insurance without penalties. the move would override the cancellations of health plans the dummy the higher standards of the affordable care act. a number of help desk customer are threatening to vote with republicans on criticism of president obama for wrongly promising that many insurance holders can keep their current plans. aircraft from a massive u.s. carrier ship have joined the relief effort for typhoon haiyan , bringing supplies to those who were left without food or clean water for nearly a week. the official death toll stands at 2357, but expected to rise. initial estimates had well over 10,000 may have died. the philippines health minister has warned it is unlikely all of the dead will be identified. kerryary of state john appeared before congress on wednesday to urge a delay of new sanctions on iran. lawmakers from both already's have vowed to move ahead with a

measure targeting iranian oil exports despite the recent progress in talks between iran, the u.s., and five other world powers. speaking to the senate banking committee, john kerry said targeting iran undermines negotiations. >> our hope now is no new sanctions will be put in place for the civil reason that if they are, it could be viewed as bad faith by the people we are negotiating with, it could destroy the ability to be able to get agreement, and it could wind up setting us back in dialogue that has taken 30 years to be able to achieve. we are asking the congress to give the diplomacy they sought a chance to be able to work. >> the iran nuclear talks are due to resume in geneva next week. as john kerry spoke, the israeli government continued to lobby against what he called a bad deal with iran. israel says the west is preparing to use up to 40% of the sanctions, saving a ran up to $20 billion. according to reuters, iran would

be allowed to sell around $7 billion of oil, chemicals, and gold and also be allowed to import $12.5 billion in food, medicine, and other goods that are currently barred. speaking to the parliament, prime minister benjamin netanyahu threaten the possibility of military tech of the iran dopers through saying -- "i would go so far as to say that a bad deal could lead to the second, undesired operation." u.s. brokered talks resume this year after three-year low. israel has continued to expand west bank settlement homes, recently announcing plans for some 24,000 new units. the israeli minister for strategic affairs said his government has never hit hit its intention to keep building on palestinian land. we're going to release some prisoners, but there is no

freezing the settlements. we will build in the settlements. suggest this is kind of agreement, but let me be very accurate, this was clearly understood by all. palestinians, the the americans. >> benjamin netanyahu says he will reevaluate the new permits so is not to distract from efforts to block a nuclear do with iran. three students were shot near pittsburgh high school wednesday just after classes ended for the day. none of the injuries are life- threatening. six people were taken into custody. machinistsf 30,000 and washington state has rejected a contract proposal for the aerospace giant boeing that called for major concessions in

return for guaranteed jobs. knowing had offered workers a $10,000 signing bonus for decades of work on its 777x aircraft. on wednesd, the union rejected the plan by 67% margin. boeing previously has threatened to move its 777x production out of state in a bid to entice boeing, washington state recently approved the largest corporate tax break by a state a single corporation in u.s. history. signed into law this week, the boeing $8.7ed billion worth of incentives to build the aircraft in washington. the new package comes a decade after washington gave boeing over $3.2 billion in incentives to build its 787 airplane in the state. in columbia, and nestlé worker has been shot dead after his union received death threats from a right wing per military group. oscar lopez was shot four times

at a local bar by unknown gunmen over the weekend. he and other union workers have been on strike as part of a struggle for union organizing rights. columbia is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for union members. her recent report by the arab u.s. lawmakers found 22 unionists were murdered for the organizing master alone. a new study from the american civil liberties union has found over at 3200 people a sham white are serving life terms without parole for nonviolent offenses people nationwide are serving life terms without parole for nonviolent offenses. of those prisoners, 80% are behind bars for drug-related convictions. the crimes that led to life sentences include stealing gas from a truck, shoplifting, possessing a crack pipe, facilitating $10 sale of marijuana, and attempted to cash a stolen check. 63% are in federal prisons and most were sentenced under mandatory minimum laws.

