amy: from new york, this is democracynow. >> the most important numbers you hear, what happened in those nine minutes and 29 seconds when derek shaaban -- chauvinist was applng this force. amy: a former minneapolis police

officer for killing george floyd, prosecutors have revealed chauvinist kneeled for nine minutes. the defense team claimed he was just doing his job. we will air excerpts from the tile and speak to the former president of the minneapolis naacp. we look at how decades of u.s. military intervention in central america has construed it to the ongoing migrt crisis at the border. >> central america is facing anher crisis of violence and economics and other failed u.s. policies. president biden is trying to frame it as if he and the vice president are going to improve things. they are going to kenya the problems that gave rise to this in the first place. amy: we will speak to the author

of un-forgetting, a memoir of family migration, gangs, and revolution. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. in minneapolis, opening arguments in the trial of derek chauvin. he killed joy freud last may. george floyd was a black father who was originally from houston. his death sparked international protests calling for racial justice. civil rights leader al sharpton knelt outside the courthouse with members of george floyd's family and supporters for nine minutes, the amount of time derek chauvin was kneeling on

george floyd. this is regimen crump. >> -- benjamin crump. >> we need to play for america. this is a similar moment, a landmark moment that americans -- in american history. amy: we will go to minneapolis for the latest. in georgia, voting rights groups have filed a second lawsuit seeking to block a sweeping voter suppression law signed by republican governor brian kemp last week. the law grants broad power to state officials to take control of election management from local and county election boards; adds new voter id requirements; severely limits mail ballot drop boxes; and even makes it a crime to hand out food or water to voters waiting in line at polling places. meanwhile, the children of prominent civil rights leaders

have condemned georgia's business leaders for their silence on republican-led voter suppression efforts. in a joint letter they write, athe failure of corporate leaders across our state to live up to their racial equity commitments made in the last year disregards and disrespects our father tireless work and jeopardizes the soul of georgia and the promise of democracy. the letter was signed by bernice king, daughter of dr. martin luther king, jr.; al vivian, son of reverend c.t. vivian; and john-miles lewis, son of congressman john lewis. the world health organization has wrapped up its investigation into the origins of the covid-19 pandemic, concluding in a new report that it's "very likely" the novel coronavirus passed from a bat to an intermediate animal host before emerging in humans in late 2019, with china's wildlife trade the most likely pathway.

the who also found that it's possible, though less likely, that the virus passed directly from bats to humans, and that it was "extremely unlikely" that the virus emerged from a laboratory. globally, confirmed cases of covid-19 have topped 127 million with nearly 2.8 million deaths. in france, doctors warn icus in paris and elsewhere could soon be overwhelmed as authorities rush to speed up the rollout of vaccines amid an ongoing wave of cases. this is an intensive care doctor in the northern town of cambrai. >> we can't describe the situation as catastrophic in the moment. we were not expecting a resurgence of the appa dimmick. right now, people are younger than the last time. amy: here in the u.s., the

centers for disease control and prevention is warning of the potential for a rapid rise in new covid-19 cases and deaths. on monday the u.s. recorded nearly 70,000 new coronavirus infections, a more than 10% rise in cases from a week ago. cdc director rochelle walensy said she's concerned about asr "fourth wave" of disease across the u.s. >> we have so much to look forward to, so much promise and potential of where we are in so much reason for hope. right now, i'm scared. amy president biden urged : governors and mayors across the u.s. to recommit to requiring mask wearing and social distancing. biden also said 90% of u.s. adults will be eligible for a vaccine by mid-april. he in new york, governor andrew cuomo has expanded vaccine access to everyone 30 years and older beginning today. the move came as a state judge

ordered new york to immediately offer a covid-19 vaccine to all incarcerated people, because they are unable to socially distance at high risk of contracting the virus. the centers for disease control and prevention has extended a federal moratorium on evictions to june 30 due to coinuing community spread of coronavirus. the moratorium had been set to expire on wednesday. housing secretary marcia fudge has suggested she wants to keep the federal ban on evictions in ple even longer. a new report finds the wealthiest americans are hiding 20% of their earnings from the irs. the national bureau of economic research report also found the wealthiest 1% of u.s. residents account for about one-third of all unpaid u.s. taxes. last week, vermont independent senator bernie sanders unveiled legislation that would restore the u.s. corporate tax rate to

