10/01/17 10/01/17 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! begging anyone, that can hear us, save us from dying. if anybody out there is lilistening toto us, we are dyig and you are killing us with the inefficiency and the

bureaucracy. amy: san juan's mayor carmen yulin cruz pleads for help for puerto rico nearly a week after hurricane maria devastated the island. her cries for faster aid sparked an attack from president trump, who accused her of poor leadership and tweeted puerto ricans "want everything done for them." we will hear voices from the streets of san juan about the community relief efforts and we will speak with luis miranda, the father of award-winning playwright lin-manuel miranda, who said trump is going "straight to hell." then, to spain. the catalonia independence referendum. the victims are here. we're the victims. the more than 700 people who would hospitals, those are victims and of the others. and here we have not been able to vote. we're the run from one place to another to vote. what is that? we're not criminals.

we are not corrupt. we only wanted to vote. amy: more than 800 people injured after spanish police raided polling stations during catalonia's independence referendum on sunday. it is being described as the biggest constitutional crisis in spain since the end of the franco dictatorship in the 1970's. and the b biggest mass shootingy a single individual in u.s. history. it happened last night in las vegas. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in las v vegas, nevada, a gunman opened fire with an automatic rifle from the 32nd floor of the mandalay bay casino hotel sunday night, killing at least 50 people and injuring over 200 others at a country music

concert below. it was the deadliest mass killing by a single gunman in u.s. history. videos shared on social media showed a chaotic scene as thousands of panicked concertgoers dove for cover or fled from repeated bursts of rapid gunfire. [gunfire] amy: police say a swat team used an explosive device to break into the hotel room where the shooter had holed up, killing him. police have now identified him as 64-year-old stephen paddock, a white male from the las vegas area. at the time of this broadcast, police said they had located a campaign in of paddock's,

marilou danley, who has been described as an associate of the shooter, a person of interest. the mass killing came as jason l dean performed at the end of the three-day route 91 harvest musical festival near the end of las vegas' strip. in puerto rico, a humanitarian catastrophe continues to unfold 12 days after hurricane maria struck the island. over the weekend, the pentagon said the percentage of puerto rico's 3.5 million residents without access to clean drinking water rose to 55%.%. only 5% ofhehe isld hahas electricy,y, whi fooood d fuelel remain scae e and out t ha of the islan's ads s ar impassable this is ririam rrigugueza redent of f the city of caguas. >> this is a very disaster. i have no water. i don't have a generator.

i don't know how to have air in my home. i wanted to my family in chicago that we are doing well, but it is very disastrous because this is the first time i'm crying. amy: on thursday, acting homeland security secretary elaine duke called the trump administration's response to the disaster "really a good news story." that prompted san juan mayor carmen yulin cruz to retort, "this is not a good news story. this is a people-are-dying story." cruz later pleaded for the world to come to puerto rico's aid in an impassioned news conference. >> we are dying here. fathom the thought that the greatest nation in the world d cannot figure out logistics for a small island of 100 miles by 35 miles long.

so i am asking the president of the united states to make sure somebody is in charge that is up to thehe task of saving lives. amy: president trump responded to mayor cruz on saturday morning, tweeting from his golf resort in bedminster, new jersey -- "the mayor of san juan, who was very complimentary only a few days ago, has now been told by the democrats that you must be nasty to trump. such poor leadership ability by the mayor of san juan, and others in puerto rico, who are not able to get their workers to help. they want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort. 10,000 federal workers now on island doing a fantastic job." trump later dedicated a trophy at the presidents cup golf tournament to hurricane victims. trump's response drew widespread disbelief and condemnation. many noted trump used racially coded language to talk about

puerto ricans, implying they are lazy. california democratic commerce member ted lieu tweeted -- "dear donald trump: u.s. citizens in puerto rico need water, food, oxygen tanks, medicine but not a golf trophy. you still don't geget it." after r headlines, we'll go to puerto rico for the latest on the aftermath of hurricane maria. in spain, more than 800 people were injured sunday after spanish police stormed polling stations across the country's catalonia region and tried to forcibly prevent people from voting in a cattle on independent referendum, firing tear gas physically attacking prospective voters. this is an independent supporter. are here.tims we're the victims. the more than 700 people who went to hot totals. those are victims and not the others. here we have not been able to vote. it are run from one place to another to go and vote. what is that? we're not criminals.