the aclu says keeping nonviolent offenders behind bars for life is costing taxpayers an additional $1.8 billion. the aclu says -- and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. >> welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. wikileaks is back in the news after a published wednesday part of the secret text of a massive new trade called the transpacific partnership, or tpp. for the past several years, the u.s. and 12 pacific rim nations have been negotiating behind closed doors on the sweeping agreement. on wednesday, wikileaks leaked -- released a 95-page draft of the tpp chapter focusing on intellectual property rights. wikileaks editor in chief julian assange appeared in a youtube video tuesday talking about the

leak. >> we released today of the secret international -- the secret intellectual property that is actually all about how to extend monopoly rights of companies like monsanto, extending the ability of disney to criminally prosecute people fordownloading films internet service providers, and introducing something they call a patent prosecution highway. we released all of their secret thoseating's for all countries. >> the wikileaks release of the text comes a week before a tpp chief negotiator summit in

selleck city, utah. president obama and u.s. trade were presented of michael froman portably wish to finalize the tpp by the end of the year, and are pushing congress to expedite legislation that grants the president something called fast- track authority. 151ver, this week some house democrats and 23 republicans wrote letters to the administration saying they're unwilling to give the president free reign to "diplomatically legislate." for more would go to washington, d.c. where we host a debate on the transpacific partnership. bill watson is a trade policy analyst at the cato institute, a libertarian think tank. and lori wallach, the director of the fair trade public citizens global trade watch group. >> we need to remember when we see some of these reports about intellectual property chapter, we need to remember the free trade agreements are about fundamentally something very different.

they are about free trade, and the value of free trade -- i think it is incontrovertible. the united states has been lowering its barriers for 50 years to engage in the global economy in a way that increases growth economically, improves the quality of life of people in the u.s. we still have a number of protectionist measures in the united states that an agreement like the tpp will address. particular to asia that her interest in this agreement are tariffs, quotas, and subsidies dealing with things like footwear and clothing, consumer items that these barriers really mostly,axes on the poor who end up paying a larger portion of their income comes to supporting economic policy that benefits a select few.

the protectionist measures in oure, these trade barriers, special interest handouts to big businesses that have good lobbying efforts and washington, d.c. the purpose of a free trade agreement is to overcome inherent political difficulty in getting rid of those barriers. we know we want to get rid of the barriers, but it is hard to counteract the special interest because they have a lot of influencing congress. a reciprocal free trade agreement, where the u.s. lowers its barriers and in exchange others lower theirs, is a way to gain special interest support for the free trade agreement that u.s. industries that benefit from export access a broad will lobby. they have a concentrated benefit in the agreement. so they will counteract the special interest that are supporting the existing barriers. the end result, ideally, is open

markets at home and abroad. this is a very good outcome. the problem at this point, if you could say there's a problem with black the watson, if we could bring in lori wallach to respond to some of your comments, especially with we have had a lot of publicity over pharmaceuticals and the huge disparities in prices of permissive goals across the globe and how this might affect under the tpp agreement. >> free trade is a pretty theory, but as yesterday's wikileaks showed, the tpp has very little to do with free trade. so only 5 of the 29 factors in the agreement even have to do it -- trade at all. what is in that chapter? what the cato institute would call rent-seeking, government spin lobbied by special interest to set up special rules that give the monopolies to charge higher prices, what does that mean for you and me?

in that agreement, we can see the united states is pushing for longer monopoly patents for medicine that would increase the prices here, looking for patenting things like surgical procedures for making it even higher medical costs. they're looking to patent my forms and seed. and with respect to copyright, the u.s. positions are actually undermining u.s. law. so for internet freedom, if you didn't like the stop online piracy act, the domestic law killed last year when it was attempted to be pushed here domestically, huge chunks of sopa i pushed to the back of this chapter. what is that doing in a free trade agreement? i would imagine the cato institute is also wondering, are adam smith in the free trade philosophers rolling in their graves?

because that is protectionism. this is pat monopoly. this is copyright extension. this is actually exactly what bill just talked about, which is powerful special interest, big pharma, disney and the other big content guys, undermining us as consumers are access to the internet, our access to affordable medicine, and are using their power to put that into an agreement that they have got misbranded as free trade. that is what the real tpp. so maybe we agree between the consumer group public citizen ,nd cato what is in tpp whatever you think about free trade, ain't so good for most of us. >> this is a rare occasion where i do agree with lori wallach. i agree that what is going on in the ip chapter is a special interest of free-for-all, a grab bag him at that u.s. companies are pushing to get what they want and these agreements.

