09/22/22 09/22/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> claiming you have money that you do not have, that amounts to the art of the deal, it is the art of the steel. amy: new york attorney general leticia james sues donald trump and his children for fraud in -- and a three-judge panel also ruled the justice department can resume using classified records seized at mar-a-lago in its

investigation of trump's mishandling of government documents. is this the greatest legal peril trump has been in yet? we will speak to the pulitzer prize winning journalist david cay johnston. then to iran. protests are escalating in iran after a 22-year-old kurdish woman died in police custody after being detained for improperly wearing a hijab. then to the conflict between armenia and azerbaijan that left or than to enter people dead last week. and we will speak to the deputy foreign minister of cuba about u.s.-cuban relations, immigration, and sanctions. >> the united states, policy try to provoke hunger, on nutrition.

there urging the cuban people to rise up against the government [indiscernible] amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. new york's attorney general has sued donald trump, three of his adult children, and other executives at the trump organization, accusing them of widespread financial fraud. letitia james announced the arges on thursday saying that for over a decade, the trumps grossly inflated their business's net worth by billions of dollars, while deceiving lenders, insurers, and tax officials with false and misleading financial statements. james' civil lawsuit seeks $250,000 in penalties and to bar the trumps from ever operating a business in new york. james is also sharing her findings with the manhattan district attorney's office, the irs, and the department of justice to aid any future criminal prosecutions of the

trumps. >> the pattern of fraud and deception used by mr. trump and the trump organization for the own financial and if it is astounding stop claiming you have money that you do not have does not amount to the art of the deal, it is the art of the steel. and there cannot be different rules for different people under this country or in this state. and former president are no different. amy: a federal appeals court has ruled the justice department can resume its use of records marked as "classified" in its investigation of former president trump's mishandling of government documents. the ruling is a major setback for trump in his efforts to derail a federal criminal probe into whether he violated the espionage act and presidential records laws and whether he obstructed justice to cover up those crimes. on wednesday, a three-judge panel of the 11th circuit court of appeals rejected key parts of the federal order by federal

distri judge aeen cann that p the d's vestigatn on hd while special ster revis the doments. judge cannon was nominated to the federal bench by president trump. on wednesday, donald trump gave his first tv interview since the fbi raided his mar-a-lago resort in august. trump told fox news there doesn't have to be a process by which presidents declassify secret materials. >> if you are the president of the united states, you could declassify just by saying it is declassify -- even by thinking about it. amy: the house select committee investigating the january 6 capitol insurrection says it's reached an agreement with ginni thomas, a far-right activist and wife of supreme court justice clarence thomas, to have her testify. in the weeks following the november 2020 election, ginni thomas sent a flurry of text messssages to trump's chief of staff mark meadows urging him to take action to prevent a biden victory. the messages included conspiracy theories popularized by the far-right qanon movement. thomas also attended the so-called "stop the steal" rally

in washington, d.c., that preceded the january 6 assault on congress, and she lobbied dozens of republican lawmakers in wisconsin and arizona to overturn joe biden's electoral college victory. the house committee is expected to hold its last public hearing on wednesday, september 28. the house of representatives has approved a bill to reform the electoral count act in an effort to prevent a repeat of january 6, 2021. the legislation clarifies that the vice president has no power to overturn the votes cast by the electoral college. it would also make it harder for lawmakers to object to a state's electoral votes. 203 house republicans voted to reject the bill, prompting democrats to accuse them of siding with insurrectionists. this is democratic house speaker nancy pelosi. >> to all those who oppose this legislation, i ask you, how could anyone vote against free and fair elections, a

cornerstone of our constitution? amy: in russia, protests erupted in moscow, saint petersburg, and at least three dozen other cities wednesday after president vladimir putin announced plans to mobilize 300,000 additional troops to fight in ukraine. in moscow, demonstrators chanting, "nyet voinye!" or "no to war!" were met by officers in riot gear who dragged them into police buses. a russian human rights monitor says similar scenes played out across almost russian cities as 40 police arrested nearly 1400 people wednesday. russia and ukraine have agreed to a swap that will see 215 ukrainian prisoners of war releas in exchange for 5 prisoners ld by kyiv, including a ukrainian businessman and ally of russian president vladimir putin. among those set to be released are members of the ukraine azov

