06/08/21 06/08/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> whave to ick togetr. there areo sacrifed peopl all of our lives come on the bar land, all of our water. amy: over 100 water protector's have been arrtedn northern nnesota hd constctio of the enbdge line tar sds

oil pipine. manyhained tmselves heavy machiner at e constction te. will spk the lendary digenousctivt winona laduke, who has spent years trying to block the pipeline. and as vice president kamala harris leaves guatemala and visits mexico, she tells migrants "don't come to the united states." we will speak amnesty international's erika guevara-rosas about harris' trip to latin america, the deadly elections, and biden's border policies. >> different challenges that people are facing, including those by refugees, migrants seeking asylumthe midterm elections in mexico, and that covid pandemic. amy: there we go to peru were a socialist teacher has taken a narrow lead in sunday's election

over the daughter of peru's prison former dictator. >> the elections, crew has to understand you can't move a country [indiscernible] the pandemic has demonstrated a. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. and in northern minnesota, over 100 water protector's were arsted in e largt acof nday civ disobednce to date aed at haing the enbridgeine 3 piline. ifompletedline 3 wld carry re than 0,000 baels of canadianar sandsil a day through digenousand and frile ecostems -- endanging lake river and wild rice beds. the day of action began when over 1000 water protectors

blockaded a pipeline pump station north of the town of park rapids. many of the activists lock themselves together or to heavy machinery, including bulldozers and diggs. >> i athmother othe chilen. cameown fromoston. i he becsehey need backup. theyeed voic. there is rengtin numbers. all ofhese kidout here, i willay it er and or and ov again, l of theids out here desero futurehat we as parents pmised r kids. anif this ihow have to fulfl that promise, then thi isow i will lfill that promise d notust fomy kidsbut for ery kid sting t there this rld. amy: prosters are callinon pridenbiden shut do the piline. after adlines, wwill get t last from winona laduk.

w data sho atmosphic carbon dioxide levels have reached their highest level in over 4 million years. scientists with the national oceanic and atmospheric administration measured carbon oxide leve averaging 419 parts per million in may -- about 50% higher than pre-industri levels. is comes as amnesty international is blasting the grp of seven world leaders for failing to meet the challenge posed by the climate crisis. amnesty said in a statement -- "the unambitious climate plans submitd by g7 members represent a violation of the human rights of billions of people. these are not administrative failures, they are a devastating, mass-scale assault on human rights." meanwhile, june temperature records continue to fall in many parts of the world. five countries in the middle east have topped 50 degrees celsius this week, or more than 122 degrees fahrenheit.

and much of the u.s. continues to bake in extreme heat, with weekend highs in parts of south dakota and minnesota topping 100 degrees. india has begun easing coronavirus restrictions after daily infections hit a two-month low. india is still reporting about 100,000 cases and 20 deaths from covid-19 each day. uganda has ordered schools, churches, and markets to close and will restrict travel amid a second wave of infections that's disproportionately affecting young people. the world health organization says eight african nations have reported a 30% rise in cases in just one week. only about 2% of people in africa have been vaccinated against covid-19. norway's top coronavirus official has declared an end to the country's covid-19 crisis. more than 22% of people in norway are fully vaccinated.

hospitals are experiencing their lowest level of admissions in a year. here in the united states, daily cases continue to fall even as the pace of vaccinations has slowed to a trickle. the biden administration now appears unlikely to hit its goal of getting at least one vaccine dose to 70% of u.s. adults by the fourth of july. in geneva, world health organization director-general tedros adhanom ghebresus on monday urged g7 leaders to commit immediately to sharing vaccine doses with the rest of the world. >> increasingly, we see a two track pandemic. many country still face an extremely dangerous situation while some of those with the ghest vaccination rates are starting to talk about ending restrictions. amy: propublica has obtained a vast trove of irs data showing how u.s. billionaires pay little in income tax compared to their massive wealth -- sometimes, even nothing.

