Amy as a humanitarian catastrophe in syria deepens, aid workers describe scenes of chaos and devastation, with families scrambling for shelter as temperatures fall below freezing and children freeze to death. We will get an update on idlib executive benoioit, director of Doctors Without Borders. We will also talk about coronavirus and talk about their new report called no way out on how immigration policies imposed by the u. S. And mexico trapped thousands of Central American migrants in dangerous conditions. A very difficult life of violence. Mistreaeated and forced to sell drugs. Have very bad memories because i already have two dead brothers for the same reason, because they did not want to be involved in that positive amy that to the Dominican Republic or thousands took to the streets thursday to protest the abrupt suspension of local elections. We want to know what happened. We what answers. Young people are 40 of voters this year and we deserve justice as we have demanded in recent days. Amy and we look at the fight to save a new Jersey Elementary School from the Health Care Industry and gentrification. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. California governor gavin newsom said thursday that 33 people in california have tested positive for coronavirus and that officials are monitoring 8400 other people for possible exposure. Newsoms warning came after Health Officials in Northern California identified the first u. S. Case of coronavirus found in a person who had not traveled or had no contact with anyone else that had coronavirus, raising fears the virus is spreading among the general public for the first time in the u. S. We knew this was never double as it relates to the nature of the nature of these viruses ttt this incncident would d occur. Amy the warning came as a whistleblower complaineded the department of health and Human Services sent t more than a a dn woworkers to r receive the firit americans evacuated from wuhan, china, witithout propetrtraining for ininfection contntrol or appropriate protective gear. Those workers reportedly were not tested for t the virus. Acrossss the u. S. , officials are reporting a severe shortage of test kits for the virus. New york offfficials say theyre preparing their own kits after kits distributed by the centers for Disease Control failed validation tests. Meanwhile, new cases of coronavirus continue to spring up worldwide, with nigeria reporting its first case and one of irans Vice President s testing positive. At the vatican, pope francis canceled a planned mass after re became ill from an unknown ailment, raising jitters in italaly where 1717 people haveid of coronavirus. Fears over the virus have hammered stock markets worldwide, with the Dow Jones Industrial average dropping nearly 1200 points thursday the e single largest point d drn its history. In syria, 33 turkish soldiers were killed thursday in an airstrike by russianbacked Syrian Forces in rebelheld Idlib Province in a major escalation in the allout offensive by bashar alassads regime. Turkey vowed to respond in kind, u. N. Secretarygeneral Antonio Guterres called for an immediate ceasefire. Saint the risk of even greater escacalation g grows by the hou fighting in idlib b has displayd some 900,000 people since december. Many children have frozen to death. This is the executive director henrietta forere who testified ththursday to the u. N. Security council. Tens of thousands are now living in makekeshift tents and public buildings openair, huddled under trees, exposeded o rain and snow in subzero cold of the harsh syrian winter. The recent strikes on these makeshift camps in idlib and on the children and teachers horrifically killed just two days ago as 10 schools were attacked are both reprehensible and morally repugnant. Also these acts clclearly demonstrate the terrifying daily conditions of those living through this nightmare. Amy we will have more on the humanitarianan catastrophe in syria after headlines. We will speak with the head of Doctors Without Borders usa. Immigrant Rights Groups are expressing outrage after the Trump Administration said wednesday its creating a task force to strip the citizenship of naturalized americans who were born abroad. Critics say the justice departments socalled denaturalization section is likely unconstitutional. The immigrant rights group chirla said in response trump is weaponizing the doj to make naturalized immigrants look like secondclass citizens. Former Vice President joe biden is continuing to Campaign Today across South Carolina ahead of saturdays president ial primary. This week, biden picked up an endorsement from Democratic House whip jim clyburn, South Carolinas most prominent African American lawmaker. Clyburns endorsement came as bidens campaign admitted that thensenator biden was not arrested in south africa during a congressional delegation trip in the 1970s as biden falsely claimed from the campaign trail at least three times this month. Biden first made the claim in 2013, saying he had the great honor of being arrested with our u. N. Ambassador on the streets of soweto as they tried to reach mandela in his prison on robben island. Robben island is over 750 miles from the township of soweto. Bidens campaign now says he was separated from his black colleagues at the airport in johannesburg. Meanwhile, frontrunner Bernie Sanders held a massive rally thursday morning in spartanburg, South Carolina, where he called his campaign a movement that cannot be stopped. It is a movement for economic justice, forsocial racial justice, for environmental justice. And when millions of people stand up and fight back, nothing on earth can stop us. Amy senator sanders went on to a rally at Winstonsalem State University in north carolina, where he led a march of hundreds of students to an early voting site. Later thursday, thousands of sanders supporters packed a rally in richmond, virginia another super tuesday state. Sanders surging popularity comes as the New York Times interviewed dozens of democratic establishment leaders who will serve