03/25/22 03/25/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! pres. biden: we are also announcing new sanctions of more than 400 individuals and entities aligned -- within alignment of the european union. more than 300 members of the oligarchs and russian defense companies that fueled the russian war machine. amy: president biden announces new sanctions on russia

as nato, emergency counsel. we will speak to former greek former minister yanis varoufakis. he is calling on biden to hold direct talks with vladimir putin to end the war in ukraine. then we will talk to william hartung of the quincy institute who says washington should think twice before launching a new cold war. >> use the ukraine crisis, w are already spending $100 billion more per year than we spent at the height of the cold war. amy: plus, we will speak to the colombian environmental activist francia marquez mina, the new running mate of presidential frontrunner gustavo petro. she is attempting to become colombia's first black female vice-president. >> today, we need to put forward

the people who have never had a voice to step into the state so we can write our own history, to make it ssible to live with dignity, justice, equity, would enable each and every one of us to turn the page of violence of the conflict and pursue agenda of social justice. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president biden has warned russia against using chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons in ukraine. speaking from brussels, biden was asked what the u.s. would do it blender put in order to his forces to have weapons of mass destruction. pres. biden: we would respond. the nature of the despond -- response would depend on the nature of these. amy: bidens had u.s. will extend actions on russia, targeting members of the russian or limit

and weapons contractors. president biden travels to poland to be with u.s. troops along nato's eastern flank deer the border with ukraine. in the latest news from the battlefield, russia is claiming it has just try military fuel depot outside ukraine's capital kyiv. meanwhile, officials in the besieged ukrainian city of mariupol say they fear 300 people died in the attack last week that was a russian airstrike on a theater housing civilians sheltering from russia's assault. ukraine's president blood of her zelensky on thursday accused russia of using white phosphorus munitions during the assault. video released by the british channel corroborates showing streaks of bright light falling ov the area this week. white phosphorus ignites with oxygen running at high temperatures and easily absorbed through the skin and can melt through flesh. russia previously used white phosphorus in attacks on

chechnya. it is often called whiskey pete by the u.s. military which uses the substance in other countries. in 2004, u.s. marines used white phosphorus as an offensive weapon. it violates international laws on chemical weapons. president biden said thursday the united states is ready to welcome up to 100,000 ukrainian refugees. over 3.6 million ukrainians have fled since russia's invasion began one month ago. meanwhile, advocates continue to denounce the biden administration's mass deportations of haitian asylum seekers. human rights watch is urging the u.s. government to halt the removals, warning haitians are being sent back to a humanitarian crisis, alarming levels of gang violence, and political instability. in related news, the biden administration has announced it will expedite asylum processing at the u.s.-mexico border. the move will allow immigration agents at border ports of entry to conduct so-called credible

fear screenings of asylum seekers. if they pass, asylum seekers would not be subjected to immediate removal from the u.s. however, immigrant justice advocates warn the new policy could lead to unfair asylum decisions and more speedy deportations. ethiopia has declared a unilateral humanitarian truce in order to ease the movement of aid in the conflict-torn tigray region, where the government had previously been hampering access. the u.n. says hundreds of thousands are living in famine-like conditions in tigray. all parties in the nearly year-and-a-half long conflict, including eritrean forces, have been accused of human rights abuses including torture, rape, and indiscriminate killings. thousands have been killed and millions displaced. north korea confirmed it tested its largest intercontinental ballistic missile this week as kim jong-un said he was preparing for a lo-standing confrontation with t u.s. north korean state media released a video featuring kim walking in slow motionn front of the missile before approving its launch. south korea responded by immediately conducting live-re tests of ballistic and tactical

missiles. the white house says it will work with the european union to reduce europe's reliance on russian fossil fuels by replacing them with shipments of liquified natural gas from the united states. president biden announced the deal earlier today after meeting with top european officials in brussels. pres. biden: today, we have agreed on a joint game plan toward that goal for while accelerating toward clearing energy future. amy: biden said the u.s. would work to supply 15 billion cubic meters of liquified gas to europe through the end of this year. his announcement came after canadian officialslso prised to increase oil and gas exports to europe. this week u.n. secretary general said it was madness. in australia, climate activists blockaded rail lines leading to sydney's major port for a fourth day in a row in a nonviolent direct action campaign aimed at halting fossil fuel exports.