regiment, which fought a weeks-long battle against russia in the city of mariupol before finally surrendering in may. meanwhile, russian-backed separatists in eastern ukraine have released two u.s. citizens and eight other foreign nationals as part of a complex prisoner exchange. the deal was brokered by saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman and turkish president recep tayyip erdogan. here in new york, president biden address the united nations general assembly wednesday calling on nations to give more weapons and aid to ukraine while condemning lender puts invasion as a threat to the u.n. charter and democracy. pres. biden: without consequences, then we put at risk everything this very institution stands for. amy: ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy also addressed the general assembly sang in a rare video address that "a crime is been committed against ukraine anwe deman just punishment." the u.s. senate has ratified an

amendment to an international treaty that seeks to phase out the use of hydro-fluorocarbons, or hfc's, chemicals commonly used in refrigerators and air conditioners that contribute to the climate emergency. hfc's emerged as a popular substitute to fluorocarbons, which are largely banned under the montreal protocol, a 1987 treaty to end the use of chemicals that deplete the earth's protective ozone layer. but hfc's are extremely potent greenhouse gases, trapping heat in the atmosphere about a thousand times more effectively than carbon dioxide. on thursday, 69 senators voted to amend the montreal protocol to phase out the use of hfc's. senate democratic majority leader chuck schumer celebrated the move. >> experts say phasing out our use of hfc's will help prevent up to half a degree celsius of warming by the end of the century.

ratifying the amendment, along with passing the inflation reduction act, is the strongest 1-2 punch against climate change in it congress has ever undertaken. amy: joe manchin has unveiled a bill that was beat federal review of energy projects, shortened public comment periods on proposed fossil fuel projects, while weakening and by mental and public health laws. it would also fast-track approval of the mountain valley pipeline which would carry frack to gas across his home state of west virginia. food and water watch last of the legislation as "shameless and out to the fossil fuel industry, agreement for oil and gas companies to keep on digging, drilling, fracking, and polluting," they said. the former minneapolis police officer who pinned george floyd's legs to the pavement while fellow officer derek chauvin choked him to death was

sentenced to three years in prison by a minnesota court on wednesday. thomas lane had pleaded guilty in may to a second-degree manslaughter charge in connection with floyd's murder in may of 2020. lane is already serving a 30-month federal prison term for violating floyd's civil rights. the federal reserve has voted to raise u.s. interest rates for the third consecutive time, bringing the cost of borrowing money from the treasury above 3%. fed chair jerome powell acknowledged wednesday the move could lead the u.s. enter recession, but said the need to battle inflation outpaces the economic slowdown. the housing market is headed for correction and said u.s. unemployment remains too low with demand r labor outpacing supply. >> the labor market continues to be out of balance with demand for workers substantially exceeding the supply of available workers. y: the fed interest rate hikes have punted the schism. massachusetts democratic senator elizabeth warren tweeted -- "i've been warning that chair powell's fed would throw

millions of americans out of work and i fear he's already on the path to doing so." and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman, joined by my democracy now! co-host nermeen shaikh. hi, nermeen. nermeen: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. former president donald trump suffered two major legal setbacks wednesday. new york attorney general letitia james filed a civil lawsuit against donald trump, three of his adult children, and other executives at the trump organization, accusing them of widespread financi fraud. james accused the trumps of inflating their business's net worth by billions of dollars, while deceiving lenders, insurers, and tax officials with false and misleading financial statements. >> claiming you have money that you do not have does not amount to the art of the deal, it

amounts to the art of the steal. amy: in a second legal setback for trump, a three-judge panel of the 11th circuit court of appeals ruled the justice department can resume its use of classified records seized at his mar-a-lago estate in its investigation of trump's mishandling of government documents. the judges, including two wh were aointed btrump, rejeed key pts of anrder byeder districjudge aien cannon that put the doj's investigation on hold while a special master reviews the documents. to talk about these two stories, we are joined by the pulitzer prize-winning investigative reporter david cay johnston, who has been covering trump since the 1980's. he is co-founder of dcreport.org and author of many books, including, "it's even worse than you think: what the trump administration is doing to america." david cay johnston, welcome back to democracy now!

