captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> lehrer: good evening. i'm jim lehrer. new polls today showed public confidence in president obama at an all-time low. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. on the newshour tonight, a majority of americans polled said they lacked faith in the president and in the way he's ndled the economy. we look at how the tide is turning and what that means for the midterm elections with newshour political editor, david chalian. >> lehrer: then, we flesh out public opinion with pbs correspondents in sacramento,

california, rochester, new york, and hampton roads, virginia. >> ifill: spencer michels has the story of a california man who is fighting poverty in kenya by selling pumps to poor farmers. >> it won't break down. very lightweight. you can carry it to the field. the farmer doesn't have a screwdriver in rural africa. >> lehrer: margaret warner gets an update on cuba after the first of 52 freed political prisoners arrive in spain. >> ifill: and ray suarez has another report on haiti six months after the earthquake. >> suarez: in an interview with the newshour, haiti's president preval says his government is embarked on expensive reconstruction work with only a fraction of the money on hand needed to finish it. he's hoping the international community will come to haiti's aid. >> lehrer: that's all ahead n tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible

by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> lehrer: president obama countered some down poll numbers today with a trumpet note for his wall street reform plan and the selection of a new budget director. mr. obama hailed the senate's progress on a financial reform bill as a "breakthrough." >> three republican senators have put politics and partisanship aside to support this reform. and i am grateful for their decision, as well as all the democrats who've worked so hard to make this reform a reality. >> stahl: with the backing of those three republicans-- susan collins and olympia snowe of maine, and scott brown of massachusetts-- democrats now have the 60 votes needed to overcome a g.o.p. filibuster. the president then pivoted to

his nomination of jack lew to serve as director of the office of management and budget. lew held the same position in the clinton administration from 1998 to 2001, and he would replace peter orszag, who is leaving at the end of the month. >> if there was a hall of fame for budget directors, then jack lew surely would have earned a place for his service in that role under president clinton, when he helped balance the federal budget after years of deficits. >> lehrer: if confirmed, lew would inherit a budget deficit which has already exceeded a trillion dollars, with a quarter of the fiscal year still left to come. at the same time, a new "washington post"/abc news poll shows the president's handling of the federal budget deficit is the weakest of any issue surveyed. just 40% approve of mr. obama's handling of the deficit, while 56% disapprove. the poll also found that 54%

disapprove of the president's handling of the economy. and when respondents were asked how much confidence they had in the president to make the right decisions for the country's future, 57% said "just some" or "none at all." still, americans showed greater confidence in mr. obama than congressional democrats, who lacked confidence from 67% of those surveyed. republicans fared even worse, at 73%. to help us sort through poll numbers, here's newshour political editor david chalian. david, first of all, is there a message in these numbers that is relevant to these upcoming midterm elections? >> no doubt about it. if you are a member of congress seeking re-election, you may want to think about another line of work because there's no doubt in these numbers we're seeing nearly 7 in 10 americans, jim, say they don't want to re-elect their member. they want to look around and see who else is out there. the anti-incumbent, anti-washington sentiment that

has been running so strong gets further enforced in these numbers. >> lehrer: it is basically bipartisan. >> it is but there are a lot more democrats sitting there up on capitol hill than republicans so it is bipartisan but the democrats will get the brunt of this. >> lehrer: explain the worst news here for president obama. >> well, take a look at this number here. this is the number that scares the white house the most because it has to do with economic outlook. not just how people feel bereft that they're out of a job now but what may be coming. only 27%, jim, a quarter of the country says that the economy is getting better. the whole rest of the country, three quarters say it's getting worse or staying the same. that is very hard in the ronald reagan theory of, you know, you need to be optimistic to appeal to american voters. that's not a very optimistic electorate. >> lehrer: is there any good news in these polls for president obama and the democrats. >> the press secretary pointed to the fact that when you still ask the basic question who do you trust to handle the economy, voters are still

saying they trust democrats over republicans. but that's not translating into their choice between republicans and democrats for the congressional ballot. >> lehrer: you've got specifics on that. >> i do. take a look at this. among independent voters, the key swing group, 53% of likely independent voters say they are going to vote for the republican candidate. only 36% say democrats. you remember in 2006 and 2008 the democrats swept to power because of the independents swinging their way. this is a critical bloc this election season. it's not just about energizing both bases. you have to appeal to the middle. right now the democrats are losing that argument. >> lehrer: they're losing it because of the economy primarily. >> there's no doubt about it. you mentioned the poll numbers inside your piece there. in terms of how obama's approval is on the economy, that has dropped seven points since just last month. that's with him passing financial regulatory reform or

