05/02/19 05/02/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! aes. trump: it is just terrible situation. you see what is going on and we are doing everything we can do short of, you know, the ultimate . there are people that would like to have us do the ultimate, but we are -- we have a lot of options open. amy: the trump administration is threatening to take more action in venezuela in an attempt to topple the government of nicolas maduro following tuesday's failed coup attempt.

we will go to caracas for the latestst. then t the brititish parliament makes history by declaring a climate emergency. .> we have no timime to waste we are living in a climate crisis that will s spiral dangerously out of control unless we take rapid and dramatic action now. amy: we will speak to british george monbiot. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. attorney general william barr defended his handling of the robert mueller investigation to the senate judiciary committee wednesday as democrats accused him of working as an agent of president trump rather than the top u.s. law enforcement official. during hours of rancorous testimony, bar repeatedly refused to answer senators questions about his conclusions

that president trump did not obstruct justice in a just in the mueller investigation. this week the washington post and new york times" reported mueller wrote to barbara march initialing that four-page summary of the special counsel's findings "did not fully capture the con, nature, and substance" of mueller's report. >> the letter is a bit snitty and d i think was prablyly wrien by one of his stataff people. did you make a memorandum of your conversation? did anyone, e either yoyou or ae on your staff memorialize your conversation with robertrt mumueller? >> yes.. >> who did that? >> there were notes taken. >> may we have those notes? >> no. >> why not? them? should you have

amy: after the hearing, some lawmakers suggested barr was in contempt of congress and should . general barr said he will not testify today for r a second day over the house judiciary committee refusing to the quesestion by the committee's lawyers. in venezuela, government security forces clashed with anti-government protesters wednesday, two days after venezuelan opposition leaders launcheded a failed bid to overthrow the government of president nicolas maduro. speaking to a massive crowd of supporters outside the presidential palace of miraflores, maduro said wednesday president trump and his national security adviser john bolton were directly involved in the attempted coup d'etat. >> the coup that was attempted yesterday, this coup skirmish wass personally direrector frome white house, from john bolton. i denounce i it. amy:y: and washington, a

principals meeting was on wednesday to discuss venezuela. "the washington post" reports the staff of national security advisor john bolton clashed with the top general during the meeting for not presenting onficient military options venezuela. meanwhile, u.s. secretary of foxe mike pompeo told business channel the trump administration is ready to go to war in venezuela. clear andbeen crystal incredibly consistent. military action is possisible if that is what is required. that is what the united states will do. amy: after headlines, we will go to venezuela for the latest. on wednesday, hundreds of thousands of workers took to the streets of cities worldwide to mark may day, or international workers' day. in st. petersburg russia, police arrested 69 people as may day protesters chanted slogans critical of president vladimir putin. in paris, france, yellow vest protesters joined unions and environmentalists in the streets

as police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse tens of thousands of demonstrators. 380 people were arrested. in haiti, protesters filled streets of port-au-prince on may day calling for an increase in the minimum wage in the western hemisphere's poorest country. they also called on president jovenel moise to step down over an embezzlement scandal that saw some $4.3 billion in petrocaribe funds earmarked for social development go missing. in honduras, lawmakers say they'll suspend ratification of a pair of bills that would restructure the ministries of education and health after massive protests in the capital tegucigalpa saw protesters clash with riot police. the bills have the support of the u.s.-backed president juan orlando hernandez, but are deeply unpopular among doctors and teachers, who say they're aimed at mass layoffs ahead of the wholesale privatization of honduras' education and health care systems. in puerto ririco, hundrereds of tivists rched to san juan's

finanaial district on may day protest thfefederay apappoted fiscalonontroloardrd a the reappotmtment itsts mbers b b president umump. ththe ard has enen impmentntin a seeses of stereritmeasurur, includg g pensn cucuts univsisity ttionon hes, anan the closing p publischohool this is vassssa coreraras the oup fefenist collective under-consucuction vet public to services which are needed rr e ququaly of l le for a peop.. we need an increase in salaries co i incree inin pensions. we need to give neney toublilic school so thathey can rise. we need to supporthehe iverersi of puputo rico. we demand workers rights, unitization, and t p proteionn of lanand. want people to have a see route. e last tng we shld be putting ople out in the street and financial crisis. amy: in south carolina, thousands of teachers and their supporters flooded the grounds of the state capitol in columbia wednesday in a protest calling for collective bargaining