emma dorge, an activist with blockade australia, live-streamed as she tied herself to a bipod structure over a freight rail line leading to the port. >> i am taking this action because there is not much other choice but to collectively use our power and our bodies -- amy: the continued protests come after the government of new south wales said on thursday it would increase penalties against the nonviolent protesters, who now face fines of over $20,000 and up to two years in jail. back in the united states, senate minority leader mitch mcconnell said thursday he will oppose the confirmation of judge ketanji brown jackson to the supreme court. >> nothing we saw this week convinced me either president biden or judge jackson deeply invested far left ankle -- i will vote against this nominee

on the senate floor. amy: democrats hope to confirm judge jackson by april 8, when lawmakers are scheduled to take a two-week break. the senate can confirm jackson without any republican support if all 50 democrats vote in her favor. more damning details have emerged about ginni thomas's efforts to overturn donald trump's 2020 election loss. in the weeks following the election, the wife of supreme court justice clarence thomas sent a flurry of text messages to trump's chief-of-staff mark meadow urging him to take action to prevent a biden victory. the messages included a conspiracy theory about a stolen election popularized by the far-right qanon movement. on november 10, after news outlets declared joe biden the winner, thomas wrote to meadows -- "help this great president stand firm, mark! you are the leader, with him, who is standing for america's constitutional governance at the precipice. the majority knows biden and the left is attempting the greatest heist of our history." last january, the supreme court

denied a trump request to block the release of white house documents around january 6. only one supreme court justice dissented in the 8-1 ruling -- clarence thomas. in related news, the supreme court has declined to give any updates on the condition of justice thomas, who was hospitalized last friday with an unspecified infection. thomas is 73 years old, the longest serving justice on the supreme court. in texas, attorney general ken paxton is accusing the austin independent school district of breaking state law for celebrating lgbtq+ pride this week. in a letter, paxton argued the district's 8th anal pride events were considered sex ucation that require consent from paren. several district administrators have reportedly received death threats and had their personal information posted online. in related news, the superintendent of texas' granbury independent school district has demanded a group of librarians remove books on sexuality and gender identity. an investigation by nbc news, propublica, and the texas tribune revealed leaked audio of

jeremy glenn's meeting with district librarians in early january. >> i am not saying that we are going to be pulling all of our books out or burning books or anything like that, absolutely not. i think there is a place for every book, just may not be in a public school library. we're not going have 14-year-old girls pick up a book and learn about sex. amy: the arizona state house has passed two anti-transgender bills. the legislation would prohibit medically-cessary, gender-affirming surgery for trans youth and ban trans athletes from participating in school sports. arizona lawmakers also approved an aggressive anti-abortion bill that would ban the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy. the bill now heads to the desk of republican governor doug ducey, who supports anti-abortion policies. in more arizona news, the state senate on wednesday passed a republican-led bill that would force arizona residents to retroactively provide proof of citizenship to remain registered voters. voting rights advocates have

warned the bill could trigger "the most extreme voter purge in the country" and say black, latinx, native, low-income, and senior voters would be disproportionately impacted. in minneapolis, unions representing public school teachers have agreed to a tentative contract that could end their strike, which began on march 8. the deal would reportedly boost pay for education support professionals, bring new protections to teachers of color, limit class sizes, and would increase funding for mental health. if the contract is ratified this weekend, some 29,000 students could return to minneapolis classrooms on monday. washington state governor jay inslee has signed three gun control bills into law. one measure bans firearm magazines that hold more than 10 rounds. a second restricts untraceable "ghost guns," while a third law limits firearms at government meetings and election spaces. meanwhile, in washington, d.c., survivors of the 2018 mass shooting in parkland, florida, rallied outside the u.s. capitol thursday demanding federal action on gun control.