let's start with letitia james. talk about the civil suit against donald trump and his three adult children. >> the leticia james lawsuit identifies 200 acts of fraud, in some cases trump overvalued real estate owned by 65 times. worse for trump, donald often says when something is amiss, "i just it with the lawyers told me to do, ""i just did what counsel told me to do." james shows that trump got an appraisal for one of his buildings in manhattan of $200 million. he then valued it at more than $500 million and a financial statement attributed to the value of the appraiser's. real estate can involve ranges. you sell your house is worth $300,000 frothe tax says it is

worth three had a $50,000. you're not -- 350,000 does. you're not going to be able to assert that is $3000. that is effectively what donald was doing. by inflating his net worth, he was able to borrow more money and boow on better terms, which hurts all of the rest of us. andy deflating the values for property tax purposes, he avoided paying the amount of property tax he should have paid so it s a double win for him and he is gotten away with this for decades. now he's going have to answer in civil court. amy: talk about the significance of this, what he and his children face, and the fact that although this is civil, could bring down his empire in new york, he -- letitia james is also referring this for criminal

charges to the irs and the manhattan da. >> let's do the civil side first. you and i as natural persons have a right to our life most of corporations are artificial persons. they are creatures of the ate and exist only by the grace of the state and their compliance with the law. she is proposing the trump organization and its affiliated organizations, thesese corporations, be put out of existence. she has -- she wants the court to rule he may not serve on any board. he could still own property, but he would have to use his own name which exposes him to all sorts of legal liability. he would not be able to borrow any money from any bank that is certified to be a bank in new york, which means if you wants to borrow money, he would have to end up going to some rural bank in the middle of iowa. all of this is devastating to

his business. and the same restrictions would apply to his three older children and two of his former executives. keep in mind, the new york state attorney general's office, which only has civil authority, previously got the fake trump anniversary shut down and the trump foundations, which was a fraud, and collected damages. on the criminal side, letitia james' office has been working with alvin bragg, the manhattan district attorney, on his criminal case. he killed the criminal case on racketeering but bragg apparently has continued to look into trump in the area of taxes. it is very clear that civil complaint may sound what he verified and found by court to be true are criminal actions, many criminal actions by trump, his children, the other

executives, and the companies themselves. she has also referred this to the southern district of new york, the federal prosecutors in manhattan, and to the internal revenue service. nermeen: david, could you also talk about the legal setback that trump has faced, the three-judge panel of the 11th circuit court of appeals ruling that the justice department can resume its use of classified records seized at his mar-a-lago estate and its investigation of trump's mishandling of government documents? talk about the significance of that and whether you think overall this may disqualify trump from running for president in the next election. >> donald trump's mar-a-lago was a search warrant. unarmed fbi agents, not wearing jackets, came executed a search warrant. trump then went to court.

a judge he appointed wrote one of the most incoherent decisions by a judge i have ever read in my life. aileen cannon did not seem to even understand the fbi as part of the intelligence community in the u.s. she banned the fbi and justice department from pursuing with the use of these documents whether donald trump had endangered american national security, particularly the identities of spies and cooperating agents. thjustice department appealed this decision and a three-judge panel on the 11th circuit, two of the judges appointed by donald trump -- 15 barack obama -- -- one by barack obama, all agree this is nonsense. in legal terms, they slapped her around for being an idiot. they said of course the justice department, go back and continue

to use these documents in an effort to assess how much damage has been done to an american national security and pursue the criminal cases. this is very, very bad for donald trump. the government has made clear they're looking at trump for violations of the espionage act. there is a fundamental question of where are the missing files that according to the justice department identy people who might be, for example, a high-level official inside of the kremlin or tehran or other place providing us with useful information. this is very bad for trump. amy: david cay johnston, thank you for being with us, pulitzer prize-winning investigative reporter, co-founder and editor of dcreport.org. coming up, protests are escalating in iran after a 22-year-old woman died in police custody after being detained for allegedly improperly wearing an

hijab. we will speak with the deputy foreign minister of cuba later. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. protests continued to escalate in iran after 22-year-old kurdish woman died in the custody of iran's so-called morality police.

the woman, mahsa amini, died after being detained for allegedly leaving some of her hair visible in violation of an iranian law requiring women to cover their heads. this is that she was severely beaten in a police van and later hospitalized in a,, died friday. in a bid to quality protest jeanette access has been restricted and parts of iran and access to whatsapp and instagram have been curbed. at least seven protesters have reportedly been killed. video please show women burning their hijabs. -- videos online show women burning their hijabs. joining us is negar mortazavi, iranian-american journalist and political analyst. she is host of the iran podcast. talk about the significant first of her death, of this young woman's death, and these mass protests that have erected across iran. >> we've seen in iranians have seen [indiscernible]