still seeing some job growth. yet the country is still decreasing in its appreciation for how he's handling the economy. that's not where they want it to be heading into the fall season. >> lehrer: is that just the basic unsettling that people feel about the economy no matter what the numbers are, no matter what the politicians say? >> because it hasn't turned around enough. they still are either themselves out of work or know somebody out of work. we have not seen even though we're seeing the economy itself grow, we have not seen the kind of monthly jobs numbers being added, private- sector jobs, added to this economy to actually alter the perception that the economy has turned around. right now the american electorate is stuck into thinking things are just getting worse or staying the same. >> lehrer: analyze these numbers for the republicans. >> well, the republicans a giddy about those independent numbers. >> lehrer: giddy? >> in the sense that they know that that is the.... >> lehrer: they can't win without them. >> exactly. here's the thing. republicans are a little wary. you have to be concerned if you're a republican. the brand of the republican

party that was so badly diminisheded at the end of the bush years in the second bush term that led to obama's victory, they're not completely rehabilitated. you saw the number that 73% of voters don't necessarily have faith in the republicans to solve the country's problems and get it on the right track. the thing that the republicans have going for them is the country may not be looking for an alternative right now. voters are so angry at what is that they may be willing to take a risk on what is next without actually buying into the republican argument. >> lehrer: okay. david, now i get it. >> i'm glad. >> lehrer: thank you very much. >> thank you. >> ifill: still to come on the newshour: discontent trickles down to the states; a tool to fight poverty; freedom for political prisoners; and haiti's president, rene preval. but first, with the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan in our newsroom. >> sreenivasan: the u.s. trade deficit hit an 18-month peak in may. the commerce department reported the trade gap widened nearly 5% to $42.3 billion.

imports and exports were up, but the import surge indicated consumers could spend more down the road. that news, combined with good second quarter earnings reports, translated on wall street. the dow jones industrial average gained more than 146 points to close at 10,363. the nasdaq rose 43 points to close at 2,242. b.p. prepared to begin gradual tests of its new, tighter containment cap on the blown-out oil well at the bottom of the gulf of mexico. for the first time in months, news about the efforts to contain the spill struck a positive note. >> it's been a very consequential 24 hours in the lifecycle of this response. >> sreenivasan: the freshly installed cap maneuvered into place monday evening. remote-controlled robotic arms slowly placed it over the gushing well, a mile below the gulf's surface. retired coast guard admiral thad allen is in charge of the government response. >> i think we are very confident we can take control of this hydrocarbon stream, and then slowly close all these valves and stop the emission of hydrocarbons. what we can't tell is the

current condition of the well board below the sea floor and the implication of the pressure readings. >> sreenivasan: the only oil now escaping is coming from a perforated pipe on top of the 30-foot stack, just as engineers intended. over the next 48 hours, they will slowly close three valves to test if the cap can withstand the pressure from the billowing oil. the pressure is measured in pounds per square inch, or p.s.i. >> it may be counterintuitive to some-- in this exercise, high pressure is good. we have a considerable amount of pressure down on the reservoir, forcing the hydrocarbons up through the well board. we are looking for somewhere between 8,000 and 9,000 in p.s.i. inside the capping stack, which would indicate to us that the hydrocarbons are being forced up and the well board is being able to withstand that pressure. >> sreenivasan: a low pressure reading would indicate leaks in the well, perhaps beneath the sea floor, and could complicate, or halt, the process. engineers should know by thursday if the procedure is working.

the cap's installation was good news to weary, out-of-work fisherman in louisiana. >> every time they tried something, it worked a little better. so, hopefully, this one here will work better than the last one. they are trying. there was a big mistake there, but they are trying, i guess. >> sreenivasan: if it is successful, along with other measures, b.p. hopes to capture almost all of the oil spewing from the well. but the cap is still a temporary solution. a permanent fix won't come until next month, when one of two relief wells being drilled reaches the broken well and begins choking it with mud and cement. the obama administration unveiled a new strategy to combat the spread of h.i.v. and aids in the u.s. the plan aims to reduce the rate of new infections by 25% over the next five years, and treat 85% of patients within three months of being diagnosed. but it does not increase funding. instead it, directs government agencies to implement more coordinated policies. health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius aimed to emphasize the urgency.