rights, and for better pay and working conditions. teachers marked may day with south carolina's first-ever sick out, using sick days to shut down seven major school districts. in new york city, hundreds of people marked may day outside the trump building on wall street, protesting president trump's border wall and denouncing wage inequality. this is christine lewis, a domestic worker and labor organizer with domestic workers united. >> we are immigrant women who work in the home as their givers -- as caregivers. half of the people in these buildings here have somebody who is taking care of their home, their family. who is that person? on this international workers day, my ask is that women who work in the home be respected. a decent living wage. amy: in texas, u.s. officials say a 16-year-old guatemalan boy died tuesday while in the

custody of u.s. immigration agencies, the third such migrant child death in recent months. guatemala's foreign n ministry says the boyoy, whose name has t been released, died of a severe infection in the frontal lobe of his brain afteter he fell ill in the custody ofof the office of refugee resesettlement twowo das after his arrest by customs and border protection in el paso, texas. a statement from the group families belong together read, "too many children have lost their lives in the custody of our government. president trump should be ashamed. family separation and his cruel immigration agenda are literally killing children." on capitol hill, a house judiciary subcommittee on tuesday held the first congressional hearings on the equal rights amendment in more than 35 years. the proposed constitutional amendment states simply, "equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the united states or by any state on account of sex." the era was approved by congress

in and was ratified by 35 states 1972 over the next decade, three states short of the required total needed by a 1982 deadline. a bill by congressmember jackie spear would eliminate that deadline. alabama's house of representatives has advanced the most restrictive abortion ban in the united states, voting in favor of a bill that would make it a felony punishable by up to 99 years in prison to provide a wowoman with an abortion, evever survivors of rape and incest. if approved by alabama's senatee and signed by republican governor kay ivey, the abortion ban would be the latest state law challenging the u.s. supreme court's 1973 landmark roe v. wade decision. in the indian ocean, cyclone fahni has strengthened into the worst tropical storm to threaten india and bangladesh in at least five y yrs. the cyonone is packiki windsds o about 12mimiles r hour, makingng it thequivalent of a categorory 3 hurricane. about 100 million people are in

the path of the storm. and in britain, the house of commons wednesday became the first parliament in the world to declare a climate emergency. this is labour pararty leader jeremy corbyn.n. wastete.eo time to we are living in a climate crisis that will spiral dangerously ouout of control unleless we take rapid and dramamatic action now. this is s no longer about a distant futurere. we are talking about nothing less s than the reveversible destruction of the environment within our lifetimes of members of this house. amy: wednesdsday's resosolutions largrgely symbolic. it comes on the heels of april's extinction rebellion uprising in london that saw police arrest more than 1000 protesters, many of whom superglued themselves to buildings, trains, and sidewalks in a nonviolent direct action.

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'm nermeen shaikh. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. we begin today show in venezuela, where competing pro- and anti-government rallies were held wednesday. venezuelan president nicolas maduro accused the united states of backing tuesday's failed coup led by opposition leader juan guaido. speaking to a massive crowd of supporters outside the presidential palace, maduro said the united states had been tricked into believing that several top venezuelan officials were ready to break with his government. >> in this opportunity, the venezuelan coup mongers school the american imperialists, making them believe i was to give up, that i was going to hand myself in, that i was to leave the country. nermeen: in washington, the national security council held a principals' meeting on wednesday to discuss venezuela. "the washington post" reports

the staff of national security advisor john bolton clashed with a top general during the meeting for not presenting sufficient military options on venezuela. amy: this came as acting defense secretarary patrick shanahan canceled a planned overseas trip to focus on venezuela. meanwhile, secretary of statee mimike pompeo caeded russian foreign minister sergei lavrov to urge an end to russian involvement in venezuela. lavrov reportedly responded by warning the united states should not take any more aggressive steps in venezuela. on wednesday night, president trump appeared on fox business. pres. trump: it is a terrible thing. people are starving. people are dying. there is no food. there is no water. it is just a terrible situation. you see what is going on and we're doing everything we can do short up, you know, the ultimate. there are people that would like to have us do the ultimate, but we are -- we have a lot of

