07/26/22 07/26/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> i myself wish to reaffirm this with shame and humbly beg forgiveness fo the people committed by so many christians against the indigenous peoples. amy: during an historic trip to canada, pope francis has apologizes for the abuse of indigenous children who were removed from their homes and

sent to church-run residential schools in canada where they faced psychological, physical, and sexual abuse. more than 4000 indigenous children died. we go to canada for the latest. then to burma, where the military junta has executed four men imprisoned for opposing last year's coup. if the burmese military regime thinks exeting four burmese activists will drive fear down the spines of the burmese public, they are categorically misten. there is massive and popular call for steppingp resistance against this regime. amy: and we will look at the puerto rico status act, a house bill that would allow residents of puerto rico to decide on the island's territorial status. we will speak to former san juan

mayor carmen yulín cruz. >> puerto rico has been a colony of the united states since 1898. this congress has introduced the puerto rico status act. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. pope francis has apologized for the abuse of indigenous children who were separated from their families and sent to church-run residential schools where they faced psychological, physical, and sexual abuse. pope francis is on the apology tour since monday in maskwacis, alberta, the site of a former residential school. >> i myself wish to reaffirm this, with shame and onion be grisly, humbly beg forgiveness

for the evil committed by so many christians against the indigenous peoples. amy: the pope's apology comes seven years after canada's truth and reconciliation commission accused the church-run residential schools of taking part in a form of cultural genocide. the commission also determined that more than 4000 indigenous children died from neglect or abuse in residential schools. unmarked graves are still being found. we will have the latest on the pope's historic apology tour after headlines. in tunisia, president kais saied has claimed victory in his bid to gain sweeping new powers after winning a constitutional referendum in an election boycotted by most opposition parties. an exit poll showed over 93% of votes cast were in favor of changing tunisia's constitution to grant the president broad executive power with greater control over the parliament and the judiciary. but turnout in monday's election was very low, with fewer than 2 million people casting ballots in a country of over 9 million registered voters.

opposition groups say saied is bringing authoritarian rule back to tunisia after an uprising against poverty and corruption swept aside long-time leader ben ali in 2011, inspiring arab spring protests across north africa and the middle east. in ukraine, russia's military has fired missiles at several targets on the black sea coast, including in mykolaiv and the southern port city of odesa. the attacks came even as ukrainian officials said they were just days away from implementing a united nations-brokered deal to export grain and cooking oil through black sea ports in order to help ease global food shortages. in the northern city of chuhuiv near kharkiv, rescuers combed through rubble looking for survivors of russian missile attacks monday that hit a local school, crushed homes, and completely flattened the city's house of culture. >> we are here in the very city center where the house of culture is located.

there were no soldiers here. it is simply the house of culte. now we see what is left of it. the house is completely ruined. there is no chance of rebuilding it. amy: russia's state-controlled energy giant has reduced the flow of gas through its main pipeline to europe. gazprom said monday it would slash gas deliveries through the nord stream 1 pipeline to just 20% of normal operating capacity. that prompted the european union to agree to a deal grants brussels the power to compel european union members to slash gas consumption by up to 15%. on monday, ukraine's president volodymyr zelenskyy accused russia of committing gas blackmail against europe. in california, at least 3000 people have been forced to evacuate the fast-moving oak fire near yosemite national park. as of this morning, the fire had burned nearly 17,000 acres and was just 10% contained. smoke from the massive blaze triggered air quality alerts in

the san francisco bay area and other parts of the region. in the pacific northwest, forecasters are warning of a new heatwave that could push temperatures in some areas above 110 degrees fahrenheit. this follows record heat a year ago blamed for the deaths of 800 people across oregon, washington state, and british columbia. on capitol hill, six congressional staffers were arrested monday as they held a nonviolent civil disobedience protest inside the office of senate majority leader chuck schumer. the staffers are demanding schumer reopen negotiations on a bill to combat the climate crisis after west virginia democratic senator joe manchin blocked democrats' latest efforts to pass new funding for green energy programs. this week 165 plus federal and congressional staffers signed an open letter to president biden and chuck schumer demanding they strip senator manchin of his chairmanship of the senate