the problem with that is that intellectual property is not a trade issue and it shouldn't be in the agreement. originally, adding it into the agreement was away to bring on more political support to be able to bring in u.s. companies to counter other u.s. companies that would oppose the agreement. at this point, i think we have gotten toward intellectual property taxes are so expansive that what you're seeing is a domestic constituency, people concerned about copyright and patent perform who are opposing the tpp doubt because of anything having to do with trade, but just because it will reform u.s. copyright and patent laws. what i would say is we need to have a renewed focus within these trade agreements to be more about free trade and less about some of these other issues like intellectual property rights. >> bill watson, why should we even have to depend on wikileaks to provide information on what

is in this proposed agreement? isn't the actual just the super secrecy under which this agreement has been worked out raised questions for ordinary citizens about why all the secrecy? gladu know, i'm certainly wikileaks published this report. personally, i like to be able to read it. it is interesting. i wish that would publish the rest of it. to show us the rest of the draft text. i don't think at this point would be particularly harmful to the agreement to let us do something about the countries negotiating position. that thelly disagree tpp negotiations are especially secret. there's a lot that goes on in congress that the public doesn't know about. when congress writes a law, we don't know in advance what it is going to be before it gets proposed. they're still trying to figure out what the contents of the agreement will be.

they don't know yet, but they're working on it. eventually, we will see it well in advance of when it becomes law and congress will have the chance to decide to vote yes or no on the agreement. >> lori wallach, what most surprised you about seeing the tpp agreement for the first time yesterday, the wikileaks leak? >> first of all, this is extraordinary secret. i followed these negotiations since 1990 one with nafta. during nafta, any member of congress could see any tax -- in fact, the whole agreement between the get shading rance was put -- was acceptable for them to look at. in 2001, the bush administration published the entire free trade of the americas pact, it even when it was in an earlier stage than tpp is now, on government websites. they even excluded members of congress from observing the negotiations. this is extraordinary. to me, what was the most horrifying, i would say, is the ways in which the u.s.

negotiators are using this agreement to try and rewrite u.s. law. i find it morally repugnant and outrageous that the u.s. negotiators beat pushing big pharma's agenda to raise medicine prices for the developing countries in the tpp. people in vietnam and all the developing countries that have need thesealaria, generic medicines and this would cut them all. to the extent that theoretically they're supposed to be representing our interests, it would make cancer drugs in this country more expensive. changing the six hour versus 12 hour version of the medicine, you get 20 more years of monopoly. also undermining our internet freedom by rewriting u.s. law? there's language and there were u.s. law says there is an exception for liability for u.s. internet service providers. u.s. is the only country in that

bracket that is saying, no, we should allow that in tpp. it is backdoor diplomatic legislating. that ties into the business with fast-track. now 27 republican members, there was a second letter that came out, 151 democrats, why were they all sang together in the last 36 hours, no fast-track trade process. we don't want to give away our constitutionally granted authority over trade policy. in a big piece of the reason is the left and right in congress made -- may disagree on what the policy should be, but they actually believed constitutionally congress gets to write our legislation. so the notion of this backdoor legislating that we saw actually revealed in this wikileaks leak is precisely what is unite a outrage thatiting after being left out of these negotiations uninformed, somehow

they should volunteer to handcuff themselves so they can be thoroughly steamrollered and had even their legislative authority undermined through the so-called trade agreement. it is really a backdoor could a top on domestic palsy. >> might this be another place where you agree? >> not really, no. on fast-track, let me just say i don't have a lot of confidence in congress's ability to come in and resist special interests and make the policies on these area. but fast-track is a way for congress to exert its influence over these agreements. when congress passes fast-track, and imposes a number of negotiating objectives. one of those is to have strong ip measures in the agreement. you don't necessarily want commerce is input -- congress is input if you're trying to get a but fast-y o here,

