07/12/19 07/12/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! pres. trump: i don't call them raids. i say they came in illegally and we are bringing them out legally. amy: as the trump administration threatens to begin nationwide immigration raids on sunday, we speak to immigrant rights organizers in new york, atlanta, and los angeles to see how their communities are preparing.

some have described as it a psychological warfare. then 10 years after the u.s.-backed coup in honduras, we speak to ousted president manuel zelaya about the connection between the 2009 coup and today's migrant crisis. migration areof infu.s. policies,s, the policies, the policies of the southern command for t this regn are provoking more and more migrants. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president trump backed down thursday from his plans to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census after the white house struggled to overcome a supreme court ruling saying the administration's justification

for its inclusion appears to have been contrived. instead, trump said he was issuing an executive order to gather information about people's citizenship status from federal agencies. pres. trump: : i am hereby ordering evevery deparartment ad agency in the fedederal gogovert to providede the department of commerce witith all requested records regarding the n number f citizezens and noncitizens in nr coununtry. ththey must fufurnish all legaly accessible records in their possession immediately. amy: ari berman, senior writer at mother jones, tweeted -- "trump ordering commerce dept to still collect citizenship data means gop can try to draw districts based on citizenship rather than total population in 2021. gop gerrymandering guru said this would be 'advantageous to republicans and non-hispanic whites'." census officials have estimated 6.5 million people will not respond to the census if the

citizenship question had been adadded affecting everytything m , the redrawing of congressional maps to the allocation of federal funding. the fight over the 2020 census came as immigrant communities braced for raids by immigration and customs enforcement targeting at least 2000 people in the homes a a workplaces in atlanta, baltimorere, chicago, denver, houston, los angeles, miami, new orleans, new yorkrk, and san n francisc new orleans was among the cities targeted for ice raids, but the city's mayor said enforcement will be temporarily suspended as tropical storm barryry approach. ahead d of the plannnned raids, immigrant rirights groups s have been rampingng up efforts s to e susure affected communities know their rights. this is tessie borden of chirla, the coalitition for humane immigrant rights of los angelel. >> so immimiation raidids and or community are something ththat e very traumaticic. wh thehey announced them aheadd

of t time, i think part of t the intent is s to sow c chaos in or community.y. to try to confuse people, just scscared them to put them on ed. amy: the aclu is suing the trump administration, arguing the raraids violate e the coconstitl righght of immigrants to a court hearing beforere deportation. and mayors across the country have also been standing up to ice in newew york, san f franci, chicago, and elsewhere. after headlines, we'll host a roundtable discussion with immigration activists from differenent citieses preparing r the raids. in new york one of the cities , targeted for this weekend's expected ice raids, hundreds of immigration activists protested outside the annual conference of amazon web services to protest the tech giant's ties to ice and the department of homeland security. amazon's servers host databases that allow the agencies to track

immigrants and carry out deportations. dozens of protesters made it inside the conference, where they repeatedly disrupted a keynote address by amazon chieif technology officer werner vogels. longer willow much you have blood on your hands? !> cut ties with ice cut ties with ice! amy: after one year and 100 days behind bars, prominent latino journalist manuel duran was released thursday from an ice jail in tennessee. duran was arrested last year while covering a protest against immigrant detention outside a county jail in memphis. duran, who was born in el salvador, is a well-known reporter on spanish-language radio stations who also runs the online site memphis noticias. duran was held behind bars for 15 months on a 12-year-old pending deportation order, but last week a federal appeals

court ordered an immigration court to reopen his claim that he is eligible for asylum. louisiana has declared a state of emergency and ordered some gulf coast communities to evacuauate as trtropical storm y churns offshore in the gulf of mexico aheadad of its pectcted lalandfall saturday as a categoy 1 hurricane. the storm has flooded parts of louisiana and threatens to cause an already-engorged mississippi river to overtop levees. the river, which is usually at 6 feet to 8 feet in midsummer, is now at 16 feet due to record flooding this year. new orleans is only protected to a river level of 20 feet. the national weather service expects the mississippi to approach that level today, marking one of the highest river levels seen in new orleans in decades. meanwhile, activists are demanding the immediate evacuation of the more than 65,000 prisoners in the path of the storm throughout louisiana, mississippi, and texexas.