35%; levy new taxes on the estates of extremely wealthy people; and would prohibit companies from shifting profits offshore to avoid u.s. taxes. a warning to our audience this story contains graphic description of police violence. in mexico, protests have erupted over the police killing of victoria salazar, a 36-year-old salvadoran woman and mother of two who had been living in mexico with a humanitarian visa . four police officers from the coastal city of tulam have been charged with femicide after an autopsy concluded salazar's neck had been broken while in custody. in videos published by mexican media this weekend, one of the four officers making the arrest is seen kneeling on salazar's back, pinned against the pavement as salazar cries out. salazar lies on the pavement face down, handcuffed and unconscious while three other officers watch. eventually they pick up salazar's motionless body and put her in the back of

a police vehicle before driving away. this is salazar's mother, rosibel arriaza, speaking from el salvador. >> i feel indignation, i feel powerless and angry. i want justice for my daughter. amy: in egypt, salvage teams cleared a massive container ship from the suez canal monday, after it ranground on march 23 and halted traffic through one of the world's busiest waterways for nearly a week. the ship is the size of the empire state building on its side. the suez canal authority expects it will take days to car a backlog of hundreds of stranded ships. in california, over 60 migrant kids being held at the san diego convention center have tested positive with covid-19. the convention center is currently holding over 700 children, according to local media.

meanwhile, the wall street journal is reporting border patrol facilities across the texas-mexico border are so overcrowded that border agents recently started holding hundreds of asylum seekers under a bridge in mcallen, where they were forced to sleep on dirt. border agents have also been dropping off hundreds of asylum seekers at bus stations and even hotels. this comes as a record number of asylum seekers are arriving to thsouthern border, fleeing extreme poverty, violence and in many cases the detrimental effects of the climate crisis in their home countries. the arkansas state senate has passed a bill that would ban gender affirming care to transgender minors including , hormones and puberty blockers. if republican governor asa hutchinson signs the bill, arkansas would become the first u.s. state to ever ban gender-affirming care to trans youth. chase strangio, deputy director for transgender justice at the aclu's lgbt & hiv project, denounced the bill as the most

extreme and a trans law to ever pastor a state legislature. another warning to our audience, the next two stories graphic contain descriptions of sexual violence. in new york, a 10th woman has accused governor andrew cuomo of sexual misconduct. sherry vill says cuomo made unwanted physical advances toward her while the two interacted in 2017. vill met cuomo while he toured her neighborhood in rochester after a flood. vill says cuomo approached her at her home, took her hand and pulled her to him. cuomo then leaned down over her and kissed both her cheeks. vill described their interaction as "overtly sexual" and disrespectful to her husband and son who were both present. vill shared her experience during a virtual press conference yesterday. >> i felt he was acting in a flirtatious and inappropriate manner, especially in front of my family and ighbor.

i am approximately five feet tall. he towered over me. there was nothing i could do. amy in more news from new york, : ghislaine maxwell, the british socialite who is accused of luring girls to be sexually abused by convicted predator and sex trafficker jeffrey epstein, has been indicted on two more sex trafficking charges, including trafficking a minor. the indictment says maxwell met the girl, who was about 14 at the time, in 2001, and that the girl had been arecruited to provide epstein with sexualized massages." the indictment also extends the timeframe maxwell collaborated with epstein, starting in 1994 to 2004. and in south dakota, two indigenous activists face criminal charges over their roles in opposing construction of the keystone xl pipeline, which president biden halted on his first day in office. the pair are among a small number of water and land defenders who've vowed to maintain an encampment on the cheyenne river indian reservation near the pipeline route until all pipeline infrastructure is removed.