activists placed hundreds of body bags on the national mall to represent the 170,000 people across the united states who have died by gun violence since the massacre at marjory stoneman douglas high school on valentine's day 2018. this is parkland survivor and march for our lives co-founder jaclyn corin. >> the reality is is that if we had gun safety legislation in florida at the time come on a national level at that time, the shooter at my school would have never had access to that ar-15 and all of those following events would never have happened. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. when we come back, we will speak about russia's invasion of ukraine with former greek finance minister yanis varoufakis, calling on the biden administration to hold direct talks with putin end to end

russia's war. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "war" by edwin starr, dedicated to longtime stalwart democracy now! volunteer chuck scurich. his last day with as is today. his tireless support and his years of working with democracy now! demonstrated his deep commitment to independent media. chuck, you will be missed and forever a part of our dna. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the european union has signed a new deal to import more liquified natural gas from the united states in the latest move by nato allies to further isolate russia following its invasion of ukraine. the deal was announced a day after president biden took part in emergency meetings of nato, the g7, and the european council. during a press conference in brussels, biden announced new sanctions against russia. pres. biden: we are also announcing new sanctions of more than 400 individuals and entities within alignment of the

european union. more than 300 members of the oligarchs, russian defense compans that fuel the russian war machine. amy: president biden is in poland today where he is scheduled to meet with u.s. troops as well as with ukrainian refugees. according to the united nations, more than 3.6 million ukrainians have fled the country since the russian invasion began a month ago. on thursday, president biden announced the united states would accept up to 100,000 ukrainian refugees. russia is claiming it has destroyed a military fuel depot outside ukraine, one of ukraine's largest. meanwhile, local officials and the besieged city of mariupol say they fear 300 people died last week in what they say was a russian airstrike on a theater which was being used as a shelter outside the words "child" were on either side of the building facing upward. the words were written in

russian. this comes as the ukrainian government is asking the united states to start providing 500 javelin and 500 stinger missiles a day to help ukrainian forces fight the russian invasion. we begin today's show with yanis varoufakis, member of the greek parliament and former finance minister of greece. founder of the progressive international with senator bernie sanders. he is joing us from athens. it is great to have you with this. thank you for joining us. if you can respond to this triple summit in brussels yesterday, the increased sanctions and overall what this war means? >> it is an unprecedented show of unity within the west, but what is lacking are two things, amy, if i may say. firstly, the fact that the rest of the world is not showing complete alignment with the west

is an understatement. even of the majority of countries in the united nations voted against russia, if you look at the countries that did not, they contain more than half of the population of the world, including not just china, but also india and many other countries. the second thing that is missing from this show of strength -- impressive sanctions have been agreed against putin and his henchmen -- is a game plan. exactly what is president biden aiming for? yes, it is important for him and for his government, his administration to show support for the ukrainians, to provide missiles, provide economic sanctions putin for putin -- which we know are not going to debilitate the putin regime. but what exactly is the aim? is it regime change in russia? well, whenever the united states

tried regime change, it did not turn out well. it has never been tried with a nuclear power. it is like playing with fire or nuclear fire. allow me to say this, the famed philosopher and military strategist from china once said if you are faced with a formidable enemy whose total defeat is going to kill many or most of your people as well, what you should do was to build a golden bridge behind your enemy from which your enemy can escape. give him an opportunity to withdrawal while a claiming he has achieved something. biden, by proclaiming that putin is a war criminal -- i have no doubt that he is a very nasty individual. i called him a war criminal 20 years ago over his massacre of chechnya and's -- chechens in

ghazni a. what is united states doing? what is he aiming at? if he is not leaving any room for a compromise, then he is effectively jeopardizing the danger of ukrainians. a quagmire in afghanistan and ukraine is not exactly in the interest of any ukrainian i know . amy: so if you could talk about specifically what is being targeted and this commitment to end the reliance on russian energy that is so difficult for europe right now -- i mean, it seems like at this moment, this is the moment that so many green activists like yourself have felt could be a shift toward renewables, that instead it looks like how can other countries like the united states and canada fill in the fossil fuel emergency that is taking

place right now? but what this means for russia, what ts means for the rest of the world? >> i think the west is completely major political and environmental damage itself, whereas mr. putin, being a cynical agent that he is, kgb strategist let's not forget, i have no doubt he was planning for all of this post up in the end, we're going to damage the planet and the west. putin doesn't really care much about russians. he cares about himself. and i can see a game plan here on behalf of vladimir putin. let's not forget that as we speak, around $600 million, $700 million is being sent to mr. putin for the oil and gas he is selling the west. the plan that he mentioned, transporting liquefied natural gas from texas and qatar to