in the persian gulf, tensions are running high after britain's government accused iran's navy of unsuccessfully tried to block passage of a british commercial ship through the state of -- strait of hormuz. british authorities say the iranian warsrships were stopped only after a u.k. navy vessel issued hererbal warnings. this comes after police in gibraltar say they arrested the captain and cheap officer of a detained iranian oil tanker accused of violating european union sanctions against the government of syrian president bashar al-assad. frfrench lawmakers thursday approved a digital service tax on internet giants like google, amazon, facebookok and applele, prompting threats of a new trade war by the trump administration. supporters of the 3% tax argue u.s. companies largely avoid paying taxes by setting up headadquarters in eu countries with extremely low tax rates on corporate profits. the trump administration says it has launched an investigation and is considering punitive tariffs in retaliation.

in new york, serial child sex abuser jeffrey epstein asked a federal judge thursday to release him on bail while he awaits trial on sex trafficking charges. epstein had been held at the metropolitan correctional center in lower manhattan since his arrest saturday. he offered to put up his new york city mansion and private jet as collateral. he also offered to pay for security guards in his home and to wear electronic monitoring. if the deal is approved, epstein would await his trial in the same manhattan townhouse where he allegedly raped teenage girls from at least 2002 to 2005. epstein's bid for bail came as atat least a dozen new w women e come forward to say they were sexually abused by epstein in the past. in chicago, federal agents arrested r. kelly thursday night again after a u.s. attorney brought a 13-count indictment against the musician, charging him with obstruction of justice, child pornography, and other sex crimes.

r. kelly had been free on a $1 million bond as he faces other charges brought by illinois prosecutors, including 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault involving four women and girls, three of whom were under the age of 17 at the time of the alleged crimes. an air force general nominated by president trump to be the next vice chair of the joint chiefs of staff is facing allegations of sexual misconduct. the associated press reports an unnamed senior military officer accused general john hyten of making a series of unwanted sexual advances and touching in 2017 while she was one of his aides. the officer says that when she rebuffed general hyten's advances, he tried to derail her military career. unnamed air force officials told "the wall street journal" an internal investigation found no evidence of sexual misconduct by general hyten. the senate has yet to schedule a hearing for his confirmation. congressional democrats have approved subpoenas for 12

witnesses to appear before the house judiciary committee, including president trump's son-in-law and senior adviser jared kushner. also on the list are a number of former trump administration officials -- ex-national security adviser michael flynn, former attorney general jeff sessions, former deputy attorney general rod rosenstein, former white house chief of staff john kelly, and former white house staff secretary rob porter. the judiciary committee also approved subpoenas for executives of american media inc., publisher of "the national enquirer." the tatabloid ininfamously helpe donald trump make hush money payments to two women who alleged they'd had sexual affairs with him. new jersey governor phil murphy has signed a bill limiting the use of solitary confinement in the state's prisons. the new law prohibits the use of solitary except when there is "reasonable cause to believe that the prisoner or others would be at substantial risk of serious harm as evidenced by recent threats or conduct." the new jersey law also carves out special protections for lgbtq, disabled, elderly, young,

or disabled prisoners. it also caps the number of consecutive days prisoners can be held in solitary confinement at 20. in 2011, a united nations expert on torture called on the u.s. and other nations to ban solitary confinement except in very exceptional circumstances, saying the practice could amount to torture. the american federation of teachers is suing the education secretary betsy devos, charging the education dedepartment is ilillegally and unconstitututioy failing to administer a student loan forgiveness program for millions of public service workers. the program passed by congress a decade ago promises to cancel the student loan debts of qualifying government or nonprofit workers who make loan payments for 10 years. more than a million people signed up, but department of education figures show just 1% of applicants for debt forgiveness have been approved.