jasilyn charger faces up to a year in prison for an act of nonviolent civil disobedience. and oscar high elk faces up to 22 years in prison for what his supporters say are trumped-up charges including aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer. this is oscar high elk's aunt speaking from the courthouse last week. >> the abili to bring charges against citizens has been abused and overused when it comes to indigeus response to the protection of our relatives and their habits. this includes offering. amy: and those are some of the headlines this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

juan: welcome to over this news and viewers across the country and around the world. amy: we begin today's show in minneapolis where the trial of former police officer derek chauvin has begun. chauvin is charged with second- and third-degree murder, as well as manslaughter for killing george floyd last may by kneeling on his neck for over nine minutes. floyd was a 46-year-old black man and a father who was originally from houston texas. his death sparked international protests calling for racial justice. during opening statements, special prosecutor jerry blackwell made the case chavin should be found guilty of murder. a warning to our audience, the presentation contains graphic descriptions of police violence. >> on may 25, mr. derek chauvin

betrayed his badge. he used excessive and unreasonable force on the body of mr. george floyd. we are focusing on what we will learn about this nine minutes and 29 seconds. you will hear mr. floyd say please, i can't breathe. in this nine minutes and 29 seconds, you will see as mr. floyd is handcuffed, he is verbalizing 27 times i can't breathe. you will see that derek chavin is on his back and neck. you will be able to see that for yourself. you will hear mr. floyd as he cries out. you he him cry out for his mother. he was very close to his mother. you will hear him say, tell my

kids i love them. you will hear him say about his fear of dying. he says i will probably die this way. they are going to kill me. they are going to kill me now. you will hear him cry out in pain. my stomach hts. nine kurtz. everything hurts. you will hear that for yourself. you will hear it and you will see it at the same time. derek chavin never moves. the sunglasses remain undisturbed on his head. it goes on and on. you will hear his final words when he says, i can't breathe. you will hear his voice get heavier. you will hear his words further apart. you will see that his respiration gets shallower and

shallower and finally stops when he speaks his last words, i can't breathe. when we have his final words, 453 seconds, he is completely silent and motionless with just sporadic movements. those sporadic movements matter. what they reflect, esther floyd was no longer breathing when he made these movements. you will hear about an ox it seizure. it is the automatic reflex when breathing has stopped due to oxygen deprivation. we will point out to you when you see the involuntary movements from mr. floyd. you are going to learn about breathing. when the heart has stopped, your blood is no longer coursing

through the veins. you will hear the body gasp as an involuntary reflex. we will point out to you when mr. floyd is having that breathing as a reflex, an involuntary reflex to the oxygen deprivation. we learn here that mr. floyd is completely passed out. derek chavin continues to kneel on the back. he does not get up. for the remaining -- three minutes and 51 seconds, you will learn that mr. derek chauvin is told that they cannot find a pulse. you will learn he is told that twice. you will be able to see for yourself what he does in response. he does not let up and he does not get up. even when mr. floyd does not have a pulse, he continues on.

even after the ambulance arrives on the scene, the ambulance is there. you will see for yourself what derek chauvin does. you can compare how he looks in this photograph to how he was during the first four minutes and 45 seconds, same position. he doesn't get up. the paramedic from the ambulance comes over. you will be able to see this in the video. he checked mr. floyd for a pulse. he has to check him for a pulse with derek chauvin on his body at the same time. he doesn't get up when the paramedic comes to find a pulse. you will see that the paramedics have taken the gurney out of the ambulance, rolled it over next to the body of mr. floyd. you will see derek chauvin does

not get up. you will see it wasn't until such time as they want to move the lifeless body of george floyd onto the gurney. only then does derek chauvin get up. you will see him drag mr. floyd's body and cast it onto the gurney. amy: that is jerry blackwell, giving part of his opening argument. chavin's attorney eric nelson also disputed the charge that chauvin's actions led to the death of george floyd. >> you will learn that derek chauvin did exactly what he had been trained to do over the course of his 19 year career. the use of force is not attractive. it is a necessary component of police work.

