02/14/19 02/14/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! an armedyou support faction within venezuela that engages in war crimes, crimes agaiainst humanity or genocide,f you believed they werere serving u.s.s. interests as you did in guatemala, el salvador, and nicaragua? >> i am not going to respond to that question. amy: at a heated congressional

hearing, commerce member will hire omar grylls elliott abrams over his record in latin america in the 1980's and his conviction for lying to congress and the iran-contra scandal. this comes as president trump meets with the colombian president at the white house to discuss efforts to topple the venezuelan government. we will get the latest. then one year ago today, a gunman opened fire at the marjory stoneman douglas high school in parkland, florida, killing 17 students and staff. people to gunlose violence. people do not lose people to gun violence. people are stolen from us from gun violence. amy: since the parkland massacre, nearly 1200 children have been killed by guns in the united states. that is between three and for a

day. will t the united states ever addressed the nation's gun violence epidemic? all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. congress is poised today to vote on a massive spending bill that would avert another government shutdown on friday all grazing nearly $1.4 billion for 55 miles of new wall on the u.s.-mexico border, a fraction of the $5.7 billion president trump has demanded. at the white house, trump said he would look for landmines in the deal before deciding whether to sign i it. es. trump:p: we'e're going to te a look at it. i don't want to see a shutdown. a shutdown would be a terrible thing. amy: the showdown over the border wall came as right police in northern mexico blocked hundreds of desperate central american migrants wednesday as they tried to escape an abandoned factory complex where they have been imprisoned while

waiting for the u.s. to process their asylum claims. more than 1700 immigrants have been held in the mexican border town since february 5 after they arrived in a caravan of people seeking asylum in the u.s.. the vast majority have remained prisoners at the site after the trump administration adopted a "remain in mexico" policy for asylum-seekers, processing just 15 asylum applications per day at the nearby eagle pass border crossing. this is one of the migrants speaking with the texas-based immigrant rights group raices. >> we are allowed to go outside. up asave locked us prisoners. we need organization to support us with hats and gloves, batting and scarves. that is what we need because the cold is tremendous. the real truth is there are children, sick people, seniors. we are in an abandoned factory and now we're using it as a

shelter. amy: on capitol hill, the house approveded a bill dndnesday e d u.s. support for t the saudi-led war in y yemen, which hahas spad the world's worst humanitarian crisis in a hahalf-century. 18 republicans joined the democratic majority in wednesday's 248-177 vote. house democrats are calling on the senate to take up the bill after a majority of senators approved a similar measure last december. president trump has signaled he would veto the legislation. it would be the v veto of his first t administration. ththe british charity saveve the children estimates more than 85,000 yemeni children under the age of five have died from acute malnlnrition sinince the obama d -- the obama administration backed a saudi-l-led coalitionon bombing campaigngn beginning in 201515. the u.n. warns halalf of yemen's population, more than 14 million people, remain on the brink of starvation. in brussels, the european union has added saudi arabia to a blacklist of countries that pose a threat due to money laundering and financing terrorism.

the eu's move won't trigger sanctions against saudi arabia, but will force europe's banks to tighten controls on saudi transactions. the european union also added four u.s. territories to its blacklist -- puerto rico, guam, american samoa, and the u.s. virgin islands. in afghanistan, the taliban said wednesday it w will meet u.s.s. envoys in islamabad, pakistan next monday for talks aimed at bringing a ceasefire to the longest war in u.s. history. the announcement came after president trump signaled he wants to withdraw about half of the 14,000 u.s. troops currently stationed in afghanistan, although acting defense secretary patrick shanahan said this week he's received no orders for a withdrawal. the taliban has said it wants all u.s. troops out of afghanistan before it will commit to a peace agreement. this comes as new data from the pentagon show 2018 saw the u.s. drop more bombs on afgfghanistan than in any other year in at least a decade.

u.s. central command says its fighters, bombers, and drones released nearly 7400 weapons last year, as president trump gave u.s. generals wide latitude to carry out airstrikes without white housuse review. in iran, at least 27 members of the elite revolutionary guard were killed wednesday after a suicide car bomber targeted their military convoy near the pakistan border. the attack in the sistan-baluchestan province in iran's southeast was claimed by a sunni militant group fighting for baloch independence. the attack came as the trump administration convened a conference in warsaw, poland, billed as a middle east peace summit, which was largely aimed at drumming up support for u.s.-imposed sanctions on iran. foreign ministers from over 60 countries joined the talks, which were led by vice president mike pence and secretary of state mike pompeo, along with president trump's senior adviser and son-in-law jared kushner. france and germany -- who fought the trump administratition's