and the united nations human rights council has voted to investigate abuses committed by philippines president rodrigo duterte in his campaign against drug dealers, including widespread accounts of extrajudicial killings and other gross human rights violations. by the philippine government's own estimate, police have killed 6600 people since duterte'ss inauguration three years ago. human rights groups say the true toll could top 27,000. president duterte has repeatedly boasted that he has personally murdered drug dealers. president donald trump has expressed admiration for duterte, saying he's done an unbelievablele job on the drug problem. this week, a funeral was held for the youngest victim of the philippines's drug war, three-year-old myca ulpina, who was shot dead by police june 29 at her home near manila. this is activist ruby lynn litao of the anti drug war group rise up for life. >> and here, another three-year-old victim. they say collateral damage.

it is not. because of this war on drugs. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. immigrant communities across the country and their allies are preparing for nationwide raids by immigration and customs enforcement planned to begin sunday that will target undocumented members of immigrant families in at least major cities. nine immigration officials told "the new york times" that the raids will last several days and target at least 2000 people. they warned the operation could also result in so-calleded collateral deportations -- meaning immigrants who happen to be at the scene of a raid could also be swept up, even if they were not originally targeted. the cities where raids will take plplace are said to bebe atlant, baltimore, chicagogo, denverer, housuston, los angngeles, miamiw york, anansan francisco. new orleleans had beenen on the list, bubut the city a announced

this weekend that ice was temporarily postponing the raias due to hurricane barry. on wednesday, acting head of citizenship and immigration services ken cuccinelli said raids are absolutely going to happen, though he did not say at the time when they would take place. he added -- "there's s approximatelely a min people in this country with removal orders" but that they weren't the targets of the upcoming ice raids. last week trump, also repeated threats that raiaids were coming soon. pres. trump: well, i don't call them raids. i say they came in illegally and we are bringing them out legally. these are people where we have the papers, they will be starting fairly soon. but i don't call them raids. we are removing people that have come -- all of these people over the years, that have come in illegally, we are removing them and bringing them back to their country. amy: president trump originally annonounced the raids last mont, but later postponed the move, saying he was s ving lawmamakera chance to fifigure out a

legislative solulution to the "asylum and loophole problems at the southern border." both the senate and the house passed a $4.6 border bill days -- 4.6 billion dollar border bill days later despite a number of progressive lawmakers and the congressional hispanic caucus vehemently opposing the bill. on thursday, house spepeaker nay pelosi responded t to the news f the raids. together.s belong every person in america has rights. these families are hard-working members of our country. this brutal action will terrorize children and tear families apart. amy: as sunday approaches, immigrant rights groups have been ramping up efforts to make sure affected communities know their rights and are prepared for possible raids. the aclu is also suing the trump administration on behalf of immigration legal aid nonprofit organizations, arguing that the raids violate the constitutional right of immigrants to a court

hearing before deportation. and mayors across the country have also been standing up to ice in new york, san francisco, chicago, and elsewhere. this all comes as president trump has dropped his s effortso add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. but on thursday, he added an executive order. for more, we're hosting a round table discussion with activists from different cities preparing for the raids. in atlanta, adelina nicholls is the executive director of georgia latino alliance of human rights. shannon camacho is the los angeles county raids rapid response network coordinator of the coalition for humane immigrant rights, or chirla. she is joining us from l.a. and here in new york, natalia aristizabal, co-director of organizing at make the road new york. we welcome you all to democracy now!

shannon, let's begin with you. talk about what you understand is going to happen in los angeles and how your preparing for it. >> first of all, thank you very much for having me. i coordinate our l.a. rapid .esesponse network with chirla what we been doing ever since june when we first expected these operations to begin is making sure our community is prepared. that meaeans doing the know your rirights workshops, telling our community members through these workshops not to open the door if ice comes to their house, t o remain silent if ice stops them on the street, and make sure they don't sign anything and they ask to speak to an immigration attorney before they offer any information. we have been doing these workshops with our different partners in los angeles ever since june because that is what we first thought these operations would begin. every single week sisince then,e have been in preparation mode. we have been strategizing with volunteer attorneys that are part of our response network to

