Transcripts For KCSM Democracy Now 20150904 : comparemela.co

He resigns from office. We will go to Guatemala City for the latest and speak to nobel peace laureate Rigoberto Menchu and journalist allan nairn. Then to chicago. A group of Chicago Public school parents, grandmothers, and education activists are entering the 19th day of a Hunger Strike. We will go to chicago to find out why. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. In guatemala, expresident Otto Perez Molina has been jailed on charges of corruption only hours after he bowed to massive popular protest and resigned. In court thursday, prosecutors played wiretapped conversations they say show perez molina was part of customsfraud ring that pilfered tens of millions of dollars from the state treasury. Vice president Alejandro Maldonado has been sworn in as interim president until january, when Perez Molinas term was set to end. Maldonado had been Vice President since only may, after he assumed the post when the former Vice President Roxana Baldetti resigned over allegations of corruption. Like perez molina, she too is now in jail awaiting trial. Meanwhile, president ial elections are scheduled for sunday. The guatemalan judge announced the charges against perez molina on thursday. This Court Considers it wise to order provisional prison for mr. Otto perez molina, effective of his judicial order and not prevented, but provisional custody at of trial. Amy we will go to Guatemala City to speak with Rigoberta Menchu and allan nairn after headlines. In kentucky, Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis has also been jailed after a federal judge ruled her in contempt of court for refusing to issue marriage licenses to samesex couples. Davis had stopped issuing all marriage licenses rather than comply with the Supreme Court ruling in june that legalized samesex marriage nationwide. In an interview with the conservative Radio Program crosstalk america, kim davis lawyer matt staver of liberty counsel compared the judges ruling to the actions of officials in nazi germany. Saudi arabian king salman has arrived in washington, d. C. , today to meet with president obama today to discuss the Iran Nuclear Deal and other issues. This is the king salmans first visit to the United States since he assumed the throne in january following the death of his father king abdullah. The group codepink has planned a protest in front of the white house to coincide with the meeting to denounce the ongoing saudiled bombing of yemen, which has sparked a humanitarian crisis. King salmans visit comes as the pentagon and saudi arabia are finalizing a 1 billion arms agreement to provide weapons for sai arabias campaign in yemen, as well as its fight against the selfproclaimed islamic state. To see our interview with the head of Human Rights Watch ken roth on the saudi led bombing of yemen, go to democracynow. Org. In news from europe leaders are , planning another round of emergency talks about how to respond to the hundreds of thousands of people seeking Refugee Status after fleeing violence in syria, iraq, afghanistan, somalia, eritrea, nigeria and other regions as , people across e world took to social media to demand nations do more to welcome refugees. This morning, british Prime Minister David Cameron pledged to accept thousands more syrians after more than 250,000 people signed a petition created by the news outlet the independent demanding that england accept , its fair share of refugees seeking safety in europe. This comes on the heels of news that more than 10,000 icelanders have volunteered to house Syrian Refugees in their own homes. The United States is also coming under fire for resettling only 1500 syrians since the violence began. In response, some european governments rebuked the calls. Hungarian Prime Minister viktor orban pushed back against the calls saying i think we have a right to decide that we do not want a large number of muslim people in our country. This comes as hungary has herded people into camps after they believed their trains were headed west toward germany. The polish and slovak governments also said they would only accept christians. Meanwhile, reuters is reporting that hungary and bulgaria have reportedly made inquiries about buying israelidesigned fences to reinforce their borders. The chairman of the United Nations commission of inquiry spoke out about the refugee crisis in syria on thursday. Civilians are suffering the unimaginable. Without stronger efforts to bring back a compromise, Current Trends suggest the syrian conflict in the killing and carry for thell foreseeable future. Amy that was chair of the United Nations commission of inquiry. The Prime Minister has spoken out about the migration crisis after reports that the threeyearold syrian boy and his family were seeking to reach canada when they drown in the Mediterranean Sea earlier this week. Photos of the boys lifeless body lying on a turkish or have gone viral. Canada says it had not received the families of some desk asylum application the