>> we refuse to accept a steal mate, to dig in and just hold the disease at bay. we want to be moving forward. we want to see infections going down once again. access to care increasing, and awareness expanding. the strategy we're releasing today is not an end of our work. it's just the beginning. >> sreenivasan: a uniteded nations report on aids in africa found >> sreenivasan: a united nations report on aids in africa found the number of young people infected with the h.i.v. virus there is falling. it dropped by at least 25% in a dozen countries. the decrease was attributed to people having fewer sexual partners and increasing condom use. the death toll from twin bombings in uganda rose to 76 today, and investigators found evidence the blasts could have been even worse. the bombs hit fans watching sunday's world cup final in the capital city of kampala. however, investigators found an unexploded suicide vest with ball bearings, just like the ones used this weekend in a suburban disco. four foreign suspects have been arrested in connection with the

discovery. heavy rains in western china triggered landslides in three mountain hamlets today. at least 17 people died and more than 40 others are missing. meanwhile, crews raced to drain a swollen reservoir in the east. at one point, the water rose to almost four feet above warning level. forecasters expect more rain to fall over the next three days. secretary of state hillary clinton said today a previously missing iranian nuclear scientist is free to go back to iran. shahram amiri is taking refuge at pakistan's embassy in washington. he vanished more than a year ago, and the iranian government claims he was abducted by the u.s. amiri himself has made conflicting claims, and in march there were media reports that he had defected to the u.s. and was helping the c.i.a. the u.s. denies charges he was being held against his will. a federal appeals court threw out a government ban on broadcast indecency today. the panel of three judges concluded the rule was unconstitutionally vague and could create a chilling effect on free speech beyond "fleeting

expletives". the rule allowed broadcasters to be fined for allowing even a single curse word on live television. the court said the f.c.c. might be able to craft a policy that does not violate the right to free speech. there was news today the drug maker glaxo smith kline knew 11 years ago that its diabetes drug avandia could cause serious heart problems. "the new york times" reported that the company spent all that time hiding important data about the drug from the public and the food and drug administration. separately today, a panel of f.d.a. advisers began meeting to consider whether to pull avandia from the market or restrict its sale. a recommendation is expected tomorrow. the longtime owner of major league baseball's new york yankees, george steinbrenner, died today in florida. newshour correspondent kwame holman has more. >> holman: he was known simply as "the boss." >> start of spring training! >> holman: george steinbrenner owned baseball's iconic team, the new york yankees, and was himself an icon who dominated the sport. >> when you put the pinstripes

on, you're not just putting a baseball uniform on; you're wearing tradition and you're wearing pride. and you're going to wear it the right way. >> holman: in 1973, with the storied franchise at a low ebb, he bought the team for $10 million. he recruited top stars, made the yankees champions again, and ushered in a free-spending era that drove player salaries sky high. steinbrenner's brashness was controversial, and carried over to his players earning the yankees the title "the bronx zoo." >> winning is important to me. it's second, second to breathing. breathing is first, winning's second. >> holman: he feuded openly with players, hired and fired 20 team managers in 23 years-- billy martin, alone, five times. >> you're fired. >> you haven't even hired me yet! >> holman: in the 1980s, steinbrenner overspent and the team under-performed, and he briefly was suspended from baseball for trying to undermine star player dave winfield during a contract fight. but in the 1990s came a new roster of yankee legends-to-be. a dynasty was reborn-- four

titles in five years through 2000. >> and the new york yankees are the team of the 20th century! >> holman: and again last fall, a seventh title under and for "the boss". >> yankees win! the yankees win! >> holman: over nearly 40 years steinbrenner built a $1.5 billion franchise, with its own tv network and the priciest payroll in baseball. the cleveland-born scion of a shipping family was a fixture in tampa, the yankees' off-season home, and became known for his low-key philanthropy. steinbrenner had been ill for several years. his last public appearance was at opening day in april. george steinbrenner died this morning of a heart attack. he had turned 80 years old on the fourth of july. >> sreenivasan: those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to gwen. >> ifill: as we heard, voters' concerns over the state of the economy are having a big effect on political attitudes. we take a closer look at how the economy is faring in several

regions around the country and how that's affecting political dynamics. for that, we check in with reporters from public television and radio stations in the northeast, south and out west. julie philipp is the news director for wxxi tv in rochester, new york. cathy lewis is a host at whrv in hampton roads, virginia. and john myers is the statehouse bureau chief for kqed. john myers, i want to start with you because the numbers that jim and david chaian were talking about a few minutes ago are quite interesting. they're just as interesting in california where 53% say the nation is headed in the wrong direction but 54% have a positive view of president obama. how does that work out? >> i think it's an interesting split decision there, gwen. i agree with you. the president certainly still popular, as you said, here in california. we are a blue state, a plurality of democrats here in california. you know, it's hard to know exactly what is driving that pessimism on the wrong track figure. i have a feeling that a lot of it has to do with the economy here in california. we still have one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. 12.4%. we have a state budget crisis yet again.