we are not corrupt. we only wanted to vote. amy: the spanish government says the referendum is illegal. ahead of sunday's vote, spanish police seized controls of ballots and players, rated the catalog regional government's offices, and even shut down pro-independence websites. late on sunday night, the regional government said 90% of the voters chose independence. the government now says it plans to unilaterally declare independence from spain within 48 hours. spain says it will neither recognize the results of the referendum nor declaration of independence. we will have more on the crisis in catalonia later i in the broadcast. president donald trump on sunday publicly undermined an effort by the u.s. to open direct talks with north korea over the country's nuclear weapons program. trump's comments came a day after secretary of state rex tillerson said from beijing that the u.s. has two or three channels open to north korea's

leadership and that he was pursuing dialog. trump responded to the news tweeting -- "i told rex tillerson, our wonderful secretary of state, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with little rocket man. save your energy rex, we'll do what has to be done!" trump has previously threatened to unleash fire and fury on north korea and told the u.n. general assembly he was prepared to destroy the entntire nation f 25 million people. the u.s. state department says it is withdrawing more than half its diplomatic staff from the u.s. embassy in cuba after a series of unexplained health problems that embassy workers are suffering, including hearing loss and brain injury. the health problems appear to be caused by some form of sonic attack. cuban officials deny any involvement in the apparent attack, which also affected canadian diplomats, and are cooperating with u.s. officials to investigate the incidents. health and human services

secretary tom price resigned on friday following news reports that he and his wife traveled on military and private charter flights at a cost to taxpayers that may have exceeded $1 million. price resigned after presidentnt trump said he dididn't like t te optics of the scandal and suggested he was prepared to fire his hhs secretary. price's resignation came as other members of trump's cabinet are under scrutiny for chartering similar flights. treasury secretary steve mnuchin and his wife took a government jet to louisville and fort knox, kentucky, in august, where they watched the total solar eclipse. and earlier this year, mnuchin requested a $25,000-per-hour government jet for the pair's european honeymoon. environmental protection agency chief scott pruitt and interior secretary ryan zinke and his aides also reportedly took non-commercial flights at

taxpayer expense. in syria, a monitoring group says air strikes on saturday killed 28 people including four children in the rebel-held idlib province near syria's border with turkey. video purporting to show the aftermath of the attack posted online by the syrian civil defense rescue group, better known as the white helmets, showed rescuers pulling a bloodied child from the rubble of a building and rushing toward an ambulance. iraq's government has banned international flights to iraqi kurdistan and orordered joint military drills along the country's shared border with iran in its latest retaliation for a vote by iraqi kurds to form an independent nation. the move came after nearly 93% of voters approved a referendum a week ago to break away from iraq. meanwhile, turkey's authoritarian president, recep tayyip erdogan, said iraqi kurdish leaders would pay any price for their move towards independence. >> they are not forming an independent state in northern

iraq. on the contrary, they're opening a wound in the region to twist the knife in, ignoring this fact will do no good, neither to us for our kurdish brothers in iraq or other parties. amy:y: in cameroon, soldieiers t and killed at least eight people and wounded scores more sundnday in the latest crackdown n on a separatist movement in english-speaking parts of the central african nation. ththe violence came on the 56th anniversary of the unification of areas formerly colonized by britain and france. ahead of the anniversary, the government banned public gatherings, limited travavel, ad disrupted internet service, cutting access to services like whatsapp, facebook, and d twittr after it ended a similar blackout last april thatat lastd 93-days. about a fifth of camameroon's s2 mimillion peop arere englishsh spspeakers, with many claiming discrimination at the hands of the french-speaking majority. in germany, same-sex couples married d legally for the first time over the weekend as a new marriage equality law came into effect. registry offices in several german cities opened a day earlier than normal, on sunday, to allow for the ceremonies.

germany's parliament approved a marriage equality law in june after prime minister angela merkel dropped her opposition to the measure. in argentina, tens of thousands marched through the capital buenos aires sunday, demanding justice and answers in the case of a young activist who went missing two months ago. 28-year-old santiago maldonado disappeared on during a protest august 1 against the eviction of indigenous people from lands claimed by the italian clothing company benetton. witnesses say argentine security forces beat and arrested a person around the time of maldonado's disappearance. the case has stoked painful memories of the military dictatorship of 1976 to 1983, when u.s.-backed security forces tortured activivists and disappeared an estimated 30,000 people. back in the u.s. lawmakers missed a weekend deadline to renew the children's health insurance program, known as chip, throwing the fate of 9 million children who rely on the chip program for low-cost medical coverage into doubt. republican leaders in both the