options open. when we look at what is going on there, it is an incredible mess. amy: we go to caracas, venezuela, where we are joined by two guests. carlos ron is the venezuelan vice-minister of foreign relations for north america. edgardo lander is a venezuelan sociologist who is part of the citizen's platform in defense of the constitution. lander is a retired professor at the central university of venezuela. welcome to democracy now! let's begin with carlos ron. the reports of u.s. word that a plane was at the ready on the tarmac for president maduro to flee venezuela to cuba, but he got a call from russia that told him to stay. can you tell us what the truth is? and if you see this as a failed coup that is over? thank you very much for the invitation. first of all, i think thihis

version from washington n is ridiculous because i think president maduro has made it clear that he is not going to betray the will of venezuelan people and just leave the country because of u.s. pressure. it is a wide misunderstanding of venezuelan politics and reality to think he is ready to get on a plane but he gets a call from russia and that is what stops him. i think it is just a pretext from the failed u.s. policy here. what is clear is that the united states is clearly and plainly promoting a coup d'etat in venezuela. from every high-ranking official , people in congress like marco rubio, bolton, pompeo, etc. of theing the whole day

coup attempt, they were tweeting and threatening the venezuelan military and asking the venezuelan military to join them. it was clearly an attempt. i think they have been fooled by theieir counterpartsts here, by their advisors, or by the people in the oppositition who they spk to hear r into believing thihiss an easy thining to accomplplish. and ththen just to savave face d not face, you know, the repercussions, they make up this story about russia involvement or cuban involvement in whatsoever. government run on behalf of the e people of venezuela who gave us their trust and we're goioing to keep president -- president maduro is going to keep defending his position in the constitution. nermeen: among the many statements that trump administration officials have

made, national security advisor john boltoton, who has made several statements, but among them, he has publicly claimed that three key venezuelan officials had abandoned an lead the maduro government. on tuesday, bolton tweeted a video in which he named the three officials. >> it is p particularlrly import now that all of you speak to those in the military and regime whcacan make a difference, to the defense minister, to the chchief judge of theupupreme cot anand commanander of the presidential guard. these are three people whwho agreedith juanan g guaido to tranerer power frorom nicolas maduro to the interim president. they need to act. everybody who supports freedom for venezla needs to tell them to act now. victory is within your grasp. nermeen: i would like to ask edgardo lander, can you respond to that?

and the number of statements that have come from trump administration officials about what is happening in venezuela and urging people in venezuela to follow guaido? good morning, amy. of course i have no direct access to judge these statements, but it is obvious this is just a continuation of this attempt by the u.s. neocons,t, by the hawks that are leading u.s. foreign-policy in relation to venezuela. and that they really have no problem making up whatever story they find is convenient in order to justify their actions. obviously, there are some people in the current administration that one a military intervention

in venezuela. they want a regime change. and they don't believe they need any excuse for that. they're just making up stories to justify this intervention and try to convince people within the united states, try to convince people within the u.s. for this dangers adventure in opposition, of course, on capitol hill. amy: how do you explain, edgardo lander, that it is both democrats and republicans that are opposing maduro? there are many progressive venezuelans as well who are extremely critical of maduro. you have the human rights watch and amnesty reports that have come out. i think one of the reports is -- one of thesee

reports being titled "fear and : hunger, punishment, and fear, the formula for repression used by authorities under nicolas maduro." enormous frustration with the elected president maduro, but also the horror that the u.s. is threatening war like this comment from u.s. secretary of , speaking onmpeoo fox business. >> the president has been crystal clear and incredibly consistent. military action is possible, if that is what is required, that is what the united states will do. we are trying to do everything we can to avoid violence. we asked all of the parties involved not to engage in that kind of activity. we prefer a peaceful transitionn of governmentt there were maduro leaves in an election is held. at a president has made clear in

the event there comes a moment, and we will all have to make decisions about when that moment is in the president will ultimately have to make a decision, he is prepared to do that if that is what is required. amy: so you have the reports of the national security council in the united states, the rage of the bolton people attacking the u.s. general for not coming up with more military options. you have pompeo saying the u.s. is ready to go to war in venezuela. but then you have, edgardo lander, progressives in venezuela as well saying that maduduro has failed in leading isezuela, that the country in an absolute catastrophe. >> well, that is true. what could be called the critical left in venezuela. has been quite critical of the maduro government for some time.