energy and natural resources committee. they are also demanding president biden declare a climate emergency and take other urgent actions to curb greenhouse gas emissions. the letter reads in part -- "even if democrats control both chambers and the white house again in four years, inaction in this moment will cause an era of record temperatures, extreme drought, sea level rise, and other deadly climate disasters. we do not have years to waste. we have little more than a week." president biden says he's feeling better after testing positive for covid-19 and expects to be working in person by the end of the week. biden gave the update during an -- as he continued to work by video link monday. pres. biden: i am feeling good. my voice is still raspy. i've had every morning and every afternoon -- excuse become ever every evening i get a full-blown

series of tests of temperature, the oxygen in my blood to my pulse. just across the board. so far, everything is good. amy: on monday, senators lisa murkowski of alaska and joe manchin of west virginia announced they, too, had tested positive for coronavirus. democrats tina smith of minnesota and tom carper of delaware are also out of the senate after testing positive last week. their absences have left democrats unable to move several pieces of legislation, including a bill protecting the right to marriage equality. this comes as cases of the ba.5 coronavirus variant continue to rise aoss the united states, with some cies, including los angeles and seattle, considering reinstating indoor mask mandates. meanwhile, the cdc is reporting the u.s. has surpassed spain to become the country with the most known monkeypox infections since an outbreak of the viral disease

began earlier this year. the u.s. has reported more than 3400 confirmed or suspected cases. the white house reportedly is preparing to name a federal monkeypox coordinator in the coming days, while the world health organization has declared a global emergency run monkeypox, the white house has yet to do this. the house select committee investigating the january 6 investigatn has revealed new details about how former president trump resisted his speechwriters' attempts to have him condemn the assault on the capitol. a draft speech prepared by white house staffers for trump to delivered ungenerous seventh shows trump's edits in black marker. trump crossed out the line, "i am directing the department of justice to ensure all lawbreakers are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. we must send a clear message -- not with mercy, but with justice. legal consequences must be swift and firm." trump also crossed out the phrase, "i want to be very clear you do not represent me.

you do not represent our movement." finally, trump edited, "if you broke the law, you belong in jail" to instead read, "if you broke the law, you will pay." in reproductive rights news, in -- dozens of incoming medical students at the university of michigan walked out of their whitecoat induction ceremony sunday, protesting the key note speaker dr. kristin collier and her support for banning abortion. thousands of people rallied inside and outside the indiana state house monday as lawmakers began a special session to debate a republican bill that would pay nearly all abortion. indiana is the first state to hold the special session to consider abortion rights since the supreme court overturned roe v. wade last month. this is obstetrician and abortion rights advocate dr. amy caldwell. >> i primary objective today in

testifying is to relay that abortion is common, safe, and all the proposed restrictions and senate bill 1 are unnecessary and harmful. my colleagues are fearful to do their jobs, fearful of being criminalized, and fearful for criminalizing our patients. amy: here in new york, a man who was forced to plead guilty to theft in connection with central park jogger case has been exonerated. steven lopez was 15 years old when he was arrested and wrongfully accused of sexually assaulting a white woman, along with five other black and latinx teenagers who became known as the central park five. at the time, lopez, who's story is far less known than the rest of the group, pleaded guilty to robbery to avoid a more serious break charge. lopez is now 48. he served more than three years in prison before his release in the early manhattan district 1990's.