house and senate failed to act on a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the program, which provides access to routine checkups, immunizations, e.r. visits, and dental and vision care. without quick action to renew chip funding, the kaiser family foundation warns that 10 states could run out money for the program by the end of the year. in st. louis, police used a taser weapon friday to electrocute a protester and pepper sprayed others when they confronted officers over the incident, in the latest clash over the acquittal of white former police officer jason stockley for the murder of 24-year-old african american anthony lamar smith. friday's incident came after protesters in unfurled a banner at a cardinals-brewers baseball game reading, "stop killing us." and thousands of protesters took to the streets of washington, d.c., and cities across united states over the weekend for a series of marches for racial justice. in new york city, hundreds marched sunday over the brooklyn

bridge. this is a new york r resident. >> racial justice is when we are working to intentionally ensure that t the most marginalized communities are at the center. when we think about economic justice, we also have to think about pay equity when it comes to women and the pay gap that happens when it comes to white women compared to latina women and black women. it is easy for me to stay in my sallow and work on issues, but i have to speak an effect that muslim people in this country are being mistreated. i have to stand up for that because even know it does not personally affect the, it impacts my community. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace reportrt. i'm amy goodman. we begin today's show with the unfolding humanitarian crisis in puerto rico. nearly two weeks after hurricane maria devasteded theslanand, puerto rico's 3.millllio residents stl l haveearlrly

electricity and dwindlgg pplies of foodfufuel a freresh water. esidenentrump is schedul to sit ththpuerto rico on tueay as ather storm i ibrewin---- thisime a potical stor beeen san an mayor cmen lin cruznd preside trump. speakingn cnn on fday, mor yulin cruz slammed attempts by the trump white house to spin the situation in puerto rico as a good news ststory. >> when you're jerking from a creek, it is not a good story. when you don't have it for a bababy, it is not a good news story. when you pull pepeople down n fm their buildings -- i'm sorry, but that realllly upsets me and frustrates m me. i would asask you to come downwn herere and visit the tns, and then m make a statement like tht -- whihich, frankly, it is an irresponsible s statement and a contrast with the statements of supppport that i have been gettg since yesterday when i got that call from the white house. , this is not a good news

story. this is a people are dying story. this is a life or death story. there isis a truckload of stuff that cannot be taken to peoples story. this is a story of devastation that continues to worsen. amy: on friday, trump's own point-personon in puerto rico, army lt. gener j jeff chananan similarly noted the fefense departnt has n sent engh reurceces helpp hurricanravagegepuerto rico. but on satury y morng, president trp p attaed m may yulin uzuz while trump was at his privatgogolf rort t in beininsternew jersey over serieof tweets,rump ote -- "t mayorf san juanwho was ve complentary oy a few days a, has now en told the democrs thatou must nasty torump. ch pooleadersh ability b the yor of sanuan, and otrs in puto ric who are not ableo get thr workerto help ey want erythi to be don for themhen it suld be a communiteffort. 10,000 feral wkers now o islandoing a ftastic job

trump's comments drew widespread disbelief and condemnation. many noted trump used racially coded language to talk about puerto ricans, implying they are lazy. on sunday, trump dedicated a golf trophy at the presidents cup golf tournament to victims of hurricanes harvey, irma, and maria. pres. trump: and on behalf of all l of the peoples of texas ad all of the peoples off -- if you look today and you see w wt is happening, how h horrible it is, but we have it under really eat controol of puerto rico, and the pepeople of florida, who have really suffered over this last short period of time with the hurcanes, i w want to just reremember them and we'rere goio dedicate this trophy to o all of those people that went through so much that we love. really, part of our great nation. amy: trumps dedication of the gulf trophy through condemnation. ted lieu tweeted --

amamong those who have criticizd trump over his comments was the acclaimed playwright lin-manuel miranda, the creator and original star of "hamilton." on saturday, miranda tweeted -- "you're going straight to hell, @realdonaldtrump. no long lines for you. someone will say, 'right this way, sir.'.' they'll clear a path." well, for more, we go now to miami, florida, where we're joined by luis miranda jr., the father of lin-manuel miranda. luis miranda jr. is a founding partner of the mirram group consulting firm and his new piece for the "new york daily news" is headlined "puerto ricans aren't 'lazy' and will remember trump's bad hurrrricane response." both he and his son, lin manuel, haveve been raising money fofor hurricane maria relief efforts. and at rutgers in new jersey,