capturing the violence of this morality police -- it has turned into harassment against women and simon on the streets -- women and some men on the streets. arresting women violently, throwing them in police van. so this anger and the violence they are committing has been building up for years. and then the death of this young woman or essentially the killing of her while she was in custody of the morality police, arrested, thrown in a van, taken to detention center she was supposed to "go through a

training on how to dress" and ended up in a hospital and her body was given to her family. the anger has been building up for years amongst women and also men the many women see themselves in mahsa amini, many men see their sisters or daughters. this could be any of us. this could happen to any of us and the hands of the orality police. the anger is in list. it has been building up. nermeen: you mentioned there unbelievable images coming out of iran of many protests being led by women, women burning their hijabs,omen cutting off their hair in front of hundreds if not thousands of people who are cheering. i mean, can you talk about this unprecedented act of defiance and where you think this might lead? >> women have been pushing back

and resisting against the morality police individually -- this time it seems like a collective pushback coming to the street and these iconic images as you said, basically saying enough is enough and they are fed up with this mandatory dress code being forced on them. we see images of women going there scarves in fire which in the past you see women take off there scarves and it put it back on. we need throat in the fire when you throw in the fire -- cutting the hair is a sign of anger. showing they want to take control of their own bodies, their dignity, their rights. it is incredible, this bravery of the yng generation.

women in their 20's, university udents protesting. they are risking their lives because we also see very violent crackdown of security forces shooting at protesters. those who are on the street are really putting their lives on the line trying to demand their rights and equality. nermeen: there's also very strong class into the way mahsa amini was targeted. could you talk about the importance of the region she was from, the kurdish region of iran . she was simply visiting tehran, does not live there. and her origins and her origins in this relatively poor disenfranchised and rural area? >> sure. mahsa amini is from the kurdish area in the western border of iran. an area where the kurdish

minority live. there has been so much tension and essentially pressure, repression on this minority community from the central government. tensions are always high in that region. being -- the morality police picked on all kinds of women from all walks of life. but when the protests broke out, the funeral of her family -- the pressure is being subjected to being from that minority area has become even more severe. there protests in that area for her killing has become violent, meaning the crackdown in that area has become violent and the state is try to repress any form of dissent in that specific area. as far as the morality police and especially people who live

in tehran, they are saying essentially she was visiting our city, she was a guest in our city, under the capital, and this is how she was treated by the forces, by the police forces . essentially, her body was given to her family. amy: the iranian president address the u.s. honestly yesterday. your response to what he said and what about the number protesters who have been killed or bean so far in iran? >> the iranian president spoke a lot about inequality and injustice and rights violations by other countries with a lot of emphasis on the u.s. and how the u.s. has wronged iran, but there wasn't much about what was actually going on inside iran. no mention of mahsa amini or the ordeal of family is going through. there was another leader, believed the chilean president, who actually mentioned mahsa amini's name and a few others

who talked about women's rights in their fight for dignity in iran. the protest was not really addressed, although the president has announced he has a team investigating the reason or what led to mahsa amini's death -- the population isery skeptical of the situation in the past. not putting a lot of trust into what would come out of it. overall, it just seems like they want to ignore the international attention being given to what is happening inside iran, while the protesters and the people on the ground are asked really asking -- are actually asking for international support to help them raise their cause into a global stage. nermeen: could you talk about the fact another striking feature of these protests is they are not just concentrated

either in the region that mahsa amini was from, the kurdish region, or tehran, but also there has been massive protest in cities that have religious significance for the sheer majority -- shia majority. could you talk about the significance of that? sure. there protests have said to large and small cities -- i think at this .2 dozen cities and small towns across the country because this is a reality of the everyday life of the iranian woman. there have been numerous stories, many stories of women who go outside and are being stopped by the morality police because the supposed agent did not deem what they were wearing islamic enough. it is very subjective.