attorney alvin bragg announced exoneration on monday. >> we largely forgot there were six who were falsely accused of rape of the central park jogger. today mr. lopez joined the other five who had their convictions vacated. what is so striking to me is how young mr. lopez was when both he was arrested and then when he pled guilty under extraordinary pressure. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman in new york, joined by democracy now! 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: on his historic trip across canada, pope francis has -- is apologizing for the abuse

of indigenous children who were removed from their homes and sent to church-run residential schools where they faced psychological, physical, and sexual abuse. francis made the apology in maskwacis, alberta, the site of a former residential school. >> i'm here because the first step of my pilgrimage among you is that of asking forgiveness, of telling you once more that i am deeply sorry, sorry for the ways in which regrettably many christns suprted the colonizing mentality of the powers that oppressed the indigeno peoes. i am sorry. i ask forgiveness, in particular for the ways in which many memberof the church and religious community's cooperated , not least through their indifference, and a projects of cultural destruction and forced assimilation, promoted by the governments of that time which

culminated in the system of residential schools. i selfish to reaffirm this with shane and unambiguously humbly that forgiveness for the people committed by so many christians against the indigenous peoples. amy: the pope's apology comes seven years after canada's truth and reconciliation commission accuse the catholic church-run residential school as taking part in a form of cultural genocide. the commission also determined that more than 4000 indigenous children died from neglect or abuse in residential schools. unmarked graves are still being found. the first residential schools opened in 1883. the last one closed in 1998. during that time, over 150,000 indigenous children were sent away to rid them of their native cultures and languages and integrate them into mainstream canadian society.

this is tony alexis, chief of the alexis nakota sioux nation. >> as soon as the apology started, people were triggered immediately. you can see it in the audience. you could hear it from different messages we were getting as we were sitting there that it triggered an opening of a wound again. and his wound that has been open again, you cannot st leave it like that. we really have to take the steps to make sure we help heal and recover our people. amy: and this is evelyn korkmaz who spent four years at st. anne's indian residential school in fort albany, ontario. she now helps other survivors of residential schools deal with trauma. >> it has been a very emotional day for me as a survivor. i had my ups and downs.

my hurrays, my disappointments, my wanting more and not getting it. i have waited 50 years for this apology and finally, today, i heard it. unfortunately, a lot of my family members, friends, classmates, and members of my community that went to residential school were not able to hear it because they had passed on through suicide, alcohol addiction, suicide. in other substance abuse or whatnot, because they could not endure or live with the trauma that they endured in these residential schools.

amy: to talk more about the pope's apology tour, his trip across canada, we are joined by pamela palmater. she is a mi'kmaq lawyer and member of the eel river bar first nation in new brunswick. chair in indigenous governance at ryerson university. she recently published an op-ed in "the toronto star" headlined "another pope's apology isn't enough when catholic church's cover-ups and hypocrisy continue to this day." welcome to democracy now!, professor pamela palmater. can you start off by responding to his ontology -- apology tour, what he has said and hasn't said? >> it s pretty much what i feared, it would be one of those very carefully worded apologies where the church itsel the organization doesn't take responsibility for tir policies and practices, the

cover-up, knowing that there were sex offenders all over the world, not dealing with sex offenders, protecting them. and that they themselves, the church itself was the one responsible for all of the crimes that were committed by their christian members because they issued the papal bull, which the doctrine of discovery saying, go forth and steal all of these lands. no real acceptance of responsibility on the part of the church. juan: pam, you mentioned the predators. you have written of more than 5000 sexual predators who have used the majority of 150,000 children and at the residential schools, that a near fraction have ever faced criminal charges, fewer than 50. can you elaborate on that and what you would hope would be done? >> the government spent like

over 1.5 million dollars hiring 17 private investigators to identify the perpetrators in these residential schools. we know the catholic church represented about 60%, but other churches for the other ones. these predators havbeen allowed to walk free ever since without any monitoring, without any surveillance. and that is my bigst concern because worldwide, where you look at the exact situations whether in the united states, australia, france, they have -- even where thehave had inquiries or litigation settlements, they have allowed these sexual predators to walk free and they ha gone oto work with children and sexually offend again. so my concern is, we have absolutely no idea how bad it has continued to this day in canada. juan: what about this whole issue of reparations? "the new york times"