we're joined by juan gonzalez, democracy now! co-host, former staff writer at the "new york daily news" and author. his latest book "reclaiming , gotham: bill de blasio and the movement to end america's tale of two cities." he's also the author of "harvest of empire: a history of latinos in america." we welcome you both to democracy now! you andt's start with your assessment of what has happened so far on this day before president trump, under withering criticism, finally heads to puerto rico tomorrow, along with the u.s. virgin islands. juan: well, amy, welcome to democracy now! listeners. i want to say to hear president trump claim that the situation is under control is completely at odds with reality. i just learned before coming on the air that one of the longtime leaders of the puerto rican community, lorraine montenegro, the daughter of ththe civil rigs iconon, died yesterday in puerto

rico. she appararently had been withot water and electricity. she started feeling ill. she was dehydrated. she went to the hospital and she died within a few hours. this is a direct example of some of the continuing problems that exisist between -- between those puerto ricans who are still dealing with this crisis of no electricity, many of them with no water, and infrastructure and the aid that is come so far as not sufficient to assist them. amy: luis miranda, can you talk about how you and your son lin , how you learned of donald trump's sweeeet attackcking thehe mayor san jua, the way most people know the mayor of san juan right now across united states is seeing

withn a life preserver water up to her chest, walking through with a megaphone trying sincep and save people there's no electricity and communication to be of the make sure they get out of their homes. that is the image most people have of this woman is donald trump attacked or by tweet from his golf resort in bedminster. like everyone else, we read, we happen to be together, my son and i, and we just read the tweets like most of us did. we were upset and confused by racistbelievably coded, behavior. it is behavior that we have

heard and words that we have heard over and over and over that somehow we don't do enough. enough, help ourselves family, we have workinge last 12 days nonstop in the u.s. to raise dollars for what is happening in puerto rico. and as we see the images and we talked to our family, everybody hands on doing everything they can to help their neighbors, to help what is happening in puerto rico, and here is the president of the united states, rather than showing compassion, just doing what he does best. meat to his

supporters. remember, this guy did not say a word for an entire weekend while things in puerto rico were getting worse. instead, he spent the entire weekend fighting with football players. but when he can then be negative and distractive and his supporters then can applied that he is tough toward puerto ricans, then he talks about us.. amy: just to clarify what you're talking about, not this past weekend but the weekend before, something like 15 tweets of president trump attacking black athletes in the nfl for taking the knee and calling them son's of b b's with no tweet at that time around puerto rico and then this weekend, attacking the mayor of san juan. >> correct. we're all working nonstop and he is just attacking for the sake

of attacking. he is not a calm pushing anything. he is not creating consciousness. he is not moving the needle. he is just doing what he does best. his support continues to dwindle. there is this court of this reds who need meat because they are not getting any legislative change of the agenda that the protection is an anti-immigrant agenda that trump promised them. so the way he keeps them together is just by throwing attacks to people and against people that he believes those supppporters are going to apply. tweets onn-manuel saturdrday -- line "you're going straight to hell, @realdonaldtrump. no long lines for you. someone will say, 'right this way, sir.' they'll clear a path." >> the response overwhelmingly

have been a support. because people were feeling exactly what lin-manuel was feeling and revealed in that tweet. , mr.ed to do something president. we are doing everything we can and d your reesponse, it is onef attack against the puerto ricann people. so you are going straight to hell. metaphor to show that your behavior, it is totally unacceptable, particularly from the moral leader of the greatest country in the world. amy: we are talking to luis miranda, who is the father of miranda, the famed playwright and activist, and we're talking to juan gonzalez, at rutgers university in new jersey. this is democracy now!

we will come back and continue talking about puerto rico, get a report from the streets of the community relief efforts going on as puerto ricans help each other. and then we will look at the catalonian independence referendum. more than 800 people injured by the spanish security forces. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: the play before a goat hamilton" by they manuel miranda, as we speak with his father luis miranda, who is in miami today. he and his son a cord knitting relief efforts in puerto rico. this is democracy now!, democrcracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. after hurricane maria slammed into puerto rico, the capital san juan is still facing a dire lack of food, clean water, and electricity. hanging over one of san juan's freeway overpasses, near the