it is not clear who they stop, what they stop, what is or isn't appropriate. certain people with more resources, if they're in their own car, if they're in their houses in their neighborhood seem to be getting away with this harassment. and women who are present in the public state and into is cities, take the metro like mahsa amini did, take the bus, go to work, seem to be subjected to more harassment by the morality police. it spreads -- she said, religious cities. because this is the reality of every woman who is living in any part of iran and they are angry about it. they see themselves in mahsa amini, this 22-year-old woman, not even from tehran, visiting a large city, and this happening to her. nermeen: we just have a minute, could you talk about the extent to which the protests are also

about the economic situation in iran, 50% inflation, the currency at an all-time low? and how that is tied to the continuing u.s. sanctions, maximum pressure sanctions against iran? >> it is not centered on the economy, but that is the underlying reason. it has been building over the years. the economic situation, political repression, social, cultural on film makers, political activists. it is been ilding up and has nobeen addreed by the state. also with the nuclear deal, there does not seem be any talks for sanctions really for the country, which could give economic benefits. this situation seems to be continuing in the last for years, and it is building up t grievaes and the anger, espeally the young population

does not see a future for themselves, a lot of opportunities. they also feel like their dignity and their basic right has been violated by the state so violently to the point of this woman's death. [indiscernible] dignity-centered issues but the underlying grievances are economic, political, social, and even cultural. amy: negar mortazavi, thank you for being with us iranian-american journalist and , political analyst. host of the iran podcast. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. we turn to look at the comp between armenia and azerbaijan. 200 troops died earlier this month and the latest round of violence between the two neighbors in the south caucus region for some the violence appears to have stopped for now as the two sides agreed to a truce. earlier this week, secretary of

state tony blinkenet with the foreign ministers of both countries on the sidelines of the u.n. general assembly. over the weekend, nancy pelosi visited armenia and accused azerbaijan of initiating t latest round of violence. we are joined now in the capital by roubina margossian reported from the disputed region, the center of the conflict, a and photojournalist for evn report. welcome back to democracy now! could expend what happened and whether you think this truce will hold? for a global audience that may not be focused on this conflict right now? >> thank you for having me. what happened is the situation turn into at it is now, the conflict in the night of the 13th. need to go back and explain what happened in the last 30 years

[indiscernible] this soviet union collapsed. since 2004, basically had -- not a resolution to the conflict. 2020, azerbaijan attacked, including the seven territories under armenia control. but we had the last two years, a

statement brokered by russia and it was more or less -- [indiscernible] this is not armenia proper. what we are seeing now is an attack on the sovereign territory of armenia. the three regions of armenia. [indiscernible] azerbaijan was not very happy of the outcome of victory. azerbaijan feels there should more -- nermee could you explain why you think azerbaijan carried out this massive artillery bombardment within armenia now?

talk about the significance of this happening now. >> the significance of this happening now, the discussion of a peace deal. the borders between the country -- two countries have not [indiscernible] this creates a problem. however, we have been rognized internationally so there are borders, they're just not marked whicich is a normal situation among a lot of states. [indiscernible] in the november 9 agreement, statement, there's talk of

opening communication between armenia and azerbaijan in the region and also between azerbaijan and -- would be very well connected. what azerbaijan has since tried to interpret since the november 9 statement, armenia sovereign corridor. which there is no such wording in the state in which i have read over and over again. -- there is no such wording in the statement, which i've read over and over again. [indiscernible]

nermeen: explain what the regional situation is, the fact azerbaijan receives massive support from turkey, both economic as well as military, whereas armenia was historically he strategic ally of -- key strategic ally of russia. how is this playing out in the fact that when nancy pelosi was there, she likened the situation that armenia is in now to that of taiwan and ukraine. do you agree with that? >> well, definitely -- the thing is, haven't prior to happened prior to ukraine.

[indiscernible] what we see now is a little bit more vocal support for armenia, nofor the country but because of democracy. armenia is one of the few, if not only, developing democracies. of course we have georgia, but it seems like georgia -- despite the political situation, continuing to move forward. i think this is the one thing that has changed where armenia was recognized, valued as democratic country in this region that is in dire need of more democracy. [indiscernible] amy: and the fact prescott has

weighed in, that he rebuked nancy pelosi saying her loud announcements are not helpful. the criminal spokesman saying a quite a businesslike approach to armenian conflict will bear fruit. where you think this is headed? >> the comments come from peskov and -- [indiscernible] armenia has more of a balanced relationship. yes, it is very -- people perceive armenia as more russian-oriented. we have seen that is not true.

this is not the first tech on armenian sovereign territory. there was summer situation two years ago and armenia d appeal -- [indiscernible] dissent military help or help. the response was not -- [indiscernible] nermeen: finally, we just have a minute. if you could comment on that question of turkey's support for azerbaijan, effectively against

armenia, and of course the history of turkey and armenia deeply associated, of course, with the genocide of the armenian people during world war i? >> the support is nothing new. [indiscernible] has been very vocal. this also, unfortunately, the narrative especially any recent years azerbaijan and turkey are one nation, two countries. if you look at the map, armenia is right in the middle.