make sure we have a strategy if people start being arrested and then there needs to be an takes of the local ice processing centers. regardless of what happens, whether the operations start tomorrow or on sunday, we have been prepared. amy: explain what you mean when you say "don't open the door." would ice knock the door down? >> here is the thing. ice only has permission to enter an individual's home if they have a judicial warrant signed by a judge. that judicialt, warrant has to have all of the information, including the person's name. the e person's adaddress, thehee of the incidenent. all of that has to be accurate. our attorneys know this v very well that it is very rare that ice is able to obtain a judicial arrest warrant. most of the time they do not have that, meaning they do not have permission to enter people's homes. given that, we tell our

community members if ice knocks on the door, no matter what they say to people -- and we do know this is a very deceptive agency that pretends to be police, that does not answer questions post up we tell them no matter what door.es, do not open the the only way they can get in is with the judicial arrest warned. if they give you any sort of administrative warned or document, get to review it to make sure it is a judicial warrant signed by a judge. that is what we tell our community members. amy: what if they do not the english? how do they read the warrant? how to they know what is legitimate and isn't? good point. very it is a complicated process, which only makes it more important that we have these know your rights workshops. our workshops are in spanish. our community members are undocumented. we have copies of a judicial arrest warrant and use that next to an administrative warrant that ice usually uses when they

go to people's houses and we compare the two. we pass the mouse of people are familiar with the document so in the case that ice slips it under the door, they're able to recognize it. that is s a very good point. this is an agency trying to deceive people, and these people may not know what is going on. so the people who do not attend me know your rights workshops may not know what a judicial hasant is and whether ice permission to enter their home. that makes it even more important that we reach as many peopople. , hownatalia aristizabal are you preparing in new york and what is the city doing? forirst of all, thank you having me. similar to what was being shared from chirla, we are also letting people know who is possibly at risk. -- administration is specifically who they are looking for.

we are also saying if you had a previous order of deportation, he had any contact before with ice, you're are likely a person they're going to come looking for. for different reasons, they have pepeople's homeme addresses andt is how they will go and find someone. we tell people, get to go and get and see if you have any relief. definitely, family preparations. if you have a little kid, figure out who in your family will be able to take care of that little kid. put together your paperwork and put it in a secure place and make sure someone in your home knows the information. and in a city like new york, no there is legal representation free and available. t there is legal representation free and available. amy: people are being taken with u.s. citizens in the house. humanity toward actions that ice and the administration are taking. they have no problem getting

people before they go to work or come bacack home and they do not think about the impact it has on the family, on the health or economic well-being of the family. amy: and what about the policy of new york city being a sanctuary city? does that help in any way? to people, i'll be enough say this, but can people turn to the police? mayor de blasio says the police will not cooperate with ice. >> we have policies in place that say no city employee, including nypd, is supposed to collaborate with ice. unfortunately, we have had committeted the members say i knocking on our neighbor store and we call the police and the police told all of us we had to collaborate with ice or we were obstructing the law. i think it depends. unfortunately, even though you have played the policies, individuals may want to choose different actions because they either believe in the deportation system for the presidency or maybe they just don't know better.

, in adelina n nicholls atlanta, how are you preparing and what is the city doing about this? >> first of all, thank you for having me. we have been preparing since 2016. i don't know if you remember that we have here a nationwide -- another operation that was to target central american families araround the united states. here in the state of georgia, more than 130 families were targeted with their children. at that time, our concern is community members continue to open the doors to ice. we engaged in a door-to-door -free zonealled ice where we go and talk to people, to neighborhoods, to the trailer

parks, churches, grocery stores -- many volunteers have helped us with this. to talk to our community members. at this point, we believe we have talked to people more than 25,000 communities around the metro area and statewide. to establishtrying on social media for people to connect what is happening inside their own communities. we are trying to put together the detainerh back policies that could allow localities not to collaborate with ice. amy: we're going to go to break and come back to this discussion as we talk about how cities and immigrant rights activists and families are preparing for immigration raids that president