neighborhood of playita, are multiple cloth signs reading in spanish, "sos playita needs food and water." juan, before we don't hear the voices from the people in the streets of san juan, what do you think is most important to understand right now and also this startling news that you just shared a about a puerto rin longtime leader dying and the idea that there may be -- the death toll may be much higher as a reporter frorom puerto rico reported on democracy now! on friday? juan: yes, clearly from the center for investigative journanalism in puerto rico as already documented that there are many -- more bodies of people who have died as a result of this storm than are currently being reported. in the real number is unknown. but i think there are a couple being perpetrated

it have to be dispelled. one is the presidedent claiming the puerto rican people and leaders are waiting for every thing to be done for them. the reality is quite different. the resilience of the puerto rican people and the ability of people in all of these communities, many of them cut still, isommunication amazing. for instance, you remember last week i was still trying to get information on my sister. just yesterday, we found out that she and her has been are welcome even know they have no electricity and still no communication. somebody was able to get up and visit them. the amazing thing about the people of her town, they themselves have organized -- they managed to get to a website where they have been doing videos of all of the different people in different neighborhoods, communicating with their own relatives. they've been able to organize themselves to begin clearing out streets of string trees and roadsblockades of the

that occurred as the result of the storm. some people are helping each other out in all of these towns while they await assistance from existing local government and , the femavernment folks in the military. the reality is, puerto rico has essentially a novice governor, a young governor who really, if it wasn't for the fact his father had been governor before him, would l likely never have been elected last year, who the governor of puerto rico himself did not really prepare well for this drum, but now more importantly, the military, the general that president trump sent to take charge of the situation in puerto rico just a few days ago, right away said he did not have enough equipment and supplies to deal the situation. now, if there is one institution in the united states government that knows how to deal with puerto rico well, it is the military.

for decades, up to 13% of the militaryuerto rico was bases, including the largest naval base in the world, roosevelt roads. the air force base strategic air force command base was there. so the military knows how to get around puerto rico, how to deal with the terrain of puerto rico. in the fact that military was not sent in earlier by the president to be able to help the people of puerto rico even as the storm was heading toward puerto rico, i think that was a strategic mistake. it was a blunder that now is still get to be fully rectified. so i think the idea that the puerto rican people are depending on government for assistance, they're doing the best they can and they're asking for help in a situation that they cannot control. because the other aspect of this is people forget puerto rico is under a financial control board. the governor of puerto rico cannot make major decisions on

expenditures without getting approval of that financial control board. and the government is bankrupt. it has no money. it had about $15 million left in its emergency disaster fund before the storm hit. so you have the cocontinuing problem of conontrol of the islands affairs from outside by the financial control board, a relatively inexperienced governor that is n n in charge, anand the failure of t the fedel government to ththink ahead of time and use the forces that they have, which was the military, to prepare for help for the people of puerto rico. amy: i want to turn now to the voices from puerto rico's neighborhood of rio piedras in the capital san juan, , speaking about the self-organized relief efforts in the wake of hurricane maria. >> after hurricane maria made landfall, the community in the capital city of san juan has taken matters into their own hands. not expecting help from the

government anytime soon. it is home to the university puerto rico, which was on strie last sprpring. this is jose, a striking student who has been leading community efforts in rio piedras since hurricane mariaia hit. > a a friend ofof mine and ie sitting g our apartrtments ande ununderstoodod that this was a r catastrorophe and we e had to do someththing to help our neieigh, to helelp our r community,y, ano help our country. so one day we just head out and started to remove plants and everything that fell in the streets. once we started working, the people that passed by, the community started to join us to work with u us. basically, we started organizing ourselelves. we s start reuniting ourselvlves in thihis church..

we just started to create a plan. here is where we organized ourselves. this is where we reunite ourselves. these are basically our strategigies that we use to attd the different is that c cities. my name is ferdinand. i am an artistst. we have already had s situations where wewe have a way to for t e central government to help us all stop we h have waited and waitited. this t time, we didid not waiti. wewe united the whole community. we know what we need. we know what we require so we established five e committeeses. sesecurity, food, one for improvements to lift up each other. we are seeing efforts need to be done from the inside out. we cannot wait for someone to come from the outside because of the urgent he. they have left us a week without anything. there are no supplies, nothing. we need to take care of