i know this is an exaggeration and it is not necessarily what is happening right now, but if armenia was a weaker state, it would be [indiscernible] amy: roubina margossian, thank you for being with us writer and , a photojournalist who writes for evn report. coming up, cuba's deputy foreign minister carlos fernández de cossío. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. many of the world leaders addressing the u.n. general assembly this week have called for the united states to lift its 60-year economic blockade on cuba, including argentina's president alberto fernández and honduran president xiomara castro. the body is set to vote for the 30th year in a row this fall in favor of a resolution to end the u.s. blockade. cuba's foreign minister bruno rodriguez addressed the assembly wednesday. >> the u.s. government continues to ignore -- almost encouragement of the illegal

policies. it persists in its effort to generate serial shortages, scarcity, and suffering, so discouragement to satisfy -- amy: on wednesday, the united states announced it will fully toward cuban immigrant visa applicants, saying it will fully resume processing of the visas. in 2017, the trump administration started requiring applicants to be processed at the u.s. embassy in guyana. some have been best north by republican governors, along with venezuelans and nicaraguans. this is cuba's foreign minister addressing the u.n. >> we urge the government of united states to solve the

issues which fuel irregular migration and promote the loss of life, such as its failure since 2017 [indiscernible] to grant no less than 20,000 annual pieces for migrants. [indiscernible] amy: for more we're joined by carlos fernández de cossío, cuba's deputy foreign minister. welcome to democracy now! thank you for joining us. if you can talk about the biden administration, do you see real changes from the trumpet administration? you told ap you met recently with the biden administration officials, while they don't agree with keeping cube on the state sponsors of terrorism, it has to be done anyway for political reasons.

where is the chain? >> thank you for having me. the announcement yesterday, try to correct one of the first measures from the trump administration against cuba and against the policies that had achieved progress and relationship between 2015 and 2016, the last which measures including cuba and the list of countries that allegedly sponsor terrorism. yes, we have had talks with the u.s. government. we have official channels of communication. those were never interrupted. we have expressed there is no foundation to have cuba on that list. but we have not received any arguments, any evidence, any reasons why cuba should continue to be on the list where it never should have been. the reason is not said openly, but the reason one can only understand that not to be

changed are political reasons, dealing more with domestic and u.s. than with the real fight against terrorism, having to do or with bilateral than international relations. nermeen: deputy foreign minister, if you could talk about what the affect of these continuing sections are with cuba, particularly now given the jewel effects of -- dual effects of the russian invasion of ukraine and its ripple effects, and the high rate of inflation, the devaluation of the peso, the widespread blackouts, as well as long queues for basic commodities. and that pandemic, lockouts associate with the pandemic that also had terrible effects on people in cuba. if you could talk about the economic situation there? >> for this to be understood,

americans would have to think what it would imply for their livelihoods and for the economy of the u.s. if -- the larger,, for example, the appearing union, stop all sales to the u.s. and all purchases from the u.s.. enterprise the u.s. and the possibility of american citizens from doing financial transactions in europe or in other parts of the world stop or if the united states economy all of the sudden could not export weapons anymore, just to give you one feature of an important factor. the arms industry could not export weapons, what would be the effect of the u.s. economy? if a country smaller than them like mexico were to stop you can a mike relationship towards the united states? you can multiply that, you can see the impact of cuba when an economy with an overwhelming impact and weight around the world had the capacity to put obstacles to

cuba's transactions to any country around the world, commercially, financially, and technology. all of that has a huge impact in the livelihood and standard of living on the cuban population. the worst is that is by design. the aim of united states policy since the 1960's has to make life as difficult and unbearable as possible for the people of cuba, with the ambition that would lead to the overthrow of the government. that is the impact for the people of cuba. amy: if you could talk about president biden calling cuba a failed state. that is interesting. in terms of health care, recent figures show cubans can expect to live to 79. for the first time in the united states, life expectancy has dropped -- first time in a century. several years, as numbers dropped to 76. can you talk about cuba's health care system and also how you

dealt with covid, the difference between united states and cuba and your development of vaccines? >> declaring cuba are calling cuba a failed state seemed like a confession of wishful thinking. that is been the policy of united states, to make cuba what it is not. if you compare cuba to the u.s. in education, in the guarantee of quality health care for all, in science and technology, there is no way anyone with a sensible mine would call cuba a failed state. even though as i said -- cuba has come out of the covid pandemic with our own resources as a result of our robust danger of our public health system and scientific results and the fact we produced our own vaccines. not one, but five candidates, through which were applied.