amy chavin's attorney eric : nelson also disputed the charge that chauvin's actions led to the death of george floyd. >> this will be another significant fact in this trial, what was his actual cause of death. the evidence will show that mr. floyd died of cardiac arithmetic because of hypertension, coronary disease, ingestion of methamphetamine, the adrenaline flowing through his body. all of this acted to further compromise. amy: earlier in the trial special prosecutor jerry blackwell acknowledged george floyd struggled with an opioid addiction but argued the evidence shows he died from excessive force, not a drug overdose. the first witness called in the trial was minneapolis 911 dispatcher jena scurry.

she explained to the prosecutor that she alerted a police supervisor after seeing live surveillance footage showing office derek chauvin kneeling on george floyd's neck for an extended period of time. >> i just remembered looking up and seeing the situation hadn't changed. >> the recall how long that was? >> no. it was long enough that i could look back multiple times. >> when you did look back, he was still on the ground? >> correct. >> what did you think about this when you saw it hadn't changed? >> i asked if the screen had frozen. it hadn't changed. >> did you find it had frozen? >> no. i was told it was not frozen. >> what did you think at that

point? >> something might be wrong. we don't get these videos often, video at all unless it's looking at people walking. we very rarely get incidents where pete -- police are actively on the scene. they had changed. they had come from the back of the squad it to the ground. my instincts told me something was wrong, something was not right. something wasn't right. amy: that was minneapolis 911 dispatcher jena scurry. she had never called a sergeant for a witness like this. another witness called on monday was donald williams, a mixed martial artist, who described seeing derek chauvin using what he called a "blood choke" on george floyd. he was questioned by prosecutor matthew frank. >> as you observed it, what are

you seeing? >> i hear an older guys say it's going to be ok. we are going to get you up and put you in the car. different people were vocalizing their concerns to the officer. george was on the ground, pleading for his life, saying he was sorry, please let me up, things like that. >> can you describe what you saw mr. floyd's condition? >> when i first arrived at the scene, he was talking about his pain and distress he was going through. the more you saw floyd fade

away, slowly fade away. you could see his eyes pale out. >> mr. williams, from that vantage point in exhibit 17, you see that person present? >> he is sitting right there. >> he has identified the defendant. amy: when he called out to derek chauvin that he was using a blood choke, a term from mixed martial arts, derek chauvin looked up at him. it's the only time he looked at me, when i said it was a blood choke. we looked at each other dead in our eyes. he acknowledged, william said. those are excerpts from the opening day for the killing of george floyd. we come back, we speak to nekima leevy-armstrong, the former president of the minneapolis naacp. stay with us.

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♪ ♪ amy: this is democracynow, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. we are looking at the trial of derek chauvin for killing george floyd last may by kneeling on his neck for over nine minutes. 929 to be exact. the trial began monday. we go now to minneapolis where we are joined by a minneapolis-based civil rights attorney and the executive director director of wayfinder foundation. she previously served as

president of the minneapolis naacp and a law professor at the university of st. thomas. her new article for b.e.t. is titled, "a guilty verdict for derek chauvin is the only justice acceptable for george floyd." thank you so much for joining us. you are so often out in the streets, but pain serious attention to the opening arguments. can you respond to both the prosecution and one of the things they did was play the entire 929, nine minutes and 29 seconds of derek chauvin with his knee on the neck of george floyd, then went onto to their opening arguments. your response. >> i thought the prosecution did a great job laying out the scene

of what actually happened that day, as well as showing the bystander video. it was very difficult to watch. i'm sure it had an impact on the jurors, hearing the voice of george floyd, nrly 30 times saying i can't breathe, calling for his mom. i'm glad they had such anmpact in the beginning. i think they laid out their theory of the case. they are going to talk about how the actions of derek chauvin played the most critical role in cutting out the air supply to george floyd and the causing cardiopulmonary arrest. in terms of the defense strategy, was dismayed to see them try to deflect blame to bystanders and to blame george floyd himself by talking about

having fentanyl in his system. the defense alleges he sisted arrest andhat led him dying. juan: what about the stance of the prosecutor, that this trial was about derek chauvin rather than the police force at large. your response to that? >> of course, i'm troubled by that. minneapis police have a long history of engaging in excessive force, even being allowed to murder people with impunity. their reputation is very well known, particularly ang people of color within the city. it is well documented. our city council has settled lawsuits over the years because of the way of the conduct.