reported just a fraction of the money promised to the victims in a candida. what is the situation -- can you talk about the situation with reparations? >> here's the thing with apologies. you know, yet to be really sorry. you have to admit forhe crimes and then you have to kind of promise not to do it again and take steps to make sure the abuse doesn't happen, and then there is the issue of reparations. reparations is when you try to make amends, you try to put the person and it is situation they would have been but for your wrongs. the basics likthey agreed to a certain amount of compensation under the settlement agreement and never paid it. that is not a sign of good faith. the fact they haven't done -- rescinded the doctrine of discovery, something that was asked for. the fact they have not addressed -- issued all the documents. they have not even released all the documents that would help

the people identify all of these unmarked graves, who is in those grades come how they died, who is responsible. those documents have not been leased, nor have they released all the artifacts that were stolen during that period. apologies are just words when you are still today not living up to your legal or moral obligation. amy: pamela palmater, can you talk about what prompted this tour and also as he goes across canada to make these apologies, i think he is moving on -- if you can tell us the significance of where he is moving on to. i don't know if he has mentioned sexual abuse. >> no, he hasn't. that is the other thing. when you apologize yet to say, "here's what i did and i see the harm that it caused you." no mention of sexual abuse.

no mention of the coverups. no mention of th worldwide involvement in allowing their priests and clergy and staff and everyone associated with the catholic church to continue to go one a sexually abuse children. absolutely no acknowledgment of that where the document of discovery, which is the basis of the genocide in both canada and the united states. it is not really an apology if you have not acknowledged the full scope of what you have done. and some of the worst teams they did come aside from killing children, widespread sexual abe that has ne on tount these children for the rest of their lives for those who did survive. amy: the issue of reparations, if you could talk more about that? who is greeting the pope as he makes his way across canada? what nations, what first nations? and are they raising these issues with him?

>> that is the thing. and it candida, we have first nations, like all over canada and spread out. we have 634 first nations representing a significant number of nations. these were primarily indian residential schools, although others were impacted. the is a very, very, very small number of individual chiefs or regional chiefs or so-called dignitaries or members of native organizations, along with some survivors, that are meeting the pope and/or organizing it. the vast majority had no say in it. in fact, the national chief of the assembly of first nations has already said in the media that women were not involved in this -- and she was never permitted to be involved in this. you can imagine just how

upsetting it is for a large number of people who don't have a say, who don't get to say, here's what you need to be saying, here's what you need to be doing. which leaves this empty apology. juan: you mentioned, pam, the catholic church was responsible for about half of these schools. what about the other christian churches? what has been the response to the unfolding revelation over the past several years of their role in these atrocities? >> the catholic church was responsible for the majority. so about 60%. yes, all of the other churches also responsible, they have each issued apologies over the years for different things, but you don't see a real significant act of contrition or penitence or

any of those things they claim, things like making sure there is ney come aside from the compensation agreement, to help restore languages, to help provide healing for the people who were traumatized, to help support all of those who need the funding and legal support to identify their children in unmarked graves and return them back to their communities. it seems like that -- or returning the lands that were stolen for the purposes of the church. keep in mind, the catholic church and other churches often buy and sell land, lease land, try to raise money. those lands should be going back to first nations. so i don't see very sincere, wholesome apologies and reparation on the part of all of these churches, but i think in terms of -- in comparison, the

catholic church is far worse. the papal bull, the worldwide influence. keep in mind, the catholic church noxious impact the school survivors. they are responsible for the deaths of millions in canada and the u.s. from the indigenous community and a whole bunch of other atrocities outside of the residential schools. juan: you mentioned a couple of times the doctrine of discovery. for a lot of young people who are not friendly with that, obviously it had a big impact not just in north america but in latin america as well during the colonial period, could you explain the doctrine of discovery? >> in simplest terms, it basically gave power -- the so-called power to the european nations to go forth and conquer any land where christians don't inhabit. lands that were so-called --

