11/14/19 11/14/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> on the call with president trump, a member of my staff asked ambassador sondland what president trump thought about ukraine. mr. solomon responded mr. cares more about the investigation of biden, which giuliani was present for. amy: as the public phase of the house impeachment inquiry begins, u.s. ambassador william taylor reveals new details about

president trump's direct involvement in pressuring ukraine to investigate joe biden and his son. we will hear highlights frfrom e hearing. cooks there is one witness that they wonon't briring in front t, won't bring in front of the american people. that is the guy who stararted it all, t the whiststleblowerer. the would be glad to have personhoho starteded it all come in and testitify. president trump is welcocome to take a seat right therere. anand make plus, we go to chile where protesters led a massive national strike tuesday as they condemned the government's plans to rewrite the country's constitution, which dates back to esther pinochet's regime. we speak to coping founder medea benjamin about why five police squad cars came to heher house wednesday in an attempt to arrest her. all of that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

house lawmakers on wednesday opened the first public hearings of the impeachment inquiry into president donald trump. two witnesses, george kent and liam taylor, but testified president trump withheld aid ukraine in an attempt to pressure ukraine to investigate joe biden and his son hunter who served on the board of the ukrainian natural gas company. in his opening statement, ambassador taylor details about her previously unknown phone call from july between president trump and gordon sondland, the u.s. ambassador to the european union. >> a member of my staff could hear presisident trump on the phone asking ambassador sondland about the investigations. mr. sondland told president trump, the ukrainians were ready to move forward. following the call with president trump, the member of my staff asked ambassador sondland what president trump thought about ukraine. mr. sondland respondnded that

president trump cares more about the investigations have biden, which giuliaiani was pressing f. giuliani to cast t rudy take charge of foreign policy around ukraine sidestepping the state department. we will have more on the historic impeachment inquiry after headlines with elizabeth holtzman, the youngest member of the house of representatives at the time and she served on president nixon's house impeachment inquiry. at the white house, president trump denied watching the televised impeachment inquiry, sasaying he e was too bubusy wog for the americican people. despite that, trump tweeted or retweeted about the inquiry more than 30 times throughout the day. during a joint news conference with turkey's authoritarian president recep tayyip erdogan just after wednesday's hearings wrapped up, trump called on reporters from far-right news outlets -- one america news network and fox news -- before demanding a question from friendly reporters. pres. trump: would you like to pick somebody? a a iendly person from turkey,

please. only friendly reporters. ththere are not totoo many of tm around. amy: president erdogan's visit came in international condemnation of the recent turkish offensive in northern syria which turkey launched after president trump abruptly withdrew u.s. troops from the area, covering the way for the offensive. speaeaking from the oval office trump said wednesday the only u.s. troops remaining in eastern syria were there to protect oil. pres. trump: we are keeping the oil. we have the oil. the oil is secure. we left troops behind only for the oil. amy: president trump also claimed he had spoken with curtis-led syrian democratic forces who he said were very satisfied with the change in u.s. policy. it was contradicted by sdf commander mazloum abd tweeted -- "during erdogan-donald trump meeting, turkish forces launched fierce attacks on predominantly christian town of til temir,

causing massive displacement of the residents, in clear violation of the cease-fire agreement." in the gaza strip, palestinians have agreed to a tenuous cease-fire with israel prosperous military. the ceasefire took effect overnight, at least fiveve rocks were launched from gaza, prompting air raid alarms in southern israel, where one millioion israeli children were ordered to remain at home. several israelisis reported mimr ininjuries from falling rockets. gaza's health ministry says 34 palestinians were killed in the fighting, with dozens more wounded. among the dead were eight members of a single family, including five children, who were crushed to death when an israeli airstrike flattened their home. the bombing erupted a after isrl bombed the homome of a senioior member of ththe palestinian grop islalamic jihad onon tuesday, killing the commander and his wife and injuring their children. in mexico city, exiled bolivian president evo morales said wednesday he's willing to return to bolivia to join a national dialogue after he was forced by the military to step down sunday

in what he's described as a u.s.-backed coup d d'etat. morales blamed the washington, d.c.-based organization of american states, or oas, for his ouster, saying it falsely accused his government of vote tampering in last montnth's presidential e election. >> the oas made a political decision, not a technical or legal one. this is a report. now i have realizezed from the recocommendations of s some left others and sisters that the oas is not in the service of people of latin america. less so, the social movements. the oas is at the service of the north american empire. amy: in bolivia, police fired tear gas to clear thousands of anti-coup protesters from the streets of la paz wednesday, as low-flying fighter jets roared overhead in a show of force. the protesters were rejecting right-wing opposition leader jeanine anez, who declared herself interim president tuesday night. the police and military have killed at least 10 protesters since morales' ouster, with many more injured.