as superdelegates at the partys nominating convention in july and found the vast majority are so opposed to Bernie Sanders candidacy, theyre willing to risk damage to the democratic party. Of 93 superdelegates surveyed by the times, nearly all said they would vote against sanders in a brokered convention if sanders were to arrive with a plurality, and not a majority, of pledged delegates. Many of the superdelegates are corporate lobbyists with Health Care Clients opposing sanders medicare for all legislation. The intercepts lee fang reports one of them, Democratic NationalCommittee Member william owen, donated exclusively to Republican Senate candidates during the last election cycle, including a 8500 contribution to a joint Fundraising Committee designed to benefit Senate Majority leader mitch mcconnell. Owen is backing former Vice President joe biden for the democratic nomination in 2020. Billionaire president ial hopeful and former new york city mayor Michael Bloomberg refused to apologize thursday for his oversight of a secret nypd Intelligence Program that targeted muslim communities. For years, the nypds socalled demographics unit secretly infiltrated Muslim Student groups, sent informants into mosques, eavesdropped on conversations in restaurants, barber shops and gyms, and built a vast database of information. The program was established with help from the cia, even though the agency is barred from domestic spying. The former head of the nypds Intelligence Division testified in 2012 that the Muslim Surveillance Program failed to yield a single criminal lead. This is mayor bloomberg speaking to Judy Woodruff of pbs newshour. Youre talking about right after 9 11 when everybodydy was pepetrified about another terrorist attack. We were super careful to always obey the law. Number one, it was t the right thing to do. Number two, you knew people would be looking at it. We sent them officers into some mosque to listen to the sermon the imam gave. The courts ruled it was within the law, and that is the kind of thing we should be doing. Amy Arab American Institute executive director maya berry wrote in response as mayor, Michael Bloomberg surveilled where american muslims ate, socialized, gathered, prayed and studied. The nypd literally mapped our communities across three states, causing systemic selfcensoring, distrust of any interaction with the government, and untold harm to our communities, maya berry wrote. Meanwhile, a newly resurfaced audio tape from 2009 captured thenmayor bloomberg comparing Social Security to the Investment Company of wall street fraudster bernie madoff. Social security. It is a ponzi scheme. I dont know if bernie made got his idea from that. Social security. Amy thenmayor bloomberg made the comment in 2009 on his Radio Program live from city hall, where he repeatedly called for cuts to Social Security, medicare, and medicaid. Meanwhile, propublica reports Michael Bloomberg met in 2017 with mortimer sackler, son of a cofounder of oxycontin producer purdue pharma, to discuss ways the billionaire Sackler Family could combat growing outrage over the companys role in the opioid crisis. Blbloomberg reportedly steered e family to a Crisis Communications specialist who had been his mayoral press secretary. In georgia, newly surfaced emails show thensecretary of state brian kemp mocked reports of Voter Suppression during the 2018 gubernatorial race. Kemp is a republican who went on to narrowly win the election over Stacey Abrams for governor, who was vying to become the first black woman governor in the United States. The race was marred by widespread allegations of Voter Suppression carried out by kemp. In one email, kemp used a laughingfromcrying emoji to reply to a press release by a lawmaker who warned georgia had canceled a halfmillion voter registrations in a purge that systematically targeted democrats. In another email, kemp praised Campaign Officials for blunting an article on Voter Suppression in the atlanta journalconstitution, writing good work, this story is so complex folks will not make it all the way through it. The veterans administrations Inspector General is probing allegations that v. A. Secretary Robert Wilkie sought damaging information to smear the reputation of a Senior Veteran Affairs policy advisor after she reported she was sexually assaulted at a v. A. Hospital in washington, d. C. Andrea goldstein, a staff member of the Women Veterans task force of the house veterans committee, reported last september that a man slammed her below the waist and pressed his body against hers as she tried to buy a snack at the medical centers cafeteria. At the time of the alleged assault, goldstein had just come from capitol hill where she was working on a bill designed to curb Sexual Assault and harassment. In january, v. A. Secretary wilkie called the Sexual Assault claims unsubstantiated in a letter to goldsteins boss. Goldstein responded in an oped, writing on the website jezebel he used coded language, but the words still stung. The secretary of the second Largest Federal Agency knew how his words would resonate. He was implying that i was a liar. Meanwhile, a federal investigation has concluded the university of Southern California mishandled dozens of reports of Sexual Assault by Student Health center gynecologist george tyndall, which may have allowed the abuse to continue for decades. Dr. 400 survivors say tyndall raped or forcibly touched them and made racist and misogynistic comments while he sexually abused them. In colombibia, 51yearoold sol leader Cristobal Anaya gonzalez was found dead with a gunshot to the head on monday, four days after he disappeared in rural area in colombias santander region. Anaya gonzalez was cofounder of an organization that serves victims of antipersonnel landmines in eastern colombia. This week, the office of the u. N. High commissioner for human rights reported there were 108 murders of human rights defendnders in colombibia last , including g 15 women and two members of t the lgb commumunit. That was a n nearly 50 rise frm 2018. And so