where no one is living and no man's land, so to speak. in fact, we know it was just not an authority to go forth and take those lands, it was to use whatever force necessary to rid the land of any non-christians. and you saw that all over north and south america. the upon millions were killed, tortured, abused, exploited, put into slavery. and not just in the old days. we are talking over hundreds of years and the abuse, the physical abuse, the exploitation, sexual abuse continues today. so while we talk about the doctrine of discovery and all of the abuse as though it was in the long-ago past, it is still having implications today, which is why so many want the church officially resend, repeal, revoke, whatever they need to do, the doctrine of discovery and start accepting

responsibility for what is happening in the here and now. amy: as we begin to wrap up, pamela palmater, if you can give us context, globally, for the pope's apology is, whether we're talking about australia, the united states, or your country, canada? >> well, different popes have given different apologies all around the world, rtand south america, european countries, for the atrocities, the violence, physical abuse, you name it. they have tried to make these very wide-ranging general apologies. but what you see the church as the organization doing is fighting against the settlement agreements. in fact, in the united states you have the church who has church and molestation liability insurance. imagine knowing your so that you have molestation liability insurance. so high-power law firmactually

are filing counter suits against mothers for failing to protect theichildren against sexual predator priests. so there is a lot seedy things that are happening most of the destruction of documents, the refusal to head over documents, the refal to hold anyone to accoun and this is globally, worldwide, including here in north america. so the actions of the church today are still terrible. so would y see the pomp and circumstance and what looks great around the pope apologizing, keep in mind, this is the head of the organization fighting the victims of all of the abuse. amy: we want to thank you for being with us, pamela palmater, mi'kmaq lawyer and member of the eel river bar first nation in new brunswick. chair in indigenous governance at ryerson university. we will link to your piece in "the toronto star" headlined "another pope's apology isn't enough when catholic church's cover-ups and hypocrisy continue

to this day." she is speaking to us from toronto. next, we go to burma with the military junta has executed four men for opposing last year's coup. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "still here" by the indigenous activist and hip-hop artist jb the first lady. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we turn now to burma, where there is growing outrage after the military junta executed four men saturday who had been jailed for opposing last year's

military coup. in burma's largest city rangon, protesters marched down the streets with a banner reading "we will never be frightened" and called out the names of the executed activists. amy: the execution of the four pro-democracy activists who were sentenced to death in secretive trials marks the first executions in burma in over 30 years. kyaw min yu was the prominent pro-democracy activist also known as ko jimmy. he was a student leader in the 1988 uprising and spent many years as a political prisoner. also executed was phyo zeya thaw, a former rapper who was a founding member of generation wave, an anti-military youth-led movement, and became a lawmaker

in aung san suu kyi's party, the national league for democracy. the two other men executed saturday were were hla myo aung and aung thura zaw. the assistance association of political prisoners says they were involved in the resistance protest movements since the 2021 coup, like many other burmese. on monday, the u.s. state department spokesperson ned price responded to the executions. >> we underscore that with the escalating violence with these horrific atrocities that have been carried out, there can be no business as usual with this regime. we urge all countries to ban the sale of military quitman to burma, to refrain from lending the regime any degree of international credibility, and we call on maintaining important precedents, only allowing burmese nonpolitical

representation at regional events. amy: from or we go to london to speak with maung zarni, exiled burmese scholar dissident, and , human rights activist. co-founder of the forces of renewal for southeast asia or forsea. condolences to you in so many who knew one or more of the four people executed saturday. can you tell us who they were and were you shocked by this act the first time, the first execution of political prisoners in, what, some 30 years? in burma? >> two of the executed, i met them and consider then my younger comrades. jimmy have been involved since 1988 when he wasnly 19 years old. and phyo zeya thaw is in his

mid-forties, a big supporter of san suu kyi's leadership. although had a difference of opinion about her leadership, nonetheless, i felt the pain. also the other two were younger generation comrade brothers. they were accused of killing someone who was accused of being the informer for the military. so these are four dissidents that were barbaric lee executed on saturday. the families have not been given any indication and what manners they were executed if they were cremated -- the military is very afraid of these four becoming martyrs for the