canadian Prime Minister, who has come under fire for not taking in more syrians, said thursday that canada will do what it can. We cannot ourselves crazy can drive we ourselves crazy with grief, if we look at the millions of people, literally, who are in danger, the tens of thousands who are dying. Honestly, we do a we can to help. Inigo in india, as many as 150 million unionized workers went on strike on wednesday in protest over Prime Minister modis labor reforms. Modi has proposed the largest overhaul of indias labor laws in decades. The reforms would make it harder for workers to unionize and go on strike. In the United States, the majority of the staff at al Jazeera Americas digital newsroom have voted to unionize. The workers will join the news guild of new york, which is part of the National Union Communications Workers of america. Al Jazeera America marks the fifth digital newsroom to unionize in recent months. The guardian u. S. Editorial staffs vote to unionize in gawker, salon and vice have july. Recently voted to unionize under Writers Guild of america. New york city has announced it will pay nearly a half a Million Dollars to settle a civil rights lawsuit filed by 27yearold robert hinton, who was hogtied and beaten by Corrections Officers at Rikers Island in hinton was imprisoned in the 2012. Solitary confinement unit for men with Mental Illness when a beating from correction officers left him with a broken nose, a fractured vertebrae and a , bleeding mouth. His case has already led to the firing of a captain and five officers involved in the beating. In china, president xi jinping has announced plans to shrink the military by cutting 300,000 personnel. The move thursday came amid a massive military parade marking 70 years since the end of world war ii. The Chinese Military currently has more than 2 million members. Meanwhile, pentagon Officials Say that five Chinese Naval ships are currently operating in the bering sea off the coast of alaska. Officials are calling it the first time the u. S. Military has seen Chinese Military ships in the area. In news from the campaign trail, republican president ial contender donald trump has signed a pledge saying he will back the eventual Republican Party nominee, ruling out the possibility of a thirdparty run if he does not name gain the nomination. His announcement came after a meeting with the chairman of the Republican National committee, which has been requesting all republican candidates sign the agreement. Trump has resisted the pledge during the first republican president ial debate when he raised his hand when fox news moderators asked whether the candidates would consider mounting a thirdparty run. In his announcement thursday, trump said what did i get from signing the pledge . Absolutely nothing. Just the assurance that ill be treated fairly. In news from south carolina, prosecutors will sick the Death Penalty in the case against accused charleston shooter dylann roof for the massacre of nine africanamericans inside the historic Emanuel Ame Church in june. The 21yearold faces nine counts of murder, three cows of attempted murder, and the use of a firearm during a violent felony in state court. Dylann roof has also been indicted on total hate crimes charges. South carolina Solicitor Scarlett Wilson announced the decision to seek the Death Penalty thursday. While none of us has the heart for vengeance, we all have the resolve to seek and to find justice in this case. This was the ultimate crime and justice from our state calls for the ultimate punishment. Amy and black lives matter active is our protesting that jailing of jasmine richards. The 28yearold has been one of the key organizers demanding justice for kendrick and dade, a 19yearold africanamerican who was shot and killed by Pasadena Police in 2012 after officers mistakenly believed he was armed. Jasmine richards has been arrested twice in the past six months, most recently after a rally last week. She is grilli being held on charges of terrorist threats, salt, and trespassing. A correction to one of the headlines, saudi king summit is the halfbrother of the late saudi king abdullah, not his son. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Juan welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. In guatemala, former president Otto Perez Molina has been jailed on charges of corruption only hours after he resigned bowing to massive popular protest. In court thursday, prosecutors played wiretapped conversations they say show perez molina was part of customsfraud ring that pilfered tens of millions of dollars from the state treasury. Guatemalan judge Miguel Angel Galvez ordered perez molina to jail. This Court Considers it wise to order provisional prison for mr. Otto perez molina. This is effective of this judicial order and is not prevented detention but provisional custody had of trial. Amy the resignation and jailing of former president Otto Perez Molina sparked celebrations in the streets of Guatemala City. We have been here since very early celebrating after