trump has announced were 10 cities. they are holding back on new orleans because another kind of hurricane is about to hit, the natural hurricane, barry, so they are saying the ice raids will not take place there in the midst of the storm. this is democrcracy now! we will be back in a minute. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as we continue our roundtable discussion, ahead of this weekend's announced raids in nine major u.s. cities post of immigration raids to round up thousands of people and as the administration says anyone who is in the way. in atlanta, adelina nicholls is the executive director of georgia latino alliance of human rights. shannon camacho of the coalition for humane immigrant rights, or chirla. she is the organization's los angeles county raids rapid response network coordinator. here in new york, natalia

aristizabal, co-director of organizing at make the road new york. shannon, the city. how is it preparing. let me ask you this. millionen marches of a in hong kong. in this issue -- in this country, we're seen millions march. would that make e a difference o you think? >> we absolutely believe that will make a difference, yes. even in junene when we believe e opoperations were going to start him a what our network did is us and our partners, we want to the local ice processssing cecentern downtown los angeles and had a rally in front of that center because we wanted to make a message and show ice and the community of l los angeles and e rest of the united states that l.a. is going to stand by our undocumented family members and undocumented brothers and sisters. we believe that is very important because we have to tie this into the larger issue. tomorrow we are going to have an action on -- i mean, today we're

going to have an action tonight in downtown los angeles, right next to the ice processingg center. we are doing this to show the department of homeland security is an agency that does not have any regard for human life and that ice is a part of this agency. so when congress is improving $4.6 billion no questions asked for the department of homeland security, they'rere giving money for detentionsts, centers where people are dying at the southern border. we need to show how important it is as a community that we demand congress not continue to fund the department of homeland security. and for that, we need to have rallies and marches of public actions ththat show we are ready to act. we have been planning that since june. toninight we're going to havevet action in downtown los angeles. amy: can people intervene, shannon, if they see a raid taking place? and what about these collateral

arrests they're talking about, anyone in the way? >> that is a very important point as well and something that puts a lot of fear in n the community because even though trump is saying "i'm going to target people with central american families, people with final deportation orders," it is not just that. ice has the discretion a may collateral arrests. there may be people who just get swept up in the deportation machine. that is something we teach people in our workshops. in terms of how folks can respond, we say if you are a citizen, an ally, use that privilege. when you see something going on in the street or you notice your neighbors are experiencing some documentce arrests, it, film ice and try to make the situation clamer for the family because it is such a terrifying situation to have ice come to your door early in the morning

and arrest you. we urge the community to protect each other and make sure people do not feel alone in that scary moment. amy: immigration legal aid nonprofit groups represented by the aclu are suing the trump administration in anticipation of the raids, arguing that they violate the constitutional right of immigrants to a court hearing before deportation. aclulu of southern california is saying in a statement -- "the trump administration's plan to arrest and deport thousands of central american families and children without giving them a fair day in court is both illegal and immoral. more than years ago, the supreme 100 court decided that immigrants could not be deported without due process. these vulnerable refugees deserve that basic protection." ♪ [music break] natalia aristizabal, on this child jails,ve adult jails, immmmigration jails packed to the gills, 10 times what they were a few years ago. ofre are they putting all these people who they are arresting? >> they're putting them in detention centers funded by

government money like what just passed in congress or in private detention centers. the administration is also getting ready to get places like hotels and other holdings and local jails and have contracts with ice. these are the places where they're trying to figure out how to put people. you said something important which is the administration is not allowing due process. a lot of the people being persecuted and looked for our people who could have shown up to court, but maybe they did not get the notice right away, they did not get a lawyer. sometime the courts will move the court date to a day without telling them. because of that, they get an order of removal. it is not the case they're only looking for people who have criminal cases. it is not the case everybody they're looking for should be deported.. lawyer, most of the time thehey're ablble to sty here and prove everything with their case is fine. amy: adelina nicholls, what is

the position of the atlanta mayor right now? do you feel you haveve the citis support t and not coopoperatingh ice? >> yes. she's the one who makes the difference here in the state of georgia. the city of atlanta stood up with immigrant communities. center where many immigrants were detained in georgia. the mayor stood up and supported our efforts against the crcriminalization. amy: we want to thank you for being with us. we will continue to cover this to the weekend and next week. joining us from atlanta the executive director , of georgia latino alliance of human rights. shannon camacho of the coalition