we think the maduro government has completely failed. it has led to an incredible social and humanitarian crisis in the country. we have had a collapse of the economy. the economy today is 50% of what it used to be just five years ago. oil productction is about one fourth of what it used to be five or six years ago. the government has increasingly and beyond the constitution its main pririority seems to beo remain in power no o matter wha. it is obvious we need a transition. the problem is how we have a transition. if we have the u.s. policy and guaido's policy, this would mean a violent transition. this would mean civil war. ththis would mean u.s. intervention. we have been arguing for some time with other groups that what we need is some form of negotiation that would lead to

asking the venezuelan people what they want. we are asking for a referendum in which people would be given a chance to decide if they want to continue with this government, if they want to continue the national assembly, or if they to a democratic electoral transition that is defined by the venezuelan people not by u.s. pressure, not by u.s. sanctions, not by u.s. intervention but a decision that should be in the hands of the venezuelan people. both sides claim they have a majority. both sides are unwilling to even start serious talks or negotiations. and yesterday's activities, and the day before's activities, just show the extreme to which

both sides are pressing in order to avoid any n negotiationon. every time there seems to be a chance of some talks that would lead to a negotiation, that would look forward to a nonviolent solution, then there is a very active decision by one of the side to blockade this possibility. i think the united states is doing everything possible to make it impossible to have a negotiation because what they want is a rendition of maduro and this simply is not possible. we have a situation which the two sides at this moment are forgetting politics as such, both sides refuse to recognize the other side, and this is a warlike s situation. it is a situation which both sides attempt to exteterminate e other side. and this is certainly not possible in venezuela today. we have a confrontation between two sides that have a lot of

power. on one side, one has the maduro government. the state.control of has the backing of the armed forces. and has the backing of the sector population which today is a minority, but it is still there. this is something that is in from outside venezuela, especially from the right media, sibley refused to recognize the fact that a certainin proportion of t the venezuelan popular sectors, there are still some very active backing for t the maduro g government. on the oth s side, we haveve guaido,, who has become the most popupular leader in the country today. he has b backing of, t today i n say it is the majority of the venezuelan population, but it has u.s.-backing. in this confrontation, unless there is negotiation, there is a

very high risk of civil war, a the violent outcomes, and united states, as you have said, has repeatedly insisted that the military optioion is on the tab. nermeen:n: carlos ron you are a senior member of maduro government, venezuela vice industry foreign relations for north america. can you respond to what edgardo said and what you think expands the precipitous collapse of so many aspects of venezuela and governing structures from the , andmy to public services most of this having occurred while maduro has been in power? sure i have some disagreements with edgardo. i respect him.

but that is the whole point. we can have disagreements as venezuelans, and that is what this is about. we need to solve our differences politically. in that i agree with edgardo. through dialogue and politics and not through violence. what we're seeing from the side of guaido and that group of extreme opposition leaders is really a call for another coup, a call for a violent overthrow the government, and the invitation for united states intervention. that is the most dangerous, i think. you see how u.s. officials are to politics in venezuela. it is obvious because it does play into internal politics in the u.s. there is a reason why both sides of the aisle sort of go to the venezuelan issue because they want the votes in florida.

florida is a key state for the 2020 election. inn you have also candidates the u.s. speaking about democraticyou see -- socialists, what everyone to call it, but you see how the current administration is trying to downplay that by showing anezuela as an example of failed social experiment. what they don't take into account is a lot of the problems we have been having, and nobody can deny them, is the effects of sanctions and other measures taken by the united states against our government. i mean, there's a financial blockade currently going on right now where at least about $6 billion are stuck in banks were we cannot even make transactions to make basic purchases for food, medicine, supplies we need to make the economy move forward and so forth.