europe, that concerns which are, not this winter. are we going to sacrifice ukrainians until next winter? that is the question. and also, as we speak, russia has found ways of bypassing the sanctions. we know that they are dealing with counterparties in china and india. a lot of dollar payments are being made to the putin regime through these intermediaries. i would very much have preferred for us to be discussing -- you and me now, but the whole world -- discussing president biden's proposals for a resolution that would mean an immediate cease-fire and immediate withdrawal from ukraine in exchange for some kind of deal that putin can sell to his own henchmen as something of a viory. because of that, biden this

doubling down and speaking in language which is consistent with regime change, which would be catastrophic for the people of ukraine. amy: explain this further. you are saying biden should be sitting down with putin, that biden represents the unit states, the wod's largest superpower, and could lead to a cease-fire. what isn't he doing? >> that. look, i wish as european and internationalist, i wish the opinion existed in substance so that the president of the european union would be sitting down with putin, but we don't have that. so biden is still the representative of nato of the west at the moment. i'm not going to pass judgment on the gentleman. he is, however, the only one who can say down with putin. they can talk on the phone before they sit down. therefore ministers would have toome to the exchanges. at the idea must be simple -- putin must be given a golden

bridge from which escape his conundrum. he must be given something he can sell to his people as mission accomplished. the only thing is democrats and internationals, we should be able to tolerate, is -- this is a tiny, tiny nonexistent price to pay for ending the war, having russian troops evacuate ukraine, some kind of arrangement to be established for the donbas area. we could kick into the long grass the question of crimea, something to be discussed in 10 years or so in order to stop the killing stop the toxicity which is spreading from ukraine across europe, the united states -- i have been hearing senators in the united states, members of parliament, various countries calling for nato to intervene because we know what it would mean. it would mean a nuclear threat is going to reach levels we have not seen since the cuban missile

crcrisis. we should be moving toward a rational solution that will leave everyone dissatisfied. the ukrainians, russians, me, you, biden, putin, but which will end the killing and lead to an independent democratic ukraine. amy: you right in a recent article headlined "why stop at the russian oligarchs?" -- "perhaps the only silver lining in the ukrainian tragedy is that it has created an opportunity to scrutinize oligarchs not only with russian passports but also their american, saudi, chinese, indian, nigerian, and, yes, greek counterparts. an excellent place to start would be with the london mansions that transparency international tells us sit empty. how about turning them over to refugees from ukraine and yemen?" talk more about this. >> well, many, many years now, we have all known to the panama papers, through a variety of

leaks, that the oligarchs of this planet -- russians, saudis, americans, greeks -- they have been absolutely abusing our societies, our states, our tax systems. yes, the russians are pretty ugly in what they're doing. they have plundered in a very short space of time the mineral resources of the industries of russia after the collapse of the soviet union, and they have football teams and so on. it is a wonderful opportunity -- the fact ukraine is concentrated our minds on with the russian oligarchs are doing -- to contemplate moving beyond them. russian oligarchs, it has been estimated, have taken $200 billion out of russia, looted money, plundered money. but the american oligarchs have taken 1000 $200 billion out of

that jurisdiction of the united states of america, hiding it from the irs. they are not much nicer people than the russian oligarchs, have to say. they have not protested the massacres of yemenis in saudi arabia. they have not protested the killing of journalists like khashoggi or -- they have not lifted their little finger to help us fund the transition. why should we not extend our newly found sympathy toward oligarchs have been defrauding and plundering our countries? why not extend it to people beyond russia? amy: let me ask you about some criticism that has been leveled against your position right now. i want to ask your response to a piece that was in the new republic titled "'neutrality

won't protect ukraine." the authors mention you writing -- "an increasing number of international commentators are also arguing neutrality might be a reasonable way to end the bloodshed quickly, by offering putin a face-saving 'off-ramp' for the invasion. ostensibly progressive voices like former greek minister of finance yanis varoufakis have called for the 'finlandization' of ukraine, referring to finland's quasi-forced neutrality during the cold war. the russians have suggested austria, which was formally neutral but maintained trade relations with both the united states and the soviet union, as a model for ukraine." can you respond to what they're saying? also right now finland is talking about possibly joining nato. >> let's take finland, shall we? finland is at war with the russians come the soviets. the result was neutrality. it was an agreement between washington on the one hand and moscow on the other that moscow