the data show warren buffet paid a true tax rate of just 0.1% on income of $125 million between 2014 and 2018. over same period, jeff bezos, el musk, and michael bloomberg all paid a true tax rate of less than 3.5% as their collective wealth grew by over $100 billion. propublica says it will use the irs data in the coming mths to detail how the ultrawealthy avoid taxes, exploit loopholes, and escape scrutiny from federal auditors. in canada, police say a 20-year-old man who ran down five pedestrians with his pickup truck in london, ontario, on sunday targeted his victims because they were muslim. all five victims were members of a family that immigrated from pakistan more than a decade ago. among those killed was a teenage girl. the only survivor was a nine-year-old boy who was hospitalized with serious injuries. the suspect fled the scene but

was pulled over and arrested by police a few miles from the crime scene. this is london police chief stephen williams. >> we believe this was an intentional act and that the victims of this horrific incident were targeted. we believe the victims were targeted because of their islamic faith. amy: prosecutors are considering terrorism charges. canadian prime minister justin trudeau said on twitter -- "islamophobia has no place in any of our communities. this hate is insidious and despicable -- and it must stop." vice president, harris has announced plans to work with atemalanovernment to block asylum seekers from heading to the u.s. the efforts include further militarization and a task force reportedly aimed at boosting anti-corruption efforts in guatemala. harassment at the presidential palace with the guatemalan president giammattei from

issuing a jarring warning to asylum seekers, forced to flee central america over poverty, violence and the impacts of the climate crisis. "do not come to the united states." vice pres. harri we will secure our border. there are legal methods by which migration can and should occur. but we as one of our priorities will discourage illegal migration. and i believe if you come to our border, you will be turned by. amy: blocking magnums from requesting asylum in the united states or other countries that offer asylum is a violation of international law. in her remarks, harris also failed to acknowledge how u.s. intervention and foreign policy in guatemala and central america have contributed to the root causes of why people flee in the first place. harris is meeting today with mexican president andrés manuel

lopez obrador in mexico city. the u.s. supreme court monday unanimously ruled that undocumented immigrants who were granted temporary protective status are not eligible to seek permanent residency in the country. as many as 400,000 people from 12 countries, including el salvador, honduras, haiti, and nepal, are protected by tps. immigrant advocates say many of them were previously undocumented. in response to monday's ruling, the national tps alliance said -- done "this emphasizes the fact that congress must act now to guarantee permanent protections and for president biden to expand the tps status to everyone who deserves it." in peru, where the presidential election runoff is still too close to call, leftist candidate pedro castillo has gained a -- widened his lead against right-winger keiko fujimori.

on monday, fujimori, who is the daughter of convicted human rights abuser and former dictator alberto fujimori, without evidence claimed she believed there were signs of fraud and reiterated she will not concede yet. meanwhile, castillo, a former teachers union leader who has overwhelming support from peru's rural communities, asked his followers to remain calm as the last batch of votes are counted. >> the homeland, peru needs its children to rescue her and thanks to everyone of you, thank you for showing solidarity. we have to be respectful of the popular will and i will be the first to enforce the will of the peruvian people. amy: we will go to peru later in the broadcast. the biden administration says it has recovered millions of dollars in cryptocurrency paid by the colonial pipeline company to hackers after a ransomware attack last month. it left them unable to build a

customers, prompting them to shut down fuel ship is across the east coast. the fbi says it seized a bitcoin wallet used by the eastern europe-based hacking group darkside to collect colonial pipeline's payment. the news came after the biden administration suggested it might take military action to stop ransomware attacks. this is commerce secretary gina raimondo, speaking sunday with abc's george stephanopoulos. >> should we be contemplating military action even if these are private, not government entities? >> as i said, all options are on the table. this is a top priority and all of us in the cabinet and national security council are focused on it and considering all possible consequences. this week whenhe president meets with putin and other world leaders, this will be at the talk of with the agenda. -- top of the agenda. amy: one reason attack exposed