for humane immigrant rights, o r chirla. natalia aristizabal, co-director of organizing at make the road new york. when we come back, we speak to the e ousteded president mananul zelaya the connection between the 2009 coup and today's migrant crisis. stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: "humano" by lido pimienta. this is s democracy now!, i'm amy goodman. we end today's show in honduras

to look at some of the root causes of the migration crisis and how it links to u.s. foreign policy. honduras recently marked the 10th anniversary of the u.s.-backed coup that ousted the democratically elected president manuel zelaya. the coup was orchestrated by the honduran military, business and political elite, with the support of the obama administration. since then, extreme poverty and violence has skyrocketed in honduras. tens of thousands of hondurans have been murdered, including more than 300 lgbtq people, about 60 journalists, and hundreds of peasant rights and environmental activists. tens of thousands of refugees have also fled honduras -- most with the hope of political asylum in the united states. meanwhile, mass protests continue to take place in honduras against the right-wing government of melinda fernandez and his plans to privatize healthcare, pensions and education. protesters have been met with violent repression from the honduran military and police. last week, we spoke with ousted honduran president manuel zelaya.

we reached him in tegucigalpa. i spoke with him, along with jua n gonzalez. i i asked preresident z zelayaat the link between drug traffickers and government corrrruption. marks ahe coup d'etat new form of u.s. meddling in our society. 10 years ago, john negroponte, under secretary of state, and president george w. bush, warned me and threatened me when i was president of honduras, saying that it i had relations with hugo chavez, then n i would hahe

proboblems w with the united st. , i montnths a after thatt warng was removed from powower. and removed from this country. for the united states is the friends of those who they consider their adversaries are not their friends. they decided they are enemies of .he unitited states quite simply bececause i was seseeking betttter relations wih the south, bringing in oil from venezuela, and getting financing for hydroelectric projects with , whodent lula da silva they are now holding prisoner in brazil. so the policies of the united states changed. and they made a mistake. and i will talk to you about the

gangs in a moment, to your question, in a moment. but if you think about t the ele ,nd the u.s. government, well there is thehe view for this region is mistaken. they want to go back to the 1980's, which was marked by the cold war, stigmatizing the opposition. they have created dirty war. well, , if they think that they are going g to be ablee to ststp migration in this way, well, it is only going to worsen. in the druge a link trafficking business. and they come about because there is no jobs, thehere is ann excess of poverty -- povevertyys misery in honduras. solutions.no

within the drug trafficking organizations come on the scene and instead of creating more jobs, t the government brings more repression. but these are components of the dictatorship the u.s. i is supporting. they have looteded the entry. since the coup d'etat in ththese 10 years, each year the united states through the international authorized $24as billion of addititional debt eah yeyear. so now we havave approximately 4 billion debt. when they removed me 10 years wed $3 b billion.

first they militarize the country, then they drive the coununtry into debt. and theyey take out huge c cred, which they call sovereign bonds huge interest rates. everyone hundred -- 40 now go to the banks. the stateloot institutions. the level of corruption are exorbitant. theyey are abusisive and ever se of t the word. such looted institutions as sociaial security, which is where the rererement funds f for the elderly are. and where the money's are t to cover the illnesses that mothers suffer. they have looted these ininstitutions in n order to fie an unpopular anti-democratic and dictatorial regime. does not talktates

about honduras because it is shameful. they are ashamed to talk about what they are supporting in honduras. and d the only thing to do about it is to denouncnce it because there are murders, there are death squads. -- false expororted positives where many opposition leaders such as berta caceres, or anotherone, --son who was succeeded asphyxiated by the gases. there is no way to describe these crimes over the last 10 years other than by calling them crimes against humanity. this country should be brought before the international what u.s.ourt because

policy is doing is supporting genocide in honduras and in central america. i wantresident zelaya, to ask about the role of mexico. because many expected that when lopez obrador won the presidency in mexico, mexico would develop a more humane policy toward the refugees coming across its borders. the is your assessment of first year or first several presidency in's relationship to your country a d your situation? look, lopez obrador, i consider him to be a profoundly values that are in line with great moral for the region and