we've had about $60 billion of deficits over the last three years. we have a $19 billion problem now which i think dragging down the sectors in a lot of parts of the state. there is this concern, this gloom. so you wonder if californians feel as though the president is the guy who is doing the right stuff but whether they're not more concerned about what's happening on capitol hill and what's happening here at the state house in sacramento. >> ifill: it has to do with what's happening on a local level whether it's money for schools or the jobless rate locally? >> yes. keep in mind too that one of the things that is actually... while california's problems are bad now and i said a $19 billion problem that governor arnold schwarzenegger and legislators are trying to resoofl right now, while those problems are bad they could get worse. we know that stimulus funding has been very important to a lot of states especially in california for k-12 education. a lot of the stimulus funds are set to expire very soon. i think that poses a lot of fears, you know, for schools and for local communities all

across california that we haven't seen the worst of the worst. i think that, you know, could explain some of that pessimism. >> ifill: let's go across the country to rochester, new york. in upstate new york, julie, it's really always a much tougher than it is, less optimistic than it is in the rest of the state and the rest of the country. how does that translate now? >> the most recent consumer confidence poll from the seeen a college research institute shows that all of new york and particularly upstate new york are very pessimistic about the economy. they are not planning to buy cars. they're not planning to buy furniture. they're not planning to make any expenses. this is across the board. all demographics. when you ask them about the future, you know, what they expect down the road it's even worse. >> ifill: what's interesting to me about that as well is because you also have a budget gridlock that is happening in your state house in albany. how much of that is driving this attitude? >> i don't think this segment is long enough to even begin to talk about how

dysfunctional the state government has been. this is a longstanding problem. going back decade or more. and new yorkers, while not surprised, are certainly not heartened by what's happening in our capital albany now because they are just unable to agree or even talk in public about a budget. the only reason we have any sort of budget is that when the government was about to be shut down, the governor started putting forth these emergency spending bills to keep it going. they passed those. the very frustrated governor patterson then started putting pieces of his budget proposal on those emergency spending bills so that we would have somewhat of a budget out there. it's not a complete budget. there is no revenue bill to decide, you know, what taxes and revenues will be coming in to help balance the budget which we started the negotiations with over $9 billion in the red. it's just not helping the matter at all.

>> ifill: cathy lewis in hampton roads virginia you have a big military presence and a cushion against some of the economic woes we've seen elsewhere around the country. what is the pessimistic optimistic balance there? >> i think it's very similar, gwen, to what my colleague in california was saying. there is this sense that things are not terrific at the moment but there does not seem to be the propensity to blame president obama. of course as you note, this is a region that is well cushioned from the economic ups and downs by the defense industry which continues to crank along perretee well here. we should note that our economist just released a report that said stimulus funding here and the impact here has been about preserving jobs not so much about creating new ones, that really that's more of the emphasis is keeping the jobs that we have. there's of course great concern as well as my colleagues have noted about the expiration of those funds and what happens on the other end of that. there is some anxiety moving forward around that.

>> ifill: follow up on that because there's been some debate here in washington about the extension of jobless benefits or the failure to extend jobless benefits. is that something people pay attention to or people are discontent and that discontent is focused on washington? or is it statewide? >> i think you only find that level of discontent if you yourself are affected by it. that's my sense on the radio program that i do every day. i don't hear people talking as much about that. what i hear them talking about is the hiring and the jobs are not coming back as quickly as they had hoped that they would. we certainly have construction folks who thought that building was going to pick up much fast every than it did. we have $1.4 billion in stimulus funds that work in the community at the moment. builders are saying it's not picking up as quickly as they thought it would. in some respects i think what we're starting to talk about here is sort of a new normal. we talked about that with regard to the housing market. we talked about that with regard to construction as well. >> ifill: we just heard david

chaian talk about how scared any party ought to be right now as this sort of discontent begins to trickle down. does this have practical impact that you can see in on a local level or a statewide level for these 2010 midterms? you have a big governor's race, a senate race, a couple of senate races or a senate race and you also have a lot of local races and congressional races up in the air. >> i think it will be fascinating, gwen. let's take that senate race first because we always see these national political races, you know, with these interesting parallels and what's going on in a state, what's going on in the country. barbara boxer the incumbent state u.s. senator from california up against carly fiorina the former ceo of hewleltt-packard. you better believe that the economy is going to be part of that. i'm sure president obama will probably be back out here campaigning for senator boxer. and the governor's race as you talked about will be fascinating. most people in california feel as though what they want is leadership. they're looking for leadership.