>> the authorities nearly choked me. they nearly choked me, but i'm going to continue. bolivia is indigenous.s. amy: on wednesday, jeanine anez sworore in a new cabinet at the presidentitial palace in la paz, meanwhile police barred , lawmakers with morales' movement for socialism party from entering bolivia's parliamentary assembly. morales was elected in 2005 as bolivia's first indigenous president and says after sunday's coup, armed men broke into his home in cochabamba and led an arson attack on his sister's home as well. in lebanon, government troops opened fire on protesters who'd blocked a road in the capital beirut late tuesday, killing one man. it was the first death in four weeks of massive anti-government protests that have continued despite the resignation of prime minister saad hariri last month. protesters are demanding the resignation of all top government officials.. early parlrliamentary elections, and economic refeforms.

in zimbabwe, the united nations is warning 5.5 million rural residents -- or nearly a third of zimbabwe's population -- is at risk of food shortages due to a devastating drought brought on by climate change. the head of the world food programme is appealing for $331 million in emergency food aid, warnining -- "peoeoe are marcrching towards starvavation if we are not hereo help them." wildlifeasas been affefected, t. tinaapi madiri, zimbabwe's national elephant manager, said more than 200 elephants have died of dehydration anand starvation in recent weeks. >> going into the future with the increased droughts due to climate change and other phenomenon, we are likely to experience more and more of this drought which could possibly impact significantly on our elephant population. amy: in australia, the death tollll from ragingng wildfires e toto four wednesesday as a g grf former fire chiefs said their

attempts to warn prime minister scott morrison about the dangers of climate change have been ignored for months. greg mulullins, the former firee commissioner for new south wales, called for the federal government to provide more resources.s. >> but we are also calling on the government to take urgent action on the fundamental problem that is leading to t the catastrophic fires, and that is climate change. amy: in italy, the mayor of venice has declared a state of emergency after high tides and heavy winds brought floodwaters to nearly 90% of the ancient city. it's venice's worst flooding in 50 years and the second-worst on record. at least two people have died, while the famed st. mark's square was submerged by over three feet of water. officials say the floods have causedunundreds of m millions of euros' worth of damage to historic buildings, many of which may never be repaired. venice's mayor called the flooding apocalyptic and said climate change was to blame. scientists predict that venice

could be completely submerged by the end of the century if the climate crisis continues at its current pace. back in washington, d.c., chad wolf was sworn in wednesday as acting secretary of the department of homeland security. he's the fifth person to lead the agency, which oversees u.s. immigration enforcement, under president trump. wolf previously served as chief of staff to then-secretary kirstjen nielsen as she enforced the trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy at the southern border, which saw thousands of migrant children separated from their parents. the house judiciary committee approved a resolution wednesday that brings the united states one step closer to approving the equal rights amendment, which would guarantee equal legal protections regardless of sex. if approved by the full house and senate, the resolution would change the deadline for the era's ratification, which was initially set as 1982.

ththe constitututional amendmens approved by congress in 1972 and was ratified by 35 states over the next decade -- three states short of the required total needed by a 1982 deadline. nevada and illinois have since ratified the amendment, and many virginia democrats -- who retook the state legislature earlier this month - -- have pledged to approve it as well. former massachusetts governor deval patrick will formally enter the 2020 presidential race as a candidate for the democratic nomination. patrick is managing director at the private equity firm bain capital, which was co-founded by republican utah senator mitt romney. he once worked as general counsel to the oil company the oil company texaco, served on the board ameriquest -- a subprime mortgage lender -- and w was executive vice president at coca-cola. meanwhile, former secretary of state hillary clinton has refused to rule out another run for the presidency in the 2020 election. inton was s interviewewed tuesdy

alongside her daughter chelsea clinton by bbc radio host emma barnett. >> look, as i say, i never s say never. i will certatainly telell you im under enormous prpressure f from many, mamany peoplple to think t it, but as of this s moment sitting here in thiss studio talking to you, that is absolutely not in my plansns. amy: in lilittle rock, arkansas, teachers hitit picket lines this morning for a one-day strike, prottiting the statate board of education's decision to o stop rerecognizing their union and to strip teachers of their collectitive bargaining riright. it's s the first strike in litte rock sincece 1987. the national football league has invited all 32 nfl teams to scout a private workout on saturday by former san francisco 49ers quarterback colin kaepernick. he says he was blackballed for taking the knee during the national anthem as a protest against police violence and racism. critics say the move is a pr stunt aimed at absolving the nfl