hospital patient information. in another attack i'm hackers released a trove of internal documents from the washington, d.c., police department. thousands of websites and smartphone apps went dark around the world for about an hour this morning after a major network failure. the service was quickly restored in most places. the outage was linked to a problem with a cloud service provider. new jersey governor phil murphy said monday he has ordered the edna mahan state women's prison to close over its history of abuse. murphy's surprise announcement came as new jersey officials released a partially-redacted report detailing sexual abuse, exploitation, physical violence, and excessive force against women prisoners by prison guards and civilian staffers. governor murphy said the report's findings left him deeply disturbed and disgusted. the biden administration will defend former president trump against a defamation lawsuit

brought by e jean carroll. in a court filing with the federal appeals court new york, the biden justice department argued monday that trump could not be sued for defamation because trump's accusation denial was done in his official capacity as president. meanwhile, a bipartisan senate investigation has concluded security and intelligence failures led to the january 6 insurrection at the u.s. capitol e 95 page report makes no mention of trump's role in inciting violence. in alabama coal miners have , 1100 entered the second month of their strike against the warrior met coal company. six years ago, the miners accepted a huge pay cut in order to help their company emerge from bankruptcy. now they say warrior met is failing to repay them as it rakes in hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. the workers went on strike april 1 after rejecting a contract proposal they say ofred too little in wages and benefits. last month, 11 of the striking

miners were arrested as they blocked strikebreakers from entering their work site. >> we don't feel like we are breaking the law when this company is trying -- >> i will die from my family. i will do whatever it takes for this union right here. amy: the united mine workers says there have been three separate cases of vehicular assault on picketing workers by persons working for warrr met coal in recent days. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman in new york, joined by my co-host juan gonzález in new brunswick, new jersey. hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: over 100 ter prottors re arresd monday i rthern minneta in th largesact of cil disodience tdate to lt the enbridgeine 3 piline. if completed, the pipeline would

carry more than 750,000 barrels of canadian tar sands oil a day through indigenous land and fragile ecosystems -- endangering lakes, rivers, and wild rice beds. the day of action began when over 1000 water protectors blockaded a pipeline pump station north of the town of park rapids minnesota. protesters are calling on president biden to shut down the pipeline. indigenous activist and lawyer tara houska helped organize the protest. >>e ha to stanogetr. there are sacfices no crificedeople. l of ourivesall ofur landall of o water. t re againe see so of thmost vulrable pele of is place who are on the ont lines. ke, brn, indenous, yng, queer --ll of the people who are tycallynreprented. yet re we are and her are all

our accplices together. amy: tara houska also spoke on a livestream from the construction site for the pipeline, which is already 60% built. >> we love our water protectors. incredible, amazing. they are out on the front lines defending this beautiful, beautiful territory. using their bodies, using the heart, their minds, using their power to stand up for something more step we have treaty rights that were guaranteed for this place. they are in olation of tha they are in direct violation of their own laws and we are not trespassing. this is our land. this is our territory. enbridge is trespassing just like the other companies. amy: many of the activists at the pipeline construction site

locked themselves together or to heavy machinery, including bulldozers and diggers. >> people, united, will never be divided. amy: authorities attempted to disperse the crowd by sending in a low flying customs and border protection helicopter, which repeatedly buzzed the protesters while producing a sandstorm on the ground. we go now to northern minnesota where we are joined by winona laduke, the longtime indigenous leader who has been organizing for years to block the enbridge line 3 pipeline. she lives and works on the white earth reservation in northern minnesota and is the executive director of honor the earth. r latest book is titled "to be a water protector." welcome back to democracy now! can you talk about this action,

explain what the enbridge line 3 is, what the action was yesterday under the banner "treaty people gathering." >> yes, hello. we are here in northern minnesota. first of all, the pipeline is not 60% done. maybe 35% or % done. enbridge is vastly overrating its work. they have 67 rivers to cross, including 22 with a giant drill come the same thing they used in standing rock. they are nowhere near those and they cannot even move on those rivers until july. so they are far from done. aboua week a after aonth ofbecaus of road condition they have co back wi a vengeae. this is iended be a 95000 bael day t sands peline. thlargest theworld and e mostxpsive. now d 9 billn-dollar