that explains why arnold schwarzenegger approval rating have been so low. they don't think he's been the right leader. in our race for governor you have a former ceo of ebay meg whitman against the former governor who wants to be governor again jerry browne who is a democrat. they are both preaching leadership. i think this is a fascinating time to watch the intersection of a really really struggling economy and these political dynamics about how you solve it. what you do and what it means to be a leader and get out. >> ifill: julie philip, do you see that same kind of intersection in new york state as well about to collide as we get toward the fall? >> it's interesting, you know. the early polls are showing some anti-incumbent fervor but new york has had anti-incumbent fervor for a decade now. when november comes usually the incumbents remain in office. we're only seeing little pockets of grass root actives, a couple of tea party rallies. one group planned a protest

this weekend at one of the u.s. senator's houses to talk about jobs. but really we're not seeing a whole lot of interest yet even in the races. none none of which are considered to be highly competitive. it's kind of quiet here in new york. >> ifill: how can that be? don't you have a big governor's race heating up there? isn't that affected by what you're seeing down here? >> what has happened is governor patterson originally faced a primary challenge from andrew cuomo. that was how it was expected to play out. governor patterson ended up dropping out of the race in order to try to get a budget passed. he felt perhaps he could be more effective if he weren't a candidate running. that left andrew cuomo on his own against rick lazio who is a credible canned candidate but at this point not a serious threat. that race is not as highly interesting to voters as originally thought to be. political down in virginia?>>in.

the gentleman who was elected the gentleman who was elected out of that process scott rigal is already accused of being a rino. >> ifill: republican in name only. >> thank you, yes. and we did as well, which is complex in this community, we did as well have some tea party activity. the tea party endorsed a different candidate and then at least shortly after the election decided not to endorse the republican nominee. that's a very interesting race. the other one, of course, is congressman perry ello in the fifth district. he knocked off a long-term republican last time around. he is in what very similar circumstance having had i think six or seven republicans lined up to fight for his seat. those two are very interesting particularly in the second because

congressman nye voted against the health care bill as a democrats. some democrats are very unhappy with him for that. i think the take on the part of trat gists was he thought it would help him with republicans. that may not be the case. >> ifill: one of the first things the president said today announcing his new budget chair was to talk about health care and defend the health care bill. listen, thank you all very much. john myers, julie philip and cathy lewis for providing us the intersection of the economy and politics. >> you're welcome. >> thanks, gwen. >> lehrer: next, a california man takes a business approach to combating poverty in africa. newshour correspondent spencer michels reports. >> reporter: it's a strange sight on roof of a building in san francisco . martin fisher, the co-founder

of a nonprofit called kick-start demonstrating a pump called the super money maker that he developed for sale in poor countries mostly in africa. it's a device designed to make a big dent in poverty. >> it is extremely robust. won't break down. very lightweight. you can carry it to the field. you can take the whole thing apart with your hands and put it back together. the farmer doesn't have a screwdriver in rural africa. >> reporter: even cheaper is a hip pump that kick-start also sells. fisher, a mechanical engineer by training and a former fulbright scholar co-founded kick-start ten years ago after discovering that large-scale rural water projects and programs to give farm equipment to poor africans, projects he worked on, failed after a few years. >> it's not very cheap because you have to set up a whole distribution network to give things away. it completely kills local initiative. it kills the local private sector. people don't really appreciate things when they're given.

they don't use them fully. >> reporter: instead kick-start sells its pumps to very poor farmers with the promise they can make money with it. >> their number one need is a way to make more money. so if you're going to sell them a piece of equipment it has to be a money-making device. we buy something, we're going to make sure we use that thing. especially when you're very poor. >> reporter: when fisher began to sell rather than give away pumps, he was flying in the face of most social theories. he was treated as a hair tick by some in the aid community. but he understood that quite well. >> i went over to africa as a socialist. and came after about five or six years of hitting my head against the wall became a capitalist. the thing is that it actually works. >> reporter: and the pumps work as well because, fisher says, only 4% of the farmland in the continent is irrigated compared to 42% in asia. with climate change rain is becoming less dependable.

>> so we've got sodium cobalt. nickel. and silica. >> reporter: at the university of california at davis, one of america's premiere agricultural schools, mark bell teaches international ag development and travels the word studying what works and what doesn't . he agrees with fisher. the well meaning tradition of nonprofits in developed countries, giving tools and equipment to poor people in third world countries is a poor model. >> if you go in and say here's a freebie, then people are going to say, sure. give it to me. when you leave, you know, who knows what happens to it. but if a farmer is given the opportunity to use it and then make sure he can buy, i think that's the real proof. this is something that is beneficial to them. >> reporter: near the davis campus in california's central valley, agriculture is conducted on a big scale. the state and the federal government moved water over

long distances from the mountains to the farms. irrigation is a way of life here. you might wonder why an african farmer couldn't irrigate his crop with a simple set-up like this one in california. well for one thing he probably doesn't have any electricity and he couldn't afford the pump. besides, why would he need this much water for a tiny plot of land? but the basic need remains, according to bell. water can change lives. >> if they can have water, you're removing a huge risk. you're providing them with security of income. that's often the key to getting some stability into the farmers' livelihood because once they have water, then they're assured a yield and then they can start thinking about diversification. >> reporter: in towns and cities in kenya kick-start has set up 450 retail shops to

sell pumps made cheaply in china and has set up demonstration stations. the foot operated pumps are sold for $100, a lot of money for an african subsist ens farmer. they work on small plots of land, up to two acres. they are often operated by a husband-and-wife team. streams and lakes provide the water, but the pumps have supplanted the old method of buckets carried by hand. daniel saved for months to come up with the money for one hip pump. it worked. now he's thinking of more. >> i want to cultivate a large piece of area where i can grow more crops. >> reporter: for fisher, it takes a lot of stories like this man's to make a difference. are you making an impact or is it a drop in the bucket? >> you're right. it's really a drop in the bucket.