would not your fear with finland, would not invade, would take its troops out and finland would be allowed to live an independent, western, democratic lifestyle as long as it does not join nato d it does not host american or european armies. the result was a wonderful state. a country -- in every ranking, outranks your country, the united states, my country, greece, when it comes to education, to democracy, to technological innovation remember, nokia the great companies that came out of finland. finland is a success story. neutrality allowed finland to have democracy, independence, and success and shared prosperity, similarly with switzerland and austria. it is a well tested model. the reason that ukraine has not had the same opportunities so far, because some people would say they gave up their nuclear

weapons and not in nato, therefore they were neutral. nevertheless, they suffered incursions and how this invasion by mr. putin. well, it was not the same. what ukraine lacks is a summit, a summit between the american president and the russian president. a summit involving the government of the united states and the government of russia. this is what finland had, what austria had. the two blocs represented by president of the soviet union and the american -- or a series of american presidents agreed, shook hands, that finland, sweden, austria would be left alone and the conditions of neutrality -- to be part of the west without being part of nato. now a similar arrangement, i'm in a my view, has a very good chance of grabbing t

ukrainians the space come the independence of the democracy they need. i cannot predict the future, the critics who are, as you said, chastising me for adopting and promoting the ntrality solution, can they tell me what the alternative is? the only alternative they can come up with is regime change in moscow. well, this would take 10 years, five years, eight years. what do we do with ukrainians who are dying until then? this is my question, are you prepared to sacrifice their lives and their fantastic chance of a successful neutrality outcome? are you prepared to sacrifice all that for the purposes of regime change? i will say this once again, amy, how many times have an attempt by the american government to affect regime change anywhere in the world worked out well? ask the women of afghanistan. ask the people of iraq.

how did that liberal imperialism work out for them? not very well. today really proposed to drive us out of the nuclear power? amy: yanis varoufakis, thank you for being with us. we will have to leave it with that russian. member of the greek parliament and former finance minister of greece. we continue to look at the global fallout from russia's invasion of ukraine, now joined by william hartung of the quincy institute. he has just cowritten an article headlined "washington should think twice before launching a new cold war." bill, welcome back to democracy now! why don't you take it from there. what is your assessment of what is happening right now and who most is profiting? >> well, the hawks in washington want to jack up the military budget and use ukraine as an excuse.

but if you look at the budget, and biden is going to propose according to present comes, military budget of over $800 billion on monday. that is more than what we spent at the height of that korean and vietnam wars, 100 billion dollars more than what we spent at the height of the cold war under ronald reagan. so this notion to provide some weapons to ukraine, send a few thousand additional troops to europe requires increasing this enormous budget, is only going to benefit weapons contractors and members of congress who received contributions for them. use the arguments to get themselves elected. overarching this, this discussion of the cold war. i think people don't think about this -- a loof people think it is like the united states sent the soviet union into the great and brought democracy to eastern

europe and so forth, but they don't look at what happened all over the world in the name of fighting communism. they do not look at the vietnam war, the coups in guatemala, chile, arming so-called freedom fighters by ronald reagan -- some of whom went on to help form al qaeda including the contras in nicaragua committed unspeakable crimes, including the overthrow of the allende government in chile. acknowledging there were overthrowing the democratic government. so i think there is a danger that not only will this be a war in ukraine, but the u.s. uses it as an excu for more progressive policies around the world, targeting russia or china or iran or whoever the enemy at the moment is. amy: bill hartung, about the recent op-ed that you wrote for

stripes, u.s. should uses leverage tend the war in yemen -- i mean, what we're saying is perhaps an unprecedented way is the mainstream u.s. corporate media on the ground, there with the targets of war and it is horrifying and the whole world is mesmerized by this. what it means to be at the target end of war. we don't see that similarly in yemen, host of global shows standing with the yemeni people looking up and seeing planes flying overhead. can you talk about what it would mean, what you mean by saying the u.s. should use this leverage to end the war in yemen? >> as you said, the media has underscored the horrors of war -- by the way, covering ukraine, and i think people should take that in.