resistance and inspire new wave of resistors. was i shked? not at all. these were young but not so young dissidents executed and so they had personal stories that we knew. it piqued the interest of the media and others. we are looking at essentially the genocidal regime that is credibly acced of and is facing a genocide case at the international court of justice. so just the last five years, the united nations principal judicial organ has ruled the genocide case filed by gambia against the state will proceed. so this is a regime that has committed every single grave

crime and international law that has ever been established and coded under the law books. i think we should realize that when the international community continues with the business as usual policy, includi the united states, u.k., canada, the maintaining of high-level diplomatic ties, allowing oil and other natural resource extractive industries to continue to be with a regime -- the regime is emboldened. so i would call the international community accountable for its culpability, despite all these empty condemnation from ned price or the congressional leaders, u.n. officials, human rights commission, european union, and whatnot.

juan: could you be more specific in terms of the contradiction between the words that are espoused by the u.s. government and other western leaders and what their actual practice has been? can you give us some specifs in terms of what companies and industries are still benefiting from economic ties and political ties with the burmese junta? >> yes all these high stream -- textile apparel industries, they are still producing and sourcing their materials in burma in a country that have zero or no labor rights protections, labor laws in place. chevron of the united states was

grandfathered in -- swallowed up by chevron. it is in partnersh with the burmese ella terry -- military, controlling gas and oil. there are long list of european, japan, australia and, americans, ev canadian corporate interests operating on the ground while the politicians and foreign affairs or state department officials come up with these grandiose condemnations, grandstanding that they are doing something moral, ethical in principle. if you compare the united states ' response to flood mayor prudence illegal and -- vladimir putin's invasion of ukraine and biden's responseo the rmese

gime, the violations of all norms internationally and the criminal and he military and law, you will see a black and white difference that biden has frozen money held in u.s. accounts that belong to the myanmar, the state of myanmar. the military is widely accepted and considered illegitimate and even the association of southeast asian nations refuses to cede any political or presented of, let alone the head of the regime. so biden poured like nearly 50 billion u.s. dollars to defend ukraine and support ukrainian resistance. the burmese resistance movement

is engaging in bake sales and concerts abroad to raise like peanuts, several million dollars or $50,000 to support their own resistance back home. biden should be unfreezing the $1 billion and making it available to support the burmese resistance. amy: we want to thank you very much, maung zarni, for being with us burmese scholar, , dissident, and human rights activist co-founder of the , forces of renewal for southeast asia or forsea. a grassroots network of pro-democracy scholars and human rights activists across southeast asia. next up, we're going to look at the puerto rico status act, a houseful that would allow residents of puerto rico to decide on the islands territorial status. we will speak with the former mayor of san juan. as we go to break, this is "sa

tin chin," which means beginning. it was the title track to an album by the burmese hip hop group acid, co-founded by the artist and pro-democracy activist-turned-legislator zayar thaw who was executed saturday by burma's military junta, along with three others, prompting international outrage. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "beginning" album by the burmese hip hop group acid, co-founded by the artist and pro-democracy activist-turned-legislator zayar thaw who was executed saturday by burma's regime that took power in a coup last year. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan

gonzalez. as we turn to puerto rico, the house natural resources committee in washington has advanced the puerto rico status act, a bill that would allow residents of puerto rico to decide on the islands territorial status. the bill for the first time acknowledges the need to end porter goes colonial status by excluding the current commonwealth option and offers a referendum of the puerto rican people on the three choices historically recognized by the united nations as a true decolonization process. independents, statehood, or free association s sovergntyrom puertoico. it also mmits cgress fo the first me tobide bthe relts of that rerendum. the ll is fang opposion fr many puto rican gros whoave call for pubc heargs on legislaon and clarifation on seval key ovisionsaving to t langge and citizship status of the islands residence under independence of re-association. we go now to puerto rico where