withdrawal from the 2015 iran nuclear deal -- declined to send foreign ministers to the conference. ahead of the talks, israeli prime minister benjamimin netanyahu boasted that the conference was aimed at promoting war with iran. this is prime ministerer netanyu speaking in a video posted on his official twitter feed. >> what is important about this memeeting, , and this meeting it in secret because there are many of those, is that this is an open meeting withh representatives of leading arab countries, sitting down together with israel in order to advance the common interest of war with iran. amy:y: president t trump's persl atattorney rudy giuliani spopokn the e sidelines s of the warsaww summmmit, calling g for the overthrow of iran's gogovernment during a speech at a rally off iranian exexiles.. it w was formerly on the u u.s. terrrrorism watchlhlist. he later admitted he was paid by the group p to speak at their rarall

this week marks the 40th anniversarary of the topple dictatorship. meanwhile, "the new york times" reports the trump administration has ramped up a secret programm aimemed at sabotaging iran's rockckets and missiles, a a prom that mayay be behind recentt failures by iran's space agency to launch satellites into orbit. "the n new york times" cited unnamemed trump admiministration officicials who said the u.s. hs workeded secretly for r years to slip faulty parts and materials into iran's aerospace supply chain. in washington, d.c., the new u.s. special envoy to venezuela elliot abrams testified on capitol hill wednesday on u.s. efforts to oust venezuelan president nicolas maduro three weeks after the u.s. recognized opposition leader juan guaido as venezuela's new president. elliott abrams is a right-wing hawk who was also linked to the 2002 coup attempt in venezuela that attempted to topple hugo chavez.

abrams was convicted in 1991 for lying to congress during the iran-contra scandal, but he was later pardoned by president george h.w. bush. in the 1980's, abrams defended guatemalan dictator general efrain rios montt as he oversaw a campaign of mass murder and torture of indigenous people in guatemala. rios montt was later convicted of genocide. this is democratic congresswoman ilhan omar of minnesota questioning abrams on his record wednesday. >> you pleleaded guilty to two counts of withholding information from congress regarding your involvement in the iran-contra affair, for which you were later pardoned by president george h.w. bush. why membersderstand of this committee or the american people should find any testimony that you give today to be truthful. >> if i can respond to that -- >> it was not a question.

amy: will have more after headlines. the house judiciary committee advanced a pair of bills wednesday that would expand federal background checks for firearm purchases, in what would be the first new gun control legislation in years. democrats photo along party 23-15 lines in favor of the bills -- among them, georgia freshman congressperson lucy mcbath, whose 17-year-old son jordan davis was shot dead in 2012 at a a florida gas station. >> the two bills that said before us today will assure mothers and fathers have one less reason to worry about when they send their children off to school. they will give students one less thing to fear when they walk into their school. and most important, it will make our communitieies and our natioa sasafer place. i talked to victims. i have b been working with victs for the last six years, and i refuse to talk to one more parent that is scared every single day when they send their

children off to school. amy: the legislation will head to a vote in the full house of representatives, but republican leaders have said it will be dead on arrival in the senate. the bill's advance just ahead of the one-year anniversary of the valentine's day massacre at marjory stoneman douglas high school when a former student armed with a semiautomatic rifle gunned down 17 students, staff and teachers in just three minutes. since then, guns have claimed the lives of nearly 1200 u.s. students. we'll have more on today's anniversary of the parkland massacre later in the broadcast. the head of the federal emergency management agency, brock long, said wednesday he is resigning his post after less than two years on the job. long's resignation came after a government auditor found he improperly used government vehicles to travel to and from his home in north carolina. as fema administrator, brock long oversaw the trump administration's widely-criticized response to devastating wildfires in california and other western states, as well as series of

major hurricanes in 2017 -- harvey, irma, and maria. last year, a george washington university study commissioned by puerto rico's governor found over 3000 people died as a direct result of hurricanene maria. after donald trump disputed the findings, brock long defended the president. ovevere studies are all the place. the haharvard study was done differently, stated a different period of time versus the george washington study. there is a big this -- discrepancy. amy: in response to brock long's resignation wednesday, san juan mayor carmen yulin cruz tweeted -- "brock long was trump's hatchet man in the botched puerto rican relief effort after hurricanes irma and maria. he should have been fired and held accountable for the loss of lives." deputy fema chief peter gaynor will serve as acting administstrator ununtil the sene confirms a replacement.