from its active retaliation and have question whether the move will result in a new contract for colin kaepernick i'm who has been out of the nfl since 2016. meanwhile, colin kaepernick drew solidarity monday from megan rapinoe, the star of the world cup when u u.s. natitional socor team.. shspspoke as she a accepted a womaof the year awarard from glamour m magazine. >> whilele i'm enjoyiying all of ththis unprecedentnted and, fra, a little u uncomfortable attentn in personal success, in large part due to my activism off the field, colin kaepernick is still effectively banned. [cheers] banned from the nfl for knkneeling i in the national anm for known n and systematic polie brutality against peopople of color, known and systematicc racial injustice, known and

systematic white supremacy. amy: and codepink founder and longtime peace activist medea benjamin was threatened with arrest in washington, d.c., wednesday and accused of assaulting a sitting congressmember after being forcibly removed from a press conference for opposing the u.s.-backed coup and u.s. sanctions in venezuela. benjamin vehemently denies the accusations and says she was in fact the one assaulted when she and other activists demonstrated at an outside news conference hosted by florida democrat debbie wasserman schultz and florida republican mario diaz-balart, condemningg president nicholas maduro and announcing the launch of a congressional venezuela democracy caucus. later in the broadcast, we'll go to washington, d.c., to speak -- to find out wi-fi police squad cars. outside of her house. and the national football league -- and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war anand peace report. i'm amy goodman. nermeen: welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the countryry and around the world.

the first public hearing of the impeachment inquiry into president trump was held wednesday. trump is just the fourth president in u.s. history to face impeachment. two witnesses testified before the house intelligence committee -- george kent, a deputy assistant secretary of state, and william taylor, a former ambassador and the top u.s. diplomat in ukraine. they both said president trump withheld aid to ukraine in an attempt to pressure the country to investigate joe biden and his son hunter, who served on the board of a ukrainian natural gas company. house intelligence chairir adam schiff opened the historic hearing. >> although we have learned a great deal about these events in the last several weeks, there are still missing pieces. the president has instructed the state department and other agencies to ignore congressional subpoenas for documents. he has insnstructed d witnesseso

defy subpoenas and refuse to appear. and he has suggested that those who do expose wrongdoing should be treated like traitors and spies. these actions will force congress to consider, as it did with president nixon, whether trump's obstruction of congress constituted additional grounds for impeachment. if the president can similar reviews all oversight, particularly in the context of impeachmhment proceeding, the balance of power between our two branches of government will be revocably altered. that is not what the founders intended. and the prospects for further corrupuption and abuse of powern this administration or any other will be exponentially increased. nermeen: the top republican on the house intelligence committee devin nunes dismissed the hearing as a televised theatricalal performance stagedy the dedemocrats. anyut we should not hold hearings at all until we get answers to three crucial questions the democrats are determined to avoid asking.

first, what is ththe full extent of the democrats prior coordination with the whistleblower? and who elsese did the whistleblower coordinate this effort with? second, what is the full extent of ukraine's election meddling against the trump campaign? and third, why did burisma hire hunter biden and what did he do for them and did his position affect any u.s. government actions under the obama administration? these questions will remain outstanding because republicans were denied the right to call witnesses that know these answers. what we will witness today is a televised theatrical performance staged by the democrats. amy: in his opening statement, ambassador william taylor revealed details about a previously unknown phone call from july between president trump and gordon sondland, the oregon hotel magnate who trump ambassador to the

european union. >> last friday, member of my staff told me of events that occurred july 26. while ambassador volker and i visited the front, member of my staff accompanied ambassador sondlandnd. ambassador solomon metet with m. your mop. in that meeting, a restaurant, ambassador sondland called president trump and told him of his meetings in kiev. a member of my stataff to hear president trump on the phone asking ambassador sondland about the investigations.. ambassador sondland told president trump the ukrainians were ready to move forward stop following the call with president trump, a member of my staff asked beth sondland what president trump thought about ukraine. mr. sondland respondeded that presidentt trump cares m more at the investigations of biden, which giuliani was pressing for. nermeen: during their opening remarks, both ambassador william taylor and deputy assistant secretary of state george kent

expressed concerern over the roe president trump's personal attorney rudy giululiani had in dictating u.s.s. policy on ukraraine. this is george kent. andver the course of 2018 2019, i became increasingly aware of an effort by rudy giuliani and others, including his associates, to run a campaign to smear ambassador yovanovitch and other r officias at the u u.s. embassy in key ha. nermeen: during the hearing, democrats had former federal prosecutor daniel goldman leading much of the witness questioning. here he is questioningng william taylor. >> decades of military service and diplomaticic service representing the united states around the world. hahave you ever seeeen another example of foreign aid condititioned on the personal or political interests of the presidident of thehe united sta? >> know, mr. goldman, i've not. amy: republican lawmakers repeatedly defended the actions

