02/19/19 02/19/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pafica, this is democracy now! pres. trump: the twilight hour has arrived and our hemisphere. and franknkly, in many, manany places arounund the world. the days of the socialism and communism are numbered, not only in venezuela to my but in nicaragua and in cuba as well. amy: in a major speech in miami, florida, president trump calls on the venezuelan military to

abandon its support for president nicolas maduro and to support self-proclaimed venezuelan president juan guaido. this comes as a new book by former fbi deputy director andrew mccabe says trump considered going to war as far back as 2017. we will host a debate on venezuela. then we look at the fallout after amazon scrapped its plans to build a major office in new york due to widespread community protests. we will speak to new york city councilmember ron kim, who opposed giving amazon $3 billion in taxpayer subsidies. instead of bailing out the people in new york, our own democratic governor was willing to give my transfer wealth out of new york and give it directly to the pockets of the richest man on the planet? it iss ridiculous and about time we step up as democrats, as progressives, andd

realally put an end to corporate welfare. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president trump held a rally in miami florida monday where he addressed members of the local venezuelan community, reinforcing his support for opposition leader self-proclaimed president juan guaido and calling for the military to defect from the leadership of sitting venezuelan president nicolas maduro. pres. trump: you have the opportunity to help forge a safe and prosperous future for all of the people of venezuela. or you can choose the sececond half, cocontinuing too support maduro. if you choose this path, you will find no safe harbor, no easy exit, and no way out. you will lose.

amy: trump also renewed attacks on socialism, saying it had ravaged venezuela and that it will "never happened to us." president maduro responded to trump's remarks in a televised address. >> today, donald trump was in miami with a tired rhetoric, ququestioning the rights of our country to adopt the ideas of human, christian socialism, our socialism.m. style speech.zi- amy: this comes as a new book out today by andrew mccabe reveals trump privately discussed going to war with venezuela -- venezuela in 2017. mccabe writes -- on "then the president talked about venezuela. that is the country we should be going to war with. they have all of that oil and they're right on our back door." meanwhile, the daily beast is reporting that state department officials are considering extending temporary protected status, or tps, to venezuelans residing i in the u.s. to prott

them from deportation. tps holders from sudan, el salvador, haiti, nicaragua, honduras, and nepal are currently suing the trump administration over its attempt to revoke their immigration status. we'll have more on the situation in venezuela after headlines. after months of speculation, vermont independent senator bernie sananders announced he wl run in the 2020 presidential elections. this is senator sanders speaking to john n dickerson on "cbs this momorning." > i am going to run foror president. that's true. >> what is going to be different this time? >> we're going to win. a also went to lunch grassroots movemement to lay the groundwork for transforming the economic and political life of this country. that is what is different. amy: senator sanders sought the nomination in 2016, but lost to hillary clinton. sanders has long been one of the most progressive voices in u.s. politics and promised to reign

in corporate and wall street greed, while implementing social welfare programs like memedicare for all and free public college. in a 2015 presidential debate, sanders declared climate change to be the greatest threat to national security. the sanders campaign was credited for pushing clinton's rhetoric and policy positions further to the left. despite the democratic party establishment heavily favoring clinton, sanders carried primary races or caucuses in 23 out of 57 contests. many accused democrats of rigging the primary against sanders, pointing to the democratic national committee's apparent coordination and joint fundraising with the clinton campaign. leaked emails from the dnc also revealed tactitics to paint sanders in an unfavorae e ligh sanders joins a owowded eld d of democricic hopuls,s, iludingng fefeow senators elizeth warrencory boor, amy obuchar, and kama harris and congressmer tulsi bbard, whendorsedanders i2016.

massacsetts setor and 20 presidential hopeful elizabeth warren is set to unveil a universal child care plan today, that would guarantee childcare for all u.s. families and be paid for by a tax on the ultra-wealthy. her plan would cover the full cost of childcare for families who earn less than 200% of the poverty line limit and would limit child care expenses to 7% of household income for all other families. in west virginia, teachers are launching a statewide strike today over an education reform bill that republicans are trying to pass in the state legislature. the bill would legalize charter schools, which are currently not allowed in the state. teachers' unions say they were not consulted in the drafting of the legislation and that it is a retaliation for last year's historic strike, which was credited with launching a wave of teacher walkouts in other red states. the action comes nearly one year