ourselves. >> o one of the efforts mamade o hehelp the community of f rio piededras is s providing g foodo those in needed. in a b baptist church, different organizations cook food daily and distributed in the nearby plaza. it in the nearby plaza. m my name is mary. there are people here e with differerent beliefs and coulte's but we are united for the e comn good o of helping each o other,f offering that helping hand to those in need. today wee cooked soup,p, rice, d beanans. we offered fruit. > we haveve united with univerersity students i in the churches h have also h helped uy bringiging food. we clean up pickup the garbage. we're trying g to lift up rio pipiedras howowever it is possie becacause the government h has t cocome here. exists.raras

we should not bebe abandoned, bt helped. we'rere not asksking for anythif ourselves individually, o only r the e community. the help shoululd come as s a bebecomes available. , notshould receive support just material, but also emotional. residents areraras hoping governmnment assistance eventually arrives, jose voiced concern about the way relief efforts are put ininto effect ty governmental agencies and ngos rurun by outsiders. >> the idea is they y come heree and they try and listen to us what is hahappening. i think that t is the most important part, to listen to stop not establish their w ways, nott e establish their protocol. it is not just t to work can by hand for what was are reready started herere in the community. we are very organized. we don't need no one to come here and telell us what we needo do. wewe know what we need d to do. wewe know our community, our

necessitieies. we know how to tend them. we don't have the resources. amy: that report by democracy now!'s juan carlos davila for -- in san juan. nowre bringing in right xiomara caro diaz, joining us from san juan, puerto rico, a lawyer, activist, and the director of new organizing projects at the center for popular democracy. and still with this is luis miranda. xiomara caro diaz, describe what is happening now. we just heard this report of people helping each other, this community relief response. what about what is happening on the ground, what you need, and our responsese to president trup coming tomorrow? >> thank you, amy. right now what is happening is that the veil of colonialism has been lifted for the world to see what it looks like when a place

that has been left out of the political infrastructure and has been exploited for 119 years by the united states goes through something like this. so people are organizing because that is what they've been doing to survive for a very long time. we have established -- there are several groups, many probably we don't even know of, that are assuming the responsibility not of immediate relief, but really starting to do what people -- for people and people have been marginalized foror very long tie have known what to do to survive in puerto rico. we need to remember that before this hurricane passed, puerto rico was already going through a ,risis that is not economic about money only. it is political. right now there are groups setting up popular food kitchens that are creating citizen brigadades to take care of the streets. and that is what we need. we need to visualize the fact that people of puerto rico have the infrastructure to build horizontal movement to support,

not rebuilding what we used to have, but really building a new country. we would loveat people to think that we were ok, it is now visible for the whole world. and also in puerto rico, the metaphor of how visible all of the poor communities are because there are no trees anymore. there are thousands of people without homes and hundreds of people dead. and to still be counted. so the response -- we don't need help. we need the u.s. to assume responsibility for political relationship that has been abusive, that is been about exploitation. so we need the resources to repair what has been done and for the space for the groups on the ground to do what they've been doing for very long time. juan: if i could add on this issue come these are eloquent examples of the kind of organization at the grassroots level that has been going on, but i t think the decisision of

president trump to specifically target the mayor of san juan carmen yulin cruz, in some of the most amazing attacks by national leader, a local leader -- on a local leader of seen in my lifetime, the reality is mayor carmen yulin cruz, if anybody is out there on the frontlines come the first out of the storm, she spent it in a shelter with the other residents of her city, and she has been photographed repeatedly and water of to her chest trying to assist the people of different places. she is an on the ground leader directly involved in trying to assist the stitch once in surviving and getting -- constituents in surviving and getting through the ravages of the storm. to become the target of the president while he was off doing whatever he was doing but not bring attention to puerto rico, is just astounding that this kind of direct political attack and in the president would claim

that she was the one that was followingg the dictates of the democratic party to criticize him. it really is mind boggling that this kind of stuff is occurring. amy: if you could respond to how people are responding in san juan to president's comments, both the attack on the mayor as well as overall on puerto ricans? i think we lost --xiomara caro diaz? i'm wondering if you can respond what president trump said, his attack on the mayor san juan and talking about puerto ricans as wanting of thing done for them. >> i think president trump is not surprising anyone. we're seen this type of behavior before and attacks on other communities in the united states, so it doesn't surpriris, but it should be condemned. we will not tolerate that type

of language. we will not tolerate that type of violence. people here have been, for a very long time, waiting for the president of the united states to assume responsibility. there's a big difference. we do not need his duty or his drama, and we do o not need his attack. we need the united states and the credit president, which he is in the position right now, to assume responsibility for that will stop and specifically, fix things. we need, one, relief that does not come with strings attached. we don't need any more loans with high interest. investmentair and for 119 years of exploitation and the amount of money that t s the madoff a a puerto r rico. we neeeed to repeal of the jones act and all over this all other us a place to live. we need help and allow people of puerto rico not just here, but