project. enidgeas beebringing oil in this cotry for ars. theyre resnsible for5% of the tar sands o that cos to the couny and th want to sh it thugh the lines. -- shove ithrough ese line is arand-n corrir throh r prime tritoryf wild rice, cm beds, r fish, all ofur terriry. we sod and tried ery process to stothis. i me alongith thesother won wate ptectors,e spent sen years ithe relatory procs i kn what weee is joe biden sends in a helicopte to sta herdingur peoe. we he no recrse. weave co to sta and thousasf people he come t join u the peline proct has procded withhehing i the's a urt decion comin out athe end ojune whatnbridge hoping do is get as much of the peline nstructed befe the cot may

ll the pmit. th're tryg to do thegive thdakota aess pipene'get itone and y, hey,t isoo la. thatsot going to happen. we're up here and thank you for looking at what is going on in northern minnesota, but this pipeline is the same one that goes to michigan, goes to where governor witmer has said it is too risky to the 63-year-old pipeline under the straits of mackinac. now's the time for us to look at what this canadian corporation is doing because that company said they are not going to allow the state which issue the permit could not voke the permit. that is what they said. they deny michigan's ability to revoke the permit. so we have a canadian corporation trying to make a buck at the end of the fossil fuel era and run over a bunch of indigenous people, and we are not having it. juan: cld you talk a little bit about the scene yesterday?

what happened, the impact it had come and also how the police and law enforcement debt with the protesters? >> [indiscernible] unusual agreement were canadian muinational has financed any police associated -- less cap, $750,000. interesting idea [indiscernible] there were two actions that occurred yesterday. i think there were 3000 people [indiscernible] amy: we will try to fix the sound with winona laduke who is in northern minnesota now. this is kerry labrador, native

american activist to travel to northern minnesota from boston. on monday she locked her arm to the tire of an enbridge machine at the site and was positioned in the dirt in front of e equient. >> i'm the moer of the childr. i came from ston. i amere becse theneed backup, th need voices there strenh inumbers. all of tseids out her i am ing toay it ov and ove and ovgain, l of t kids ouhere deserve theuturthat as rents pmised rids. and this is how i he to fuill the promise, en ts isow i am ing to ffill th promise. t just f my ks, but for ery kid inhe world amy: ilhan or expresd her pport fo t ptesterlast week, eeting - "psident ben did t right thing when he canceled the keystone xl pipeline early on in his term.

now he must do the right thing and cancel line 3. i renew my calls to end this destructive, unnecessary giveaway to big oil." the new line 3 route will cut across northern minnesota. so talk about what congress can do, talk about what president biden can do. one of his big acts was immediately to canceled the keystone xl, but dapl in north dakota and line 3, he did not cancel. winona? we are going to gotta break -- >> yes. amy: go ahead. winona, go ahead. ok, we're going to go to a break

and then come back to winona laduke, longtime indigenous leader who has been organizing for years to block the enbridge line 3 pipeline. she lives and works on the white earth reservation. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: we are talking to the indigenous leader winona laduke who is at the action protesting, calling for the shutdown of the enbridge line 3 pipeline in

northern minnesota. she works and lives on the white earth reservation and is executive director of honor the earth. her latest book "to be a water , protector." we saw the plane, helicopter, the cbp border patrol helicopter. to you explain what this was, this border patrol helicopter in the same for me created and where people are coming from? close people from came cash >> people came from across the country. church groups, labor activists. they came to the enbridge pumping station. just to reiterate, and bridges only about 35% on but they have entrenched this pumping station, which enbridge uses a huge amount of energy to move this oil. i walked in and there was all kinds of people come on of eqpment. when i left to go to the second

gathering of another couple dozen people closing down the line at that mississippi, shortly after's when they came in with the helicopter and kicked of the sandstorm so everyone would get beat up by sand. i wa to put outthat is the feral agen, not a ate cy. most of e cops he been financ by enbrge but tt was nancedy biden. we are ccerned the deptment homelansecurityould com in andasically aault indigenous people on her own meland. juan: winona,he deparent of meland secury -- i wto asyou in tmsf t abili of oer peoplwithin t adnistrati thave an pact the presint, ecifical thinteriorecretaryeb aland, theirstative american ipresidenal cabet do you have pes she y be ab to persde t preside to te a toher stand on this