we are joined by carmen yulín cruz, former mayor of san juan. she recently wrote a letter to steny hoyer outlining her concerns over the bill most of welcome to democracy now! can you start off by responding to what took place in washington around puerto rico? >> first of all, thank y for ving me. i want to touch on a point quickly. he had one of the leaders, one of the native american nations with you a few minutes ago. if you look at the process of decolonization and self-determination, we are all looking for the same thing. we're looking for justice, looking for a national identity to be respected, and we are also looking for our voices to be heard. this is a threat of colonization [indiscernible]

this is important the timeframe for this bill. last july 15, thbill was finally introduced. this was a bill that has never been formally translated into spanish, so many puerto ricans who are not bilingual are unable to read and make a judgment themselves. and last week, there was a mark appearing. this is not a formal hearing. this is a hearing were people that only speak spanish in puerto rico would have had simultaneous tnslation given to them for them to be able to have the facts. one of the issues of pursuing your happiness is can you really pursue your happiness and have freedom as a founding fathers wanted if you do not have all the details of what is going on? i wrote a letter to steny hoyer

saying the process, even though we recognize it is a step inhe ght direion and ves in t righ dection, it has laws that make it undemocratic and, frankly, un-americ. one of the things, f example with statehood, it does not really define what statehood is. it says statehood would the same aother stes. wever, o of the bills -- th amendmts wouldave wanted to introduce would be could puerto rico maintain its own polical, its owlympic tea we know that is impossie. bupro statood defenders puertoico ke tellinguerto ricanshat weill mainin our n olymc team. i d'tee texas, new york lifornia having eir own teams,hy woulduerto rico tread different

it aost ses like pro-stehoodersre looking in puerto rico to did shout --dish out the theory of separate but equal, meaning they want puerto rico to be a state but they want spanish to be spoken here. for example, would spanish be the language that we teach our children in public schls and english as a second language as weeach it rit now? given that the constitution doesn't say that english is the official language of the u.s. and eve though -- we alknow english is the predominant language in the language mostly used by government. but again, statehooders keep saying, don't worry, we will continue to have everything done in a spanishn the government. so those are things that really need to be clarified. puerto ricans need to know they will pay up federal taxes and how much federal taxes will be

paid. none of those things are existed in this bill. for free association, there's a major flaw whi is illegal currently in the united states. puerto ricans were made citizens of the u.s. in 1917. coincidentally enough, to draft us into world war i. then in 1941, we became u.s. citizens by birth. so if my daughr, who was born in pittsburgh, pennsylvania, gives birth in spain, she would simply go to the american embassy and fill out a paper and that is it. so it congress is saying in this bill, you need two parents. i would never have thought i would have said -- used ted cruz an examplof anythg but thats rottennd not good with peop that say ey are going to serve, but ted cruz is a prime example. ted cruz's mother is from the

u.s. but he was born in canada. so his mother wrote him up and that is it. we want equality under the law, which is very american thing, concept, to treat as the same. we should not be treated differently when it comes to the u.s. citizenship, which, again, imposed by carter weakens. number three, -- imposed by puerto ricans. number three, call forhe independence aspect. the bill says -- you can draft your own constitution. but here you need to have a, b, c, d, or e. i wish i could see your face is what i say this. just imagine the founding fathers getting a letter from england saying, all right, you have raised enough hell, we're going to give you your independence, but your constitution needs to have a, b, c,nd d.