they have not cover the horrors of war in yemen. and if they did, people would understand that and at the saudi-ua intervention there, which today is the seventh anniversary, nearly 400,000 people have died through bombing, through a saudi blockade that has kept important necessary materials from getting into the country, from bombing of hospitals, from bombing of a school bus, bombing funerals, bombing neighborhoods. united states is key to this. because through obama and trump and biden, the u.s. has applied tens of billions of dollars of weaponry to the saudi and uae resumes that i have been used to fuel that war. if the united states cut off weapons and also the spare parts of maintenance that keeps the saudi war running, we could end that killing tomorrow and we could force the saudis to negotiate in good faith for a peace agreement to end the war.

the contrast is stark. in ukraine, the united states leverage is more limited. it is a complex problem. in yemen, the people of the united states four-star government to end the killing in short order so there is more agency there, more of an opportunity for people to make a difference. and there are groups that happen doing so, including the yemeni diaspora in the united states. pramila jayapal will bring a war powers resolution. amy: bill hartung, thank you so much for being with us, national security and foreign policy expert at the quincy institute for responsible statecraft. we will link to all of your pieces at democracynow.org. next up, we speak to the

colombian environment activist francia márquez mina, the new running mate of the presidential front-runner gustavo petro who could become colombia's first black female vice president. stay with us for this exclusive interview. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "soy yo" by the colombian band bomba estero. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we end today show with exclusive broadcast interview with afro-colombian environmental activist francia márquez, who has just been picked by the colombian presidential front-runner, gustavo petro, to be his running mate. if they win, she would become colombia's first black female vice president. she is a prominent land and water defender was her , opposition to illegal gold-mining that led to death threats that forced her to flee her home. in a 2018, she won the prestigious goldman environmental prize. i spoke to her in february while she was in new york. at the time, she was running for president but lost in the primary to petrov. i asked her why she was running

for office. >> well, i think that more than making history, we are giving impetus to the idea that in colombia a new form of government is possible, governance that is built up from the black, indigenous and peasant peoples from the very different sectors of the community, lgbtiq+, from the youth, from the women, from the small farmers of colombia, those who have been no one -- that is to say, who have never had a voice in the government, who have never had a voice in order to put forward our grievances as a people. and today we need to put forward the nobodies, the people who've never had a voice, to step into the state so that we can write our own history, a history that will make it possible to live with dignity, with justice, with equity, with equality, that would enable each and every one of us to turn the page of violence of the armed conflict and to pursue agenda of social justice. amy: if you can talk about what that social justice agenda would

look like in colombia? >> wel i think the first thing is that th government has destroyed the possibility of living in peace. and today the most impoverished people, those who don't have drinking water, basic sanitation, education, internet connectivity are the people who once again are suffering the brunt of the violence and the armed conflict. it's the social leaders who continue to be assassinated. the constitutional court has just recognized the unconstitutional state of affairs in terms of the failure of this government to implement the peace accords. so this situation of armed conflict and abandonment in terms of no social investment, that needs to be brought to a halt. it's not going to be brought to a halt by the privileged elites of white men who have historically governed our country. it's the people who need to step

forward to press their grievances. and so it's necessary to work in depth to achieve peace. this means a dialogue with all of the armed actors who continue putting our lives at risk, including those who are part of the colombian state, the military forces, who continue to viate humarights. that means taking on the challenge we have as humankind today to bring a halt to the environmental crisis. and for that, we propose a transition from an extractive industries-based investment policy to sustainable energy and to having a system of economic production that puts life at the center. that is why i have been proposing a program of roecological productive projects and with the idea of food sovereign being the top

issue. there's more tha21 million people in colombia who don't eat enough, who go to bed hungry every night. amy: francia márquez mina, when you announced your intention to run for president, you had just spendays consoling the mothers of five young black men who had been targeted by paramilitaries and killed. who were they? you tweeted at the time, "i want to be president of this country. i want our people to be free and dignified. i want our people to be able to freely exist in their cultural diversity, for our territories to become spaces of life and for our children to live without fear of being murdered." talk about what happened. >> i am a mother. i have two children. i had just bid farewell to my son, who is living in boston.