a federal judge ruled wednesday that president trump's former campaign chair paul manafort broke the terms of a plea agreement when he intentionally lied to the of the eye a grand jury, and federal , prosecutors. d.c. district judge amy berman jackson ruled manafort lied about his dealings with a suspected russian intelligence operative named konstantin kilimnik, as well as other matters related to spepecial counsel robert mueller's investigatation. the ruling could add years to manafort's prison sentence. last year,r, manafort wass convicted on e eight felony charges, including tax and bank fraud. he later pleadeded guilty to two additional counts of conspiraca. he could face life in prison. the chair of the house judiciary committee is threatening to depose acting attorney general matthew whitaker, suggesting he may have lied under oath least week when he testified to congress about his communications with donald trump about the president's former attorney michael cohen. in a letter sent to whitaker wednesday, new york democratic congressmember jerrold nadler wrote -- "members on both sides of the

aisle found many of your answers to be unsatisfactory, incomplete or contradicted by other evidence." this comes as the senate is set to vote today on whether to confirm william barr, president trump's nominee to replace jeff sessions as attorney general. the federaral r reserve reportsa record 7 million americans are three months or more behind on their car payments, in a worrying sign for the u.s. economy. the rate of auto loan defaults is even higher than it was in 2010 when u.s. unemployment topped 10% at the height of the great recession. in argentina, tens of thousands marched through the capital buenos aires wednesday, blocking roads to protest high unemployment and austerity measures imposed by president mauricio macri, including cuts to public utility subsidies. the austerity measures have led to higher water and electricity bills. they come as argentina has submitted to a plan by the international monetary fund to end much of its fiscal deficit by the end of the year. this is argentine labor leader hugo godoy.

>> our people do not want this agreement with the international monetary fund, which we want to repeal. we have bills and proposals for government policieies that incle the needs the argentine people. amy: and in the philippines award-winning journalist maria , ressa was released on bail early thursday following her arrest in a cyber libel case that's widely seen as politically motivated. ressa is the founder of the independent news site rappler and a vocal critic of the philippines' authoritarian president rodrigo duterte. this is maria ressa speaking just after her release from the custody of the national bureau of investigation. reallyate last night made me think about what this is all about. for me it is about two things, abuse of power and weaponization of the law. this isn't just about me and it is not just about rappler. the message the government is

sending is very clear. and someone actually told our reporters this last night. be silent or you are next. so i am saying and i am appealing to you not to be silent, even if, and especially if, you are next. amy: to see our recent interview when she camesa to the united states to pick up a number of journalism awards, you can visit our website democracynow.org. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. nermeen: and i am nermeen shaikh. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. the new u.s. special envoy to venezuela, elliott abrams, testified on capitol hill wednesday on u.s. efforts to oust venezuelan president nicolas maduro. abrams spoke three weeks after the u.s. recognized venezuelan opposition leader juan guaido as venezuela's new president.

since then, the u.s. placed sweeping sanctions on venezuela's state run-oil company and rejected calls for an international dialogue to resolve the crisis in venezuela elliott abrams is a right-wing hawk who was convicted in 1991 for lying to congress during the iran-contra scandal, but he was later pardoned by president george h.w. bush. abrams defended guatemalan dictator general efrain rios montt as he oversaw a campaign of mass murder and torture of indigenous people in guatemala in the 1980's. rios montt was later convicted of genenocide. abrams was also linked to the 2002 coup in venezuela that attempted to topple hugo chavez. amy: on wednesday, elliott abrams was interrupted by protesters soon after he began addressing the house foreign affairs committee. >> thank you for the opportunity to testify on our efforts to restore democracy in venezuela -- >> do not listen to this war criminal.

>> elliott abrams is going to send weapons to venezuela, right-wing factions to question aside in guatemala and el salvador. join codepink! >> ok. chair w willthe remind a all persons in the audience that any manifestation ofapproval or disapproval proceedings is in violation of the rule of house and its committee. mr. abrams, i apologize. please continue. >> venezuela is at a crossroads. over the past month, we have witnessed massive outpouring of hope encourage and tenacity by the venezuelan people. we saw it again yesterday. they have taken to the streets to protest a regime that has brought them nothing but poverty and misery and repression.

they have placed our hopes and the young, dynamic, and legitimate leader juan guaido to lead them through the transition of democraracy. wewe join the venezuelan peoplen this effort. amy: elliott abrams, the u.s. special envoy to venezuela, testifying before the house foreign affairs committee chaired by new york democrat eliot engel. abrams was later questioned by congressmember ilhan omar of minnesota. >> mr. adams, in 19 91 that you pleaded guilty to two counts of withholding information from congress regarding your involvement in the iran-contra affair, for which you are later pardoned by president george h.w. bush. i fail to understand why members of this committee or the american people should find any testimony that you give today to be truthful.