issue? >> yes. we will hope that deb haaland will protect with first nations indigenous people. t it is her agcies, the army cor of engeers issued these permits to enbridge. we areooking at 63million llons of water going to enbrge in thmiddlef a drght. were looki at the my corps of enginrs issuethe perts anthe fedel govnment di not don envinmtal pact atement thisroje beuse the ump admistration apoved thiproject. whate want ian impact statemt othis pject cause guanteed, ing the data that iknown, ts wod not ss a climateest. thisould notass a war ality te and wou not prect the trustesponsibity with iigenous pple, will n spect our treati. juan: youentioned a crt case at will deced at thend the mth. what crt is th and whais the substance of what the court is deciding? >> the tribes and individuals

and environmental organizations and the department of commerce led suit in sta court, ate apals cou saying th there perms- issu certifite o neednd eironmentpartment -- ofhe orturned. the statetself isuing to erturnhe permi bausell of trojectnsere ought to the ste ancies enbrge. u're usingasicallyhe deer to te you howuch you ne, and th is a little questiable. in addion, t i hav-- e, a kef an envonmental pact stament. at is t decisn that wl be athe endf ju. enbridge has broht innother 4000 wkers and basicly try to run over nortrninnesota and thnative peoe with a thr securi forceand all their eqpment an nowe expe the lwrap andwrap

ming for. -- cominfor us. thsecondourt heangs are in gust. have fid alread in feral court sayingt was idequate. we are chaenging t army rps of eineers theyhould nohave iued th permits. i one of t people that- of a cemonial lod that i uld pu up -- cbridge ilooking tooll over ose of us who h ceremoes for tusands o years. what you havis a polical and human rhts and envonment o crisis we havtried to get the admistrationo addresthis beuse thenvirmental injuste and beuse of t ctou d't need0 new al-firedower plas when t ant vacant. w're petition ery fedel agcy and sfar we he had no response. iteems j biden wts to se how much does a buh ofndian

and der peop are goi to gehurt. that i wro we shou get hu. am your otest cos at e sameime data showstmospher carbonioxide lels have reached eir hight level ov 4 milli years. this is froscientis atoaa. we are talki about 4 parts per milln in mayabout 50 hier than eindusial lels. ase begito wrap up, canou talkbout how thirotestits in that lger issue of the climate catastrophe, and even the g7 meeting and the grassroots groups around the world criticizing, slamming the g7 for not taking more action in this climate crisis? >> this pipeline is an ecological crisis.

that is a fact. 915,000 barrels of oil -- i don't know what 50 new coal power -- [indiscernible] we need biden and trudeau to stop being responsible leaders and stop this pipeline. it turns out you don't need the dirtiest oil and in the world running through 1/5 of the world's water and this is the time to stop that. amy: what are the next plans for the protest of thousands now in northern minnesota? >> this is just the beginning. we had about 250 people charged and arrested when it w-10 degrs out. it was actually 95 degrees i ne in minsota, whh is not acceptab sto it isot someinge are us to at a.

we' expectiorpeopleill coming northerminnesot as enbridgramps . have 22 rivers cross a evybody s a canoandayak d millio of peop. what this pipine. don't wa this pipeline. expect in increase. amy: winona laduke, lives and works on the white earth reservation in northern minnesota and is the executive director of honor the earth. her latest book "to be a water , protector." this is democracy now, democracynow.org. in her first foreign trip as vice president, kamala harris is in mexico ty today to meet with president andrés manuel lópez obrador after first visiting guatemala monday. harris has been tasked by president biden to block