after the nine-day strike that led to a 5% raise for all state workers. meanwhile, teachers in oakland have announced they are planning to go on strike starting thursday to demand fair wages, smaller class sizes, and more resources for their students. a coalitition of 16 statates hae filed a federal lawsuit challenging president trump's national emergency declaration, claiming it is unconstitutional. california's attorney general xavier becerra filed the suit on behalf of the group monday. he says trump's move violates congress's power to control the budget and is a misuse of public money. also on monday, prpresident's d, protesters took to the streets around the country to denounce trump's emergency declaration. this is diallo brooks of people for the american way speaking at a rally in washington, d.c. >> and we will fight at every turn for justicece for everyone, no matter what you look like or

where you come from. we will fight. and we will stand up and we will make our voices heard. thank k you. amy: a a mexican natioional hasd while e in the custody o of borr patr i in tes mondnday. the unidentified 45-year-old sought medical attention twice before their death and was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver and congestive heart failure, although the cause of death is still unknown. they are now the third known migrant to die in recent months whilile in government custody. in december last year, two guatemalan children died in the care of border patrol agents, sparking outrage and calls to overerhaul the agency's response to sick migrants. a transgender woman who was deported from the u.s.s., was found murdered in el salvador. aurora, better known as camila, was reported missing in late january and was recently identified at san salvador hospital after a local trans advocacy group set out to find her. camila reportedly fled to the u.s. after receiving threats in

her home country, but was deported because immigration officials did not believe her. she is the second transgender woman to be killed in el salvador this month. in syria, twin bomb attacks a -- attacks in the northwestern city of idlib killed at least 15 people monday, including four children. this according to the britain-based syrian observatory for human rights. the attacks come as syrian government fighters say just a few hundred fighters remain in the last islamic state stronghold of baghouz, in the east of the country, where they are hiding out among around 1000 villagers. on monday, the international rescue committee said over 60 people have died in recent weeks due to exhaustion and malnutrition after leaving the area. the majority of deaths were of young childrenen. the united arab emirates has agreed to purchase $1.6 billion worth of patriot missile launchers from u.s. arms company raytheon. the e deal comes a as public ouy moununts over ththe u.s.-backed,

saudi and uae-led war on yemen. rerent reports by amnesty international and cnn n have revealed weapons are being used to buy t the loyalties of varios militias or tribes and gain influence in yemen's political landscape. last week, the house of representatives approved a bill to end u.s. support for the war on yemen, which has sparked the world's worst humanitarian crisis in a half-century. in yemen, warring factions have agreed to the first phase of a planned withdrawal from the port cicity of hodeidida after a rouf u.n.-led talks over the weekend. the u.n. hailed the important progress made during the talks,, which cacame two months after a fragile deal was reached in but warring parties failed to december meet the original deadline. nine people, including three civilians, were killed in a gun fight in the contested region of kashmir monday. four indian soldiersndnd one poliliceman were a also killed, alongside what police say were three suspected jayshay-mohammad

militants. last week, a car bomb in the indian-administered region killed as many as 46 indian soldiers -- the deadliest attack on indian forces in kashmir since the late 1980's. jayshay-mohammad claimed responsibility for the deadly attack, and india has accused pakistan of being directly involved in plotting the bombining. pakistan denies the claim. both india and pakistan have recalled top diplomatic officials following the attack. at a hearing over possible election fraud in north carolina's ninth congressssional district in the midterm race, an election official said a republican operative orchestrated a "coordinated, unlawful and substantially resourced absentee ballot scheme" to help republican mark harris win the election. the still uncalled race pits republican mark harris against democrat dan mccready. harris initially appeared to be the narrow winner, but the race was never certified after evidence emerged of possible election fraud. investigators found that longtime conservative operative

leslie mccrae dowless hired workers to illegally collect absentee ballots and isome cases filled them in favor of republican candidates. dowless was reportedly paid by a group called red dome, a company that was hired by the harris campaign to organize a get-out-the-vote campaign ahead of last year's midterms. the hearing, which will resume today, could result in north carolina's election board deciding that a new election should be held in the 9th district. in iowa, republican governor kim reynolds has said will not appeal a court's ruling last month on the highly restrictive, so-called fetal heartbeat law. the iowa law would have banned abortions once a fet heartbeat can be detected --something that typically happens just six weeks into a pregnancy and before many women even realize they're pregnant. the law was widely seen as an attempt to challenge the landmark 1973 roe v. wade ruling at the supreme court. in oregon, portland mayor ted wheeler is calling for an independent investigation after newly revealed friendly messages