far this year, more thn 50 social leaders have been murdered. In costa rica, 45yearold land defender yehry rivera of the broran Indigenous Community was murdered monday by an armed mob after he joined a campaign by indigenous families to reoccupy their ancestral lands. It was the second murder of an indigenous land defender in the past year. Under a law passed in 1977, costa ricas 24 legally recognized indigenous groups are entitled to reclaim lands taken from their ancestors, but the law has never been implemented. In mexico, one of the men who participated in the murder of awardwinning journalist Javier Valdez was sentenced thursday to nearly 15 years in prison. Heriberto Picos Barraza served as a getaway driver for two other men who are charged with draggiging valdez fromom his cad shooting him 12 times. The murder in may 2017 came less than a block from the office of riodoce, the newspaper valdez cofounded in the mexican state of sinaloa. And in california, hundreds of unionizedght graduate student workers at the university of californiasanta barbara walked out of classes and onto picket lines thursday to demand a cola, or costofliving adjustment. The grad students, who work as teachers assistants, say theyre severely burdened by high rents and low wages. Meanwhile grad student workers at uc davis say theyll refuse to submit grades unless administrators agree to a monthly housing stipend to help offset skyrocketing rents in davis. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Juan and im juan gonzalez. Welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. We begin today in syria, where soldiers stationed there were killed in an airstrike by russianbacked Syrian Forces in rebelheld idlib on thursday. Its a major escalation in the allout offensive by bashar alassads regime and its russian allies that has displaced some 900,000 people from northwestern syria since december. Turkey, which has long back rebel forces in syria, has vowed to respond in kind as u. N. Secretarygeneral Antonio Guterres calls for an immediate ceasefire, saying, the risk of even greater escalation grows by the hour. Russian president Vladimir Putin and turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan reportedly spoke by phone on friday to discuss the crisis as nato urged rapid deescalation. This comes as turkey has temporarily opened its border for fleeing Syrian Refugees to cross through the country to europe. Amy of the nearly one Million People displaced from syria since december alone, at least half of them are children. Its the single largest didisplacement in a nineyear wr that has forced 13 million to flflee and left t hundreds off thousands s dead. As thehe humanitariaian catastre deepens,s, aid workers a are describibing scecenes of chaos d devastation on the ground, with hundreds of thousands of families scrambling for shelter as temperatures fall below freezing. Childr have frozozen to death in the dire conditions. All the while, bombs continue to fall. On tuesday, the Syrian Regime bombed eight school facilities, killing 21 people accocording to aid workers. This is unicefs executive director henrietta fore. Tens of thousands are now andng in makeshift tents public buildings, and open, huddled under trees, expososed o rain and snow in subzeroro coldf the harsh syrian winter. The recent strikes on these makeshift camps in idlib and on the children and teachers, horrifically killed just two days ago, as 10 schools were attacked, are both reprehensible and mororally repugnant. Also these acts clearly dedemonstrate the terrifying day conditions of those living through this nightmare. And we have heard and read reports of chihildren freezing o death. When wood runs out, families burn whatever they can find. Plastic bags, garbage discarded furniture, just to provide a flicker of heat against the cold or a simple fire to cook whatever food they can find. In these informal settlements, children and women are averages skill or just particular risk of violence or exploitation. Makeshift toilets offer no safety or privacy. Landmines and improvised explosive devices dot the landscape. Every step people take is a risk. In the n northwest, 280,000 children have had their snatched away. Ly in estimated 180 schools are out of operation, destroyed, damaged, or being used for shelters. Another blow to childrens hopes and futures. Access to health care is almost nonexistent or financially out of reach. Hospitals continue to be targeted. 72 have suspended d rvices because e of the fighting. Amy that is unicefss executive director henrietta fore. Well, for more, we are joined here in new york by our guest avril benoit, executive director of msf usa or Doctors Without Borders usa. Welcome to democracy now talk about the crisis in syria. 900,000 people talk about the scope of this. Unprecedented. That whole area was considered a kind of safe zone was to people who had been relocated because of the retaking of territory and different movements. Many ended up in this idlib area, so it was yes controlled by Opposition Armed groups, we work trying to support hospitals. What we founund in the lasast ce of d days is t ty have beeeen subjected d to aerial environments, to shelling,g, to ground forces. It has been catastrophic from a humanitarian perspective. You have that displacement of people, which you heard about, and our own hospitals which we support which are run by very brave and courageous syrian medical teams. They were dealing with an influx, a mash Casualty Group of people with very severe injuries conducting 30 operations, surgical operations in a day, 185 patients coming in, 18 of them arrived and were declared dead upon arrival. A lot of children. These surgeries, just a focus on the medical piece, thehe are complex surgerieies. You have peoples lives have been amputated as buildings have coapsed on them. And the supplies of anesthesia for the surgeons has been desperately low. So you can imagine the horror of being a medical physician, being medical personnel trying to alleviate the suffering of people that youre