we've got basically by now half a million people out of poverty. that's 100,000 families out of poverty but the potential for these pumps in africa alone is somewhere between 15 and 20 million pumps. >> reporter: a huge problem in rural areas with poor communications is getting the word out that the pumps are worth the investment. >> if you're very, very poor and don't even tell your family that you made a lot of money because if you do your extended family will come and beg from you. you don't tell your neighbors they'll be jealous and also beg from you. there's almost no word of mouth about the good news of making money in africa. >> reporter: but fisher and his colleagues have persisted for a decade using donated funds not to buy the pumps but to promote them. follow-up research by kick-start is showing good results and the world bank has praised the approach. besides kenya, kick-start is now selling pumps in tanzania,

mali and burkina faso. >> ifill: now, cuba releases political prisoners and fidel castro reappears. margaret warner has that story. >> warner: flanked by their families, seven former cuban political prisoners arrived in madrid today as free men. smiling and flashing victory signs, the dissidents are the first of 52 such prisoners that cuba has promised to free. it will be the biggest such release in a dozen years. >> ( translated ): we are the first of a group of prisoners of conscience who have just landed on spanish soil after more than seven years being unfairly jailed and in captivity. >> warner: the package was brokered in talks earlier this month among the cuban government, the catholic church, and spain's foreign minister. >> ( translated ): change is inevitable. while i'm replying to you, i

don't want to end it without thanking the spanish government for its role in this dialogue. >> warner: estimates of how many political prisoners remain there vary widely, but the cuban commission on human rights in havana says there are 160, the fewest in half a century. the releases have created the biggest international splash of raul castro's four-year presidency. he took over when his brother fidel relinquished the post following intestinal surgery. but last night, fidel castro re- emerged, with his first televised remarks in three years. he was interviewed on state- controlled cuban television. in 75 minutes, the 83-year-old revolutionary never mentioned the prisoner release or any other domestic cuban issue. instead, he warned that the u.s. was increasing the danger of nuclear war with iran.

>> warner: and he blamed the march sinking of a south korean naval ship on the united states, not north korea. >> ( translated ): what is going to be hard, it will take a lot of work for them to admit-- the u.s.-- is that they were the ones that sank it. >> warner: some cubans said they were heartened to see their former leader last night. >> ( translated ): i think his health is very important for our country. i am very grateful to all the doctors. a thousand hugs and kisses for him now that he has come on the television again. >> warner: it's his second appearance in less than a week. days ago, a pro-government blog posted photos of him visiting a havana think tank. in washington today, state department spokesman p.j. crowley called for all cuban political prisoners to be freed, but added: >> this is a positive development that we hope will represent a step towards increased respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in cuba.

>> warner: the prisoner releases, coupled with fidel castro's public re-emergence, comes as the u.s. is reevaluating its trade and travel embargo against the caribbean nation. last year, president obama ended restrictions on cuban-americans visiting relatives. and last month, a house committee approved a bill to end the travel ban for all americans, and ease trade restrictions on u.s. exports to cuba. for more on all this, we turn to jorge dominguez, a professor of government at harvard university. he returned from a trip to cuba last month. and vanessa lopez, a research associate at the institute for cuban and cuban american studies at the university of miami. she was in cuba in 2006 writing about political dissidents. welcome to you both. professor dominguez, what explains this move on the cuban government's part now? >> i think that president castro has been trying to focus on the economy systematically over the course of the first six months of this year.