between a portland police officer and the e leader of a white supremacist group leader provoked backlash last week. on thursday, willamette week reported that portland police officer jeff niiya exchanged hundreds of messages with joey gibson, leader of the far-right patriot prayer, including sharing information on upcoming protests organized by leftist, anti-fascist groups. some have defended the friendly tone of the exchanges, saying it is a common police tactic, but others point to a track record in portland of failing to hold far-right groups accountable while targeting anti-fascist protesters. last august, portland police found a group of patriot prayer members on a rooftop with a cache of guns, right before a major white-supremacist rally. no arrests were made of patriot prayer members and portland police instead fired rubber bullets at anti-fascist protesters at the march. and supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg is expected to return to the court today after

taking time toto recover fm m hr dedecember lung cancer surgery. 85 year-old justice ginsburg is a now three-time cancer survivor. she resumed work in early january, reading transcripts and ruling on cases from home. on friday, she met with the other justices for the supreme court's weekly conference. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. juan: and i'm juan gonzalez. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and d around the world. president trump traveled to miami, florida, monday where he gave a major speech calling for regime change in venezuela, as well as in cuba and nicaragua. he urged the venezuelan military to abandon its support for president nicolas maduro and to support self-proclaimed venezuelan president juan guaido. pres. trump: peaceloving nations are ready to help venezuela.

reclaim its democracy, its dignity, and its destiny. all of the nations in our hemisphere have the shared interest in preventing the spread of socialist tyranny. socialism, by its very nature, does not respect borders. it does not respect boundaries or the sovereign rights of its citizens or its neighbors. itit is always seeking to expand to encroach and to subjugate others to its will. the twilight hour of socialism has arrived in our hemisphere. and frankly, in many, many places around the world. the days of socialism and communism are numbered, not only in venezuela, but in nicaragua and in cuba as well. amy: during his speech, trump said the u.s. seeks a peaceful transition of power in venezuela, but that all options remain on the table.

meanwhile, a new book out today by former fbi deputy dirtor andrew mccabe reveals trump privatately discussed going to r with venezuela in 2017. mccabe writes -- "then the president talked about venezuela. that's the country we should be going to war with, he said. they have all that oil and they're right on our back door." venezuelan president nicolas maduro responded to trump's speech in miami by accusing him nazi-like discourse. intoday, donald trump was miami with thehe tired rhetoric, questioning the rights of our country to adopt the ideas of human, christian socialism, are socialism -- just like a nazi- style speech. donald trump wants to ban ideologies, political diversity, and wants to impose the unique inking of white supremacist of the white house. juan: this all comes as a standoff intensifies on the venezuelan border.

the u.s. is contntinuing to deliver aid to the colombian border in defiance of maduro. the united nations, the red cross, and other relief organizations s have refused to work with the u.s. on delivering aid to venezuela, which they say is politically motivated. the border will be the site of drilling concerts in the coming days organized by the british , one billionaire richard branson, the other by the venezuelan government. meanwhile, maduro says russia in this is delivering 300 tons of humanitarian aid by air. amy: we are joined now by two guests. here in new york venezuelan , economist francisco rodriguez, head of the venezuelan national assembly's economic and financial advisory office under president hugo chavez. he recently co-wrote with jeffrey sachs a "new york times" opinion piece headlined "an urgent call for compromise in venezuela." and in hartford, connecticut, we are joined by vijay prashad. he is the director of tricontinental institute for social research and chief editor

of leftword books. he is the author of several books, including "the poorer nations: a possible history of the global south." let's begin with francisco rodriguez. talk about the situation in venezuela right now and what you are proposing. >> now therere is a standoff in venezuela between the government maduro which is unpopular but still has the support of military leadership, and the opposition who has regained the power to mobilize in support its base it has lost over the past year and a half. and nothing much seems to be changing in terms of the standoff. in some variety or another, we have seen it over the past two decades. the new ingredient we have right now is huge international pressure, and that takes different forms. on the one hand, you have trump in the u.s. who is explicitly talking about the possibility of military action. on the other hand, you have the european union who has shied

away from taking the steps but recognized juan guaido as interim president of venezuela. u.s.importantly, you have economic sanctions, oil sanctions. and the sanctions are going to be crippling for an economy like venezuela's. more than 90% of venezuelan exports come from oil. these factions have not only cut off the possibility of venezuela selling oil to the u.s., but also made it very difficult for venezuela to sell oil to other countries. for example, india is the second purchaser of oil. indian companies are concerned they may be sanctioned for dealing with venezuela. so the concern that i and other persons such as my co-author , whaty sachs have posted is the plan b? what if the strategy does not working getting maduro out of power? then you have a country that is already in a fragile human attorney situation and you are imposing crippling economic sanctions, in this risks