trying to heal them and repair their wounds and they are in excruciating pain. Meanwhile, youre working as you hear the shelling, you hear the bombing, hear the screaming, you hear people experiencing panic atattacks all around you i mean, it is absolutely frightening. So then you have what is happening on the outside of these hospital facilities where people are fleeing en masse. This is where we see for this idlib region, and unprecedented catastrophe. Even when you look at the history, nine years of war in syria, we have seen our victory go on. ,o one can say this is the end the endgame, or that it will end anytime soon. But certainly, it is absolutely shocking, even to those who have been used to it, if you will. The humanitarian organizations, the syrian doctors, all of these people that have been focused in the journalist who have been watching this space are absolutely shocked by the suffering going on right now. Juan i would ask about the groups that are involved in fighting. Turkey has moved into the Idlib Province, the syrians backed by russians, still guerrilla groups who have been in opposition for a while. What about the issue of all of these outside groups coming in and using this territory to conduct these wars . It is the civilian population that suffers. They do suffer. You can imagine when we are talking about maybe 3 Million People living in a zone, theyy are not allll part of these combatants, these various groups. They are not legitimate targets under International Humanitarian law. It is mostly civilians living there. Yes, theres all kinds of proxy war activities, different splinter groups, different factions and allegiances. Theres no question, though, that under International Humanitarian law, indiscriminate bombing is not allowed. We are talking about bombings of schools. Schools, which may be have been turned into shelters for families. Most of the people that are onon the run, as is often the case when there is a mass displacement of people in the context of war, are women and children. You cannot say they were active combatants and that it is legitimate to raise or try to raise the places where they were trying to survive. Amy of the nearly one Million People displaced from syria, just since december, at least have our children. I want to turn to jennah, a 10yearold syrian child, displaced by the russianbacked Syrian Government offensive against idlib. I felt sadness. I had friends who were targeted by a plane and died. I cried as i left t en the regime took over. I hope his peoeople will be e ae to return one day and ththat we will be able to go back. This isnt justice. Amy avril benoit, talk about the devastation of the childrenn the New York Times had ts mamajor piece on children n freg to death and ththen about the u. N. Secretarygenerals call for an immediate ceaseffire, saying the risk of even greater escalation grows by the hour. Specifically for the children, you have seen maybe or you have heard the reports of some families having trained their children to react with giggles to the sound of bombs. These are coping mechanisms that the parents are trying to create this bubble of safety, a sense of reassurance to children who just want to grow and play and learn. They want to be in school. L. Devastated toely see the condition they are in. Because not only are they consequences of the direct violence consequencef the directct violencnce shral wounds, being trapped under collapsed buildings and so forth there is also the problem of heating. When you are sleeping even in a tent for the lucky ones who actuallyly have had accccess toa camp and a tent. There are a thousand camps of not more in Idlib Province. Many of the people are trying to heat those tents and the ways that they can, suffering sexy a 68 and. E had we have had entire families die of asphyxiation. Aat we have mananaged to do is lifesaving activity, and you would not nececessarily thininkf this as an essential thing for life, but to give them some warmth, we are transferring 300 tons of this compressed fueuel r burning g so they can warm themselves. For the kids, it is not only that because there is also malnutrition that can be a consequence of all of this stuff the families dont have access to the kind of food sources that a child needs to grow and thrive, even for the brain development. In addition to probably what youre going to see, and im collating here, but the consequences over generations of the Emotional Trauma this can be a marker that will affect those kids in the years ahead. And for nine years, many kids who have been displaced within syria, not to mention the ones that managed to go to the surrounding countries, countries like lebanon and turkey, is that that not all of them have had access to school. You have a whole generation now that will be that much further handicapped in a way from those that lack of educational opportunity. Juan i want to ask about the potential impact of turkey opening g its borders again to refugees. Admittedly, turkey has suffered a refugee crisis as a refugee crisis as result of this. But how that group could alleviate the Current Situation somewhat . Turkey has 3. 5 million if not more syrian asylumseekers, refugees, and of course you know that many of them are trying to leave turkey. It is a very situation sensitive situation. I know theyre working at this had various political levels. Certainly, we dont have the answer to whether turkey should let them all in, under what circumstances. We are a human to turn responder and are apolitical. But something has to change. You cant just have an area at the border where people are trapped as there is encroaching military incursion that considers them a target for indiscriminatete bombing. It is an untenable situation. You can imagine anyone would want to flee that area. And when all of the options are closed around them, what are these people supposed to do . We are talking about millions of people. Amy i want to move to the coronavirus. There are links. We have these crises not only in syria, but around the world where people