so many marches, in the rain, in the sun, so many shouts that we have made here in the plaza to see the objectives that weve been reaching for is done, to know theres justice for the people, that the corrupt will be tried, that theyre in the hands of justice for the coming years. We are very happy. It is hard to describe. The end of all this is that it benefits the people. Juan Vice President Alejandro Maldonado has been sworn in as interim president until january, when Perez Molinas term was set to end. Maldonado had been Vice President since only may, after he assumed the post when the former Vice President Roxana Baldetti resigned over allegations of corruption. Like perez molina, she too is now in jail awaiting trial. Guatemalas new president Alejandro Maldonado spoke on thursday. I believe i can take on this commitment to call on political sectors of the state from the congress so that we bring in the reforms that the country needs and that in the first and second rounds of voting we can have a focus on these issues for these legislative reforms to come to a conclusion. Amy for more we go now to Guatemala City where we are joined by the guatemalan indigenous activist Rigoberta Menchu who won the Nobel Peace Prize in she has published many 1992. Books, including i, Rigoberta Menchu an indian woman in guatemala. Shes been translated into over a dozen languages, awarded more than 30 honorary degrees, and runs the the Rigoberta Menchu tum foundation. We welcome you back to democracy now can you respond to this latest developments in your country . The president Otto Perez Molina resigning and jailed. Thats right. It is an extremely unique event in the history of guatemala. Here,re than 50 years there is an extraordinary fear of the military. The specialized members of the military forces, those who were trained in order to control people in order to crush Civil Society, in order to try to coverup all kinds of opinion against them. And we must not forget today that Otto Perez Molina, like many veteran members of the military, in the style of rios montt and other members of the military who are in the shadows , all ofd who are alive them were trained at the school of the americas of the United States. And they are not willing to remove their boots. They will die with their military boots on. Wearing them. That is why we are extremely happy that Otto Perez Molina has thegned because we reached point of believing that perhaps he wasnt going to step down and the opinion of everyone would not matter to him. But theres also a very important record we must bear in mind. Governmentent is a that has just been around for a few years, nonetheless, he reestablished certain aspects of the regime of the 1980s, the late 1980s. And one of these aspects is criminalizing small farmer leaders, criminalizing civil. Ociety, imposing censorship now, if we look through the guatemalan media, how many of has mayanles peoples have spoken in these last three years . We have not been part of the voice of the people of guatemala that has been heard, and there is a lot of complicity so it is not just that a general has fallen, but a general who is a dictator has fallen. And not only has a repressive general fallen, but also a general who was implicated in a bloody past in guatemala. Tito, as he is known by the Human Rights Community here in guatemala, Otto Perez Molina, he carried out the genocide in the past. Whoas a young commander directed the army in the ixil areas and areas where there was the heaviest arms struggle and where a sad mark was left, as reflected in the x omissions that have been done, the mass graves, the cases of forced disappearance. This is what we have done over these years, reveal all of this. So there is a past that he cares around with him, but theres also the presence, which is to say the last three years in which he also sent many peasant leaders to prison, defending the interests of many military officers who were all involved in the mining businesses and the businesses involving exploiting Natural Resources in guatemala, and then the last part, which is really cruel, shameful, which is perez as president headed up the criminal band. That criminal band is a new matter in his record, or you know throughout my life, throughout these last 35 years said that, i always there were corporatist montis, dark powers in crested in the state. Ignoredeemed everyone our concerns. They were always there. They always created empty areas in the border in order for trafficking all kinds of business, not just rock trafficking. You know, in guatemala, theres also been human trafficking, disappearance of children, disappearance of other persons, and we have never been paid attention when we announced all of it. So i can say no more than how joyful we are, because the youth of guatemala i cannot speak of a single youth or just one and a there are youths different peoples, the different oftors of the youth guatemala have made possible is greatguatemalan to feel triumpht because we have shown that it is possible to de