it is unwarranted act of the united states ifuerto rico decides to be independent. so the things that we want our things that are very simple, one, there should be hearings. 120 four years of colonialism should not be rushed without hearings. hearings that are in spanh with dual translatio most people in puerto rico do not speaknglish. in a manner they could understand the technicalities that is used in the bill. and number three, we want amendments to be allowed. if we are going to have a nondemocratic process or a nonpreferred process, which is -- which was the constitutional assembly, we should honestly be able to on the floor and then we call steny hoyer to ask the rules committee to do this, to

allow for just a simple, simple amendment in saying, hey, will puerto ricans be able to keep their olympic team? then we will just see how everyone votes and people will be able to vote with the clarity of what each one of the choices means, not only the present, but in the future for all of us. juan: carmen yulín cruz, in terms of role grijalva has said there has been years and years of hearings on puerto rico he held hearings on the island himself and that if this congress is going to act before election, this bill has to move forward. some people say it is progress, recognizes puerto rico is currently a colony, provides for the first time free association of potential choice, and it

commits congress to abide whatever the puerto rican people decide. what do you say to those who say, hey, if something is going to happen in this congress, it needs to happen now? >> there is definitely progress. i am the first one to say that some have pushed this and moved forward. it is an imptant thing to move forward. we all have to remember after donald trump' fiasco and the more tha 3000 debts after hurricane maria after his inability to do his job, erto rico became the black i on america's face internationally. after that, americans in congress and all-around have been tryinto redirect saying, no, no, we do't treat riggins anymore like donald trump

treated them, we have a saying in spanish the disease is not i the pillow, it is itheern. it ireally badranslation. [speaking spanish] sot is progress but progress so has to do with th rht and the freedom to oose. the queson hasdo you have freedom to chooswhen allhe details are not the? wh theyre not telling you exactly what annexation, assimilationand statood wod beike. wh the law inot beg applieand we are deemed not ven the eatment at the le of lawctuall allows for all citins of thu.s. d wh you amposin ridiculous aspirations of what the constitution of a new free country would be. so if there is no immediate rush

--juan, let me give you the small correction if,. raul grijalva when i was mayor held a listing session in san juan and held another listing session b still t actual bill that was submitted has n been oicially tramitted and ther a no actual- let me say thisay. there inofficial hearing th tooklace icongress. what does that allow? it allows you to have documents on file. the letter to steny hoyer that i wrote cannot be on file because it was a market hearing. the letter written to speaker nancy pelosi is on file because of it was not a hearing. so one of the things were asking

is if congress is going to impose a pross which is a step forward but not everything we would have liked -- we would have liked the constitutional assembly were all voices that have been -- could have been heard. but if that is the case, then let us at least have the opportunity right now -- steny hoyer has that and his power to talk to the rules committee and say, the minutes will be allowed and just have a couple of hearings. and then maybe in september when congress reconvenes again. so there is a little time. i understand the need for this to be solved. what i honestly and many of us do not understand is the rush to do it and in doing so not allow the puerto rican people to have all the information to exercise their freedom to choose. juan: carmen yulín cruz will

have about a minute or so left, but i wanted to ask you, while these debates are going on in washington, there continues to be protest movements in puerto rico around the issue of energy and the role of luma energy. we are headed into another hurricane season. i'm wondering your thoughts about what is happening in terms of the energy grid in puerto rico? >> luma is a disgrace. we have had in puerto rico in one year since luma has been here, seven increases on the electrical power. seven increases. we now pay the most expensive electrical power in all of puerto rico. i like the wording english because it is "power." puerto rican people are trying to exercise their power to have -- he is a democrat in name only. he presents himself as a democrat in the united states but he believes everything that the republicans believe.

one is privatizing essential services, like luma. luma has to go. i opposed it from the beginning. i was called a socialist. [indiscernible] electrical power in puerto rico continues [indcernible] amy: we are losing you but do you think the contract should be ended with luma? >> definitely. he should have never begun and it needs to end now. amy: carmen yulín cruz, thank you for being with us, farmer mayor of san juan weissman , fellow at mount holyoke college.

we will do an interview with carmen yulín cruz in spanish and it will appear at democracynow.org. 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!] ñññ??

hello there, and welcome to nhk "newsline", i am catherine kobayashi in new york astronauts from russia and the u.s. have looked beyond their writerly for decades to operate a laboratory in the skies. but they have been challenged to hold onto that spirit of cooperation. now, the russians say they will pull out of the international space