they are just as much on trial as derek chauvin. juan: the second witness that was called was working as a cashier at a nearby speedway. whats the portance of her testimony? >> the speedway is across the street. it is not operable anymore. it is become a place for people to gather and pay their respects to george floyd. the significance of her testimony was the fact that she was present, she documented what happened through seven videos. she talked about the cops always messing with people. there is a track record of of

engaging people in a negative way, often for very little reason. juan: could you talk about the role of the police union in minneapolis? it's impact on ese cases? whether it has a double standard in terms of relating to the race of officers involved? >> unfortunately, the police bec organization, typically when police officers have killed people. it a former federation president would go in front of the media and would essentially hale cops's heroes, say their conduct was justified. he would engage in the demonization of victims of police murder. now, he has retired after

community pressure. there is a new leader. it's unclear how they will respond as the trial unfolds. in the early days after george floyd was killed, he went in front of the media tried to justify the conduct of the officers and demonized george floyd, talking about things that were not really relevant to what happened may 25. when a black muslim somali officer killed a woman in july 2017, the union was silent with regard to supporting him. we did not see the press conferences. the justifications for his actions as we have seen in previous cases in which officers were blamed for killing someone. there is a definite double

standard at play. i believe race matters when it comes to how the federation responds. amy: let's go back to jerry blackwell, addressing the jury on monday. >> what was this all about? you're going to learn it was about a counterfeit $20 bill used at a convenience store. that's all. you will not hear any evidence if he knew it was fake or did it on purpose. you will learn from witnesses we will call that the police officers have written him a ticket. you will learn he maybe did them purpose, it was a minor offense, a misdemeanor. amy: this is more of jerry blackwell. >> you're going to hear and see certain evidence of what this was not.

this was not a fatal heart attack. this was not a hrt attack. you will learn that there was no demonstrated injury to mr. floyd's heart. you will also learn george floyd struggled with an opioid addiction. he struggled with it for years. you will learn he did not die of a drug overdose. he did not die from an opioid overdose. we are going to ask you find mr. show vin -- derek chauvin guilty for the excessive force. he put the knee on the neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds without regard for mr. floyd's life. we will ask if you find him guilty of murder in the second degree, murder in the third

degree, second degree manslaughter. thank you. amy: there you have the special prosecutor jerry blackwell making his opening argument. if you can go further into this issue rying to say the george floyd did not die as the result of -- what one of the witness called a blood hold. that is so chilling and striking. he said that derek chauvin looked in his eyes. he acknowledged this bystander when he used that term. the defense trying to argue he had other reasons, the issue of

opioid addiction for him to have died on that night. >> we all know, everyoneho watch that video, were it not for his encounter with rek chauvin, he woulstill be alive today. regardless of what he had in his system. that's what jerry blackwell made clear. his level of tolerance for opioids had increased as a result of struggling with these drs for many years. the blame lies with derek chauvin for using an excessive amount of force in a situation that should not have bee responded to with a 911 call. who calls 911 and does not expect to see five officers on the scene for that situation.

it is pafor the course in terms of minneapolis police. i am glad that williams had happened to be there that day. he has extensive yrs of training as a mixed martial artist. he recognized the derek chauvin was doing a blood choke on george floyd. we saw in the video where as the crowd grew more agitated as they called out to the other cops to stop what they were doing, derek chauvin began to bounce on george floyd's neck. again, before the start of the trial, most people believe that this happened for eight minutes and 36 seconds. we learned yesterday it was even worse than that, nine minutes and 29 seconds.