for mexico and for central america. positiond a very clear , vis-a-vis the united states. i believe mr. trump's pressures against mexico are serious. when they threaten to impose ,ariffs on mexican merchandise well, that produces more migrants, more migration, more poverty in our region. so the policies of mr. lopez practically being .unished by the united statetes in fococusing on migraration, ththey're goingng to l loofor se that is to the system

provoking the migrants. because everyone talks about migration, but the causes of policies,n are the u.s.. the imf policies, the policies of the southern command for this region are p provoking more and more migrantnts with each passig day. so militarizing honduraras, milirizing cenentral america. it means that escape valve that the e honduran people have had, which is to be able to get work , and theited states honduran people e have not even looked for jobs in the unit is raised. -- forhe u.s. busininesses example, the have large crops and cannot pay a u.s. person to work in the countryside. expenses toe travel the family members of those who are their employees. and that is why there is massive

migration to work in thehe unitd states. they might work six months or a year and they go back and then return. migration is a human process seeking to find solutions when they militarize the border. what they're going to provoke and is greater explosions -- manyuran people people are industries and protesting. they are not protesting because we, the opposition, tell them to protest. nobody goes out to protest because some politician tells them to do so. maybe there would be a group of 100 people in the context but here it is thousands of people in different parts of the peacefulngageged in protest. they do not use weapons. , the protesters might

mobilize in the streets, making traffic difficult, bringing .ransportation to a halt but those expresessions of migration shows poverty has worsenened, the dedebt has gone, and people are in the streets protesting because the cost of , the cost of transportation, the cost of fuel -- almost everything has been privatized in honduras. so that should be evidence that this number which is the model for neoliberal capitalism, everything has turned into a business for a small group and for the rest t there is not solution.

it is a failure of mr. donald trump in central america. and then drug trafficking increases. no one wants to say so, but drug trafficking increased after the coup d'etat because the drug traffickers, w when they see a country that they can control through an authoritarian system, well, they immediatelyly get involved. hehere they found the military d the police. is the way forward for honduras in central america. the united states should learn to live with democracy and not be creating repressive policies against us.s. dohave the same rights they to be able to make a living and live in freedom. amy: you have the current juandent of honduras orlando hernandez investigated by the u.s. government for drug trafficking, and his brother

tony hernandez actually arrested for cocaine trafficking. he was arrested in miami. he is currently awaiting trial in this country. what does this mean for the people of honduras? i mean, this is under the trouble administration that supports the current preresident hernrnandez. >> well, there's only one way to read this. the united states is protecectig its dictator here. and mistakenly, they think that benefit the government of donald trump. donald trump might win reelectition in the united stats if the world sees he is taking measures in favor ofof democracy in honduras rather than in fafar of the dictatotorship, as he is

doing now. managed bycking is the dea. the dea knows o of each shipment that comomes out of venezuelelad cold beer.r. the dea knows about it. and some pass through that any problems and others are stopped. so there is not a fightt against drug trafficking. there isis a fight against the cartels. there are some cartels that are foughtht and oththers they let m go. they know the implications of your trafficking here. nonetheless, justice is selected. they take action n against some and protect the others. i think the president is protected by the united states. juan: 10 years ago before the coup against you throughout latin america there were progressive governments trying to change the social conditions

of their people. we have seen this enormous change in brazil, in your the attacks in argentina, the attacks on the government in mena's willow. what is your sense of what is happening in latin america in terms of the movements of peoples for greater social equality? >> well, there were sosome statements recently mamade by a u.s. senator. the triumph of socialism was seen it could set a bad example for the united states. because it could even impact domestic politicics in the unitd states, they could not allllow socialism -- modern socialism, i