folks if i can respond to that. folks it wasn't a question. it was not a question. to my time.e right >> it is not right. >> it is not a question. to reply.mitted >> that was not a q question. thank you for your participation. on february 8, 1982, you testified before the senate foreign relations committee about u.s. policy in all salvador. in that hearing, you dismissed as common as per began of report about the massacre of -- in which more than 800 civilians, including children as shown as two years old, or brutally murdered by u.s. trained troops. during that massacre, some of those troops bragged about raping a 12-year-old girl before they killed her.

girls before they kill them. you later said that the u.s. was a in el salvador fabulous achievement. yes or no, do you still think so? presidente day that door to a was elected in a free election to this day, el salvadador has been a democracy. that is a fabulous achievement. >> yes or no, do you think that massssacre was a fabulous achievementt that happened under our watch? >> that is a ridiculous question. >> yes or no. >> no. >> i will take that as a yes. >> i'm not going to respond to that kind of a personal attack emojis not a question. >> yes or no, would you support an arms faction within venezuela that engages in war crimemes,, crimes against humanity, or

genocide if you believe they were serving u.s. interest as you did in guatemala, el salvador, and nicaragua? toi'm not going to respondnd that question. i'm sorry. i don't think this entire line of questioning is meant to be real questions, so i will not reply. >> under your watch, genocide will take place and you will look the other way because american interests were being upheld is a fair question. because the american people want to know that any time we engage abouttry that we think what our actions could be and how we believe our values are being farthered. that is my question. will you make sure that human rights are not violated and that we uphold international and

human rights? >> i suppose there is a question in there, and the answer is the entire thrust of american policy in venezuela is to support the effort to people's restore democracy to their country. that is our policy. >> i don't think anybody disputes that. the question i have for you is that the interest -- does the interest of the united states include protecting human rights and include protecting people against genocide? >> that is always the position of the united states. >> thank you. i yield back my time. amy: democratic congresswoman ilhahan omar of minnesota questioning elliot abramams, the new u.s. special envoy to venezuela. when we come back, we will hear more excerpts from wednesday's hearing and speak to journalist roberto lovato. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. during wednesday's house foreign affairs committee hearing on venezuela, the new u.s. special envoy to venezuela elliot abrams also faced intense questioning from democratic new york congressman adriano espaillat. concerns have expressed of your appointment to deal with his problem. some have characterized it as --ng perhaps like appointed toto lead discussion on the gren new deal or maybe even appointing mbs to lead a discussion on fairness in journalism and accessibility to journalists. do you feel yourur past actition iran-contrtra have, impaired yor

ability to fairly and transparently deal in the region since we all love the outcome of what happened then? do you feel that is a major problem, baggage that you bring to the table? >> i donon't. i've been doing this job for two whole weeks and i can tell you that members of congress have raised it -- no latin american of any nationalility with whom i have dealt has raised it. we've had lots and lots of discussions about how we're going to promote democracy in venezuela. i guess i should say since i have been attacked now three times in my own defense, if you look at the record of eight years, when we came in, there were military dictatorships -- a fact or history. looks whenen we left in country afteter country after country, therere have been trtransitionot we supported -- chile is a good

example. i think it is a record of promoting democracy. >> i differ with you. we should not dig our heads in the sand and make-believe that this never happened because it did. and you are at the helm of that. >> at the helm of promoting democracy in venezuela -- >> you may want to characterize it as that, but i don't. amy: democratic new york congressman adriano espaillat questioning elliot abrams, the new u.s. special envoy to venezuela. we are joined now w by the journalist roberto lovato, who has been closely following the situation in venezuela. in 2015, he profiled venezuelan opposition leader leopoldo lopez in foreign policy magazine. from el salvador, he certainly knows what took place in 1980's in u.s. policy i in el salvador and nicaragua. roberto lovato, overall, your response to what took place yesterday? elliott abrams on the hot seat. he was protested by codepink and others in the hearing room, and then questioned by, among others, ilhan omar and as we

just heard, adriano espaillat. >> high come any. hi, nermeen. thank you for having m me. when i seeee ellioiott abrams in front of conongress, it stirs my subconsciousus and i thinknk its for the entire country. it was to forget that won't and should not forget what happen in central america and the 1980's. many of the actors, many of the strategies and tactics, many of we political alliances are seeing around venezuela -- that is what you bring in elliott abrams, a cold warrior, dirty warrior. in a forensic lab and also the -- and also a door, i saw they are still processing little children killed. as we speak righght now, today, there are starting another round