of president. here's republican c congressman john ratcliffe of texass questioning u.s. ambassador to ukraine william taylor. >> ukrainian president stood in front t of the world press and repeatedly, consistentlyly come over and over again, inteterview afteter interview, said he had o knowledge of m military aid beig withheld, meaning no quid pro quo, no pressure, no dememands,o threats,s, no black nail, nothig corrupt. i like thehe first 45 minutes tt we heard frorom the democrats today, that is n not secondhand information, not hearsay, not what somomeone overheard amambassador sonondland say. that was his direct testitiny. ambassador taylor, do you haveve any evidence to assert that presidenent zelinski was lying o the world press when he said those things? yes or no? >> mr. ratcliffe, if i can respond -- on >> my time is shshort. yes or no. >> i have no reason to doubt with the president said. >> very good. >> in this impeachment hearing

today where we imimpeach prpresidents for treason or bribery or other high crimes, where is i it impeachable offene and that call? are either of you here to assert there was an impeachable offense and that call? ? shout it out. anyone? >> i'm not here having to do anything to decide about impeachment. that is not what either of us are here to do. this is your job. amy: republicans also called on democrats to bring forth the whistleblower, whose internal complaint prompted the impeachment inquiry. here is republican congressman jim jordan who wasas made a temporary member of the intelligence committee ahehead f the heararing. >> tre is onee witness thahat they won''t brining in front o . they won't bring a friend of the american people. that is the e guy who s startedt all, the whistleblower. >> i say to my colleague, i would be glad to have the person presidentd d it all trumump is welcome to take a set right there.

amy: that last voice was vermont democratic congressman peter welch responding to republican representative jim jordan. when we come back, we will speak to elizabeth holtzman. her recent book is "the case for impeaching trump." stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "a message to you rudy" by the specials. this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. our guest is elizabeth holtzman, former u.s. congresswoman from new york who served on the house judiciary committee that voted to impeach richard nixon. at that time, she was the youngest woman elected to congress. interestingly, she was replaced in that record the congress never stepanek, who now serves as a republican on the house intelligence committee and was questioning the speakers yesterday. her recent book is "the case for impeaching trump." welcome back to democracy now!

what did you find most important about the firsrst day of these public impeachment hearings? >> the most important thing was the facts came out in a deliberate serious way through the mouths of two highly regarded diplomats who are very experienced and very knowledgeable and who were shocked -- they should not be shocked at their ages -- they were shocked and alarmed and what president trump was doing. president trump was withholding military aid from ukraine in order to help him win the next election. presidential election. as one of the witnesses said, thisis is crazy. it is just crazy. amy: withholding the aid, the allegation goes, to force them to investigate his political rival joe biden. >> not only to investigate his political rival, it was also to

investigate whether ukraine interfered in the election in 2016 instead of russia. the purpose of this was clearly, even though the intelligence community has unanimously said it was russia that intervened in the 2016 election and even though robert mueller has indicted more than 20 people -- interfering,- for trump believes it wasn't russia, forget all of the intelligence agencies, it was ukraine. and this was in order to delegitimize the molar investigation, remove the cloud of the molar investigation over his head, and show him as white and pure going into the next election. as well as getting biden, the other object here. so he had two objectives, both of them, personal objectives.

in the impeachable offense here, the high crime and misdemeanor here is the president used the to spendhis office money that was appropriaiated by cocongress not for the good of e united states of america, b but hihis personal, political gain. and that is exactly what the offense was in the watergate cover-up. nermeen: during the hearing, congressman adam schiff, chair of the house intelligence committee, questioned ambassador william taylor about a phone call between president trump and gordon sondland, the u.s. ambassador to the european union. as myould like to begin following up on something you have discloseded today and disclosed earlier to both majority and minority, but it is some new information for the committetee. you said in your testimony that one of your staff was present

with ambassador sondland on the day after the july 25 phphone call. is t that right? >> that is correct, mr. chairman. >> as your staffer related the information to you, yoyour staff member could overhear mr. sondland on the phone -- could overhear the president on the phone with mr. sondland? >> correct. >> the president must have been speaking loud enough on the phone -- this was a cell phone? >> it was a cell phone. >> the president must have been speaking loud enough for your staff member to overhear this? >> it was. >> and what your staff member could o overhear wasasresident trump a asking ambassador sondld about "the investigations"? i think you teststified also you had cocome to understandd that e term "invevestigations" wawas am that bestor sondland as well as ambassador volker used to mean matterers related to o the 2016