american migrants fleeing corruption, violence and poverty, even after the two campaigned on allowing more migrants to apply for asylum at -- asylum. harris is the daughter of an indian mother and jamaican father who both immigrated to the united states. during a press conference alongside guatemalan president giammattei, she issue this morning. ms. harris: i want to be clear to folks in this region were thinking about making a dangerous trek to the united states-mexico border, do not come. do not come. amy: in her remarks, vice president harris failed to acknowledge how u.s. intervention and foreign policy in central america have contributed to the root causes of why people flee under the first place. her visit to mexico today comes after voters cast their ballots sunday in one of the country's largest midterm elections in

history with about 21,000 local and national seats up for grabs. final results are expected next week in what could be a referendum on president lópez obrador's government. luminary results show his political party, morena, and allies won over half of the 500 seats in mexico's lower house but failed to secure a supermajority. this election is also being described as one of mexico's deadliest after human remains were found sunday in at least two voting booths in the northern mexican state of baja, california. over 80 politicians, including 35 candidates, were killed in the run-up to sunday's election, which took place as the country continues to battle the covid pandemic and has the world's highest patel of the rates. this is a voter. >> these are the measures i'm taking. i am wearing my face mask.

it is better to be prepared. amy: for more on all of this, we go to mexico city to speak with human rights lawyer erika guevara-rosas, who is the americas director for amnesty international. welcome back to democracy now! the story right now in mexico is devastating. nearly 100 politicians, at least 35 candidates who rein in this election, were murdered in -- o ran in the selection were murdered in the elad up? >> and political violence, violence is affecng the majority of the states and new mexico, the violence perpetrated by the organized [indiscernible] committing human rights violations all over the country. these political processes have

been one of the most violent. it has been the most violent because out of the 35 ndidates who have been killed over the electoral campaign, 21 were women. we have seen hundreds of reports of different types of attacks and violence against candidates and against politicians during the 200 days of electoral campaign. unfortunately, we are seeing also president lópez obrador denying it. every time he has been asked about the political violence, he just mentions that p mico is ineace -- mexico is in peace. he also says it is storical because it is the person democracy is happening in the country while we are seeing all of this type of violence across the country.

juan: could you talk about of this violence, is there any indication where it is coming from? is it particular groupings thing targeted or is it just a random state of the nation problem? >> the vast majority of the candidates who were killed and the vast majority of the attacks are against candidates of opposition parties. the ones who been targeted by this violence in different parts of the country. but it is also true those that have been attacked are in locations where the organized crime has increased its influence over the last v years and also -- if you years and where human rights violations is more because [indiscernible] it is difficult as they were the

violence is coming from. but the reality is it is reflective of the human rights crisis that mexico has been pacing for many years. juan: vice president kamala harris is scheduled to mt today with president lópez obrador. can you talk about the significance of her coming immediately after these elections in the trip to mexico and also what you would hope that i vice psidentould tell the president of mexico at this point? >> amnesty international sent a leer to vi president kamala harris we learned about the trip to guatemala and mexico. we raise a lot of concerns about the human rights situation in both countries and we raised our concerns about the bilateral relationship betweenhe u.s. and these two countries, particularly because over the

last few years, we have seen an increase in the level of support that these countries are getting to increase the power of this acuity forces, particularly to prevent migration. we are hoping vice president campbell harris will have cash, here's will havan open conversation with oh president lópez obrador, affecting the to seek asylum. we also need to acknowledge many mexicans are seeking asylum on the website, precisely because of the human rights situation the country is facing. unfortunately, we have seen the results by vice president harris in guatemala and it is very contradicting message of telling people not to come and not to seek asylum when the reality is, these are human rights. it is a human right for people to seek asylum that is been violated

precisely because of the cruel and inhumane political policies of the trump administration that we are seeing continuing by the admin -- biden administration. using an unlawful way these titles. so we hope the conversation is going to lead and an understanding of the need to come up with different methods, policies to not only support people that are seeking asylum, but to provi protectn to those people that are seeking asylum at the border. amy: erika, when harris issued this during morning "do not come," to immigrants fleeing poverty, flaying that climate crisis, flaying violence, but not acknowledging the u.s. role in this over the decades, what has led to this crisis, part of the efforts that are being

worked out with the guatemalan government -- and i presume with the mexican government, the presidents -- are further militarized the border. can you talk about what that means? >> that means they're going to create -- you just mentioned these people are being forced to leave their homes. they have enforced to leave their countries precisely because of the massive violations of human rights happening at all levels is not only inequality but theiolence and lack of protection there facing from the government, particularly in central america and mexico. so these people are seeking asylum because it is their right and governments are obliged by the internatiol and domestic law to let people seek asylum, protect those people who are seeking international protection. what we are seeing over the last few years is an increasing devastation.