need to flee. Then you have countries closing their border for all sorts of reasons. But of course, coronavirus is going to contribute to that. I want to turn to the issue of the coronavirus and ask you about what is happening here in the United States. New york Officials Say they are preparing their own test kits after kids distribute it by the centers for Disease Control cases validation tests, springing up worldwide niger reporting his first case. Arends Vice President testing positive and he was next to the president. And i believe iran has canceled prayer for the first timimand like 40 years. And at the vatican, put vances dish hope Francis Pope Francis canceled a mass. Organization msf, Doctors Without Borders, dealing with this . Countries,in 7070 medical operations, projects. Those are the ones we are focused on right now to getet tm ready. We have the case inin nigeria. You can imagine there are many more casases was the Testing Capacity in the u. S. , let alone and a low income country or fragile state is extremely limiting. We dont know where coronavirus really is. And that is one of the things that is rereally concerning us. We know those countries, their Health Systems are already fragile, already under resourced. We are trying to reinforce their capacity. We do have a team that is doing Public Health information, Infection Control, education, working out of hong kong and focusing also on those marginalized vulnerable minority groups. There are little areas you will find that are forgotten in these outbreaks where they are not part of the dominant group. The messages go out in the main language of the country and they forget about everyone else that speaks other languages. That is our focus. The prevention is going to be big. We also have a lot of concerns about the development of these testing kits. We need cheap come available, quick, rapid diagnostic kit to be available in the places where we work. You can imagine it coronavirus starts to infiltrate may be one of these refugee camps or an area with a lot of internally displaced People Living in crowded conditions in a stadium or school. We work in those kind of places writing health care. We are looking for the vaccination also. This vaccination, this vaccine should be affordable. Theres a lot of public money going into this effort. A lot of Global Health experts are contributing to this effort. R d infit mode of the the big pharmaceutical sector has to take it into consideration this is public money going into the development of a vaccine for coronavirus. And we would like to see the price be affordable so does low income countries, those countries at war, those countries that dont have the means can afford to get access to it. Juan i want to ask you one last question, new report by msf shows how migration policies imposed by the United States and mexico have trapped thousands of Central American migrants in dangerous conditions. The report is called no way out. It is based on interviews of about 500 migrants . Yes. What we found in the work we have done and we are Offering Mental Health care in many of the areas that are along the migration route from the different Central American countries but also working at the border, the northern border of mexico as people who are trying to reach the United States and or have been sent back to the United States. What we find is almost half of them have experienced some form of extreme violence, watching somebody from the family be killed, being kidnapped themselves, having to deal with the violent situations of their communities other neighborhoods, and they have fled that. Toy have legitimate reasons try to find safety. Where that safety is is not really for us to say, but we can pay that sending them back or making them wait in that Northern Area of mexico where cartels are dominating, where cartels are exploiting them, where you have criminal gangs that are kidnapping them in finding any which way to make money off of their presence, it is almost like the United States policy of the e micro protection prototols migigrant protectin protocols are almost like funding these cartels in a way an indirect form by sending these people back to be subjected to the kind of exploitation that is happening. So the suffering is real. It is a huge concern of ours. We dont have all of the policy solutions. All we can say again, we are not taking a political stance insofar as this party or this platform. What were saying is you cannot expect people to be safe in an area that is controlled by criminal gangs with a long history of killing people. This is not the place that people who arere awaiting their asylum claims should have to stay in shelters and fragile situations where they dont even dare go out during the day, let alone at night. Amy and then there is the great tor that president trump, allay jitters because of the stock market who is trying to say or think is ok and this will end in the middle of april, as if he knows, would use this still as a pretext to crack down even further on desperate refugees, asylumseekers. What would happen, for example, if coronavirus come as you are saying in the camps or other places along the border . It is extremely concerning to us to have colleagues arrive on flights to support the efforts on the ground in a country and find the local authorities have made a decision to quarantine them for 14 days. Fair enough that you have to quarantine people who are at highgh risk who have symptoms ad the signs around this, the understanding of the risks is increasing over time. We appreciate that we all have to do our part to avoid the spread, but it is going to be very difficult, even for us think about it. There is a run on surgical masks right now. How are surgeons supposed to get access to masks when everyone is cobbling them up or buying them up off the shelves and everywhere house imaginable . We have patients coming in for other ailments even into hospitals here in the u. S. , but because they might have coronavirus, theyre not getting the treatment they need to stay alive, dialysis, or