this is not fake. this is a reality. it is so i reality that last week when we were in new york in the united nations, the department of state issued a fact sheet under policies in venezuela. it was taken off-line the very as the keyg because outcomes of u.s. policy in venezuela, they put things such as guaido being interim president, through $.2 million being blocked in banks -- we disagree with the amount, but just the fact there were saying this is an accomplishment of u.s. policy, a drop in oil production. there is a recognition there is an intent in u.s. policy to hinder the venezuelan government's capability of dealing with national problems. we are bound to have climate problems. that is not something unheard of in developing countries. but there is definitely an intent to weaken government

policies, to weaken the government, and to take this to a regime change possibility. nermeen: carlos ron, could you clarify first of all whether you that with edgardo internally, and negotiated transition is needed given the situation in venezuela and maduro's unpopularity? i mean, edgardo said guaido today is the politician who is most popular among the venezuelan people. i disagree with edgardo on that point because i believe if you were the most popular politician in venezuela, he would not need the u.s. backing to come out to the streets and do what he is doing. what i agree with him is the fact i think problems of venezuelans have to be told by venezuelans, sold in politics,

not with violence, not with attempted coups. but we have a constitution. we have means of -- we need to sit down and plan different formulas to solve our problems. we have disagreements on how we see -- i mean, i support president maduro and i believe our politics are the way we should go. he has an other opinion. as a democracy, you have difference of opinions and you try to play them out, but you don't try to do this through violence and three u.s. intervention. that is a key point here. whatever problems we have here as venezuelans, whatever differences we have to work them out first of all amongst venezuelans and second of all through democratic mechanisms. amy: i want to talk about the us media coverage of the crisis in venezuela over the last several months. tuesday, the media watchdog fairness and accuracy in reporting found the mainstream corporate media here in the

united states did not publish even one opinion piece opposing regime change in venezuela. the fair piece is headlined, "zero percent of elite commentators oppose regime change in venezuela." one example fair cited is a "new york times" opinion piece published last month headlined "what my fellow liberals don't get about venezuela." the video features venezuelan-american comedian and writer joanna hausmann. let's go to a clip. >> juan guaido is not a right-wing puppet lding and it legitimate cou but a siaial demomocr appoioied by the national assembly, the onl maining them are chroniclyly ecteted stitututn lt in venezua.a. freeo's jobs toto euree and fair elections because newsflash, the last election was not free or fair. amy: "the new york times" did not point out that joanna's father, ricardo hausmann, is a close ally of opposition leader juan guaido and was appointed by guaido to serve as venenezuela's representative to the inter-american development bank.

edgardo lander, could you talk about the media coverage and what that means? well, it is obvious the corporate media has been following u.s. policy. it happened during the iraraq w. it happened in libya. it happened all over the place. the papers like "the new york times" turn to the critical after the fact. maybe three years from now, they will be critical of the position in relation to what is happening in venezuela. but i also think it is important to recognize that the problems in venezuela are not black and white. it is not in issue of the democratic government presented by maduro as a fascist opposition. their problems are much more complicated. and i think one has to take into account the serious economic and

committed terror in crisis in venezuela is mainly -- humanitarian crisis in venezuela is mainly due to the capacity and corruption of the maduro government. it is true the last few years, you sanctions has become a really critical, important issue. the fact that there is a blockade, the fact that venezuela has been highly dependent on oil exports and imports from the united states has at this moment blockaded, the fact venezuela has no access to foreign credit, the fact the central bank has been prohibited in dealing with dollars -- there's a whole range of a huguge that is having imimpact on the venezuelan economy. but this happened mainly during the trump administration, and this is from august 2017. but the economic crisis in venezuela started way before

that. the decay of the venezuelan gdp, services,of public the lowering of living standards, the limited access to what used to be the main achievement of venezuelan procesess during the firstst dee are all things that were happening before the sanctions. so we have a combination of very incompetent government and extremely corrupt government and increasingly authoritarianan government on one side, and on the other side, we have this opposition backed by the united states with this constant threat of intervention. so we need to find a solution in which there is a possibility for the venezuelan people to have a