of examinations and digging after 30 yearsrs when nearly almost 1000 people were killed, including mostly women, children, and elderly people. the massacre was in 1981.1. >> the entire landscape of el salvador massacre was dotted with mass graves because of mass graves of entire towns. then you have guatemala where my in towns were mostly wiped out, just like in el salvador. then you havave nicaragua. when i see elllliott abrams, i have a verervisceral reaction and i have to kind of bree thenn -- if f i was not sigh andld, i would

disbelief but it just confirms the united states is in decline. this clearly a sign of u.s. degeneracy. his appointment shows the trumpp administration is willing to unleash the darkest forces in u.s. modern history of war am a destabilization, and death squads. that is my reaction. nermeen: can you say specifically, roberto, what was elliott abrams role and knowledge of these massacres that you pointed to in el salvador, quad a maulik, and nicaragua? >> i would point people to look to his titles. his first title under the reagan administration was assistant secretary for human rights and humanitarian affairs. there are a lot of human -- there is a lot of human and elliott abrams' title. in terms of the policies coming was primarily focused on the inhuman.

the mamass graves, suppoporting governmentnts and militaries lie , who isrioios montt declared responsible in the guatemalan government responsible for genocide. elliot abrams, even after it was clear acts were perpetrated, defended, helped get funding for the went before congress and to the american people to say, hey, this is our guy. and the guy ronald reagan called "bum rap"p"n a because ofof criticisms on his human rights r record for killig thousands of mayans. in el salvador, for example, after the wars ended and he of the united nations troops report in 1993, finds the government that ronald reagan and elliott abrams backed unconditionally throughout the early 1980's that perpetrated massacres and wiping

out entire towns, perpetrated 85% % of the killings of civilis during the war. so elliott abrams, after that report came out, that quote that ilhan omar mentioned about the fabulous achievement -- his response to the united nations trtroop troops report was to say the u.s. had fabless accomplishments. dark dealing with severely forces in dealing with a situation where not jusust dark forcrces of the e united statest in latin america that are linked to extreme violence are now having suits and ties put on them and put out as leaders of this new venezuela they want. amy: we want to talk about venezuela, but i want to go back to 1995. this was something like four years after elliott abrams was -- played guilty to lying to

congress. 1995 when investigative journalist allan nairn said theott abrams appeared on charlie rose show. >> let's looook at reality. in reality, we're not talking mururders, one colonenel. we're talking about more than 100,000 mumurders, an entire ar, top officers and a place of the u.s. government. we're talking about crimes and also talking about criminals. not just people like the guatemalan colonels, but also the u.s. agents who have beeeen working wiwith them and the higr level u.s. officials. i think you have to apply uniform standards. president bush once talked about putting saddam husseinin on tril for crimes against humanity. if you are serious coming have to be evenhanded. if we talk about a case like this, , i think rerep to start talklking about putting guatemaa and u.u.s. officials on trial. i think someone like esther abrams would be a subject for such an bird -- nuremberg style

agency. congress has been in on this. they have proved the sale of the arms. >> [indiscernible] i invite you and elliott abrbras back to discuss what he did. >> thanks, charlie -- >> y you want to speak t to tha? >> it is ludicrous to respond to that kind of stupidity. this guy thinks we were on the wrong side in the cold war. maybe he was personally. and one of the millions of americans -- >> wrong side of supporting the massacre -- >> that is a crime will stop that is a crime for which people should be tried. amy: that is elliott abrams being challenged by journalist allan nairn on the charlie rose show more than 20 years ago. and now he is the new point person on venezuela. , yet closelyo

tracked the venezuelan opposition and we want to go to that right now. on wednesday, opposition leader tweeted -- "this afternoon, i spoke with ambassador @carlosvecchio of venezuela, discussing the relationship between our two countries & reiterating america's support for the people of venezuela as they seek a brighter, freer future for their nation." can you talk about those in declaring, guaido himself president and then immediately the e united states recognizing his presidency over the democratically elected leader presidentnt maduro? >> i think the first thing when you're talking about the venezuelan opposition, yet understand it is a broad spectrum that represents socialism, leftists who are critical of maduro, to people in the middle to the extreme right and to the extreme right that is violent.