would say, because this is a a socialisism that is differentntn the socialism when found in europe dururing the cocold war. this is a socialism that accepts capital -- not capitalismsm, but capital. it accepts private enterprise, not controlled byby capitalisisf the s state because we understad the concept of popular sovereignty, were sovereignty resides in the people. power does not reside in a elite, asr economic under the neoliberal model. so of course, for the united statates, whwhich has internrnal opposition because internally in the united states there has begun to be talk of democratic socialism. i have heard democratic party candidates talk abobout dememocc

socialism. ththat is why the policies towas our region have changed. in brazil, they went after dilma rousseff with a technical coup d'etat. of socialist agreements with the people of honduras and others in the region. and the right one the electctios because lula was in prison. they would not have done so if lula were free. and now the united states not only trains military, but alsoso because they're using the justice system as a tool for political purposes. amy: president zelayaa, what is your assessment of president and what he is doing along the border? if that b brings him any electoral benefit, but i

considider it to be an absurd action in a globalized world in whwhich for the last t the decas wewe have been talking about fre trade, talking about compepetitn part inetitiveness as parcel of the development of capitalism. and now he has come up to putting a halt to globalization. so trumpmp is like a negation of the histotoric process. he is a setback in almost every sense. a -- so in a conservative society such as the united states, that can bring him electoral benefits. but in the eyes of the world, he is behaving like a white supremacacist. as one human sensitivity who would require in the 21st century.

because migratioion -- migration is a right, notot a crime. the e migration of the poor northward is bad. but it m migration southwaward s good. the investors come to take over the natural resources. like an oligopoly. and they further impoverish our countries. that impoverishment produces migration and the increase in drugug trafficking and so on and so forth. so i see mr. donald trump's policieses with the republican setback whensents a it comes to having good relations with latin america. amy: of all aid to the north are tranququil countries -- triangle countries, this is very interesting considering he juan orlando hernandez,

the president. now he has backed off, cutting that aid, but t threatens to doo if the immigrant flow continues. president hernandez would fall without that u.s. aid? >> we don't need the help of the united states. the united states gives very little assistance. what the united days once is to exercise economic control over ththe structures of the econonoy worldwdwide. for example, t the world bank is under some $150 million he year. $150 million. the inter-american development bank, similar sum. about told, we might get $240 million. ththat is controlled by the unid states. it also has a specific weight in our region. a letter thatizes

is sign every year so honduras can go into debt and very height injured -- intnterest rates bebecause itit is allied with te u.s. what that provokes in our region is clear, i think. evidence what it - -- i think region it is evidentnt what it causes n the region. i believe that relationship where they say they're goingng o has almost noance effect. let me put it in clear tererms. , about $4igrants billion he year. the united statetes s since $ $0

millioion. so honduras should be concecernd and the current president has no .ignity we should be able to speak to the americans o on eagle coconditions with microsoft city rapapper saw city and dignity. immigration treaty we have with the united states was canceled. we had an immigration treaty that is renewed every year. indeeded, i had good relationsns with the united states. oilu.s. and european companies s do not accept competition, but they respected me. evevery year they renewed the

money but this year they have penny.ewed single the policy is threatening that from- well, the u.u.s. aid the standpoint of the hegemonic control of cap listen to the transnational corporations, theugh bususinesses through control of the southern commandd over security in the imf over the economy and the oes. supupported or made an internal effort onon the justice system.

security is controlled by the southern command. the money is controlled by others. well, then what does honduras run? it is all based on u.s. policy and on t the interference and middlingng of the u.s. in hondus of the u.s. in hondurasas. because the united states is a strong neighbor, the biggest military and technological power , not that we will be the same as the united states, but we should not be a vassal of the united states. are a small country, but ththe same dignity a as the europeans and the u.s. have. amy: former president manuel zelaya. to see the interview in spanish, visit democracynow.org.

happy democracy now! anniversary to our transcript editor, neil shibata. thank you for your incredible work and wisdom. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning.. > this is al jazeerera.

♪ anchor: hello, this is the newshour live from london. coming up in the next 60 minutes, turkey receives the first shipments of the russian as 400 missile defense system. that could invite u.s. sanctions. negotiatitions,f eight west african nations agree to adopt a shared currency called the echo. >> i said, you don't have to do this. he doesn't have to do this. anchor: