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Bush in Latin America

Aired March 10, 2007 - 17:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. HUGO CHAVEZ, VENEZUELA: Gringo, go home!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Gringo, go home!

That's what he said.

That's Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. As we say over here in this country, they call him Hugo. The gringo he's referring to is, of course, President Bush.

What do Latin Americans really think about Mr. Bush and about Americans in general?

We're going to be taking you live to Bogota, Colombia.

Also, we've got a CNN exclusive for you. General David Petraeus on his first trip into Iraq's dangerous western provinces. We're with him.

Also...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If the person that has this baby is listening, I would just implore them, please, take him to some place safe, drop him off if need be. And that's our main concern right now, is the safety of this child.

There is some medical conditions that we're concerned about and we just would really like to get that child back so they can get the proper care.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Yes, that's important. Police are on a desperate hunt right now for a woman who abducted a newborn from a hospital. We are, to say the least, all over this story in an effort to bring back this innocent baby.

I'm Rick Sanchez.

You are now in the CNN NEWSROOM. And we bring you the very latest on this. A woman who entered a hospital early this morning and allegedly kidnapped a newborn girl. It's in Lubbock, Texas. Police are saying the unidentified woman posed as a medical worker and reportedly entered the mother's room, saying the child required treatment.

Well, this is the newborn.

You see the picture right there?

She's underweight, suffers from jaundice, and we understand now, and that's important to the story, by the way. Keep that in mind.

Doctors say she has an urgent need for either breast milk or some kind of electrolyte solution that could be lifesaving for her.

Joining us now with the very latest on this search is Candace Hutchins of CNN affiliate KLBK.

Take us back.

First of all, how did it happen?

CANDACE HUTCHINS, KLBK CORRESPONDENT: Well, an unidentified suspect went into the room, the hospital room where the mother was with her baby. We're told that she had gone in there several times throughout the day. The last time she went in there, around 1:15 this morning, she told the mother that the baby needed more tests.

So she took the baby out of the room and left in a red Dodge pickup truck, a late model, possibly with another man. Again, police, they are searching hard.

As more time passes, the search obviously intensifies. Like you mentioned, the baby does suffer from jaundice, so there is a medical need there. So police are searching hard to try to find this truck and this woman.

SANCHEZ: I've got four kids so I kind of know a little bit about what you go through when you're in one of those maternity wards.

How did the woman get into the hospital and act like she was an official if she wasn't? Don't they have all kinds of locked doors that you can't get in through unless you show some I.D. or actually even have a badge that buzzers you through?

HUTCHINS: That's right. Well, we have heard that she had a badge that was similar to the badges that the hospital employees there do wear. She was in scrubs. We don't know how she got into the hospital. Police aren't really discussing that at this time.

But she did look official and obviously the mother thought that she was official. And so she had come in several times and kind of acquainted herself with the family.

And so when she took the baby, the family didn't really think much of it.

SANCHEZ: And tell us, again, why this is such a desperate situation given the baby's condition. We talked about jaundice a little while ago. Explain to us what the medical officials are saying about her condition.

HUTCHINS: Well, she does, like you mentioned, have jaundice. And so she does have an immediate medical need. So the doctors there -- you know, she's three days old, so they're obviously hoping that they can find her soon, so that she can get the attention that she needs there from the hospital.

SANCHEZ: Candace Hutchins of CNN affiliate KLBK.

It's very kind of you to bringing us up to date on this. Certainly a big story, one we're going to be checking back with you, possibly, on, throughout the next couple of hours.

Well, Lubbock police are desperate for information that could lead to Baby Mychel or the alleged kidnapper, seen here. This is a sketch, obviously. It's the best police can do under these circumstances, a description given to them by the people who were in the hospital at the time.

The number to call is 806-775-2788. Again, let me give you that number. If you have any information, even that you think could lead police -- remember, we're talking about an innocent baby here. The number, 806-775-2788.

Also going on right now, the search for a missing boy in south Georgia. And police are looking for 6-year-old Christopher Michael Barrios, Jr. Christopher was last seen Thursday night. He was playing on a swing near his home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER MICHAEL BARRIOS, SR. FATHER: He's got to be around somewhere. He's going to turn up, you know?

I came home from work yesterday and -- and -- to a child missing. That's -- that's very difficult.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: To say the least, huh?

Police have been using special heat sensors mounted on a helicopter to search the area. It's around Brunswick, Georgia. That's around Brunswick, Georgia, right there on the Georgia coast, not far from Jekyll Island, one of those big tourist areas in the state.

Let's go to Iraq now.

CNN's Jennifer Eccleston has gotten an exceedingly rare opportunity today, a chance to tour some of Iraq's most treacherous areas with a top U.S. military commander there. This is a unique opportunity.

Here is Jennifer with this exclusive story.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

JENNIFER ECCLESTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: General David Petraeus just one month into his job as commander of multinational forces today on his first trip to Iraq's western Al-Anbar Province, a major front in the fight to secure Iraq.

Now, we traveled to the town of Hit, a Sunni stronghold along the Euphrates River, once the domain of Al Qaeda In Iraq, a town that had been a war zone on and off for the last three years, a town that was also very hostile to American forces who patrolled this area.

And that seems to have changed recently.

Why?

Well, General Petraeus says it's twofold. The American approach to securing this area has changed, he said. Instead of engaging insurgents, clearing out areas and moving on, the United States, alongside with Iraqi police and the Army, set up semi-permanent bases showing the local population their efforts to bring security to the town are genuine and long-term.

And that led to the second aspect of Hit's security -- building trust among the powerful tribes that have ruled this province for centuries. Once they knew that the Americans were here to stay, they urged the local population to turn in foreign fighters, their sympathizers and weapons cachets and bomb making materials that streamed across the border from nearby Syria and ended up in major cities like the capital here in Baghdad.

He called instability in this region a dagger pointed at Baghdad and the only way, he said, to secure the capital city is to stabilize al Anbar.

Jennifer Eccleston, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

SANCHEZ: Let's pick up on this story now.

There's a Congressional delegation in Baghdad. It's also talking with General Petraeus about the new security crackdown. It's led by Duncan Hunter, who is one of the members of the delegation. He's the California Republican -- I'm sure you know -- who's had some definite opinions about strategy in Iraq. Some might say he's very gung-ho about Iraq.

Congressman Hunter is good enough to join us now by phone from Baghdad.

Congressman, you're very kind to take time to talk to us, sir.

Start us off by telling us what you've learned while you've been there, thus far.

REP. DUNCAN HUNTER (R), CALIFORNIA: Well, of course, we met with General Petraeus right after he had -- he had gone down and actually walked the streets of one of the toughest towns himself. And we now see the Iraqis -- the Iraqi people in these very difficult and dangerous towns of Ramadi and Fallujah working with the Americans, which is a total turnaround from the last time we were there, when times were very difficult. We were taking lots of casualties, as you know, in Anbar Province.

For the first time, you have the Iraqi police and the Iraqi Army working together and working with the United States and (AUDIO GAP) in Fallujah.

So this is a (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

SANCHEZ: We...

HUNTER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

SANCHEZ: Congressman, we lost you there.

I think you're just going in and out. So let's just try this one more time to make sure we're still good on the audio.

We picked up everything you said at the beginning.

Let me start you off again with a question.

The American people in polls seem to be showing a dissatisfaction with what's going on in Iraq. Some of them seem to express the opinion that we're there, essentially, in a cat fight between the Shias and the Kurds and the Sunnis.

Have you seen anything there that would convince you, so you can convince them, differently?

HUNTER: Yes. As General Petraeus saw this morning, we talked with a range of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force and the Army people of the 3rd Infantry Division in the difficult western Anbar Province towns of Ramadi and Fallujah.

And, for the first time, the Iraqi Army and the Iraqi police are working (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

SANCHEZ: So, it sounds like you're saying that you're starting to see a little bit of a change.

We apologize for the audio problem, but you all can imagine how difficult it is to try and get sound out of Iraq. And, you know, it's -- it's very kind of the congressman to call us in and try and give us his report.

If we're able to hook up with him a little bit later, we'll do so. But we know it's very difficult to hear what you're saying, so we'll continue. In fact, we're going to tell you why in just 30 minutes.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

BARBARA STARR, PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the 82nd Airborne Division is mourning.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

SANCHEZ: This is an unforgettable report that we're going to bring you about what really goes on when there is this kind of grief.

We'll bring it to you. It has to do with our soldiers, our troops.

Also, rivals meeting eye to eye in Baghdad today. Iraqi officials hosted a one day regional conference aimed at stopping sectarian violence. The meeting provided a rare opportunity for the U.S. Iran and Syria to sit at the same table.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZALMAY KHALILZAD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: The discussions were limited and focused on Iraq, and I -- I don't want to speculate on the next steps.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABBAS ARAGHCHI, IRAN'S DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER: For the sake of peace and stability in Iraq and to achieve its integrity and unity, we need to -- we need a timetable for the withdrawal of the foreign forces.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: For his part, Iraqi President Nuri Al-Maliki warned that the growing sectarian bloodshed could spread across the Middle East, as well.

Meanwhile, the hunt for the Taliban is in full swing, still, in parts of Helmand Province. That's now in, of course, Afghanistan, southern Afghanistan, to be exact.

NATO forces are going from village to village in this remote region. They're looking to somehow try and root out the Taliban fighters who are threatening to have another spring offensive of their own, as we've told you about in the past.

The spring is the time when usually the insurgents have the big push there, as CNN's Nic Robertson explains.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE) NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Silently, lined across a Helmand hillside, British commandos creep up on a remote village.

(on camera): The Taliban are believed to be in some of the houses in the village we're coming up to here. These are new tactics by the commandos going in right at dawn.

(voice-over): The new tactics -- an aggressive raid at first light, part of Operation Achilles, to end growing Taliban influence in the area.

2ND LIEUTENANT RICHARD SHARP, 42ND ROYAL MARINE COMMANDOES: In the last four or five weeks, there's been a definite step in offensive against us. And the -- the level at which they're coming at us -- they're not being so passive. It's much more aggressive than we've seen in the last few minutes.

ROBERTSON: Their mission here?

To stop the Taliban using the village to fire missiles at their base.

SHARP: It's a known Taliban hot spot. They've engaged previous combat outposts with artillery, mortars and rockets. So we're looking for a weapons cache, some sort of more base (UNINTELLIGIBLE) that we can -- we can try and exploit and destroy to prevent any further attacks on coalition forces.

ROBERTSON: But compound after compound searched with little result. Most villagers, except a few opium poppy farmers tending their valuable crops, have fled. "The Taliban cut my cousin's head off three days ago," the farmer says. The Army translator believes him.

Then, a radio message comes in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Taliban know we left at 4:00 this morning, but they don't know where we are. And they've given direction for all their checkpoints to engage us when they see us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watch that, sir.

ROBERTSON: A warning -- even though they can't be seen, the Taliban may not be far away.

As they move on past more poppy fields -- the staple crop of this village -- a few more villagers are found. The commandos, sensing the Taliban may be gone, easing on their earlier aggression.

SHARP: We -- we don't mean to disturb them and we're very sorry about that. But obviously the Taliban used this to shoot our -- our forces. So we need to -- we need to search his house to make sure there's no weapons in there.

ROBERTSON: But neither he nor his sons offer any new information. The soldiers move on. This mission winding down.

SHARP: The Taliban tend to engage is when -- when they have enough combat power there to do so. We have frequent firefights with them because we go to the place where we know they are. Today was a gamble. We wanted to try something new. We wanted to come into places where they -- where they start fights regularly.

They just weren't here at this time. So they were lucky, we were unlucky, whichever way you want to look at it.

ROBERTSON: Lucky or unlucky -- such days hint Operation Achilles may well take longer than hoped.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

SANCHEZ: We've got some video we want to show you.

Take a look at this. I mean it's going to make you angry to watch it. This is literally a grandmother, a very old woman, getting beat up by somebody who's taking very little from her, but nonetheless what he does to her is the big story.

We're checking on it. That's straight in THE NEWSROOM.

We'll bring you more on it.

Also, hypocrite or not, the fallout to Newt Gingrich's admission to an affair at the very same time he was being critical of a president who was having an affair, as well.

That's in five minutes.

And then violent protests in about every city President Bush sets foot in. We're going to take you to Bogota, Colombia live. That's in 15 minutes from now.

And you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: What kind of man would beat up on a 101-year-old woman?

Well, you're looking at him.

Take a look at this video. It's bound to make you angry. It certainly made everybody else we've shown this to today angry.

This is happening in New York. It's a security camera. It captures this unbelievable video. You're going to watch him literally just smack the old woman around, snatching her purse and then it wasn't enough to just leave her standing there with her walker. He comes back and had to take her down with another punch again.

I mean it's incredible. The woman suffered a fractured cheek bone, suffered bruises. The robber is suspected of mugging the 85- year-old woman a short while later. And police, by the way, have now released this -- see this video right there? See him right there in the middle?

You can kind of see him. It's not a great shot, obviously, but it's a bit of a good shot of the suspect. You can see him walking out. And police are saying, by the way, it's not the first time he's done this, which is important.

Anyone who's seen him is being asked to call 800-577-TIPS. That's 1-800-577-TIPS.

We've got some phone calls into the police department. We're not having a lot of luck getting them to help us out, putting more information on the story out, to make sure that this son of a gun doesn't do this again.

Happening right now in THE NEWSROOM, a search for a baby girl abducted overnight from a Lubbock, Texas hospital. Three day-year-old Mychael Darthard is said to be in need of medical care.

Now, the suspect described as an African-American woman, allegedly passed herself off as a hospital worker.

Also, there's still no word on the fate of the 6-year-old missing from Brunswick, Georgia.

So those are two stories that we're following for you right now.

Christopher Michael Barrios is 3'6," as described to us by police. He was last seen at a mobile home park Thursday.

And Iraqi militants post video clips of two German hostages. They say that they're going to kill the mother and the son unless German troops withdraw from Afghanistan.

Just some other stories that we're following for you right now.

And this story just into THE NEWSROOM moments ago. President Bush is asking Congress on Saturday for $3.2 billion to pay for at least 4,000 extra combat support troops and military police forces that commanders told the president they need in Iraq. It's another one of those developing stories that we're going to be bringing to you, just handed to us moments ago.

Again, the extra troops, and we understand, are in addition -- in addition to the 21,500 build-up that the Bush administration announced back in January.

The budget revisions come as many lawmakers opposed to the build- up are debating funding for the war.

So let's give you the headline on this one more time. The president is now asking Congress for $3.2 billion to pay for at least 4,000 extra combat troops. So if you do the math, the 21,500 plus the 4,000, you know, now we're up to 25,000, almost 26,000 troops that the president is saying are now necessary in Iraq.

If we get a chance to go there and get reaction, we'll do that for you, as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, COURTESY WWW.FAMILY.ORG)

NEWT GINGRICH (R), FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I believe deeply that people fall short and that people have to recognize that they have to turn to god for forgiveness and to seek mercy, that somebody once said that when you're young you want justice, and as you get older, you want mercy.

I also believe that there are things in my own life that I have turned to god and gotten on my knees and prayed about and sought god's forgiveness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: It's a confession of adultery from Newt Gingrich about a previous marriage. The former Republican House speaker says that he was cheating on his wife while, at the same time, that he was criticizing Bill Clinton about cheating on his wife with Monica Lewinsky in the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

CNN's Bill Schneider reports that politics, not guilt, may be behind some of this new openness.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): Newt Gingrich confesses in a radio interview with Dr. James Dobson, founder of Focus On The Family.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, COURTESY WWW.FAMILY.ORG)

DR. JAMES DOBSON, FOCUS ON THE FAMILY: I asked you if the rumors were true that you were in an affair with a woman, obviously, who wasn't your wife, at the same time that Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky were having their escapade?

GINGRICH: Well, the fact is that the honest answer is yes.