in the united states to be able to share their solidarity and their health in a horizontal, direct way without trying to control at a moment where lives are at stake. we need a commitment to just rebuilding, no displacement, no eviction. where are ready hearing from communities where fema is telling them they cannot reveal their home where it currently is and starting to lift up grave, grave questions about what is the agenda behind telling people who have lived in a place for very longtime in a moment like this that they cannot rebuild their home there. we need debt relief and to end colonialism, which is at the heart, the core of this issue. amy: the army general credited with fixing the response to hurricane katrina said trump should have mobilized 50,000 u.s. troops for puerto rico. what about militarization, both needing help and your concern about the u.s. military moving in even more?

-- they're not the people just are getting help. aey might be tomorrow after visit. so, we willens, if have confirm this is a public relations trip and not a trip to assume responsibility for a place that is part of the united states, not because of our choice but because we have been submitted to that. so the people for real were doing the work are groups that are feeding 500 people in the public plaza every day. since last friday. people, organizations that distribute 300 lunches yesterday. we are not waiting for his help. the military is not helping. the military right now, what it is doing is occupying puerto rico. it is making it even more difficult to get help on the ground. we have even heard a story from a comrade who came to san juan and told us that citizen

brigades were helping to clean a street and rebuild to create a new way to cross a river and police local mililitary told him to stop, that that was not their role. so right now the military in puerto rico is holding a roll of violence and not a facilitation. at the coreecognize of this is the militarization of regard and the poverty that has come with it. and the reason why people are dying is because they did not have homes with dignity to live in and have a core reason and it has to do with militarization of puerto rico. fbi,re we have seen ice, dea, and have heard stories of them hanging out where there is no martial law. this is not what puerto rico needed right now. and president trump should be ready to answer those questions because we are ready to confront him with them. amy: xiomara caro diaz, you said

hundreds of people have died, certainly, that is not the number we are hearing. id you believe that? >> because the amount of dust the stories that come to the places we are trying to connect people is people getting hitchhiking from three hours away and telling us about neighbors who've had to bury their family members in their backyard because we know of hospitals where we have taken up press that 15 to 20 bodies waiting, what to do, were usually they only have space for eight. i am taking responsibility for saying the damage, the loss of ise is a lot bigger then being reported. i believe people know this and this is information that is not being shared. the people on the ground know this because we have stories of comrades who have lost people after hurricane maria because of lack of oxygen, because of the heat, because of lack of water. i have people directly of lost

grandmothers and uncles. i believe we're talking about hundreds. i believe in a couple of weeks time, we will get the reason. and make a i want to thank you, xiomara caro diaz, i hope we can check in with you later this week. director of new organizing projects at the center for popular democracy. lawyer and activist in san juan. i want to thank luis miranda, founding partner of the mirram group consulting firm, and father of playwright lin-manuel miranda. his new piece for the "new york daily news" is titled "puerto ricans aren't 'lazy' and will remember trump's bad hurricane response." when we come back, we will talk about catalonia. more than 800 people injured as catalonian's attempted to go to the polls to o vote for their independence.. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in new york, one gonzalez is at rutgers university in new brunswick. as we end today's show by looking at the escalating conflict in spain over sunday's independence referendum in the northeast region of catalonia. more than 800 people were injured after spanish police stormed polling stations and tried to forcibly prevent people from voting, firing tear gas and physically attacking prospective voters. the spanish government says the referendum was illegal. it had seized control of ballots and fliers, raided the catalan regional government's offices, and even shut down pro-independence websites. late on sunday night, the catalan regional government said 90% of catalan voters chose independence. the catalan government now says it plans to unilaterally declare independence from spain within 48 hours. spain says it will neither recognize the results of the referendum, nor a declaration of independence. the escalating conflict is being described as the biggest constitutional crisis in spain since the end of the franco

dictatorship in the 1970's. for more, we're joined by two guests. in cleveland, ohio, sebastiaan faber is with us, professor of hispanic studies at oberlin college and author of the forthcoming book "memory battles of the spanish civil war: history, fiction, photography." he's the co-author of an article in the nation headlined "have spain and catalonia reached a point of no return?" and here in new york, pau faus is a filmmaker and writer from barcelona, spain. his recent documentary, "ada for mayor" follows the campaign of barcelona mayor ada colau. we welcome you both to democracy now! let us begin with sebastiaan faber. give us context. what happened leading up to this cataclysm that took place yesterday in catalonia am a 800 people injured i spanish police. >> well, actually, the story