track will set the rules for who the president has to talk to and how congress participates in the agreement. but let me also say, when lori wallach talks about how increased patent law on pharmaceuticals is going to harm people in poor countries like vietnam, i would like to point out also that trade barriers harm people in countries like vietnam. our trade barriers from them, there's -- there trade barriers harm them. engaging inm from commerce that increases their quality of life. not ditched to do is the free trade agreement because some parts of it aarararre harm. we need to get rid of the harmful parts and recognize the value of these agreements in improving quality of life around the world. >> lori wallach? >> i'm sorry, right now under

the so-called trade authority system, there are 600 corporate advisors who with the executive branch are behind closed doors seeing thee rules, text. i have much more faith in the u.s. congress, u.s. public, and the u.s. process and democratic process with all of us who will live with the results, messy be.ugh democracy may i don't want a bunch of unelected u.s. trading go shooters and 600 corporate advisors dictating my future through so-called trade agreement. these agreements once implemented, cannot change a comma in this all of the other countries agree. it locks into place estimates into place one vision of law that as we have seen has little to do with trade. it is about domestic food safety. to lift import food that doesn't meet u.s. safety standards -- to we have to import food that doesn't meet u.s. safety

standards? were u.s. government could be sued and our treasury rated by foreign corporations? seeking compensation for not having to meet our own laws that thomas comedies have to meet? i have to say something about fast-track, which is in her clique, bill, fast-track is a huge it away of congress's authority. for anyone who wants to get into the weeds, please take a look at my book. tradewatch it on .org. we look at the history of trade authorities since the founding of the country. because of the old boston tea party, congress the founders put congress in charge of trade so the king could not just the date with a few special interests what would be our trade policy. hashistorically, congress had the steering will, the emergency brake. nixon came up with fast-track in

1973. it is anomalous. 16 agreements ever have used this handcuff procedure. why are democrats and republicans together saying, no more? not cause they want to have a seat at the negotiating table, but they want the informative aspects of trade agreement. in the end how they vote on it ain't the issue. is it going to be in our interest with accountability and actually not having the corporate advisors making the calls, or is it going to be a trade agreement like tpp which cato must agree, really is not about free trade, but has become the trojan horse for all of these other issues? in the end, the process is really important. in the past, we've had a new trade negotiating mechanism every 20 years until now. president obama is a candidate said he would replace it. you can find out if your member of congress was amongst the 200 who said they would hold on to their constitutional authority, or if you need to do a little conversation with your member,

you can see all of that and exposed the tpp.org -- exposethetpp.org. >> mr. watson, you admit there are objectionable parts to this agreement that need to be changed, but how would that change occur if the pact is being negotiated essentially in secret and fast-track legislation would require congress to vote it up or down, how the changes occur? >> it is very good question. with honest, the problem issues like intellectual property is not just in free trade agreement. congress is not very good about intellectual property, either. i think we need to be more active in explaining to congress what the right policies are, to use the democratic process. fast-track and these negotiations -- negotiated agreements are not a way to bypass congress. congress still has a say.

they still have to approve the agreement. they can do a number of things to exert pressure on the administration to include certain things. they don't always include very good things. so going to congress is not really the best way to get the agreements through. indeed, fast-track as a way to increase the power of congress in a number of ways, and so i agree with lori wallach there are some dangers to using fast- track, but in the end, i just don't see congress and even a little bit more transparency as a panacea for solving these problems. this is a larger issue. >> bill watson, we gave you the first word, lori wallach, you've got the last. >> the bottom line of this is we need a new procedure to replace fast-track that gives the public the role and congress the role to make sure what will be binding permanent, global laws do not undermine either a

democratic process as making policies at home that we need or that lock us into richer great policies that the current 600 corporate trade advisers are ready to impose on us. we need to have different agreements. the bottom line with tpp as wikileaks just showed, it is very dangerous. it is not about trade. you've got to find out about it and make sure your member of congress maintains their constitutional authority. democracy is messy. but i myself more trust the amerco public, the press, and this congress rather than 600 corporate advisors. we need to make sure what is in that trade agreement suits us and you all are going to be the difference in doing that. >> we will certainly link to the document that wikileaks has just leaked, the draft tpp proposal. lori wallach, thank you for being with us and, bill watson. you may not come in the senate is poised to vote on an amendment to allow military

sexual assaults to be prosecuted outside the chain of command. we will speak with a producer of the oscar-nominated film "invisible wars." ♪ [music break]

>> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. the senate is poised to vote soon to make sweeping changes in the way the military handles complaints of sexual assault. democratic senator kirsten gillibrand of new york has said 46 senators, 30 eight democrats

and eight republicans, support her proposal to remove the power to decide whether to try sexual assault cases in the military chain of command and put it in the hands of an independent military prosecutor. >> last week the pentagon revealed reports of sexual assault in the military increased by 46% in the past fiscal year. in total, more than 3500 sexual assaults were reported from last october through june, compared to roughly 2400 over the same time the previous year. officials claim the spike shows more victims are coming forward. the sexual assault are still dramatically underreported in the military ranks. a recent survey estimated 26,000 people were sexually assaulted in 2011 alone. in a moment we will be joined by amy ziering, producer of the oscar-nominated film "the ."visible war peer senator john brennan says it helps give victims a face. this is the trailer of the film.

quick to join the military halfway through my senior year of high school, wanting to serve my country. >> the coast guard said they could give me in within a month. >> that i could keep up with the guys, work as hard as them. >> tipping it my all. -- giving it my all. >> everything changed the day i was raped. >> i've never seen trauma might have seen from veterans who have suffered military sexual trauma. >> it always goes with me. most americans assume there's access to a system of justice. >> you see a guy get five years for drugs, and two weeks for rate. >> he got away with everything but murder. but it was a laughing matter. >> he said, you're the third girl to report rape this week. about half the men and women have been such resulted in the

us military. >> anybody can be a victim of sexual assault. >> why would they stop? >> they go on to prey on girls and boys in our neighborhoods back home. >> it is very difficult to do a story on the most powerful institution in the world. >> the department of defense has a history of covering up sexual offense problems. i don't know who you think of elected you to defy the congress of the u.s., what is it you're trying to hide? >> the trailer of "the invisible war." last night, the puma impact awards at the new york times center were given out in this .ilm got a special commendation the producer was there and is with us now, amy ziering. when you went up on stage, you talked precisely about this legislation put forward by

senator jill a brand. talk about its significance. >> there's been 20 bills recently that event has to to the house or senate and also drafted in both of those places that deal with issues of sexual assault in the military. this is the only bill that we the militaryect significantly enough to radically reduce these numbers, and that is why we're pushing behind it so fiercely. >> splay and the origins of the bill -- explain the origins of the bill. what would it do? >> it would take adjudication of the sex crimes outside the chain of command and put them in a military dependent body of military adjudicators that are not related, that would know enough the people involved, neither the perpetrator or the assailant. that is what we feel is the achilles' heel of this issue in a real leverage point because what we have found in interviewing hundreds and hundreds of survivors and generals, etc., as people docile countable reporting. they feel they will not have any access to impartial system of

justice. this bill will change that to her family and we feel once thele feel safe reporting, prosecutions will go up and we can see these crimes reduced. >> we see the military responded to the reports of the sharp increase in military assaults by singing is just a question of more people feeling the ability to come forward and reported, what is your response to that? >> those timbers are interesting. the numbers are rising, but the percentage of people reporting 90%. report. what we're seeing is an increase in numbers without an increase in overall reporting. it is interesting. it is unclear what this actually means. that is why we are fearful this epidemic is continuing to grow unless we do something that will actually reduce it. >> the power of "the invisible war" was the stories of the men and women. tell us one of those stories and what it would mean if they had

this new avenue to report the crime. >> i think almost every story was a case in which -- trina mcdonald was assaulted i people -- by people that should report that theyy police were assaulting her, and they were close to everyone in her command chain. she had nowhere to go and couldn't tell anyone. 25% of the crimes committed are by people within the chain of command itself, so how can you report to someone who is assaulting you what would you do? how would it work under the new legislation? >> gored be an independent body of people they could go to -- there would be an independent body people they could go to. >> within the military. >> yes, we would just put those crimes over there. it's not as radical change. news just putting it in a body. >> it exists for what?