juan: the new york times reported that derek chauvin was the subject of 22 complaints and internal investigations about his interactions with civilians, one of them led to two letters of reprimand. what do you expect, one situation where an african-american woman said that derek chauvin capped his knee on her body while she was being handcuffed. what do you expect to happen with these prior cases in terms of presentation. also, the efforts by police unions to prevent the records of police officers, their complaints against them from being publly known >> prior to the start of the trl, procutors wanted the

majority of those previous complaints against derek chauvin in his evidence. the incident you referenced in the new york times that happen to a black woman that will be allowed. there might be a few others as well. the jury will take note of his conduct in terms of using excessive force. also, being able to use restraint in certain circumstances. the defense will argue that he learned the technique from his 19 years as a police officer, e thing that will interesting about the trial is the fact that the police chief himself is planning to testify

on behalf of the prosecution, saying the minneapolis police department offers no such training to police officers and that derek chauvin was not acting within the scope of what he learned during his 19 years on the force. amy: we will continue to cover this. there is also the trial of the other officers. they are charged each with aiding and abetting second-degree murder as well as second-degree manslaughter. as covid courtrooms are set up inside, he has plexiglas on three sides of them. when the judge talks to the lawyers, they don't come up for a sidebar. he speaks through a microphone into their ears. it is extremely limited can be in the courtroom. we will continue to cover this

through these weeks. i want to thank you, she previously served as president of the middle atlas naacp. shein is a law professor at the university of saint thomas. we will link to your article at bet. when we come back, we speak to the journalist about how decades of u.s. military intervention in central america is the crisis rather than the migrants on the border. stay with us. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ amy: "at the river" by groove armada in california, 60 migrant

children are being held in the san diego convention center and tested positive for covid-19. is holding over 700 children. the wall street journal is reporting order patrol facilities across the border are so overcrowded that border agents started holding hundreds of refugees under a bridge near maccallum, they sleep on the dirt. border agents a been dropping off hundreds of people at bus stations and hotels. a record number of asylum seekers are arriving, fleeing extreme poverty, violence, and climate change. almost 18,000 migrant children are in u.s. custody. 5800 are in customs and border protection facilities, which are not equipped to care for children.

tomorrow, the white house will be hosting a bipartisan briefing on the border with the homeland security director in attendance. president biden faced questions about how they are handling the growing number of unaccompand kids arriving at the southern border. he said the majority are still being turned away. >> if you take a look at the number of people coming, the vast majory of overwhelming people coming to the border are being sent back. amy: this includes traffic -- graphic depiction of violence. a 36-year-old salvadoran woman

and mother of two who is been living in mexico. for police officers have been charged. her neck had been broken while in custody. video shows one of the officers who arrested her kneeling on her back, pinning her against the pavement as she cries out. she lays on the pavement face down, handcuffed while three other cops looked on before they pick her up and put her in the back of a police car before driveway. this is salazar's mother, rosibel arriaza speaking from el salvador. >> i feel indignation. i feel powerless and angry. i want justice for my daughter. amy: victoria salazar had reportedly lived in mexico since at least 2018, when she was granted refugee status for humanitarian reasons. to look at how decades of u.s.

military intervention in central america has contributed to the ongoing migrant crisis, we are joined in san antonio, texas, by the award-winning salvadoran- american journalist roberto lovato. he is the author of "unforgetting: a memoir of family, migration, gangs, and revolution in the americas," in it which he recounts his own migration from el salvador to the united states. welcome back to democracy now! talk about what we are seeing on the border. that's what you are investigating between texas and mexico, the horrendous story of victoria salazar and what this is emblematic of. >> i am hay to be with you again. i've been talking about some sort of crisis in el salvador and the central american region.

we have been hereefore. there are just different actors and conditions. when you're looking at the murder of victoria salazar at the hands of mexican police, they asphyxiated her, not unlike the way george floyd was asphyxiated, the mother talks about the indignity of the killing of her. you have a symbol along with the cages in texas. you have joe biden making a major change in migration policy, which is going from iron cages to plexiglas cages. they are expecting you to not see them as cages, you have the ongoing epidemic of u.s. policy and the crisis that is not of