creating famine.e. we go through a number of an interims from government that could effectively envision transition toward elections, but also stabilize the economy, to an oil for food program, which is something basic we should be discussing right now. how is venezuela going to feed itself if it cannot sell oil to the rest of the world? in the case of a rack in a rant, there were exceptions to sanctions. in the case of venezuela, the trump administration has imposed sanctions regime without any type of exceptions. for a country that essentially only produces oil -- by the way, the second export, gold, is also sanctioned by the u.s. -- this is very am a very dangerous. this risks creating a famine in venezuela. i wouldjay prashad, like your perspective first on president trump's speech and the administration still holding out the possibility of direct military intervention in

venezuela. your take on what is going on? is a veryhis dangerous situation. we're dealing with the government of donald trump that has, for a very long time, sought some kind of f military action against venezuela. as you said, they considered a war in 2017. the people around trump, john bolton, national security advisor, and now rhetoric -- redirected out of the dirty wars of central america elliott abrams, these people are not actually committed to democracy or to the venezuelan people. they want to do exactly what socialismely claimed wants to do, which is to spread across its borders their agenda into places like venezuela, and to subjugate people elsewhere. i mean, the very fact that trump

has openly saidnd bolton has repeated that there is oil -- american oil companies should get primary access to it. in other words, increase their ability to draw profits from venezuelan oil. the fact they have openly said this should encourage people to see this is not a credible attempt at helping the venezuelan people. this is not a credible set of concerns about democracy or human rights. these people want to go to war. these are resource wars. i think one should be very careful about taking their point of view seriously, even allowing them to define the so-called international community. owna i think has made its moves here. large populations of the world do not a accept what the united statates is sasaying. india has said it is going to do

its very best, as it did against the u.s. sanctions on iran to find an e end run around u.s. sasanctions on venezezuela. i do not think most of the world is in agreement with the american strategy here,e, whichs plainly y to provoke a war on te north of south america. i think we need to be very cautious about how we proceed in discussing the situation. this is not being seen from washington with the lens off humanitarianism. it is bebeing seen through the lens of war in order to secure resources will some amy: let me john bolton, national security advisor, talking about the u.s. oil and venezuela. this was a recent interview on fox business where he openly said u.s. oil compananies coulud benefit from what is happening in venezuela. >> we are in conversation with major american companies now that are either in venezuela or

in the case of citgo in the united states. i think we are trying to get to the same end result. of the threeene countries i calall the troioikaf tyraranny. it will make a a big differenceo the unitedtates econonomically if we could have american oil compananies really invnvest in d produce the o oil c capabilitied venenezuela. it would be good for the people of venezuela and the people of the united states. amy: francisco rodriguez, can you respond to this? has the u.s. exhibited oil, news from the sanctions and talking about u.s. will come to involvement in this attempted coup? >> it has not exempted them from the sanctions. a set of temporary wind down provisions for some service companies involved in venezuela. it has immediately stopped any shipments up nafta, which venezuela needs for about one third of its production. that is a neatly ban for u.s.

company. and for the u.s. companies for importing oil from venezuela, there is a wind down. -- wind down perd. any money paid for that oil has to go into a blocked account, which is good to be managed by the guaido administration or the maduro administration. it does not make sense for maduro to sell oil to these companies. juan: on this oil situation, because i am not sure the complexity of what is going on here in terms of oil is understood. as you said, india is the second largest importer of venezuelan oil. china is the third largest. now owns 49%rently of citgo in the united states in exchange for a loan that russia gave. russia, china, and india are heavily invested in what happens to venezuelan oil. they are all recognizing the

maduro government. so it is not a simple thing, this oil issue, as you just cut off the oil supply. >> no, no, no, that is correct. however, what you will find is that when the u.s. imposes this type of sanctions, it creates significant cost for other countries to continue to trade with a sanctioned country. that is what happened in iran. and manye chinese concerned about continuing to do in the wake of u.s. sanctions, therefore, the u.s. had to create -- first the obama administration and now trump -- reductions cost which continue to allow them to continue trading with iran. we had news over the weekend, still unreported, but reuters say they have confirmed that russian bank has frozen the account precisely because they are concerned with the

