ladies and gentlemen, this is a very, and amazing man. he is them as you know, right -- speaker of the house of indonesia. he is here to see me. one of the most powerful men and a great man and his whole group is here to see me today. and we will do great things for

the united states, is that correct? do they like me in indonesia? >> yes, thank you very much. >> speaker of the house in indonesia. amy: among the indonesian contingency who met with donald trump was deputy speaker of the house fadli zon. he is the right hand man of the u.s.-trained prabowo subianto. general prabowo has been accused of extensive human rights abuses that took place in the 1990's when he was head of the country's special forces. he was dismissed from the army in 1998 following accusations he was complicit in the abduction and torture of activists during political unrest in jakarta that led to the ouster of longtime dictator suharto, who killed as many as a million civilians. prabowo subianto was a son-in-law of suharto. in 2000, prabowo openly mused to nairn about becoming "a fascist dictator." last year, allan nairn confronted prabowo during the presidential campaign in indonesia. in response, fadli zon filed criminal charges against nairn.

for back we go -- from were we go back to allan nairn who has reported from indonesia for years exposing government , killings of civilians. >> he is the right hand man of general prabowo subianto. in addition to being a general who has been implicated in numerous massacres in his mused about being a fascist dictator, general prabowo likes to pose as being anti-american, anti-neoliberal. this is very interesting because prabowo is in fact a general who has been closest to the u.s. throughout his career. he worked for u.s. intelligence, specifically for the dia. he brought u.s. special forces into indonesia on repeated told me which prabowo does u.s. special forces used to do contingency planning for possible future invasion of indonesia. should the u.s. find this

necessary. as a nationalist, he is completely phony, but he uses this to attack opponents within indonesia if they bring up the fact that he is also a mass murderer of civilians. but now with this man fadli zon appearing alongside donald trump, cheering him on, this tends to expose the farce of his posturing as being anti-american, when in fact, he is been in washington -- washington's man in indonesia throughout his career. on the other side, i guess it says something about donald trump. he apparently is trying to show he isn't completely against foreigners, so he found some foreigners to pose with, but those he chose from indonesia was one notorious or his corruption.

that is what he is best known for in the country, and fadli zon, who is the representative of a mass killing general who muses about fascism. and anally ties into -- interesting way with trumps ideology, which is similar to that of some far right parties in europe, for example, in hungary and sweden. rest, unlike most of the of the gop field and most of the democrats also, trump is against the international free trade agreements. he is against cuts in social security and medicare. deals with trump these issues is essentially to say, yes, we should protect workers, we should have social welfare programs, that we should

have these for white people. we should have these for the dominant majority group in the united states. and of these programs are being cut, if jobs are being taken away, you blame that on the foreigners. you blame that on the oppressed minorities. that is basically the donald trump approach. and it has gotten him a lot of popularity among some people, especially white people in the u.s., and that is also essentially the approach of the european -- some of the european far right parties, which are fascist in their origins. that part of the reason someone like trump has been able to rise is because many in politics in the u.s., especially among the corporate democrats,

have been unwilling to stand up for jobs, for workers in the united states, for social welfare to enable people in the u.s. to live on a decent level. and so someone like trump is able to come along, take those positions but twist them and use them as racist tools. after the appearance of fadli zon alongside donald trump, the grand imam of the indonesian issued a new york city very strong statement in which he pointed out that trump was basically famous for one thing in the united states -- and that is that he is famous as racist, as anti-immigrant, and even as anti-muslim. representativee

who opposed as being -- who posed as being a representative of the proud nationalist muslim community in indonesia, and here was trumps man posing alongside the racist anti-muslim donald trump. amy: award-winning journalist allan nairn has covered guatemala since the follow him 1980's. on twitter @allannairn14 for the latest news on the resignation guatemalasident of otto perez molina and all of the develop and cents. when we come back, we go to mexico city. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

in the cold organize 25 musicians to record this protest song. the lyrics lead to mexico's national anthem all criticizing the government impunity and violence. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. mexico has announced it will seek a new investigation into whether students who disappeared 43 after being abducted by corrupt cops in southwest mexico last year were burned in a dump, after an independent report dismissed the official account. the announcement comes after a team of international experts commissioned by the inter-american commission on human rights, or iachr, found no

evidence to support the government's claim that the students from ayotzinapa teacher's college were incinerated in a trash dump in the neighboring town of cocula. francisco cox, one of the five members of the group of experts commissioned by iachr, spoke to the unlikelihood that the 43 students could have been burned there. for reaction on the ground, we go to mexico city where we're joined by john gibler, and independent journalist, author of "mexico unconquered: chronicles of power and revolt," and more recently, "to die in mexico: dispatches from inside the drug war." his upcoming book is coming out called, "it was the state" about the attacks on the students in iguala. john gibler, welcome to democracy now! talk about the significance of this report and what happened, what is believed to have happened to the students. >> thank you, amy. as you mentioned, the report concluded that the 43 disappeared students were in

fact not incinerated at the trash dump in cocula, which has been the line throughout the entire time of investigation. there are several other major findings of the report that i would like to summarize for listeners and viewers. one that the local state and federal authorities have in monitoring the students since 5:59 p.m. september 26 as they moved along the highways. this was hours before they ever arrived in iguala. also, they arrived in iguala almost an hour after the mayor's wife's political event had ended, thus there was no possibility they could have been attacked as retaliation for attempting to protest the event. it had ended before they had arrived. three, the report shows both municipal, state and federal police, actively participated in

the attacks against the students, not only monitoring, but once they were in iguala, both state and federal as was miniscule police participated in the attacks against the students. the report found military intelligence officers were present at least two of the attacks seen. the report concludes a confusion of the students with supposed drug gang is an unlikely, if not absurd, scenario, because of the massive scale, the complexity, the coordinated violence from disproportionate use of violence all against the students. we have municipal, state, federal police actively participating in the attacks at nine different locations over more than three hours inside the city of iguala with the army watching all the time. the report also found the federal government has systematically destroyed key evidence, two pieces that were very important. one, the video footage from federal security cameras that

completely recorded one of the scenes of the attacks from which students were disappeared from a bus. that video was recovered and the destroyed by someone inside the government. two, one of the buses, the key buses involved in the attacks by the experts are calling the fifth us, was disappeared itself. the bus has not been located. when the experts asked to view the buzz, they were presented with a different bus that had been made up to look like it come a 1 -- amy: we have 10 seconds. how has the family responded and will the mexican government open a new investigation? >> they will open a new investigation. the family has fully embraced the report and announced the government for torturing them. they said this there he of the trash dump has been georgia for us and their fully respond -- supporting the report. amy: john gibler, thank you for joining us. we will continue to follow the story. that does it for the show. 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!]

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