migration so much as capitalism backed by the kind of militarized policing you see not just in the united states but mexico, el salvador, honduras. juan: with this latest incident, it must be said to the credit of mexico that the officers were immediately arrested because the video went viral, unlike what happened with george floyd. it took weeks and weeks before there were indictments of the officers. the president did immediately condemn as brutality what he saw in this video. can you talk about this contradiction of a leftist leader and mexico, his

government and his police participating in this crackdown. >> i would credit him very little for his announcement. there have been plenty of other central americans murdered, mothers and children murdered by mexican police and military forces. as a former participant in the war in el salvador, i'm not sure i would apply that. you have to look at the geopolitics behind what's happening right now. in the washington post, negotiation that the biden administration, biden gave the

mexican government 1.5 million doses of coronavirus vaccine and exchange for harder enforcement than what we are already seeing. it doesn't tell us that things are going wrong. there is a big geopolitical game being played. we are kind of put in a position are we going to be like trump or not like trump? it is a deeper history of u.s. policy that is founded on amnesia. as i say in my book, the border is the ultimate memory. we forget 30 years of genocide,

mass murder, u.s. sponsored policing, failed economic policy, backed by the imf and the world bank. we have been here before. the new animal is climate change. that is intensifying things. we are not talking about people as climate refugees, which is what we should be doing. juan: in terms of this issue of climate refugees, could you remind people who tend to forget what happened, the impact of climate change on central america? >> climate science talks about central america as a dry quarter. it is the driest region in the

americas. it is been characterized by massive flooding, the drying of lakes. the people migrating can no longer fish or crop cycles that are destroyed by drought. you have people that lived off the land are going to the cities and not finding work. they are coming north. 54% of the populations in these countries are living in the dry corridor work. el salvador, 90% of the surface water is undrinkable. in honduras, in these absurd news reports, people are migrant

refugees and refugees of failed u.s. economic policies of decades and the militarized policing that backs it up. juan: what is your take so far on the appointments of the biden administration for people to handle central america or latin america policy? >> they are predictable. you can look on my twitter feed. i predicted in january that the biden administration would introduce plexiglas cages. it becomes predictable after the 30 years i have been at this. when i was expecting they would have this empire approach, let's

celebrate a cuban-american is heading up the most militarized bureaucracy in the government. they hunt down and kill migrants and others. , harris is going to push policies that we saw with the bush administration. neoliberal economics, privatization, imf, other policies backed up by militarism. it is still the same formula. what is reallyeeded is some form of reparation. they need to be -- they need an apology. the u.s. needs to acknowledge the failure of its model. it is a mirror to the decadence of foreign and domestic policy structural -- structure.

amy: the killing came two months after 19 people from guatemala were shot to death and burned inside a truck in northern mexico. at least one dozen mexican police were arrested for possible involvement. if you could talk about and it is something new so beautifully in your memoir, now, the questions are being asked of the officials. the biden administration will brief congress. they are trying to say the border is closed. does that mean the u.s. policy toward central america is changing? when you look at what you called decades of u.s.-backed military repression in guatemala where

one had a 50,000 indigenous people were killed. in el salvador, tens of thousands were killed. in honduras, how does the u.s. government change this? >> a nobel prize-winning question, i won't begin to try to answer this enormously complex problem. you have to acknowledge the failure of immigration policy that is informed by the pentagon. the way the border is militarized and immigration policy is militarized. if you look at the views of the pentagon, they've been talking about night -- migration and climate change is national

security threats. when i see the biden administration introduce a man who was involved in normalizing relations with cuba. he was involved in the destabilization of governments in latin america. it is plexiglas cages, we have people of color giving imperial policy. i've been going across mass grave sites and watching forensics experts reconstitute the bones of memory. we need a recognition of the unadulterated failure of u.s. policy. it's designed to do this. the u.s. needs to start solving this. they need to stop interventionist policy and

economics that bring about privatization of water. something like 85% of the crisis in central america is based in ter. amy:

thank you for joining us from our studio in tokyo. this is nhk "newsline." we begin in myanmar where a local human rights group says the military crackdown has resulted in the death of more than 500 people since the february 1st coup. thousands of people have fled to neighboring thailand. protesters in