elections into the investigations of burisma and the bidens? >> that is correct. >> or staff member overhears the president asking about the investigations meaning burisma and the bidens in 2016 and ambassador sondland told president trump that the ukrainians werere ready to move forwarard? >> he did. > i think you said after the call when your staff asked whaht ukraine,'shought of response was president from piers morgan of the investigations of biden? >> and burisma, yes, sir. theeen:, your response to significance of this? this was new information that was revealed just yesterday in the hearings. >> the information shows something we also saw an watergrgate, that the presidentf the united states, president trump, just as richard nixon, was obsessed with getting these investigations done so that he

could get help from ukraine in his reelection effort. and he was directing this -- this wasn't just a one-off, oh, maybe we will have an investigation was something that slipped out of his mouth. this was something that he was obsessed with. he meaning trump. trump wanted ukraine to clear him of the robert mueller investigation reports and he wanted ukraine to smear biden. those are two things he desperately wanted. amy: liz holtzman, i would to go back to nixon. the articles of impeachment that clear,ed on -- let's be nixon was not impeached because he quit before he would -- butely be impeached were for cover-up of the water break-in --ergate >> and there was a third one, stymieing, refusing to turn over information to the house judiciary committee and trying to stymie the impeachment

investigation. amy: i i w want to ask wheththes impeachment proceeding will only be limited to come as nancy forsi said, ukraine? example, could he go to issues of children dying on the border? the reason i ask this is, the house judiciary committee under nixon did right of articles of impeachment, didn't i? against nixon for the secret bombing of cambodia. >> i drafted that. that was rejected. of the articles of impeachment about abuse of power went through a litany of things. irsexample, audits ordering to do audits of his political opponents. that is what nixon did. that was one of the -- that was part of the articles of impeachment. illegal wiretapping of journalists and staff members, breaking into ellsberg psychiatrist office to look for information to smear him with. of thes article ii

impeachment articles and also include the abuse of his power to cover up the watergate. amy: and why didn't these articles of impeachment -- they did not get passed, but the ones about the secret bombing -- why were they not included? >> the article about the secret bombing was not included -- i voted for it and a number of others did, but not a majority. i don't really know the answer to that. i'm speculating, but i think it was not adopted because the chair wanted the broadest support possible for the impeachment articles. and this, because the vietnam war was still so raw and still -- still such a matter of concern, i think the leadership felt that was going to be too political and it would make the rest of the articles seem to be political -- in other words, polilicy-orienteted as opposed o ababuse of power-orienteted. i think that was a mistake, but the fact of the matter is, those

three articles of impeachment still are historical and still have never really been attacked stop they are relevant today because we have trump stymieing and obstructing the impeachment effort stop he has no authority to do that, but he is doing that and trying to destroy the balance -- the checks and putnces system the framers in protect our democracy from a rogue president. and he says, well, it is a witchhunt you know, not lawful, not right. that is what the framers intended. amy: i am wondering also if a byproduct of this impeachment hearing will be -- you talked about vietnam were fiercely opposed to the war in vietnam -- will be intensifying cold war ideology in this way. you have the politics of ukraine. the previous president previously fighting russia. zelensky was just recently elected overwhelmingly, beating

on in appeasement -- where i should say come on a proposal to negotiate with the russians. and now there is a kind of false history being told of ukraine that they need these weapons to fight the russians. although, taylor did make the point, not necessarily to fight them, but to be able to negotiate with them from a position of strength. the mobile who ,upported him who recently said switched sides and a sense thing we should d move much more t tod russia, was about negotiating peace with russia at this point. >> right, but this gets very complicated because if you stop and think about it, the consequences of what trump has tried to do a withholding military aid and by trying to force zelensky to make a public statement about investigating

biden, that would have weakened and played into russia's hanscom also trying to show ukraine was responsible for interfering in the 2016 election would have played directly into russia's hands. it would've cleared russia. in a way, could also look at one of the objectives of trump here is to help russia. nermeen: could you talk liz holtzman about what happened in the impeachment inquiry, with the effect was on the american public? did it actually sway opinions against him because you heard yesterday congressional republicans again and again dismissing the inquiry and trump, of course, repeatedly forever saying it is a hoax and witchhunt. his supporters still support him. >> right. when nixon left office and resign, there were still 23% of the american people who supported him no matter what. amy: what ultimately forced him out?