say and decide what they wanant for their country in a nonviolent way. amy: how do you envision that happening? you have these protests in the streets right now. you have people on both sidides, even if f this particular coup attempt has failed, and would you say it has failed? how do you see this dialog going across the political spectrum? >> even though they claim now therere was no coup attempt, obviously, there was a coup attempt. guaido himself called it a coup. and it failed. and it just shows, in my perspective, that the venezuelan population doesn't want a violent solution. it doesn't want a solution that is true -- through a military coup and it doesn't want the u.s. intervention. there is always some talks going

on, sort of underground, backstage. every time there something like thisoup attempt this week, attempts to have some sort of negotiation, some sort of alternative that is not violent am a that is in the hands of venezuelans, is once again postponed because both sides sort of back to the rigid to maintain try whatever power they have.e. it is extremely necessary to have a situation in which both sides recognize theyy can't defeat the other side. there is no way the venezuelan government can survive the maduro government in terms of his six-year period because the

economy is collapsing. people are in a really dramatic situation. it is almost 4 million people that have left the country. this is an incredible political statement. people really can't stand the situation anymore, and there has to be an alternative. it is alternative cannot be a coup.. it cannot be a u.s. intervention. it cannot be violence. ask carlos ron, i want to you about the embassy right now and washington, d.c. we are about to play a clip. we took a tour of it the other day. are in chargeists of it right now. you, the venezuelan government, gave them the keys. can you explain why the maduro government, your government, has left the u.s. embassy in washington, d.c.? well, we have -- we broke relations with the united states

on january 23. and then out of the process of that, we have our diplomatic staff has left the embassy. however, it is venezuelan property and we have allowed, as our guests, a collective of social movements that have used the space to meet and to speak about different issues of further concern. and they themselves wanted to also make a statement that -- against intervention in venezuela and against the violation of international law because if you recall, a few weeks ago there was a forceful entry into the consulate of venezuela in new york and into other buildings that are owned by the venezuelan state. they were given to the

representatives of guaido, which is a violation of the venezuelan convention. even if two states break relations, there has to be respect for the premises. there has to be -- the premises of the missions are in viable. they need to be protected. they were handed over illegally. intowe are about to go that embassy in a minute but we just have a minute before we lose the satellite feed of a can you tell us what is the involvement of russia right now in venezuela? with have a relation russia and other countries such as china and other countries that we have established thankss and, you know, to follmann development in

venezuela. the relationship is one of friendship and cooperation and that is it. this isn't -- this isn't the way to has been portrayed by use authorities as if there's any other type of influence in the venenezuelan government. the people of venezuela july -- decide to its elected leaders what venezuela does. amy: we wawant to thank you bobh for being with us, carlos ron venezuelan vice-minister of , foreign relations for north america. speaking to us from caracas. and edgardo lander, a sociologist speaking to us from caracas, venezuela where he's part of the citizen's platform in defense of the constitution. retired professor at the central university of venezuela. is democracy now!, the world peace report. on tuesday, we met with activists who are occupying the venezuelan embassy also the venezuelan government has left the building but they gave their

keys to these activists. the are demanding, activists, that the trump administration canceled plans to turn the embassy over to venezuelan opposition leaders. this is aerial gold with codepink. outside there embassy. tell us why you're here. >> i am the national codirector for codepink. codepink has been here. we're going on week three cents april 14. we have been here in order to protect this embassy from takeover by guaido, who is trump has been trying to -- trump and elliott abrams to orchestrate a coup in venezuela and taking over this building. u.s. beenas the involved with the takeover of this building? the embassy. it is the embassy of the government of venezuela.

the president elected is maduro. so what has happened here? where are maduro's people? where is the government? >> the state department has ordered all of the venezuelan diplomats to leave the embassy. they did leave the embassy, but the venezuelan government gave and we calln ourselves the embassy protection collective. they gave us permission to be inside this building 24/7. amy: can you tell us who you are and why you're here? >> i am kevin and part of the embassy protection collective. we are here today because the embassy is under attack. the secret service has been taking pictures. i made contact with the state department. they tell us some point they will remove us. i say we are here legally, not trespassing. the elected government of venezuela allows us to be here. they gave his the key. we are lawfully here. the trump administration comes in, they will be the lawbreakers. the vienna convention says they cannot violate this.