the ones that had a major role in solving -- cuba continues to thrive in art, education, science, sports in spite of the very difficult economic conditions we have. those are not the characteristics of a failed state. nermeen: foreign minister, if you could respond to some of the criticisms that have been made not by the u.s. government but by human rights groups about the extent to which there has been a crackdown on dissent and fears now the recent penal code that was approved in cuba may lead to even more punitive responses against dissent and less freedom of expression for those who oppose the government? >> that is a narrative deliberately crafted by the u.s. government to justify changes in policy introduced by the trump administration. and continues to be repeated. the new penal code in cuba has been a step forward.

it incorporates some of the most progressive legal issues regarding criminal activity, regarding respect for the people who participate, for the people were prosecuted. it is a step forward in line with some of the most progressive instruments under that nature promoted by the united nations. amy: can you talk about the referendum that cubans will vote on this sunday, the new code the glazing same-sex marriage in civil unions allowing same-sex couples to adopt children, it would also allow prenuptial agreements and circuit pregnancies if there nonprofit -- surrogate pregnancies if they are nonprofit. explain where this came from and what you expect to happen. >> what we're going to vote on is what we call the family code. it will replace their previous family code and this one is -- this one is plural because it is based on the concept there

different types of families. it has many features that modernize our family code, which is outdated. it was progressive in the 1970's but today with the cultural revolution, ethical evolution and cuba, it tries to incorporate the most advanced characteristics of families in terms of children, the rights of women, the rights of people to form a communion without having to depend on a legal instrument and yet have the rights in terms of inheritance, property, people are married have. it does not try to define based on gender or political orientation. it provides many new rights for the population without taking away any of existing rights. that is in synthesis the basis

but this code. it is controversial because it breaks with traditional prejudices, sometimes religious considerations with patterns of thinking but we are sure it will have to support of the majority of the cuban population and because of this controversy, it was considered there was a need for a referendum and that is what we are planning to do on sunday. nermeen: deputy foreign minister, out would like to ask about the foreign policy of cuba, in particular with respect to the russian invasion of ukraine when there was a vote in march where the majority of countries condemned the invasion and cuba then abstained and then more recently the majority of the general simply voted in favor of allowing ukraine of president zelenskyy to submit a prerecorded speech but cuba joined belarus,

nicaragua, north korea, russia, and syria in voting against. if you could talk about what cuba's position is on this war? >> for some years now, we have been alerting the dangerous path taken by the u.s. trying to push nato in an aggressive position threatening russia. it would be naïve and it was naïve to expect russia would not react one moment or the other. we and our position, we say there is a huge responsibility by the u.s. government by pushing nato in an aggressive position against russia. at the same time, cuba cannot support and does not support the transgression of the sovereign borders or sovereignty of territory of any country. that explains our abstention at took place in the u.n. we also have a great support for

some of the resolutions that were quoted in that resolution. we clearly see there's been a path -- not only with russia -- by the u.s. to act as an aggressive edge among trying to tear down or put down any country that is seems eventually could be unraveled to the united states. that is another way to conduct international relations. it only serves u.s. big corporate interest. it does not serve the people of the united states. it does not serve the people around the world. international law is a transgression of peace and secured for all nations. and go your response to the mass protest in russia right now as president putin has declared that he will now send 300,000 more troops to ukraine? >> if a domestic issue of russia, we will not respond to that as we have domestic mass

protests in the united states every now and then. amy: your response to president biden, now saying he will soon spend $6.25 million in so-called democracy promotion funding aimed at toppling the cuban government. you said in any nation this is illegal. explain. >> it is illegal to try to overthrow the government of any country and spending millions of dollars of u.s. taxpayers money to try to overthrow the government and cuba, you can claim it is for democracy, claim it for the protection, but everybody who has a little information and understands history knows that united states cannot accept and does not want to accept a government in this region that is not subject to the demands of corporate interests, whose government cannot be bought with money or politicians response to the people and not who pays the

most. or we can carry out social health -- amy: five seconds was close without having to ask permission of the international monetary fund. amy: carlos fernández de cossío, he was deputy foreign minister, thank you for speaking to us from new york.

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