the part of the uniteted states- and you can see pictures of elliott abrams meeting with some of the people, who i tried to interview but avoided me -- i will talk about that. and others, including mr. vacuo. you're talking about the extreme right. so extreme that the right-wing, --e of those in venezuela the popular party who were basically had to relations with the extreme right here in the united states. so it is no: incidents you're going to get somebody as dark and a various as elliott abrams meeting with the extreme and violent right. they are part of a generation that some call the cubs of reaction. the reactionary cubs. these are people that with u.s. funding through usaid and other

training in mobilization for protest and what used to be, according to one of my sources in the intelligence community, what used to be called bird operations, have now gone over it through the state department and state department programs. one of those p programs, for example, is the funding of youth programs, which started like with a group in serbia. the u.s. has used as a trainer for youth groups in destabilization programs. there are groups like one of my in the streetss vioiolence which both sideses kill people, but yu only heard the government killing. stagiginggroups were violent actions in the street.

that resulted in black people being burned to death -- being burneded, being lit on fire. it resulted in bombings. there were a assassinations of to be stuck -- chavistas. i interviewed a man whose son was beheaded by barbed wire set opposition you'reo seeing on your screen. arehio and the party linked to these extremely violent protest. you can even see on youtube blumenthal press put out a video guaido dressed up like the other youth. yet elliott abrams, certifiable criminal gets to midi, leading with this crimes against amanity, now in suit and tie

meeting with nancy pelosi, meeting with trump administration officials, ofting with presidents columbia, getting human rights prizes? at ucla, i teach a class in media. i am just getting a cornucopia of manufactured consent because i cannot think of a clear examample when you have elliott abrams talking about democraracy in terms of use known -- youth known to be linked to terrorists. urent saleh is meeting with presidents. manust met with uribe, a that we dodon't need to o tell , amy, killed thousands of people in colombia. is out there meeting.

if you looook on yoututube, youn find videos where he was caught plotting assassination attempts, plotting bombings, plotting all manner of what we in this context would call a terrorist action. of manufactured consent we have going on right now. amy: wednesday's house hearing on venezuela came less than a week after mcclatchy reporter venezuelan authorities uncovered 19 assault weapons, 118 ammunition cartridges him and 90 military grade radio antennas on board a u.s. own plane that have flown from miami into valencia. the boy and 767 is owned by company called 21 air, owned by a man who once ran companies tied to cia's rendition program. the plane has made nearly 40 round-trip flights between miami and spots in venezuela and colombia since january 11, the day after venezuelan president nicolas maduro was sworn into a

second term. elliott abrams was questioned about the report. questionrams, i've a for you. my question is whether you are aware of any transfers of weapons or defense equipment by the united states government to groups in venezuela opposed to nicolas maduro since you were appointed special representative for venezuela? >> no. >> andnd i want to be e respectl of youou but also honest. the reason i ask that question, there's been a mcclatchy news ..port of such an incidentt are you aware of that report? >> yes. >> i ask this question because you have a record of such actions. in nicaragua, you were involved in the effort to convert leave provide legal aid to the contras against the will of congress. you ultimately pled guilty to two counts of withholding information from congress in regard your testimony during the iran-contra scandal. so i ask you the question, can we trust your testimony today?

>> well, you can make that decision for yourself, mr. castro. i continue the answer to your question is no. it is a simple and unequivocal no. there e have been nono such trar of arms. amy: that was congrgressman caso questioning elliott abrams on wednesday. roberto, can you respond to the mcclatchy report on these weapons found -- allegedly found on u.s. planes headed from miami to valencia in venezuela? >> you had like 19 s semiautomac weapons from radios and other equipment that we don't have the full yet chahart of what was on that plane, but the venezuelan government has put out camino, weapons and things they say were aird by a company called 21 that has links to another company called gemini, which oddly enough, take us back to 1986 when the cia was caught

transferring arms to the nicaraguan contras the corporate does perpetrate crimes against you minute against thousands of nicaraguan civilians. again, yetet the political conscious of the united states being served. i hope people in the memedia wil start doing like that mcclatchy report. doing his job as an diggingative journalism deep to find out who are these people behind our policies but also who are these people in venezuela that everybody says, hey, i've never heard of one guy go. you can see he is involvlved in violent issues on youtube. use the investigative budgets to find out like we used to do, who is to in this thing instead of propping up the talking points, pushing t the talking points of the trump administration. amy: we have 20 seconds.