>> for the crimes that are committed. the commander confers with that body. we're just asking the commander to be out of this loop. does that make sense? it would be much cleaner. people would feel, ok, i could get a fair shake. >> where does the legislation stand now? >> we have 47 -- did you say 48 senators now who are in favor of legislation. it would mean 51% majority to pass. we're closing that gap. but there has been talk to ruby a filibuster and they would want it to go to 60 votes -- but there is been talk there would be a filibuster and it would wanted to go to 60 votes. i can imagine it would filibuster against people to have their access to impartial justice. tobut it would have to go the house as well. >> correct. people said this could never happen, and look how far we have come. we are confident if it

passes the senate, it will pass the house. they were against his aggregation, against women. it always said it would affect and we couldn't go there. look. they don't need to be fearful of this change. >> let me turn to senator john mccain who is opposed the change. he said "i'm the only member of the united states senate who is actually in command, ok? i know a command authorities about. if you take it away from those commanders, you will impair battle efficiency. i respect the senator's use and advocacy, but i don't believe she is the background or experience on this issue. i do." rapes, zero prosecutions. who is that efficient for? i don't understand the logic. we're not asking all crimes to be taken outside the chain of command. crimes the commander will be

in charge of. and he should be. command to do with climate, battle readiness, those are still under his jersey to him. we're just asking for certain crimes to be taken out of his hands. many commanders of said, please, we don't want to be adjudicating these crimes. are not qualified. we know the people involved. take this away from us so we can command more efficiently. we heard the same from other commanders, is what i say to john mccain. i also say, it's not working. if what he said to me was true, we can take care of it, we found a good job, then i would be fine with that. i want the military to do its job well. but it is not true. these numbers are astronomical. the system is broken and her has to be change. >> you had almost all the women cylinders -- senators supporting this, but what about senator mccaskill? >> 70 out of 20 women senators

are supporting it. we have 2 undecided. only one is not in favor. >> and why isn't she, senator claire mccaskill? but i'm not exactly sure. it puzzles us. she said she would rather see -- she is skeptical of military prosecutors as she is of military commanders, and she would rather keep the system as is. we say, the system as is is not working. we have got to look at trying something different. >> i want to go to another clip from the film of the marine barracks in washington, d.c., just one mile from the capital. ,> when you report something you better be prepared for the repercussions. >> if a man gets accused of rape, it is a setup up. the woman is lying. i could choose to report it, but if they found what i was saying wasn't to be truthful, then i would be reduced in rank. >> you could lose your rate, lose rank, lose your school if

you follow false report. so do you want to follow report? >>ven with the rape kit and everything, and my friend catching him, they still don't believe me. >> i reported it to different times to my squad leader. and he told me there's nothing he could do about it because he didn't have any proof. >> they actually did charge me with adultery. i wasn't married, he was. mythey took me before lieutenant commander and he says, do you think this is funny? i says, what do you mean? he said, is this a joke to you? you're the third girl to report rape this week. are you guys all in cahoots? >> that was a clip from "the invisible war." it was the repercussions woman felt once they attempted to report the assaults, not the marine barracks. amy ziering, producer, your

final comments? >> eying courage everyone to encourage the senators to vote for senator gillibrand's bill that will reduce the potomac of rape -- the epidemic of rape and our military. otherwise, we will have the same laws back in place and will be back here again in a decade. there's no reason to be afraid of this change. we can do it. >> amy ziering, thank you for being with us and congratulations on another ward for the oscar-nominated film "the invisible war." amy ziering is the producer. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. when we come back, a mexicannun -- a mexican nun joins us. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we turn now to the drug war in mexico in efforts to demand accountability in thousands of cases of people who have been kidnapped, tortured, disappeared, and killed. newly declassified cables from u.s. embassies and consulates in mexico reveal how drug cartels have operated with near impunity in recent years. the cable show u.s. authorities knew that narco trafficking organizations are operating with "near total impunity in the face