there was a great deal of international criticism of the treatment who were dissidents in the opposition, the laid ladies in white. i think he decided to make a clear decision which was to free all of those who had been arrested as a group in 2003 not to free them one by one but to do it all at once, to make it clear that it was a policy decision not just in response to the personal circumstances of one or another. and in effect to close a chapter that had goten in the way of the government. >> warner: how do you see it? we should explain the ladies in white are the wives and sisters of this group that was all arrested in '03 but what do you think explains it? a combination of international and domestic pressure? >> well, i do feel it has a lot to do with international pressure but i to think it's

more based on the domestic pressure that the cuban government was feeling. the ladies in white were a growing group and they also had a lot of support within cuba's community. and consequently their marches down cuban streets were being joined by other cuban citizens that didn't have anyone in jail. so they kind of deal with this increased pressure. they felt that it would be best for them to just get rid of these political prisoners. you know, they're not actually letting them back into cuban society. they're sending them to spain or elsewhere. for now it's just explain. so this really... it relieves them of this pressure and without any threat to the cuban government because these people will not be on cuba's streets. they will not be able to organize cuban civil society as they would have if they were just released . >> warner: so professor dominguez, do you think that that is part of it too that

they were feeling domestic pressure and if so does this suggest that ... dogs it herald a more open political climate at all? cuba or is it just a tactical move? >> i think for the time being there are really two things going on at the same time. one is freeing all of these political prisoners. the other one is how fidel castro chose to do it. he could simply said i free them. he could have announced it on july 26 which is the annual speech on the state of the country. he could have announced it when the cuban national assembly meets two days later on august 1. instead, he chose to say that he was releasing them as a result of a conversation with the roman catholic cardinal archbishop of havana. and to make clear that he also wanted to take the second step, he made sure to have himself photographed with the spanish foreign minister and the

cardinal and have the photo published on the front page of the official newspaper of the communist party. he had the cuban government news agency distribute the cardinal's press release. fidel castro in addition to freeing these political prisoners is saying that he wants the roman catholic church to play some role. the role may be limited to more discussions about prisoners. they may be with regard to treatment of dissidents. not sure. but he has made two decisions not just one. one is to release the prisoners. the other one is to convey this new role that the roman catholic church has not had in cuba in a half century. >> warner: ms. lopez, so what explains then-- if this was all a really concerted, orchestrated rollout-- that suddenly fidel castro pops up on television last night, doesn't say a word about this.

these are people he had had arrested in the first place. what does that say? >> well, the timing of fidel's speech is really indicative of how it does relate to the political prisoners being released. most importantly for fidel castro personally, many people viewed these 75 political prisoners which are now 52 after some have been released over the years since 2003, many people viewed them as fidel's prisoners. they considered them to be ... that they would serve out the rest of their sentences unless something were to happen to fidel. this was kind of fidel's way to send a message to the cuban people and to the international community that he's still around . in his narcissism, i don't think that he is fully aware of how elderly and how confused he can sometimes come across. when he is on the state media.

secondly for the timing, this works as a benefit of the cuban government because it takes away the focus from the political prisoners. in fact, if you look at the media coverage yesterday, it's 3-1 p.3 in favor of fidel castro speaking on television and one for the release of the political prisoners so it really does serve to mute what is happening with cuba's political prisoners. >> warner: you're talking about international coverage or within cuba? >> definitely international coverage. domestically within cuba, there's no coverage of what is going on with the political prisoners. there's coverage of the meetings with the church. there's coverage of meetings with spain but cuba does maintain that it does not have political prisoners. >> warner: professor dominguez, back to you. does fidel castro remain a relevant political figure? if so, in what way or is this totally raul castro's show? >> fidel castro remains a very significant public figure in cuba. for the most part his impact

on domestic cuban politics and policies as well as on cuban international been on the wayne. it has not disappeared. he is a symbol of what cuba used to be, of the cuba he probably would still like it to be. he tends to express himself cautiously, however, on the decisions that his brother has made. therefore, on the question of the political prisoners or the role of the church, that was simply not a topic for his discussions. it's worth saying that he has been addressing through these articles that he publishes from time to time in the cuban press. the question of u.s. policy toward iran and north korea now for many weeks. so it was not unusual for him to discuss this topic. this is in fact

the subject of several of his most recent communications. >> warner: we're almost out of time. let me go back to ms. lopez for a quick, final thought. do you think of this was directed on the cuban government's part to a desire to get some sort of actual reaction, something from the europeans or the americans? >> i do think that it was aimed towards the europeans, toward the european community in order to change the european stance toward cuba. i don't think it was aimed toward the united states even though this bill will be making its way through the legislature. i think if cuba wanted to make a good-faith gesture towards the united states, they would release the american contractor that they've been holding since december of last year. >> warner: we're going to have to leave it there. thank you both very much. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> lehrer: finally tonight, the second of ray suarez's reports from haiti, six months after the earthquake. he spoke with haitian president

rene preval yesterday. >> suarez: mr. president, welcome back to the newshour. >> thank you. >> suarez: this week you declareded the end of the emergency phase and the beginning of the reconstruction phase. what's the significance of that declaration? why is it important to mark that time? >> i said we are moving from the emergency phase to the reconstruction phase but we are maintaining the emergency phase. for the past few weeks we provided the people with health care, water, and food. and the tents. now we've met with them in their camp. we asked them about their needs. we are working with those people in the camps who wish to return back to their initial neighborhoods. >> suarez: so what will the people of port-au-prince see

as they move forward in the reconstruction phase? what will change? >> first, i must say that it's not enough to take charge of reconstruction. i want people to contribute funds to raise money to help the people of haiti, i want them to know that those funds didn't come into the coffers of haiti. we don't have those funds. however, with our own means we're going to do what's in our capability to launch the reconstruction. >> suarez: for example, we have received $35 million in donations. people who give 42 cents, $10, $1,000 and others who give a million dollars in total $35 million. we have $20 million cubic meters of rubble in port-au-prince. removing them will cost $1.5 billion.