possibility of being sanctioned for dealing with them. there is a sense in which u.s. foreign-policy goes beyond just the direct effect of trading with the u.s.. it also affects using the dollar as an international reserve currency. and that can severely limit what other countries can do. if on top of that you have -- economics not imposed sanctions, but there is something that most european countries have done, which is to recognize guaido. this is something very rare. this is something that, in the case of the u.s., the last time it recognized a government that did not have the fact of control over at least part of its territory was in world war ii countriesazi-occupied of europe. this is something that is not usually done. the u.s. recognize the government of saddam hussein even as it was invading iraq. the problem with thahat is once you start going down that route,

then you start falling into a problem where foreign-policy decisions in depth having economic implications. now venezuela cannot sell oil either through u.s. accounts or through the european financial system. this makes it very difficult for the country to actually obtain dollars or reserve currency that they can use internationally, even if it manages to continue selling oil to some countries. juan: vijay prashad, what abou the issue of the breakdown in terms of the international community? you have written about the global south. it does appear most of the countries that are recognizing otheraido government, than some latin american countries that are being pressured by the united states, are from the global north. >> yes, that is correct. this is the illusion of the phrase international community. it is largely referring to the united states and its european allies. but in fact, governments that

represent the majority of the world have not actually recognize mr. guaido and continue to recognize mr. maduro. but i do have very great concerns about the lack of alternatives, both for holding and doing trade in oil, but also insurance for carriers and so on. chinese, the bricks countries attempted to create of alternative. not come to fruition. in the case of iran, the europeans have tried just out to create an alternative strategy for payments to iran so they can continue to buy oil from iran. as you may have seen at the warsaw conference, the united states directly attacked the europeans on this. there have been attempts by china, by india certainly, to

thete alternatives outside european and american-dominated financial system in order to basically continue to trade with places like iran and venezuela. but each time they propose an attacks.ve, these i thinink this is something for people to pay attention to. in other words, there is a politicization of economic activity of trade activity, a politicization that has the drumbeats of war behind it. because if the united states is going to squeeze venezuela to the extent it is doing now and perhaps more, this is going to push back countries into -- push countries in the civil war. most likely the will be ramped up pressure for the united states to intervene militarily. this would be terrible for south america, for latin americaca. i wawant to put on the table for us to consider that during the

high point of high oil prices, the venezuelan government made its choice. he did not build up its sovereign wealth funds, rainy day funds. instead, it started to help countries, for instance in the caribbean, through things like the petro scheme. theshould recogognize that current uprising in haiti is not merely about haiti and the imf presence from last year, but it is alslso because the petro sche is basically run aground. there are three american belt takers sitting -- oil tankers. they are not unloading the oil until the government in haiti pays in cash. and every day they are not unloading these ships, the government of haiti is level for $20,000. i want to puput this on the tabe because this is one form of behavior toward poor countries like haiti.

the opposite of humanitarianism. and the other at its highest point, the venezuelan government providing low-price oil at very reasonable rates to countries like haiti and a genuine form of humanitarianism. in venezuela when into crisis -- the world did not come to its defense to help venezuela. instead, using this opportunity to carry favor with washington. basically, bangs latter on the drumbeats of war. amy: we're going to get a break then come back to thisis discussion with vijay prashad and francisco rodriguez. democracy now! back in a moment. ♪ [music break]

amy: "bolivariana" from the album "chile: songs for the resistance." this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. standoff is intensifying on the venezuelan border. the u.s. is continuing to deliver aid to the c colombian side of f the border in defifiae of m maduro. and red crossations

and other relief organizations have refused to work with the u.s. on delivering a two venezuela, which they say is politicalllly motivated. on monday, president trump criticized maduro for not allowing humanitarian aid into the country. pres. trump: two days ago, the first u.s. air force c-17 -- that is a big, beautiful plane -- landed in columbia, loaded with crucial assistance. it included thousands of interest in kits for little venezuelan children. unfortunately, dictator maduro has blocked this life-saving aid from entering the country. he would rather see his people starve then give them aid. amy: still with us, economist .rancisco rodriguez

he recently co-wrote a "new york times" opinion piece headlined "an urgent call for compromise venezuela." and in hartford, connecticut, vijay prashad, director of the tricontinental institute for social research, and chief editor of leftword books. francisco rodriguez, if you can talk about what is happening on the borderer. itit looks like the u.s. is pushing for this to be the flashpoint, but you have the u.n. in the international red cross thing they will participate because they do not see so-called humanitarian aid being pushed by one side as a real humanitarian aid. >> there is a reality that she miniature and eight has become -- humanitarian aid has become politicized. i think a lot of the fault is maduro's. yeyears ago for this t to be tad about in the political debate, maduro and his government have denied there is a human a terry in cririsis and will cease to