whatever else. There is a delay in the quick response, the normal response of medical people who are fearful of coronavirus. And we also know with Infection Control and all the measures we have acquired, all we have learned from outbreaks like the Ebola Outbreak of west africa and what we are dealing with and the eastern democratic republic of congo now, is even medical teams, hospitals that you would think would know how to protect themselves, dont. There is a huge effort that must be taken seriously in terms of protection. But if the borders start closing, if people cannot flee war, people cannot seek health even if the wall in front of them is the hospital that is close to them because they are a suspected case, you can imagine this coronavirus will spread even more. Amy just to be clear, it is not just criminal gangs. Mexican military, the police also brutalized Central American, caribbean refugugees from coming over the border. There are all kinds of suffering. You will find this also in war zones. You can imagine in syria, you have a lot of exploitation that happens. And the Syrian Government the coalition forces, including the russian airplanes, have been a factor. You have other armed groups that have been a factor in their suffering. Then you have those who will exploit their vulnerability. These people and in the province province were trying to flee, they sold everything. They had to leave everything behind. What little cash they had on them they had to get to the truck driver that may be piled them into get to safety. They have nothing left. Situation where we have an asak i in a crowded area i said before, it is going to be deeply problematic to deal with and it will only compound the suffering they are experiencing. Amy i want to thank you so much for being with us. I also want to say the irani unofficial westchester possible iranian official westchester positive is irans Vice President for women and family affairs. Avril benoit, executive director of msf usa, or Doctors Without Borders usa. When we come back, we look at the Dominican Republic where thousands have taken to the street over the last weeks and yesterday on Independence Day in the Dominican Republic, to protest the abrupt suspension of local elections. Stayay with us. [music break] amy Founding Member passed away monday at the age of 61. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. The we turn now to Dominican Republic, where thousands of people took to the streets of the capital Santo Domingo thursday to protest the abrupt suspension of local elections earlier this month and to commemorate the countrys Independence Day. Demonstrators wore black and held signs that read democracy and punishment for the corrupt. Massive protests have been ongoing since february 16 after the government suspended the municipal elections four hours after voting had begun, alleging there were Technical Glitches in the electronic ballot machines used. Reuters reports the machines cost the dominican government 19 million. But many dominicans believe the alleged Technical Glitch is just an attempt by the ruling party, the dominican liberation party, to hold onto power as theyve lost support. This is one of the protesters in Santo Domingo thursday. We want to know what happened with the suspension of the municipal elections. We want answers. Young people are 40 of voters this year, and we deserve justice as we have demanded in recent days. Amy protesters are now demanding an independent investigation into what happened in the local elections as well as for the resignation of dominican election board officials. This is eduardo frei, president of the observer commission with the organization of american states. The organization ofof americn states calls on the electoral authorities in the Dominican Republic and the political actors of the country to maintain an honest and constructive dialogue to face the next steps that should be undertaken faced with this complex reality. Amy municipal elections have now been rescheduled for march 15. Meanwhile, dozens of solidarity protests have sparked among dominican communities around the world from spain and france to new jersey and right here in new york city where thousands of people demonstrated last weekend in Washington Heights, a predominantly dominican neighborhood. Nationwide, there are at least 1. 87 million dominicans living in the United States and some 40 of them live in new york city a alone. For more, were joined by amanda alcantara, Digital Media editor at latino usa. Also a dominicanamerican journalist and the author of chula, a bilingual collection of poems and short stories about the life of a dominican woman before and after moving to the United States. It is great to have you with us, amanda. If you could start off talking about what all of these protests are about. What happened with the elections . These protests are basically people taking to the streets and saying our right to democracy and our right to exercise selfdetermination has been taken away from us. Were talking about a country where people have b been disenfranchised in many ways. A country that is predominantly populated by People Living in poverty. This is the one thing they have to be able to claim any right to whatever happens to the future of their country. Imagine people standing in line for three hours to four hours and then being told, you now have to go home because the elections are no longer happening. People were angry. They were confused. Starting on that very sunday afternoon, mostly youth started taking to the streets and going to the central electoral board in Santo Domingo to protest and demand answers. Juan of course, the ruling party in the Dominican Republic has been in power more or less for about 20 years now . Over 18 years. Years old. They have been in power almost my entire life. Ever since i had any sort of political understanding, ive only known them. To me that is insane. Amy lets go to thousands of people who were in the streets right here in new york city in the Dominican Community in