SCHNEIDER: The confession makes Gingrich sound like a hypocrite, passing judgment on President Clinton while all the while he himself was engaging in adultery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRICH: No person, including the president, is above the law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRICH: I will never again, as long as I am speaker, make a speech without commenting on this topic. (END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHNEIDER: Back in 1998, Gingrich had taken some heat from conservatives for being slow to speak out against Clinton. When he did, Gingrich was careful to say he was not passing judgment on Clinton's personal behavior.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRICH: But there are two core principles and they don't relate to personal life and they don't relate to titillating stories.

SCHNEIDER: He said the principles were the people's right to know and the rule of law, the same thing he says now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, COURTESY WWW.FAMILY.ORG)

GINGRICH: The president of the United States got in trouble for committing a felony in front of a sitting federal judge.

SCHNEIDER: Gingrich's confession could be damage control. He says he will decide whether to run for president this fall, after he surveys the Republican field. If he runs, he can treat his affair as an issue he has already dealt with.

Rudy Giuliani has also been married three times and he's the Republican frontrunner. A Southern Baptist leader condemned Giuliani's behavior, calling his break-up with his second wife "divorce on steroids."

RUDY GIULIANI (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm a human being. You know, I made mistakes. I'm not perfect.

SCHNEIDER: Gingrich, who just published the book called "Rediscovering God In America," confessed to a religious leader and he expressed repentance.

Religious conservatives are an important force in Republican primaries and caucuses.

Will they forgive Gingrich?

Dobson seemed inclined to.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, COURTESY WWW.FAMILY.ORG)

DOBSON: I think it's really important, and will be, for many of our listeners, to know your responses to that point of disappointment back there some place and I really appreciate your willingness to do so.

SCHNEIDER: Critics may say they're all hypocrites. Religious conservatives make allowances for people they agree with politically, like Newt Gingrich, but not for Rudy Giuliani or Bill Clinton.

Bill Schneider, CNN, Washington. (END VIDEO TAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM.

I'm Rick Sanchez.

Technology -- it's helping the justice system now keep tabs on convicts after they're released from prison, especially certain convicts.

Here's our John Zarrella now, showing us how the ankle bracelet monitoring system works, from a technical standpoint.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

ROBERT POSAVEC, COO, PROTECH: So what I'm going to do is size this up.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For a couple of hours, I played the role of a convicted felon just out of prison. One condition of my probation is to wear this ankle bracelet monitoring system.

POSAVEC: There's no intention to make this thing non-removable.

ZARRELLA (on camera): Wow!

POSAVEC: If you wanted to cut and run...

ZARRELLA: Right.

POSAVEC: ... you could do that. But we're going to know about it in a hurry.

ZARRELLA (voice-over): To find out how they work, we went to one of the companies that makes them, Pro Tech, which has a contract with Florida's Department of Corrections.

(on camera): And these pins you're putting in...

POSAVEC: These are retaining pins. And the idea with these retaining pins are so that you just can't accidentally have this thing pop open on you.

ZARRELLA (voice-over): In Florida alone, 1,600 people are being monitored by the company's system. Many are convicted sex offenders and predators. For the demonstration, I head out for a ride with company boss Steve Chapin. I've got my ankle bracelet on, which is connected wirelessly to this tracking device.

(on camera): So now, as long as I'm carrying this with me, then I'm fine, right?

POSAVEC: You're fine. You're... ZARRELLA: As long as I don't go into any hot spots.

(voice-over): The courts have determined I shouldn't go near schools or parks. Those are the hot spots or hot zones that have been programmed into the system. They show up as boxes on the computer screen at the company's call center.

Only when I do something wrong will a human be notified. That's about to happen. The elementary school down the road is off limits, but I drive by anyway. Almost immediately, the tracking device sounds. The system automatically notifies my probation officer for the day.

POSAVEC: It just received a page indicating that John committed a violation. The violation in this case was that he violated a rule called Trinity Elementary.

ZARRELLA: He immediately sends a message back to me through the tracking device -- leave area now.

(on camera): So now my best bet is to just get out of here as quickly as I can.

POSAVEC: You want to go up and Uie.

ZARRELLA: And then I've got some explaining to do?

POSAVEC: That's right.