accept any type of humanitarian aid. in november of last year they fifinally accepted some aid from thee uniteted nationons. but during most of that period, there was nothing. he saw the country enter intoto hyperinflation, t the w's largest economic contraption to happen outside of wartime in any country in world history has happened in venezuela. this is not just u.s. sanctions are recent. this is huge mismanagement of maduro and chavez ministrations. aidinggs talking about other coununtries, rececognizing chavez did not do as a result hardly of that policy, did not do what it should have done and what is recommended for oil have in supporting countries, which is to build up a rainy day fund, to be able to safer when oil prices came down. this country had committed a lot of misistakes.

it went into a huge economic crisis as ththe result of this management. the governrnment has been cynicl about this because they do not even publish statistics. it stopped publishing statistics in 2015. to to key data. the government denies the crisis is there, but does not have any data to show mainly because it has effectively ban the publication of this data. , an issue ofxt debate, it has effectively challenged the government to accept humanitarian aid. and now as the to mystic venezuelan conflict has become internationalize, they are effectively riding on this and try to tell maduro and the military you must accept humanitarian aid into the country. it is true, and i fully recognize that, there is a lot of concern among humanitarian aid agencies that you should not

let humanitarian aid be politicized because once it does, then one of the two sides is going to try to stop it. now is a big problem right and venezuela. i do think at the root of this politicization, you have to find the maduro government, in my view, cynical denial of the istence of a deep economic and monetary and crisis in venezuela. juan: in terms of thisis crisis, because no one denies there are major problems within venezuela, your perspective on how this opposition has operated? i think there was an expectation that once guaido was declared president and the united states rallied behind him, the government would collapse. and that has not happened. would you agree the longer this drags out, the more likelihood there is that the maduro government will manage to persevere, except for a u.s. intervention? >> it depends on what you mean

by persevere. they may be able to retain their hold on power, but this country is going to go to a humanitarian catastrophe like what we have never seen in this hemisphere. again, i would like to come back to the issue you already have a country where 30% of venezuelans are eating less than three meals a day as opposed to only 5% when maduro came to power, a country ravaged by poverty exceeding 90%. when you take the situation and impose these crippling oil sanctions on the country, you are risking creating a humanitarian catastrophe. amy: would you say the u.s. is intensifying this catastrophe? >> this policy of the united states, recognizing guaido and threatening the venezuelan military as trump did in his speech, so that it will decide to overthrow maduro, is a policy that if it works, it can be very

good. but if it does not work, what is plan b? what is the other strategy? are we simply going to stop venezuela from selling oil to the rest of the world and have millions of venezuelans star as a result? -- i think not only that is questiononable. amy: vijay prashad, your response? >> the interesting thing is this unitary in a that the united states is, think is going to be about $20 million. mainly $50 million at most. meanwhile, the united statates d ththe bank of england have plundered this country of billions of dollars, which it could have used in the open market to have bought the goods that it needs. imports to venezuela contracted deeply and partly because of this plunder. we take our eyes off this ball quite a bit. people have not effectively reported what happened, for instance, to the libyan sovereign fund will stop the

investment agency. billions of dollars in libya were held in banks outside the country as part of libya sovereign fund. after the invasion of that country, that money essentially just vanished. there has been no audit o of it. there has been no conversation even about libya's sovereign fund. in the case of venezuela, there's a kind of open plunder happening. $1.2 billion of gold, bank of england says you have no access to it. the money that the venezuelan government has outside the country, the united states -- you knowow, with trump saying it is socialism that goes over the borders and subjugates people, hear the united states government says it is no longer venezuelan money and we're going to control it. meanwhile, youou have a sentence regime which is costing the country billions o of dollars. issuemediate shoe has --

has to be venezuela is permitted to sell its oil. the venezuelan government needs to be able to capitalize the oil fields. there has been neglect of the infrastructure cost of money needs to c come into that sectc. you're not going to be able to say this country -- say this country is one or two years away from oil independence. from 1908101999, it was not the socialists who govern venezuela. and all of those 91 years, venezuela continue to be a one commodity exportrt economy. you cannot put that on chavez. you cannot put that on maduro. that is the history of the global south. countries like venezuela. it is what it take a long time to pivot away from oil dependence. but until then, you've got to allow a country like venezuela to sell its oil in the open market and import goods to help a population that is in the midst of a serious crisis. i think k this has to be the