us to the give opposition. their role under the vienna convention is to protect this embassy, not to violate it. we're here doing the job the trump administration should be doing. inside? you tel take us not welcomeaido here." >> here is the key to the building that we have under permission from the venezuelan government. amy: can you tell us -- this is a baseball jersey? kevin? >> alex gonzalez. weremaduro and chavez baseball players. baseball is a sport that is very popular in venezuela. amy: where are we going? >> second floor. i was in venezuela last him for the reelection of maduro. he was not a dictator. 9 million people voted and he

received more than 6 billion votes. unanimously said it met democracy standards. legitimately elected. with awon second place tiny political party. she got him because the talk to get? in. amy: he got in because? >> the top two in the race get into the legislature. he barely got in the legislature from a tiny state with a tiny party and then he was elevated by trump and tends to be the president. amy: how? there was a process that began in january at t the o oas. multiple meetings to try to resolve this. .hey have been working on this finally, they decided on guaido as their guide. the night before guaido

self-appointed, pence called him and said we're behind you if you do it. announced,guaido trump immediately endorsed him, got the right wing governments in latin america and the western european countries to join him. why? independentof an venezuela is a powerful example that they don't want to see. hands off! >> venezuela! in a good the dozens of protesters occupying the venezuelan embassy for more than two weeks. go to democracynow.org to him or voices from inside the venezuelan embassy in washington, d.c. and we come back, britain becomes the first nation in the world to declare a climate emergency. we will speak with george monbiot. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman. we turn now to the united kingdgd. on wednenesday, the house of commons became the first parliament in the world to declare a climate emergency. this is labour party leader jeremy corbyn. .> we have no o time too wastete we are living in a climate crisis that will spiral dangerouously out of control unleless we take rapid and traumatic actionon nowow -- drac action now. this is the lolonger about t the distanant future. we are talking about nothing less than the irreversible destruction of t the environment within our lifetimes of members of this house. nermeen: wednesday's resolution is largely symbolic anand has no

direct consequences for policy. but it comes on the heels of april's extinction rebellion uprising that shut down central london last month in a series of of direrect actions.. activists closed bridges, occupied public landmarks and even superer-glueded themselveso buildings, sidewalks, and trains to demand urgent action to combat climate change. police arrested more than 1000 protesters. amy: for more we are joined by guardian columnist and author george monbiot. his most recent book "out of the , wreckage: a new politics for an age of crisis." his recent piece for the guardian is headlined "only rebellion will prevent an ecological apocalypse." welcome back to democracy now! talk about the significance of this vote. >> it is highly significant because it provides leverage for people like myself, for people like extinction rebellion, the youth climate strikers to say, well, now you members of

parliament have declared a climate emergency, you have to act on it. of course, it is not clear that include completely thought through the implications. yesterday, defended his climate emergency was declared, there as a legal ruling saying third runway at heathrow airport can go ahead. well, look, this is an emergency. and that means we need to start retiring fossil fuel-based infrastructure rather than building more of it. so what we can now do is to say to members of parliament, you have agreed to this. now you have to follow through. you have got to work this through, see with the implications are, and respond accordingly. nermeen: can you talk about what --ds of effects you think obviously, it is not and has no effect on policy -- a jeremy corbyn and parliament's decision to declare a climate catastrophe could, with accommodation of activist pressure, lead is some kind of change.

you have cited jeremy lent and his idea of an ecological civilization. what would that take? >> yes. this is one of several very important ideas which are coming forward at the moment. looking at how we can replace our whole political economy with the new system. because it is very there now, capitalism is broken. it is like a gun pointed at the heart of the planet. it has got these characteristics which mean that it will essentially, necessarily, destroyed our life-support systems. among those characteristics are the drive for perpetual economic growth on a finite planet. you just can't support that ecologically. things fall apart. it also says, well, anyone has got a right to buy as much natural wealth as their money allows, which means peoeople are just grabbing far more natural

wealth than either population as a whole or the planet itself can support. so we need to start looking at a completely new basas running our economies. and d one of the many excellent ideas out there is jimmy lent's proposal for an ecological proposal put forth in his excellent book. amy: let me ask you about extinction rebellion. more than 1000 people arrested in a two-week period. that is just wrapped up in london and other places. people super gluing themselves to shells headquarters, for example. you have the climate negotiator, one of the people who helped craft the paris climate agreement of 2015, well-respected attorney, she we make laws,hen, now we break laws. super going herself and being arrested.