people that are seeking asylum, people that need international protection are being treated and seem to the lens of security. and that means is people are being confronted at risk -- you know, be confronted by organized crime and their being pushed to very risky situations and some of the more dangerous parts of the border or their being confrontedy the authorities who are meeting human rights violations against them committing extortion or in very exeme cases, these people have been killed as well by security forces inclusion with organized crime. juan: one of the hallmarks supposedly a president biden's different approach to the refugee and migration crisis was that he was going to embark on a sort of marshall plan type

effort to boost the economic life in a central america to induce migrants or those who are seeking to stay in the country. what is amnesty's assessment of how u.s.oreign aid has been used in regions like, especially central america or mexico -- there was "new york times" report recently about how the book of that money that is apportioned out for foreign aid basically goes to u.s. contractors who take up the bulk of the money rather than -- many does not make its way down to the folks who need it. >> historically we have seen how the humanitarian aid are the assistance has been provided by the united states has been utilizing [indiscernible] you seen -- you see the

consequences, the assistance the u.s. government has been providing security forces. we are seeing the same situation in central america and mexico. the vast majority of the resources are not going directly to the people. in spite of this narrativef more efforts to improve the economic situation so that people can stay in the countries, the reality i we are seeing the contrary. people experience massive human rights violations that have been fed by impunity, corruption, by the climate crisis, and the lack of resources from the government. we are seeing proceeds in guatemala a backlash against efforts to address the impunity and corruption by government that vice president harris met yesterday.

unfortunately, there is no hope that only the financial assistance the u.s. is going to be providing to these countries is going to address the root causes of why people are forced to leave their countries and take all of these risks to seek asylum. amy: before we go, we want to ask you about the situation of covid. in a moment, we will go down to peru. peru and mexico have some of the highest per capita death rates from covid in the world. it might surprise some to know and love, the mexican president, took more of the approach of someone like the far-right president of brazil jair bolsonaro does she would wear amulets, hold mass rallies. now we have news that one million johnson & johnn covid-19 vaccines are headed to mexico from the united states

with most of the shots set to service resort areas and spots along the border. can he talk about how mexico and peru have dealt with covid? >> latin america continues to struggle with covid-19. we have seen any effort to try to minimize covid has been insufficient even countries like chile where the vaccines have improved in the past few weeks. also increased number of cases. latin america continues to be the center of the pandemic with only 8% of the population -- we have between 32 and 35 of the total debts around the world. the number of people who have died because of the virus. just recently a few days ago, peruvian government acknowledged the numbers they were presented were way lower than the re numbers. we are talking about more than

180,000 people who have died because of the virus in peru when the numbers reported a few weeks ago were around 70,000. in mexico, similar situation with the government acknowledged many times the numbers they are presenting are lower than reality because of the lack of testing the lack of capacity to really track all the cases. the way the pandemic has been affecting this countries is flected in the lack of response these countries have been facing in terms of ensuring access to health care for the populations. we are seeing now [indiscernible] people seem to be trapped between effective response from the government, the fact does countries according doses avaible, but also the impunity

and corruption that continues to shadow the efforts of government to fully address the consequences of the pandemic -- not only in terms of the number of cases but how the pandemic has beenxacerbated, the inequalities in economic situation for blades of people across the continent. amy: erika guevara-rosas, thank you so much for being with us, human rights lawyer, americas director for amnesty international, joining us from mexico city. when we come back from bak, go to peru where socialist teacher has taken a narrow lead in sunday's election over the daughter of peru's imprisoned former dictator. her name is keiko fujimori. his name, alberto fujimori. we will be back in a moment. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we end today's show in peru, where the socialist candidate has pulled ahead of his right-wing rival in the country's presidential election that took place sunday.