principal question on the table. of course, the trump administration and its european allies have gone in the exact opposite direction. venezuelato prevent from selling oil, therefore, start the population further. this is hardly a humanitarian strategy. juan: francisco, i would like to ask you about the plan b issue you raised, that the trump administration does not really have a plan b. let's assume a worst-case scenario that the trump administration does decide to send in troops. i don't think anyone denies wall maduro does not have a majority of the population, he still has a significant portion that believes the revolution launched by chavez better their lives and are willing to fight to defend that and there also signifificat numbmbers of cuban advisors that have been in venezuela for years and cuba is not about to cross

its s hands if the united states decides to invade venezuela not somehow back to support the resistance. you are talking about the potential for a civil war that will create economic dislocation, not just in venezuela, but around the world because ththere is a lot of m my indebt, oil -- involved venezuela. it is noticeable solution like removing maduro. >> i think that is correct. butogies with panama, panama is a country with a very small army that can be at least reinvented because the u.s. had a military base in the panama canal. we're talking about the danger, not only of the venezuelan army being able to resist, but also what happens even if it does not -- this is a country where you have a significant amount of arms, of weapons in the hands of the venezuelan military. you have the movement in colombia that are still active,

ally to venezuelan military. i t think what we canan see is n if the u.s. invades and takes , we will probably see a very prolonged civil war and a very bloody time for venezuela and for the region. amy: we want to thank you both for being with us, vijay prashad , tricontinental institute for social research, and francisco rodriguez, an economist. to not thevenezuela amazon, but amazon and what happened in new york. it is pulling out. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: veruca salt's "i want it now" from the sounundtrack to "willy wonka and the chocolate factory." this is democracy now!,

democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: we end today's show with the fallout after amazon anannounced it was scrapping pls to build a major office facility in new york city. the decision came under mounting pressure from grassroots activists and local politicians who opposed the deal. amazon had announced the project in november after new york governor andrew cuomo and new york city mayor bill de blasio offered nearly $3 billion in tax subsidies to come to the city, potentially creating 25,000 jobs. as part of the deal, new york even offered to build a helipad for amazon ceo jeff bezos, who is the ricichest man in n the w. one of thehe leading opponents f the deal wasas democratic congressmember alexandria cortez, who represents parts of queens, the borough where amazon was planning to build its new

head quarterers. >> i think it is incredible. it shows everyday americans still have the power to organize and fight for their communities and they can have more say in this country than the richest man in the world. amy: mayor de blasio blinged amazon for walking out on its play to come to new york city, saying the tech giant "took their ball and went home." governor andrew cuomo is going after the local lawmakers who took on amazon. well, we are joined by one of those numbers, ron kim. he introduced the end of corporate welfare act to the new york state legislature earlier this month. his recent piece for buzzfeed is headlined "amazon shows it's time for states to stop the corporate welfare bidding wars." assemblymember ron kim, welcome to democracy now! talk about what happened. were you shocked when amazon said they were pulling out? >> i was a bit taken back. i thought they were going to stick around to talk to our groups, labor unions,

politicians, to figure out some sort of a reasonable compromise to coexist and be good neighbors and for them to actually have meetings the day before with the mayor's office, the labor grououps, and then all of aa sudden, without any notice, they're pulling out. this is dicatitive of what amazon hasas done before is s a corporation. they say one thing and do another. this time, i'm actually reminded an urban philosopher m mike tyson who wants said, everyone has a plan unless you get punched in the mouth. i think amazon, they got punched in the mouth by grassroots activists. local politicians and community leleaders. this is the time not to play defense. we have to play offense. we got moderate democrats and politicians trying to court them back saying, well, maybe if we

offer something else. can you come back to the table to renegotiate? this is that the time to renegotiate. cannot relylies, we on them to create quality jobs for our communities. we spent too many years subsidizing the growth of the megan a momonopolies who extract and exploit us. instead of them extorting another dollar from us, we need to hold them accountable living for. juan: i want to hear his response to two things, one, the same day that amazon announced it was pulling out, press reports came out that the company had paid no taxes in the last year. no federal income tax whatsoever, for two years. amy: even got money back. back.even got money we're talking about the largest retail company in the world. and also, this issue governor cuomo has been saying that the in favor a whole was

of amazon, and it was just these radical activist and if you malcontent political leaders that caused this disaster. >> something is desperately wrong in this country when 80% of americans are living paycheck to paycheck when we as a nation rank last. and the biggest corporations are paying 0% tax to the federal government? and they're going to try to extort as much taxpayer money out of us. we have shed the light on something that is broken. this is the time to seize the opportunity to set a new course for an economy that works for all of us. this is the time to do it. politically driven politicians that are stuck on the steel liberal ideology will continue to protect the status quo because the status quo and reaches them.