he resigned before he could be impeached. , everye is no question democrat and every republican on the house judiciary committee, including southern democrats and the most conservative republicans -- amy: how l long did it take repupublicans to switch? >> it took the smong gun te.e. 30ofof theepubublins votedor e articles of impeachmen bere t themokingngun tape me out. one thing toemember at is important, nixon was elected in 1972, one of the biggest ndndslid in n amican h htory. so for people to cngnge thr mithat is what they hato doo suppt impeacent because st amerins had ved for m. at the te we finished our work, most americans wanted him removed. wh , theyawaw a fairrorocess saw a liver torocessssthey solidprocess based on

evidence. anand in the end, ththe americin pepeople said -- not everybody, but 77% of americans said, we are not a banana republic. what is more importatant to us s the rule of law than a anything elsese than the president and a party. i hope we can come to that conclusion now. that's more important and donald trump, more important than the republican party, more important than any party or any president, is the rule of law. and that has to be obeyed here. the president basically says, i'm president, article ii please i can do whatever i want. it means i can help use all the government powers to help when my next help when my next election. so what he is doing is violating the constitution, impinging on our free election system, and with watergate, that is what it was about. it was to get reelected at any cost. that is why there was the break-in. that was the breaking into the democratic national headquarters by his campaign cover-up was

related to his reelection effort. to get government powers what i need for my reelection. what is donald trump doing? using the powers of government to get reelected. this is unacceptable. amy: i want to thank you for being with us, this holtzman, former u.s. congresswoman from new york who served on the house judiciary committee that led to the vote for impeachment against richard nixon. her recent book is titled "the case for impeaching trump." this is democracy now! when we come back, we had south to chile. stay with us.

,my: performed by chris condo joanne. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. nermeen: we turn now to chile, where protesters led a massive national strike tuesday as they condemned the government's plans to rewrite the country's

constitution, which dates back to augusto pinochet's military regime. chile's interior minister announced sunday the government would draft a new constitution that congress would then rewrite and put to a public referendum. but protesters say the people should be involved with the rewriting process from the beginning and that this is an attempt by sebastian pinera's government to delay political and social reforms in the chile. this is pinera speaking on tuesday. >> all political forces all social organizations e every chilean of good faith that we need to ununite for t three big urgent necessary national agreements. first, an agreement for peace and against violence. to categorically and undoubtedly condemn the actions that have caused so much violence. in which also condemns with the same strength those who provoke or tolerate it. second, an agreement for justice so we can all start together for

robust social agenda that allows for the quick advancement of a more just chile, a chile that is more equal and with less abuse. a chile with greater equality and opportunity and less privilege. and third, an agreement for new constitution within our democratic institutions with a clear and e effective participatioion f from citizensh the plebiscite for its ratification so that citizens do not only dissipate in the ratification of this new constitution, but that they also have the last word in its approval. in the construction of the new social pack that chile needs. amy: meanwhile, amnesty international has denounced the chilean government for widespread human rights violations against protesters. erika guevara-rosas, americas director at amnesty international, said in a statement -- "president sebastian pinera has clearly not taken all the measures open to him to stop the grave human rights violations and possible crimes under

international law that have kept occurring in chile since the beginning of the social protests. this continuity shows there is no genuine willingness to discard a failed strategy or to respond to people's demands and respect their rights." the chilean authorities have killed at least 20 people and wounded thousands more since the protests erupted on october 19 in response to a subway fare hike and quickly grew into a revolt against austerity and economic inequality. well, for more, we're joined by papablo abufom, a a member of te solidaridad movement, an anti-capitalist and feminist organization in chile. she is also an activist with no mas afp, an organization seeking to reform the pinochet-era privatized pension system in chile. thank you so much, pablo, for being with us. thank you for joining us from chile. explain what is happening, the mass strike the streets theerday and what -- what president is proroposing for the

constitution a and what the peoe want. >> thahank you foror having me n the show a again. -- we are atuation a crucial momoment right nonow. two days ago, we had a general strike in alalmost the entntire cocountry w was paralyzeded. alall of the ports, several very es, and d the public sector w was c completely paral. the health-carere workers a and educucation workers s were all striking.. and also we had protest in every massivety, including marches and demonstrations in sanantiago.o. and that was after a large sectctor of organizedd lababor d otother social organizations decided to organize the general ststrike in ororder to push the government toward basically to stop human rightss violatitionso take the riot police out of the strereet, and r new conststitutn

-- constitituent assembly, whihh hahas become the main point ofof contention right now in the country. the presidentnt, his respsponsef course, was more of the same. he is basically saying the same congress, the same politicians, and the same elite that put us here in the situation should be the ones to write a new constitution. we are not even sure he is talking about actually a new -- completely new constitution because we haven't seen the actual details of the postal full -- proposal. there sing maybe could just be some constitutional reforms. and also, his response on tuesday night wasas more repression, , basically. hehe claimed they were going to use what they called the antiterrorist laws against people who were protesting, but not justst people who are

protesting, but people who would call the violence, as they say,, directly or indirectly involved in the marches and demonstrations. and that seems like a way to say they're going to persecute -- prosecute individuals and groups that have both been involved in the marches and demonstrations. nermeen: i want to turn to a particular kind of violence that has been deployed against protesters in chile. concerns are growing over the number of protesters who have suffered the loss of an eye after being shot by police pellet guns. according to some reports, at least 200 people have been treated for eye injuries, which have often resulted in blindness in one or both eyes. "the new york times" spoke with patients inside an eye trauma ununit in chile. >> he opened fire a palletit men n the e.