in the first phase we estimate to remove... we'll be removing two million cubic meters. that is of course $120 million. you can see that the $35 million that we have seen cannot perform a job that would cost $120 million. when the clean-up phase will be over, then we'll have to start building... rebuilding the roads. we'll have some engineering work to do. we'll have to be building shelters. this will cost a lot of money. however we did launch the operation. we hope that the interim commission will take over as soon as possible. >> suarez: mr. president, you make the point that the government of haiti did not receive the money from individual donors around the world. but that money did go to organizations that are interested in helping here. will they be paying part of the costs of clearing your streets, of resettling people from the camps?

can you access that money for the purposes that you feel need to go ahead with the reconstruction? >> the government issues $25 million. now the ngos and the united nations system received much more money than the government of haiti but i don't think how much they received. i'm asking them to give me their money. i'm asking them to work with us because right after the earthquake there were hundreds of ngos coming here and started working. i understand that. at that time the government was very weak. all the ministries had been destroyed. the palace had been destroyed. several employees had died. i understood that the people set to work as soon as they arrived. today i'm asking them to come and work with us. for example, the people from ... who are here, they wish to go back to their neighborhood. but you must pay them to clean up the rubble.

i'm asking the ngos to finance the cash flow of programs for those people. after removing the rubble you have to also transport them to the dumping sites . you must pay for that. the problem is that each ngo had already engaged itself into some sort of activity. now it's difficult for them to disengage and come and work together . the biggest problem is coordination. that is necessary. the good will is there but we need coordination. but it's difficult to tell an ngo to come and work with us because they prefer also to work from their own. >> suarez: as you look back over the last six months, are there things that you thought were going to be very difficult and very slow that have moved faster than better than you expected? and are there things that you thought would have been accomplished by today that are still waiting or moving much more slowly than you would

have expected? >> when i speak with experts who are serious and honest, they tell me that this catastrophe is the greatest catastrophe they have known. and the time we have taken to achieve what we have achieved is the normal time in all such catastrophes. in indonesia the government hasn't been affected. here the government has been affected. in ache it took two years to remove the people from the tents. don't you have people in new orleans who still have not gone back to their houses? and we are talking of catastrophes that don't have the extent of damage that happened in haiti. we're talking of countries which much more means, with larger means than haiti. i think the international community is doing its best.

i believe that the government is doing its best. we have problems. we have coordination problems. and we must make efforts to better coordinate. the interim commission must organize itself and set itself up so that it can start receiving funds. and the main thing is to start writing up concrete projects so when the money will be there the international community don't say you are asking for the money but you don't have any projects to spend that money on. >> suarez: mr. president, thanks for talking to us. >> i'm the one thanking you. i'm taking this opportunity to thank you for making the cause of haiti known throughout the world. i would so like to say that the government is as worried as everyone else by the conditions of the people and that the government is doing whatever it can to take them out of those conditions. but the thinking and the

planning process takes time. it's difficult. >> suarez: again, mr. president, thanks a lot. >> thank you. thank you. >> ifill: ray reports next on the thousands of haitian amputees struggling to adapt to new artificial limbs. >> lehrer: again, the major developments of the day: new polls showed a majority of americans lack faith in president obama and in the way he's handled the economy. seven cuban dissidents and their families arrived in spain. they are the first of 52 political prisoners to be set free by cuba in the next several months. and b.p. planned to begin gradual tests of its new, tighter containment cap on the blown-out oil well at the bottom of the gulf of mexico. the newshour is always online. hari sreenivasan, in our newsroom, previews what's there. hari. >> sreenivasan: ray has filed behind-the-scenes blogs from haiti. today's post describes a funny exchange with president preval before the cameras were turned on.

also on "the rundown," newshour political editor david chalian looks at what congress may or may not achieve before its august recess. and you can view images of b.p.'s attempt to cap the oil spill live in the gulf of mexico. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. gwen. >> ifill: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm gwen ifill. >> lehrer: and i'm jim lehrer. we'll see you online, and again here tomorrow evening. thank you and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org