the whole ecosystem around giving corporate welfare -- who benefits? corporate's politicians, lobbyists, intermediaries waiting on the sidelines to get as much money out of the pie. we have to call it what it is. this is not a compassion play for people. thisis is an economic argument. a number of economist's have come out in the last 10 years. there is jusust a statistical correlation between the corporate incentives and the growth in revenue, and the economic growth. if you look at buffalo. foxconn.ok at if you look at every single data point of the last 20 years, all of the promises that these corporations make extort money from us and never deliver on the backend. juan: i want to ask about another issue, the split that occurred in the labor unions of new york city over amazon with some of them from the construction trades obviously backing the building of the new headquarters, and also local

32bj of the seiu, immediately cut a deal amazon and was supportive of amazon coming. but other unions were saying, hey, you're talking about the largest retailer in the country totally nonunion. unions.ile to in fact, the leaders came intoto city council and said that they would not remain neutral in the unionization drive. your sense of what happened to the labor movement in the city over this issue? >> i have the most respect for 32bj and hector, the leader of the group and t the groups that have cut that deal with amazon up front. but i think they are waking up to the realization when you cut these deals in the dark with one or two executives without including the rest of the city, the rest of the labor groups that have been sidelined, when an abusive company has online videos teaching the employees how to beat the union, hahad

organized against the union, and punishing their managers and workers for even talking about organizing toward the union, there is a problem. think any group that has cut the original deal, they are -- there is consensus that amazon wean abusive company and want to hold them accountable living for. amy: governor cuomo said in a statement -- politiciansup of put their own narrow interests above the community, which poll after poll showed overwhelmingly supported bringing amazon to long island city come the state's economic future, the best interest of the people of this state. they should be held accountable for this lost economic opportunity." can you talk about this division that has really exposed a schism between democrats? on the one hand, you have alexandria ocasio-cortez, yourself, another

politicians, and of course this huge grassroots movement. and on the other hand, you have these political enemies. themayor and a governor on other side. where is the fundamental -- juan: and carolyn maloney. >> not to mention representatives who are on our side. blasio, the way he reacacted to this percenent is cuomo,cuomo, governor governor cuomo continues to blame people and politicians for what happened. and the mayor is blaming amazon. there is a difference on how they feel about this issue. the governor thinks that the bigger the company, the likelihood they're going to resolve our economic crisis. -- a mindsetply that is flawed and we should not be going down that direction. this is the time were we have to reset the economy and make sure we move toward an economy of

abundance that takes care of every single person in our community and make sure we reinvest our dollars in stuff that matters. minas appellees, our broken subways, our arts institutions, are -- our schools. they add intrinsic value to our communities which attractive people and talent to our city which then attracts the companies that come here to hire them. that is how this works, not to provide this multinationonal -- bribe these multinational comedies to come here when time after time they fail to deliver ththe jobs they promise.e. amy: can you talk about the end of corporate welfare act that you have introduced? one of the core problems and governor cuomo has come out i did notimes saying, have a choice. i have to compete. other people are doing it. i have to compete and try to give as much money to lower these companies in.

-- lure these comedies in. a bidding war. we must stop. in europe, they completely banned the process. here, the federal government is not going to intervene so i i am going state to state. we have seven states already signed up. design a multistate compact that we will not compete to give away corporate welfare to attract these companies. instead, we're going to have a mutual cooperation to work collectively to hold these corporations accountable. by the way, this is new york city. we set the terms and conditions for people and companies to come here to do business. they do not set the terms for us. ? how do we get to this point amy: ron kim, thank you for being with us member of the new york , state assembly representing queen and a candidate for nyc public advocate. juan: that does it for our show. we want to celebrate democracy 23rd birthday.

that is 23 years covering the movement changing america and the world. a huge thank you to all of the people who have made democracy now! possible throughout all of these years, our staff and volunteers from over 1400 public radio and television stations around the world, especially our listeners and viewers. amy: let's see if we can hold this up. don't forget, you can keep up with us on facebook, instagram, twitter, youtube, roku. thank you for supportrting news with a heart, for hehelping us o where the silence is. happy birthday, everyone. you all made it possible. you made it possible for us all to celebrate democracy now!'s 23rd anniversary. thank you so much. we want to thank our amazing staff. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]