castille is the son of peasant farmers. he is is a schoolteacher and union leader who led a nationwide teachers strike in 2017 and has pledged to reform peru's constitution and mining laws. fujimori,is the daughter of ex-president alberto fujimori -- who is in prison for human rights abuses and corruption.@@ on monday, she claimed without proof that castillo's party, free peru, stole votes, and said she will not concede yet. all of this comes after peruvian lawmakers ousted former president martín vizcarra in november in what some called a legislative coup. meanwhile, the latest data from johns hopkins university shows peru is tied with mexico for the world highest covid-19 case fatality rate. for more we go to lima, peru, where we are joined by political scientist carlos león moya, who has been closely following this election. welcome to democracy now! why don't you lay out the state of the election results as we know them so far the socialist

candidate castillo nearly ahead. >> hi, amy. what you said yesterday, keiko fujimori claimed was an admission of -- castillo has 87,000 votes lower than keiko fujimori, especially from the rural highlands. keiko fujimori was expectingo win with the diaspora votes. the difference is very big to remained account. keiko fujimori claimed fraud. what you have right now is the overwhelming help from the private media to keiko fujimori.

very biased for her. against pedro castillo. we have one more week of uncertainty, but i also think the distance that castillo let against fujimori is difficult to reverse. juan: i want to ask you in terms of -- could you talk a little bit about the crisis that has been engulfing peru for quite some time? back in november, the lawmakers ousted the former president martín vizcarra and what led to his ieachment and there were several other leaders in between heads of state. how has this had any impact even presents on voter turnout in this election? >> yes, i mean, you have most of

peruvian political elite charged by corruption. keiko fujimori was imprisoned herself years ago for a corruption case. not only her father in prison, she was also in prison for a year and a half. the former president of peru killed himself when he was about to be taken a prison. it does not distinguish from left to right leaning. you have the former mayor of lima also going to jail. the covid crisis, some of them because of their age, were taken out of jail and sent home. first, you already have any peru a very public rejection of the powerful political elite and now it is bigger because most of them went to jail. when they went to jail, martín vizcarra was president.

my team vizcarra was in charge --vizcarra was in charge until last year. the political elite were imprisoned. martín vizcarra wasn't different from them. but then the groups and charges started to be near vizcarra. i don't know if he was innocent or not, but he was investigated for charges. there was also allegedly a coup in november 2020 that ousted martín vizcarra. very unusual because usually we have protests in peru, they are on the highlands or union brothers like the one castillo lead in 2017. but there was a huge presence in lima, which is the capital, which is pretty right-leaning. they were very successful. they ousted moreno.

after that, it just went down. it did not bring a renovation of the political class. demonstrations were done when the elections were already taking part. you have already inscribed the political presidential candidate, the candidate the governor. so you do not change much of the political elite or the political candidates going through this election. so it was a very sudden protests and successful protest, but you have to know -- in november, election is another story. how to make the connection between the two of them. one of the things we talk in peru is the november protest, how hopeful we were that peru will change its course and now

you see what has happened. what happened in april in the first round was most of the candidates have 50% or 10% and have like six or seven candidates that have 10% of the votes. political class and broken pieces. you have the left and the far right. you have fujimori, which is right-leaning, but no far-right candidate with -- called himself the peruvian trunk, peruvian also narrow and -- bolsonaro and almost got into the second round. amy: we have 10 seconds. you will find out within this week, you believe, who exactly one, if castillo maintains his lead.

>> yes. amy: carlos león moya, thank you for being with us, political scientist speaking to us from lima, peru. that does it for our show. tomorrow we will look at a new

♪ hello there and welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in new york. health care products, computer chips, car parts. the pandemic has starved american companies of the materials they need. but now officials in the biden administration have laid out a plan to eliminate the bottlenecks and fight unfair trade practices. white house officials want to reduce dependence on competitors