i had to get him out of colombia in order to be able to go forward in this political path. and as a mother, i have felt the pain and the sadness of ou country having to bury nephews annieces of mine. i lost an eight-year-old niece, who was assassinated in a poor neighborhood of cali. that is a history that is repeated day after day. mothers go to work in the homes of other families, and they come home to bury their children. that is the history of our country. and in order to lighten the pain of these mothers who are burying their children in the poor neighborhoods every day, in the small villages, in the communities, is part of the challenge that we're facing. and that means social justice. that means taking on the demilitarization of our society, the demilitarization of the country, because every day there

are more people being killed in the streets. but that means we need to think about forms of economy that help improve the living conditions of people. that means lifting up life, and therefore, we need to talk about distributing land and to women. well, in colombia, the majority of the population is women. we are 52% of the population. nonetheless, women are also experiencing femicide. women are being assassinated in colombia. mothers who are leaders, well, when their children are subject to assassination and violence, well, it's a way to hush them up so that they no longer demand their rights. therefore, i think that this is a path of unity, embracing life, lifting up life, because we are tired putting in more dead. we're tired of having to bury

our family members and seeing women, mothers, burying their children. that is not just. we deserve a more dignified nation, a nation in peace, nation with social justice, and an antiracist nation. right now'm here in the united states. and i know that the black people here are assassinated, especially black youth, in the same way as black, impoverished black youth, racialized impoverished black youth, are assassinated in colombia. because of the color of our skin, they see us as criminals. but we are human beings. our dignity must be respected and recognized. we are feminizing politics. deepening democracy in our country, because that's not -- then we're giving more content to democracy. and when i announced that i wanted to be president of colombia, people said, "francia, you're crazy," because they

can't imagine. they think that's reserved for white men who are privileged elites. but today, those of us who are nobody, those of us who haven't had a voice, those who have been historically silenced and subjected to violence are standing up to say that we are going to go forward from resistance to power until dignity becomes something that our country becomes accustomed to. amy: francia márquez mina, you are from the village of yolombo, you grew up in la toma, both in thwestern region of colombia, in cauca. can you talk about the central role of cauca? do you feel it's a target of violence? and the role, in particular, of multinational corporations? you, yourself, an environmental leader who won the goldman prize for your fight against an international gold mining corporation. >> well, cauca is a department that has experienced thermed

conflict, but it's also a diverse department inhabited by black, indigenous, and peasant peoples. also, the majority of the population in cauca are women, in their diversity. and even though it is a department where the different armed actors have imposed violce, we have be there as a people resisting, resignifying life, bringing peace and pursuing peace based on our ancestral and cultural practices. and todacauca is the land of many women and men who are standing up as leaders, who, idst the war, abandonment, racism, patriarchy and machismo imposed on people's lives, we have been able to move forward in terms of resisting and in terms of developing practices that allow us to live in peace

and without fear. and so i am a daughter of the territory of the cauca. and from there, we are going to continue giving impetus to peace, which has not yet reached the doors of our homes. we are going to continue pushing the need for cauca -- well, cauca and all of colombia to be a dignified territory with justice. there are so many communities in our department and throughout colombia where people don't have drinking water. nonetheless, mining interests have done what they've wished with our territory. and we don't oppose development. we oppose a vision of development that is based on profits that result from death, dispossession, and expropriation of human lives of people. today the planet earth faces a huge challenge. life is being exhausted, is being depleted every day. and the great challenge is to

get -- is that many of these companies who have earned profits based on death and destruction, well, they should think about how to have an economy for life. and that means reforlating how they go about getting profit. that means thinking about distributional justice. that means thinking about ecological justice f all humankind, and, of course, to be able to help safeguard the big house, which is the plan for all of us. y: francia márquez mina, in 2019 you survived an assassination attempt and have had a number of death thats against you. can you talk specifically about what happened? and what gives you the strength to now run for president, the bravery that you are exhibing? >> well, what happened, as you ca to learn, is that like one

more leader of my country, i was declared a military target. i receive death threats along with other leaders from the department of cauca. but that is t a reason to go silent. quite to the contrary, it's with more strength that we are standing up and that we are here, and it is with greater strength that we continue to raise our voices, because we don't want what has happened to us to happen to any colombian woman or man. nonetheless, what is lamentable and horrific is that every day we continue burying leaders who have been assassinated, especially environmental leaders. colombia is the country in the world that has seen -- more environmental defenders have been assassinated in colombia than in any other country in the world. and this is a call to attention because it's worrisome. it is worrisome that there's