thingis an extraordinary that has happened. extinction rebellion is extremely well organized group that got great strategies for bringing the existential issues right front and central which is where they belong. they have done through some clever and disruptive actions, but have managed to swing a huge amount of public support toward them. sometimes civil disobedience alienates or people than it attracts but in this case there has been a significant move ofard a public awareness climate breakdown and a public desire to do something about it. amy: we're going to go to break and come back to this discussion. we are speaking to the british journalist, columnist, author george monbiot. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. i want to turn to 16-year-old swedish climate activists greta thunberg who joined extinction rebellion protesters last month in london. >> we'rere facing an exixistentl crisisis, the credit crisis, an ecological crisis, which have

never been treated as crisis beforere. they had been i ignored for decades. and for way too long, the politicians and the people in power have gotten away with not doing anything at all to fight the climate e crisis and ecologicalal crisis, but we will make sure that they will not get away with it any longer. nermeen: still with us, george monbiot, columnist with the guardian. respond? tell us the significance of these school strikes that read a launched -- greta launched, their influence on the parliament vote, and also what you said about the media coverage of climate change and how that has affected public peperception of this crisis? well, the school strikes, alongside extinction rebellion, have changed everything in this country and many other parts of the world.

they have suddenly galvanized public opinion and public action and they have forced the media to cover this issue, which has been massively neglected foror many years. for 30 odd years i have been banging my head against a wall send these are the issues that count. climate breakdown, environment breakdown are far more important than the economy. the economy, like everything else, cannot survive without our life-support systems. and yet if ththey're covered at all, they're relegateded to a ty footnote. ththere was a a recent survey de of the major broadcasters in the u.k. and they found the word "pizza" was mentioned 10 times as often as "climate change" last year and "chocolate" was mentioned early times as often, which gives you some idea of the priorities in our country. nermeen: you wrote an article in december about how u.s. billionaires are fueling extreme

right-wing causes in the u.k.. to those causes include climate change and what is the nature? this shift of the koch brothers and others operating not just in the u.s. but elsewhere, funding in this country a magazine called "spiked," which has a long record of dismissing the environment of crisis, dismissing me climate crisis, attacking campaigners, including greta thunberg, with this vicious, horrible attack, basically attacking her for being autistic, for having asperger's. disgusting way. it doesn't make sense until you realize, oh, yes, they are funded by the koch brothers. for a long time, obviously, billionaires have been controlling the media in one way or another.

in most cases, you have to be a billionaire to own a newspaper or television station. and what billionaires want is the opposite of what most of the world needs. but now we see them infiltrating organizations they don't necessarily own, but finding them and ensuring that their agenda is followed. amy: george monbiot, people should go to greta's conversation we had where she talks about asp burgers, having it, and how it makes her single seeing things in black and white. it is very interesting. people should go to democracynow.org. in this last minute, if people could talk about the broader effects, what it means around the world. you have a situation, for example, where the effects of climate change are already being felt particularly in the global south. indonesia has announced it plans to relocate its capital away to 10 millionhome people, as the city is threatened by one-two punch of

subsiding land and rising seas due to climate change. in this last minute, talk about that and what this means for the world. long, the rich world has benefited from the burning of fossil fuels while the poor world is having to pay the price. we are now sing this come home to roost. so all rich nations need to declare a climate emergency and then act on that by leaving fossil fuels in the ground, by retiring fossil fuel independent infrastructure, and completely changing the basis of their economies. amy: we want to thank you so much for being with us, george author, journalist and columnist with the guardian. his most recent book is titled "out of the wreckage: a new politics for an age of crisis." we will link to your piece in the guardian headlined "only rebellion will prevent an ecological apocalypse." democracy now! has an immediate opening for our paid, full-time digital fellowship here in new york city. we also are accepting applications for paid six-month internships. learn more at democracynow.org.

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