Washington Heights to protest the suspension of municipal elections in the Dominican Republic. This is one of the protesters, yolis perez. Im a professional dress to migrate from my country in search of a Better Future for my daughter. My daughters generation needs us to truly wake up and that we clean up our country for them. Amy i mean, the passion of the asple here, as passionate the people in t the Dominican Republic. Talk about the diaspora of the Dominican Republic. Cap people vote here for the Dominican Republic elections . Yes, they can. Sometimes there is this sort of nickname that we have, specifically for the community and new york. Like the 33rd province of the Dominican Republic. Even for me being part of the diaspora, we care so much about what is happening in the country because a lot of the issues that happen in the dominican a and a lot of the conditions of people there actually lead to their being such a widespread diaspora. We are talking about dominicans not only being near the city and other parts of the United States, but a Large Population in spain and dominicans all across the globe. I think these protests have become an opportunity for people to almost come out and say, hey, were dominicans and we would love to live in our country but it is difficicult to live theree because of these very issues that are happening. Earlier you asked me people are saying there was an attempt at fried. So whenever people went to the ballot and tried to vote for the candidate our preference, some of the candidates were not showing up on the ballot. This is very shady, to say the least. People see this as an attempt of sabotage. This is the first time in 18 years or at least in a decade when they are no longer heading the polls. Instead, it is the Opposition Party which is also questionable is ahead and the polls. This is the first time when they may not win the election. They found themselves in a situation of here and instead of allowing for the democratic process to happen, people see this as an attempt at sabotaging that democratic process. Juan i want to ask you about the attempt to redo the election. This time e they are going to paper ballots. The problem apparently, they claim, this was in the electronic Voting System that somehow malfunction as if we have not heard the story before. Didnt we just hear about iowa . So now theyre going back to the oldfashioned paper ballot. Then they have a president ial election in may . Correct. These elections were not only meant for people to choose their local leaders we know how important it is to choose then mayor that represents you come to choose the regional leader. But these ballots were going to create or an opportunity to create momentum for the opposition come president ial elections. Now that momentum has been lost because there is no credibility in the election process. We have no idea what will happen in march. They spent 19 million on these voting machines. People are angry about that. A lot of the signs ive seen a protest say these dollars went to the trash. How can we spend 19 million and the machchines dont work . Amy theres been no connection between Dominican Republic and iowa that has been uncovered. Folks now that we know of, but i would not be surprised. Amy you write about this in harvest of empire. Talk about the relations with u. S. Soldiers moving into the Dominican Republic and vetting the Dominican Republic in 1965, and then how that shapes of modernday Dominican Republic. There were means propping up on sunday. It was basically him laughing and saying, well, dont even know how to properly steal an election. He was the man that the United States helped put in power once there was a u. S. Backed who in 1965. He was president i like to talk about this a lot because i feel the Dominican Republic doesnt get i feel people normally look at the dictatorship that lasted 30 years. A very tough stronghold regime were a lot of people were killed and disappeared. Happened. Im ok, it we have democracy. Thats it. That wasnt the case. He was president starting from the late 1960s up until the early 1990s. We are talking about two to three generations of generations. His was also a rightwing sort of strong regime and a repressive regime. People are already seeing the connections between his time in presidency and also how long the pele has been in power and how long they have crushed the opposition. Talking about u. S. Interventions, there was an article in the Washington Post were giuliani, talking about president Donald Trumps attorney, was in the Dominican Republic consulting the opposition l leader. The other oppososition parties e saying, this guys trying to get u. S. Backing because at the end of the day, it is the u. S. That has a strongholdld in the Dominican Republic. Intofinal words as we move march 15. Of course, this is something we will cover. Whether you feel the government will hold Fair Elections . I think the government has no other choice but to hold Fair Elections. Dont, thef they people will no longer accept no longer accept not having Fair Elections. I have been thinking, what is mean for people to be taking to the streets today and in historic numbers and whether this can cause change or not. I dont think that institutional change will happen from one day to the next, but i do think the people now know these elected officials are accountable to you. If on march 15 we dont really know what is going to happen, but if the elections are not fair and transparent which isis what thee people are demanding i think the protesters will continue. Amy we will continue to cover those as well. Amanda alcantara, Digital Media editor at latino usa. Dominicanamerican journalist and the author of chula, a bilingual collection of poems and short stories about the life of a dominican woman before and after moving to the United States. When we come back, we look at the fight to save a new Jersey Elementary School that serves a large Latino Community and New Brunswick, new jersey, from the forces of the Health Care Industry and gentrification. Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. We ended today show in new jersey where hundreds rallied at the New Brunswick board of education meeting tuesday night protesting against plans to demolish a Public School to make way for a Robert Wood Johnson hospital and Rutgers University to build a new cancer center. Protesters included families and more than 30 children who held signs reading save our school and stop gentrification. If approved, 760 third through eighthgraders at Lincoln Annex School would be moved to a former warehouse building on the outskirts of town, as they await construction of a Replacement School. Even worse, the proposed replacement site is located on a brownfield site with possible contamination from hazardous chemicals. This is one of the parentsts at tuesdaday nights school boaoard meeting. Since september, we have been in this fight. We dont want our schools up for sale. It is our kids, o our community. Leave newwant to brunswick or for our kids to go to school for far outside the city, we wanted to be of our own accord, not because we are being pushed out. Our dignity, our school is not for sale. One coat organizer sherry wolf with a local rutgers Professors Union blasted the plan as racist gentrification. Of we understand the students New Brunswick are our future students. We have skin in this game. We pay taxes here. We live and work here. Atat at levels much higher than the rest of the american population, we vote here. And im going to make you a promise. We will do everything in our , we are wellion resourced, to help organize politically and on the g ground thee community and solidarity to stop this destruction of a thriving school, to stop the racist displacement of the Latino Community under the pretext of a cancer institute. We have no beef with the cancer institute. We do have a beef with racism. We do have a beef with gegentrification. We do have a beef with line. We do have a beef with people saying theyre doing something in the best interest of children and then ignoring the children and their families. And a performance earlier of throwing people out who simply want to speak is precisely the kind of arrogance that is going to win you even greater opposition. And because that is rutgers organizer sherry wolf. After closing off the public tuesdays meeting, members of the New Brunswick school board went into a closed session after much of the public had left. They came back into Public Session and voted to begin the process of nosing down the Lincoln Annex School and moving forward with their plan. Juan, can you talk morore about this . What is important to understand is this is a Community Battle that really has National Implications because all over america and lots of urban areas, there are Health Care Institutions and universities whether it is university of chicago or colombiaia or nyu or johns hopks all of these universities and these Health Institutions located in downtown areas are always seeking to expand and grab more e land andnd more territory. In this particular case, this is a david and goliath battle that has erupted and it will get even bigger in the weeks to come. It just erupted in the last feww weeks where you have a poor immigrant community the city of New Brunswick has 50,000 people. Them are latino. Most of them are mexican immigrants. They occupy the downtown area of New Brunswick right around Rutgers University and the Health Care Industry. Robert wood johnson hospital, st. Peters hospital. There are all of these hospitals and Health Institutions right around of course, New Brunswick is the Corporate Headquarters of johnson johnson, which is also downtown. Suddenly, Robert Wood Johnson and rutgers announced theyre going to build a new 750 million expansion, new standalone cancer center. But they did not say where they were going to build it. They announced it in june. The president of the new Jersey Senate was there. The president of the assembly all of the Political Forces of new jersey made this grand announcement. Then only a couple of weeks ago after parents kept saying, hey, our school is across the street from the hospital. Are you going to take our school . They kept saying, no, no, those are only rumors. Suddenly, the mayor says an announcement, yes, the hospital. Ants to buy the lincoln annex the bestperforming school in the city of New Brunswick. A city a school that the city just spent 22 billion to renovate and reopen a few years ago. It has only been open for 3. 5 years now. And now they want to sell it to Robert Wood Johnson, close it down, send the kids a couple of miles away to a warehouse on the outskirts of town for several years while they wait for a new school to be built. Of course the site for the Replacement School as we mentioned in the lede is on a contaminated brownfield site. The parents are organizing. They said, we love our school. Find another place to build your hospital expansion. And they have been marching in the streets. They have been protesting in downtown New Brunswick, appearing at board of education meetings, and no one is listening. What is happening increasingly now is the entire Rutgers University community, which is how i got involved, the faculty all ofind the parents the student organizations, the Muslim Students, the mexican students , thenaacp chapter of rutgers are behind the parents and theyre going to continue this fight to insist that the Health Care Industry find another place to build this hospital. Amy and yet the school board voted to sell the school. What happens next . Juan they will continue to fight because it is not dead yet most the Latino Justice has got involved. Theyll be even more escalating protests over the next few days. University press or one gonzalez, thank you, and democracy now cohost. That doesnt for our show. Tune in tuesday night for our super tuesday live special broadcast with the intercept from 7 00 p. M. Eastern standard time to midnight right here at democracynow. Org and on many stations around the country. 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