starts about seven years ago when the spanish constitutional courts rejected as unconstitutional a new statute for catalonia, which is an economist region in spain's current constitutional makeup. that is what is felt as a slap in the face as prove that the spanish state is unwilling to thegnize or respect identity and the right to self-government of the people in catalonia. from that moment on, in independence movement grew in catalonia that about five years ago was joined by the catalan conservative party, along with parties on the left that ended up joining in a coalition for independence, very interesting -- a coalition including both left and right. they declared their intention to hold a referendum and self-determination. they tried to do one in 2014

that was nonbinding, then they decided to push for a binding referendum this year. the spanish state has consistently said the referendum is illegal, that the spanish constitution does not allow for referendum like that -- which is true. at the catalan government set to melissa down and see what we can feel --nd a way that we that we can fit into the spanish they because currently we don't. over the past three weeks, the spanish state has acted incredibly harshly and rigidly in response to the challenge push that catalonia. yesterday's events, which you describe just out, only confirm the very worst image the catalan s have of the spanish state. for me, the culminating event was the press conference the prime minister gave last that in which he showed his complete incapacity, completely incapable of acknowledging what had happened. he spokeke of police acting

serenely and he basically excommunicated the 2.2 catalans who would devote risking of their lives, but taking -- risking getting hurt and being shiftingy police for from the rest of spain. i think his lack of acknowledging the genuine feelings and the genuine aspirations of these people in catalonia, he is showing his incapablethat he is of solving this crisis. amy: let's go to catalan's leader who was speaking on sunday. won many catalonia has referendums. we have earned the right to be listened to, respected, and recognize. millions mobilized facing difficulties and threat and of spoken loud and clear. we have sent a message to the world. we're the right to decide our future. we have the right to be free and we want to live in peace without violence and apart from a state that is incapable of promoting

one single thing rather thann in position and the use of brute force. president of the catalonia. juan, you've a question. juan: sebastian, given this unprecedented crackdown by the government, what do you envision will be the position of the european union? spain is part of the european union, to have such a blatant attack on basically the people within spain insisting on being able to votote on their status? a really good question. yesterday, the signals from the eu were signals of worry. a couple of leading eu politicians and leaders expressed their dismay at the images coming out of catalonia. that said, the e.u. is very whately to intervene in

they still see as internal affairs of spain. the eu has a policy of noninterference in domestic affairs of its members. so the eu is unlikely to openly condemn the spanish state, for example, the way it behaved yesterday. that said, i think the eu will be calling for dialogue -- will be trying to maybe through backdoor diplomacy, to push the rajoy government to sit down and to start that dialogue that catalonia has been asking for for years now and that madrid has steadfastly refused to engage in. amy: i want to bring pau faus into this discussion, who made a , who justt ada colau attacked the president of spain, criticized him saying rajoy has been a coward hiding behind prosecutors in courts, crossed all redline's with the police actions against normal people,

old people, families who were defending the fundamental rights. and we heard from the catalan leader. your responsnse as you look at what is happening in your city, and a region of spain, catalonia? >> the images are so strong. yesterday there were families, old people and little children just defending schools to be able to vote. some of them slept there overnight. so many people were there for more than 24 hours so they would be there when voting started. ofwas a very strong movement self organization. at the same time, the only response the government, the spanish government offered were got this could happen, but the images we saw yesterday were far beyond what we expected. before listening to the mayor of san juan, and it reminded me a little bit, the way the spanish

government in the spanish president is talking about what happened yesterday in barcelona is so different from the perception of what is happening. the spanish government is talking about the use of violence, something that like what the situation deserved. while people in barcelona are telling the violence was totally out of measure. i mean, the government -- medical help to the people come to respond top this because the situation is been very, very far away from thought could happen. amy: we will continue this discussion. i want to thank our guests pau .aus and sebastiaan faber with my colleague juan gonzalez at rutgers university, i'm amy

goodman. our website is democracynow.org. 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 dedemocracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

link. >> spending your life in the natural world take a certain kind of person and it important that we continue that in the next generation. it is important to commit -- to have someone commit to the natural world and they can