>> the sector of the progress of community, etc. mounting a powerful intervention movement against people like elliott abrams, their joining trump. it is curious, to say the least. amy: roberto lovato, thank you for being with us. we will continue to cover the developments in venezuela. roberto lovato is an independent journalist working out of the san francisco writers' grotttto. he has reported from latin america. in 2015, he wrote piece for foreign policy magazine on the venezuelan opposition headlined "the making of leopoldo lopez." this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the woworld peace report. we will be back in a minutute. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war r and peace repoport. i'm amy goodman withth nermeen shaikh. nermeen: today marks the one-year anniversary of the devastating massacre at marjory stoneman douglas high school -- the deadly school shooting in parkland, florida, that galvanized the nation to take action against gun violence and turned a generation of young people into activists. on february 14, 2018, a former

student armed with a semiautomatic ar-15 entered marjory stoneman douglas high school and opened fire, gunning down 17 students, staff, and teachers in just three minutes. it was one of the deadliest school shootings in u.s. history. students who survived the massacre quickly came to national prominence as leading activists for gun control. this is parkland shooting survivor emma gonzales speaking soon after the shooting in a beach that riveted the nation. >> mr. president was to come upp to make atomic to my face it was a terrible tragedy and how it should never have happened and maintain telling us nothing is going to be done about it, i'm going to have to ask them how much money he received from the national rifle association. it doesn't matter because i already know. $30 million. by the number of gunshot victims in the united

the month of 2018 alone, that becomes $5,800. is that hohow much these peoplee are were to you, trump? to every politician who is taking donations from the and are i an array, shame on you. amy: "never again" became a rallying call that mobilized young people around the united states to advocate for gun control. in march, the parkland survivors led the historic march for our lives in washington, d.c., where almost 800,000 people gathered to decry the power of the nra and the epidemic of gun violence in the united states. in june, they launched a two-month national road to change bus tour, registering young people to vote and encouraging them to support gun control legislation. the tour ended in newtown, connecticut, the site of the 2012 sandy hook elementary school shooting massacre. and in november, the march for our lives organization mobilized the youth vote nationwide for the mid-term elections, and

nearly defeated pro-gun candidates in the parkland students' home state of florida. despite this, the republican-controlled florida legislature is now pushing to ease gun legislation enacted after the parkland shooting. nermeen: in washington, d.c., wednesday, the house judiciary committee advanced a pair of bills that would expand federal background checks for firearm purchases. it would be the first new gun control legislation in years. democrats footed along party 2315 lines in favor of the bills. among them georgia freshman , congressperson lucy mcbath, whose 17-year-old son jordan davis was shot dead in 2012 at a florida gas station. the legislation will head to a vote in the full house of representatives, but republican leaders have said it will be dead on arrival in the senate. amy: nearly 1200 children have died from gun n violence in the year sinince the parkland shooting. that is three to fourur a day. for more, we are joined by lois

beckett, senior reporter at the guardian covering gun policy. her most recent article is titled "we can't let fear consume us why parkland : activists won't give up." welcome to democracy now! what has happened in this last year and the significance of the activism of emma gonzales and all of the surviving students that started speaking out less than a week -- days after, within a day of the massacre at the parkland high school? >> it has been really astonishing to watch these kids over the past year. they spoke up so powerfully at the beginning. it after that, they did not stop. they kept working straightht through the midterm elections. what has been so interesting about their activism is what they started with was media attention, social media morality, other students across the country holding walkouts to protest what was happening and

government inaction. but they're returning what was viral into the most old-fashioned a basic kind of political power, turnout. they were able to help contribute to a historic increase in youth voter turnout image elections. it jumped 10 percentage points to 31%. the kids want to increase it even more, but that is the kind of power the national rifle association has had for a long time. they have delivered voters to the polls. nermeen: can you say a little bit about how they have beeeen organizing a a ready and preparation for the 2020 presidential election? >> and talk to some of the leaders of this movement, i said, are you going to take any rest? given going pretty hard. and never seen teenagers more exhausted than emma gonzales than on the day before the midterm elections. but they are not. they took a couple of weeks off maybe in december, rested a little bit, but they are already

organizing to do more voter registration and turnout for 2020. the march for our lives already has nearly 200 chapters nationwide. they want to double that in the next year. there are starting to train regional organizers. just kids from parkland who are working on this. the students have connected with young gun violence prevention advocates all across the country. some inspired by the parkland shooting, some who have been working on this long beforehand. they are building a deep bench of young political talent across the entire country. amy: can you talk about the student writing project since parkland? high school students covering what is taking place. >> yes. there have been a lot of really impressive works of journalism. one that was released earlier this week is the trace and mcclatchy brought together 200 haskell journalist to tell the story covers it will get killed with a gun since parkland.