of compromise local security forces. hope this follows a report by human rights watch that similarly documented how mexican security forces participate in enforced disappearances as part of the so-called war on drugs. in nearly all of the cases, the report documented authorities try to cover up her complicity. >> for more we're joined by sister consuelo marlys, who has helped lead the fight in mexico to defend victims of human rights violations and hold their abusers accountable. in 1992, she helped found the group citizens in support of human rights. it is taken the lead in documenting human rights violations carried out by the drug cartels and the mexicans did seared -- security forces and provide support for victims. she recently received human rights watch is 2013 award for tornier activism, which brings her to the u.s. in our studio here in new york. ,ossi joined by nik steinberg human rights watch a senior researcher for the americas. he also helped author the

report, "mexico's disappeared: the enduring cost of a crises ignored." welcome to democracy now! audience thethis problem in mexico. it is just when the president decides to resolve the situation violence, [indiscernible] watching a very high number of violations of human rights and the violence increase. at the beginning, we have a program on drugs, i say, but after we start having serious problems and especially, one that is very committed very [indiscernible] people who have been disappeared. hasexico, the government

accepted the release of 26,000 people who have disappeared and this number is just a little number, but the reality is very, very big. >> i would say a little more than a year ago, we had on this show a former foreign minister of mexico. we asked him about the drug war and he said at the time it wasn't really as big of a problem as people were making it out, that it was largely original problem you're the border, that the rest of mexico was continuing to function well. i am wondering your sense, because your -- to what degree the violence and kidnappings in the disappearance have to read throughout the rest of the country? what we've seen in our organization is it is a local

problem in the north of mexico, but also in all of the country. sometimes it doesn't show conference teams, -- sometimes it is a show. for instance, we have been working on the disappearances since 2008, 2009. in the report, they bring out with the president, then they start thinking there was a problem. suffering ande social, psychological, and economic things are there and they show the truth. , after humanerg rights watch issued its report documenting 249 disappearances during president calderon's administration, the government acknowledged for the first to make it a database of more than 27,000 people reported missing disappeared. talk about this. >> during the previous administration under president disappearances and

other human rights abuses, the line was there was -- were no human rights abuses. that the police did not commit abuses, but committed by cartels and the victims were members of cartels. the admission by the new government which took over at the end of last year that more than 27,000 people were missing disappeared is a very important one. it acknowledges the scale of the problem. what it doesn't do them with this administration hasn't done is say what they're going to do to investigate these cases. it is very important question. >> in october, attorney general said most of those reported as disappeared have been found, that the number of those who remain unaccounted for is "much less in the figures that are being cited." >> this has been a line from the peña nieto administration since it is released this list, to downplay the problem and say, look, we will find most of these people, most of these people are

people who left with a significant other or try to migrate to the u.s. but that never provided any in." evidence of this claim. in fact, what we know from working with the families of the disappeared is that all of the cases we have documented, the authorities have done nothing to take the basic steps to bring to justice security forces are members of organized crime could have committed these abuses. we dozed to be evidence. we hear a lot of talk about this, but we haven't seen anything to prove this. >> consuelo morales, i would ask about the victimizing of migrants who were either passing through mexico -- some of the cables are astounding that were released recently from the u.s. consulate for instance, reported 2010, that 75 migrants were stopped by an unknown number of organized crime figures and transported under guard to san fernando. in a gregorian male who survived the massacre described before the killings, some of the victims were offered an

opportunity to work with the zeta's, one of the drug gains -- things, as assassins, but one turned it down. the survivor stated 54 men and 15 women were subsequently executed. this enormous toll that is occurring of the people just migrating through mexico to get to the united states, can you talk about what you found? >> this shows the talk about must let us know the situation. the situation that so many people that are on the list is because the families demand justice. go tof the people do not ask for demand for justice. the people who is coming through our country, it is very dangerous. why? because of the organized crime