the police grabbed me t the hair a dragged me to tir truck. they staed taunting me. they srtrted tntnting me that i'm ing to lose my sight. the pellet is still siside m ririt here. it is inside your eynow? are you scared? scare that you cldld losyour eye? >> i know god will restore me to what i was before. nermeen: that is a protester who was shot by a pellet gun at very close range. pablo abufom, could you talk about this, what you know of the police deploying this kind of -- these kinds of guns and the number o of protesters s who hae beenen injured? it is s scrudely and tragagically symbolic.

we have been chanting forr almot four weeks now that chile has awakened and a people ofof open their eyeses, that we have open our eyes. the police are basically takinig our eyes. the national human rights institute has at least 200 reported individuals who have been shot in the eye. from theve also known association of doctors that they have received pressure from the government not to report or to underreport those cases. so we still don't know how many people have lost their sight in one or both eyes, as you said. this has been very common during the past weeks. we were already used sort of to the tear gas and water cannons by the riot police, but now we have seen another level of violence against protesters. just people walking on the

streets during those demonstrations. there shooting all old people, young people, even kids. as of no, we all know someone who has been shot by one of those pellet shotguns by police. testing like they are new repression tactics. so this gives us a sense of what the government and what the army and the police are thinking of this situation, is that it is a testing ground for new tactics of repression of civilians. amy: and what effect has the of the palace in bolivia had on the government in chile? at this point, what do you see happening, pablo? >> there's no clear notion of what the bolivian situatation hs on chile right nowow. as you knonow, the protest

movement doesn't havave jusust e leadadership. there e are a lot off movements, organize levers, the feminist movement, environmentntal momovement, butt also people who are organizing and popular similes in their n neighboooood. the political debate is everywherere. see people talkining about a new constitution, talkiking about economic policies that we basically..ewew chile,, the situatation in bolivia feels like a tragic turn of events for many people. wing and theght extreme right wing, they are taking advantage of a political crisis in the country. amy: what was the effects of michelle bachelet coming, now the head of the u.n. high commission on human rights, former president of chile who herself and her mother were tortured under pinochet? her father d died inin custody.

bachelet did d not come to chile. she sent a committee, but w we still have not heaeard anything from that committee yet. but the human rights sitituation is very difficult right now because the police general, the director of the police in chile is saying he is not going to expel any officer involved in human rights violations. was leaked in the institution confirm that that he said that he was not going to expel any officer involved in human rights violations. ththat is terribible because wee there is a situation that the riot police, the armed forces in our country, are not being regulated by any civilian authority. nermeen: pablo, in addition to the number of people who have

been wounded, there have also been over 5000 people arrested. can you talk about what their situation is and what prospects there are for hearing or for the release? arare some ofof them being r re, have been released? report -- the last report from the national rights institute wawas four days ago.o. that was before the e general strike on tuesdaday stop so we n guess therere are at least 2000 more people that were detained in the past fofour days stop we also have -- today is a veryry importrtant day. it is onone year after a young n was killed in the south and occupied indndigenous land.. so today is going to b be a dayf demonstration and protest, not only in n santiago but alslso ie south. this is very intnteresting becee

-- the group have been living in the south for 500 years and something we are now in a militarized santiago. what is happenining with h the detained is some are being held in, some are being jail during the investigation of ththeir charges. we see that as sort of like a politicacal pununishment for ing part of a protest. because of course, a lot of those people -- i m mean, theyy haven'tt even been involved in anything. they are just being taken off the streets by police. babasically,y, the police are operating or acting as a political police point taking people off the streets as a way to normalize the situation. amy: the demand now?