nearly 1200 kids. that does not count any of the gun n suicideses. they are now online. it is an astonishing and really difficult read, but telling each of the stories and reminding the country that we don't have just a mass shooting or a school shooting problem, that more than 95% of the kids who diane america from guns at that outside of school. and that 1200 -- we need solutions for all ofof t the 12. amy: in september, we spoke to jaimeuttenberg, father of guttenberg. he spoke about how his life forever chchanged after parklan. i don't get my daughter back, but i become an advocate for doing something about the issue of guns in our society.

so that i don't end up being a dad who goes year after year to visit other parents of mass shootings. so this is all that i do now. i need with legislators. for me, this is not a partisan issue. gun safety is not partisan. the responses are sometimes partisan, but i will talk to anybody about this who is willing to listen and consider my point of view. amy: i think of many oliver, who lost his son on valentine's day describing to us in the democracy now! studios that his son wanted to get flowers for went tofriend and manny get them, brought them to his son come and asked his son to text him after he gave his girlfriend the f flowers. ad that iss why he brings

symbol and paints -- is a painter -- of flowers everywhere he goes. lois beckett, can you talk about what has happen in terms of gun legislation across this country in the last year? >> on the congressional level, there is been a little bit of progress. the new democratic-controlled house of representatives has introduced an advanced a much stronger than ever before bill to expand background checks on gun sales. this has been the single top priority of gun control advocates in this country since the 2012 sandy hook s shooting d onone of the first actions of ts to democratic house was bill.uced that it moved forward out of the house judiciary committee yesterday. the is a small step, but in united states where after the pulse shooting in orlando, democratic wagers leaders had to stage a sit in on the floor house of representatives, pushing and then come just for discussion and debate on gun laws, having one of these bills passed the house will be a huge

victory. , the background check legislation is likely to be blocked by the senate. there is no action in washington does not mean there is no action nationwide. across the u.s. in the past year, at least 67 gun control gun violence prevention bills have passed in the state legislatures. all caps of different initiatives here. there have been funding bills for gun violence prevention, to raise the age for access for some automatic weapons, gymnastic violence bills. and most importantly, eight states have extreme risk protection orders passed. one of the most evidence-based bipartisan kinds of legislation to give law enforcement orr families away to temporarily remove guns from someone who seems at risk effort in themselves or other people. nermeen: can you talk specifically about what is happening a parkland, florida, one year after the

shooting, pushing to armed teachers? >> in florida, specially after the election cycle were , therecans won key races is been a push to try to tear back some of the very moderate gun control measures that were passed after parkland. by somentinued push lawmakers and some parents that it would be health armed teachers. this is a policy that is very divisive in florida and nationwide. there are a lot of teachers who say they don't want to be armed and it is inappropriate. there are also parents who say we know law enforcement will never arrive in time before a shooting and would it help to have teachers who are armed in parkland and marjory stoneman douglas itself, these debates over school safety can be and credibly traumatizing for the students. the the student newspaper eagle i will have an article out later hard corners.

this designation that each cluster midst of a corner that is out of sight of the door so it will be out of range of site for any shooter looking in the door. and some of the classrooms have had these corners outlined in paint and there are kids in the corners to stop the bleeding. they're having code red drills once a month. and for students who survived the school shootings were still thinking about their friends being killed, this kind of intense school safety preparation can be incredibly traumatic. amy: despite a activism, the parkland students continue to struggle with the painful aftermath of that day. this is david hogg, survivor of the parkland shooting, outspoken gun control advocate. >> i'm coping with a pretty well. the fact of the matter is, i'm not. no one is. we did not lose people to gun violence. let me reiterate. we did not lose people to gun violence. people do not lose people to gun violence. people are stolen from us from gun violence.

my sisters four friends were stolen from her when she was 14 years old on february 14. i don't want any other child in the u.s. or florida to ever have to hear the unconscionable cries many of us heard that day. that many of us went through that day. no one should have to, no matter the community they lilive in. am i coping with that? no. we're living through something that none of us should have lived through in the first place. amy: that is david hogg as we wrap up today's valentine's day show. yes, the massacre that took place in parkland happened on valentine's day 2018. lois beckett, thank you for being with us senior reporter at , the guardian covering gun policy and the far right in the united states. we will link to your piece "we can't let fear consume us: why parkland activists won't give up." that does it for today's broadcast. today is the 201st birthday of frederick douglass. tomorrow we will be speaking to the great-great-grandson of frederick douglass kenneth morris, as well as the scholar.

we will be in washington