is taking the power and making whatever they want. many times with a wrist support -- with the support of the authorities. we cannot explain this without the participation of authorities. >> you have had a number of those authorities arrested. how do you do it? how do you get government officials arrested? >> well, we say there is the disappearance when the authorities detain someone for legal or illegal form, but after or they say, we don't know what is happening with him. it wasn't true. documented the cases so we

know at least a percentage of the cases, the number of people disappeared have been done also with the help of the support of the authorities. >> nik steinberg, i want to ask about the u.s. government policy, whether it is the dea or agencies that work with the mexican government and the drug war, we have 100,000 people now in his drugead violence. what is the united states government not doing that it could be doing? >> the u.s. has given more than $2 billion in aid to mexico for its war on drugs since 2007. the started in the bush administration. it has continued uninterrupted under obama. what ust when he created this program called the merida initiative, they put her in human rights commission says

that 15% of these funds would be withheld every year pending approval the mexico had met these conditions. the unfortunate thing that is happened is the u.s. wrote beautiful human rights conditions. they go right toward some of the biggest problems in mexico. the fact that soldiers the committed abuses are prosecuted in the military justice system. what is gone wrong is every year, the state department produces a report that if you read it without reading the cover page would say, absolutely, the u.s. is not -- mexico is not meeting these conditions. every year the state department congress rubberstamp these funds and release the money to mexico. the problem is, that sends the message to mexico that, you know, we made for these conditions in here, but they're not important enough to us to actually withhold any money. the u.s. has been a partner with mexico in this. the cables reveal that u.s. knows serious abuses have been committed and for the most part, the u.s. has been entirely silent on this problem in mexico. >> what would it take? >> it would take leadership of

the highest levels. obama has gone to mexico repeatedly under the calderon administration and also under peña nieto. his only statement on human rights has been standing next to president calderon to say the real human rights abusers in mexico or the cartels. he is never once publicly on the record said that mexican security forces, soldiers, police, have been involved. we don't have the president saying it, no one else with rock sister consuelo, what gives you hope? >> we have hope because when we receive people, mothers, fathers, brothers whether looking for their loved ones, even they are afraid. they're still looking for justice. think, meanwhile, there is hope. >> sister consuelo and nik steinberg, thank you for being

with us. sister consuelo is the founder of democracy now! is looking for feedback from pe

tavis: good evening evening from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. tonight, a conversation with oliver stone. the writer and director of some of the most successful movies in recent memory. his recent film "jfk" was the in 1998.y released it is now in re release on blu- ray and in select movie theaters. we are glad you joined us for a conversation with oliver stone coming up right now. ♪

>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. tavis: oscar-winning writer, producer and director oliver stone has never shied away from controversy from his screenplay for "midnight express" which won him the first of his three

boards. he tackles one of the most controversial stories in america. "jfk was quote has been re- released on blu-ray and in select theaters. realized kennedy was so dangerous to the establishment. is that why? >> that is a real question, isn't it? why? the how and the who is just scenery for the public. -- it keeps, cuba asking theng from most important question. why was kennedy killed? who benefited? who has the power to cover it up? tavis: welcome back, first of all. is there anything about what you 1991 with "jfk"

that you have rethought, the regret, that you would do differently? >> i looked at it a few days ago and i feel it is a strong film, especially on the evidence base is, the autopsy, -- on the evidence, the ballistics, the autopsy. we don't try to make it into a false hero. he show that the case was always soft but that he brought out a lot of evidence that was later used in became important. tavis: a lot of things -- it occurs to me every time i see it with castingo do and you directing and a lot to do with their gifts and their talents, but the acting in this just holds up. these guys are so gifted.

sutherland and costner, the entire cast, tommy lee jones. >> everyone is a face. is incredible. gary oldman as oswald. i love the cast. --re were seven signposts there were signposts. it is a competent story and the audience could lose some of those signposts. you remember who the people are. to ask if youoing thought this project may have been received different leave he did not have an all-star cast of a with less recognizable cases. we might've gotten lost in the storyline. >> i think it helped a lot. it was a fun movie in terms of tension. it keeps your interest. it grips you. it was a rough opening because, although we got eight nominations, oscar nominations, and two wins, it was a controversial time and we were