30 s seconds. what is the demand now? >> the constituent assembly is basically what people are asking. the government is talking about the congress rewrwriting the thetitutition but people inn neighborhoods are talking about the constituent assembly, of people being involved inin actul rewriting the base of our social agreement of our constitution. amy: pablo abufom, thank you for being with us from chile, member of the solidarity movement, an anti-capitalist and feminist organization in chile. also an activist with no mas afp, an organization seeking to reform the pinochet-era privatized pension system in chile. when we come back, why did a squad of police cars show up at the home of codepink founder medea benjamin? this is democracy now! as we turn now to our last segmenent. nermeen: code pink founder and longtime peace activist medea benjamin was threatened with arrest in washington, d.c., wednesday and accused of

asassating a sititting congressmember after being forcibly removed from a press conference for opposing the u.s.-backed coup and u.s. sanctions in venezuela. benjamin vehemently denies the accusations and says she was in fact the one assaulted when she and other activists demonstrated at a press conference hosted by florida democrat debbie wasserman schultz and florida repupublican mario diaz-balart, condemning president nicholas maduro and announcing the launch of a congressional venezuela democracy caucus. amy: medea benjamin joins us now from washington, d.c. what happened yesterday? start with the beginning of the day. where were you? what were e you doing? what happened next? >> therere wasas a press confere beining held outsiside to annoue the creation of this new democracy caucus on venezuela. so we decided to go with our

signs saying "hands off venezuela" and the venezuelan opposition elite showed up as well. we know these people very well from the time we were part of the embassy protection collective trying to stop them from taking over the venezuelan embassy in d.c. they are thugs. it is important to understand, amy, this is not about t nicolas maduro. this is about the policy of intervention that we are opposing. the creation of this caucus was yet another piece in that. the u.s. is paying for the salaries of a parallel government thahat they have set up. these people showed up at the press s conference yesterdayay. they push and pull, grabbed all of our signs, grabbed the phone out of the hands of one of us. i was pushed and shoved and choked and thrown to the ground. and then later, i was accused of being the one to assault congress woman debbie wasserman

schultz. there was a bulleted put out for my arrest. they showed up at my house, five cop cars plus police on motorcycles. they threatened to arrest me. i was very intimidated and i must say that i feel that this is par for the course because, unfortunately, the police, whether it is the capitol police, d.c. police, or secret service, have always been working and anglo withth the venezuelan opposition. and every time we get assaulted, which unfortunately is on a regular basis, we ask them to be arrested and the police won't do it and it's that we get charged. amy: explain what happened. they came to your house, what, like five squad cars of policic, attempteted to arrest you but wt happened? >> and motorcycles. i asked where the warrant was for my arrest and they did not have it. they waited and waited and said their detectives were looking over the footage they had. i said, good, look ovever the

footage because you will see i was being choked and thrown to the ground. after a time they said, all right, you're free to go. i don't know if that really means free because we have the case of max blumenthal that five months after being at the venezuzuelan embassy, they came and surrounded his home and did the same thing, put him in jail for 20 hours and now he is facing court charges for a false we have the four people from the embassy collective who are facing very seriouss charges for upholding international law. we have met on partner who for six month had his passport taken away, had report to court every week until they finallyy dropped the charges. i think people should know there's a systematic attempt to intimidate those of us who are standing up for international law, standing against u.s. policy of intervention going back to the days of the monroe doctrine, standing up against

the very brutal sanctions that are hurting people in venezuela, nicaragua, cuba, and that we need more people to join us in this and get our elected officials to speak out. right now bernie sananders is te only one doing it. we need the other candidates to do so. we need d our congress to dodo o say stop u.s. interference in the internal affairs of other countries. amy: your sign said "no coup in venezuela or bolivia." talk about your concerns yeyesterday. m my concerns is that this new bipartisan caucus is going to turn up the screws even more. let's face it, they don't care about the people of venezuela. if they did, they would live the sanctions will support they care about is the votes in florida, and that is why it is bipartisan. florida is a very important state in the upcoming presidential elections. that is why we have to stand up s. the thugs, the elitist

it is not about those governments, it is about the principle of nonintervention. i call on people to join us to say stop the u.s. government from going back to the days where things can impose governments on other countries. , we'reehey aree saying looking at video footage, you're right next to congress member wasserman schultz, you are saying the venezuelan opposition behind you took you down on the ground? >> they did. they choked me and threw me down to the ground. i am in pain. i could not sleep last night. my whole site is in pain. they definitely were the ones who grabbeded me and choked me d threw me to the ground. i guess they did not arrest me because they s s that and d maye they feel they would have to arrest the people who assaulted me. but once again, i do feel very intimidated. i don't feel like this is the end. they could show up at my house anytime with a warrant just to keep me in this process like they have done just many of

other -- of our other comrades to try to stop people from standing up for this principle of nonintervention. amy: medea benjamin, thank you for being with us, cofounder of codepink, longtime peace activist.

♪ hello. a we warm welcome to nhk "newsline." 9:00 a.m. on friday in tokyo. hong kong media are reporting that man died after being injured in a clash between pro and anti-government demonstrators. it is the second fatality in connection with the protests. the hong kong government says a 17-year-old man died on thursday after being hit in the head by a brick thrown by a protester the day before. demonstrators disrupted traffic by blocking roads with bricks and other debris. someta