been so much fracture created in our country around the value of life. safeguarding the lives of people, particularly social leaders, is not a priority. and this government, this administration, has not been capable of allowing the communies who have suffered so much, such as bojayá, to live in peace. to the contrary, even though communities such as bojayá, in chocó, which are a symbol of peace and a symbol of resistance and who experience the barbarism of war and terror, they said, "yes, we do want to live in peace," but this government made that impossible. and today we often don't know where the bullets are coming from. but our commitment is to continue raising our voices forcefully to the point that dignity and life become a custom for all ofs. amy: the presidential elections are in may, and this follows the

massive uprising throughout colombia of popular protest, with one of the centers of those protests where you come from, in cauca. united nations said security forces were involved in serious human rights violations during the crackdown, arbitrary detentions, sexual and gender-based violence, acts of discrimination. were black colombians paicularly targeted? >> well, the national strike or uprising began initially when the government was introducing a tax reform against the poorest of the poor and benefiting the richest colombians, richest in monetary terms, the financial sector earning so much profit in

the middle of a pandemic, whereas people had to eat at home if they could. and so people had been locked in under the pandemic, limited opportunities to get income or employment, people trying figure out how to pay their housing costs. so amidst the desperation -- and the pandemic isn't the crisis. the pandemic revealed the crisis of a model of death, which was not able to go forward creating conditions of dignity for people. so in the midst of all that, the government introduced that tax reform. and people couldn't take anymore and they took to the streets, especially the young people. many of these young people who are on the frontlines are from the poor neighborhoods, young people who have suffered from so-called social cleansing,

which is to say assassinations by paramilitary groups in colombia who say we need to "clean up" different areas -- and "clean up" means killing people. the government, instead of fostering a forum for dialogue with the communities and with the youth of the country to seek solutions, instead it stigmatized social prote. it accused protesters of being vandals, terrorists, and criminals. and the result was what happened, unfortunately. 48 young people were assassinated, and the majority of them are black youth, and the city of cali accounted for the largest number of deaths. very lamentable. these young people who had taken to the streets with hope to raise their voices saying they wanted a country with dignity,

sadly, were not able to go home because the state forces, with the bullets of the homeland, took their lives, bullets that are paid for by the tax payments made by us colombians. so the fact of not listening, the fact of not fostering dialogue, and instead simply imposing repression on people, accusing them of being vandals and terrorists, of being criminals, and stigmatizing the regular people who had nothing to lose because the colombian government, colombian state, had taken away so much of their hope, their dreams, the possibility of having a nice life, of being able to live in peace -- so those people took to the ststreets and said, "here we are. we are the generation that says we're no longer going to put up with being trampled upon, with our human condition being expropriated." i hope that that social upheaval

will now translate into a change at the polls, because this is not going to cnge unless there's a change in the politics and policy of our country. 50 billion pesos are lost every -- or 50 trillion pesos are lost every year due to corruption in our country, and that translates into boys and girlwho are dying of malnutrition, of hunger, who are dying in our country without any opportunity to live. and it is painful to see tha this is happening in our country. and it is painful to see that young people don't ha access to quality education, a free education, comprehensive education. and it's painful to see that mothers and us women don't have any arantee of being able to get to a joband older folks have no guarantees of a pension. everything that the neoliberal model has done that's been imposed by this colombian elite, who have reaped their profits

from death and hunger and exiling people and our expropriation from us of our human condition, it is very painful to experience all of that. amy: afro colombian environmental activist francia márquez mina speaking to us in february when she was running for president. early this week, front-runner gustavo petro tapped her to be his running mate. she would be the first black woman to serve as colombia's vice president in a country where afro-colombians make up nearly 10% of the population. it was her opposition to illegal gold mining that lead to death threats and assassination attempt, forcing her to flee her home. she tweeted this week -- "we are writing a new history for colombia. in the vice presidency we will accompany president gustavo petro in the duty to create a government that respects life, peace, justice and social equity." she is running in part on a

platform -- he is running apart contraband on fossil fuel exploration. the country has long been among the most dangerous countries in the world. berman list and activists with at least hundred 45 murdered last year alone. you can also see our interview with francia márquez mina in spanish as well as our daily headlines in spanish by going to democracynow.org and click on s manual --espanol. special thanks to charlie roberts and a very happy early birthday to nermeen shaikh! democracy now! has an immediate opening for a news writer producer. visit democracynow.org/jobs to find out more and apply. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]