ZARRELLA (voice-over): Through the tracking device and using global positioning satellites, my location is recorded every minute. Now, I'm about to make a big mistake. I would never be without the bracelet and tracker unless I plan to violate the terms of my probation.

POSAVEC: You can't make anything tamper-proof, completely tamper-proof. That's impossible. So what we do is we -- we incorporate tamper detection so if you do anything to that bracelet to try and take it off, it will send out, immediately, an alarm.

ZARRELLA: Which is exactly what happens next.

(on camera): Now I'm going to cut the bracelet off. This changes everything. It is an irreversible violation. Bottom line -- I'm signing my arrest warrant.

(voice-over): As soon as it's cut, the system sounds. My probation officer is notified and police would immediately be sent to my last location, recorded by the system. Police say short of keeping them in prison, this is the only way to keep constant tabs on sex offenders and predators.

John Zarrella, CNN, Odessa, Florida.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. HUGO CHAVEZ, VENEZUELA: Gringo go home!

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Gringo go home, that's what he's saying or go home as people who speak English correctly would say. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, he's sarcastically providing direction for President Bush's six-day tour of Latin America. There are other anti-Bush protests of course in south and Central America. We've been monitoring that share similar sentiments, the demonstrations. Some of the ones you're seeing right there. See those, these are from Montevideo, Uruguay and the other one is from Mexico City, the one on the bottom, that's from yesterday, by the way. They pale in comparison to what CNN's Karl Penhaul actually saw or was in the middle of. This was in Bogota, Colombia. Take a look at what's going on there prior to President Bush's arrival tomorrow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A homemade explosive rocks a police riot truck. Hundreds of masked students run for cover as water canons douse them. The chant is "Yankees out." These running battles lasted through the afternoon in protest at U.S. President George Bush's planned visit to Colombia on Sunday.

FERMIN, STUDENT PROTESTOR: So we fight not only for the Bush visit, it's also because we believe that a new Colombia is possible. That a new Latin America is possible.

PENHAUL: The interview abruptly ends as tear gas fired by the police rains down on campus. Radical students at Bogota's biggest public university normally reject contact with the media but months ago I met some of their leaders and on this rare occasion they agreed to show me the protest from their perspective. Despite that acceptance, it's a chaotic scene, making it impossible to do an on- camera stand-up. "He's coming to sell us out. We're fighting against Bush's visit" this student says. A team of his masked comrades launch fireworks through PVC pipes.

Another group takes aim by the wall where I'm taking cover too. Police and the government accuse communist rebels of infiltrating Colombia's university campuses. The students, though, reject the terrorist tag. They describe themselves as a mixture of communist sympathizers, anarchists, leftists and nationalists. Today they're united with one aim. "This is a demonstration of Colombian dignity. We will not become the slaves of U.S. imperialism," he says. Washington funds Colombia's war on drugs and against communist guerillas with around $700 million a year. Critics like these students say that's meddling. Police battled through the afternoon to contain the riot to the campus. Violence flared on nearby street corners. The tear gas began to clear. The riot trucks pulled back. Leaving the students to chant "victory."

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Karl Penhaul is joining us now, he's good enough to talk to us about this. Look, to be honest, the relationship between Latin America and the United States has never been a great one. There's always been all kinds of issues there, misunderstandings, some jealousy. But it seems like over the last six years it's never been worse. What are they telling you that they are so angry about with the United States, and specifically the Bush administration, now, Karl? Explain it to us.

PENHAUL: Well, I think we must separate this out into several different themes, Rick. Because yes, it may be true that U.S. disinterest in Latin America has rarely been greater than it has over the last six, seven years since 9/11, since the initiation of the war on terror. Yes, President Bush today in fact pointed out quite rightly that the U.S. does still plow millions of dollars into Latin America. If you see the budget for Colombia, for example, around $700 million a year to fight drugs and the guerrillas. That pales in comparison with the war on terror. That's the amount of money that the U.S. is spending in Iraq in about three days. So there is this sentiment on the one hand that, yes, Latin America has been left behind in terms of U.S. aid, particularly when most of the U.S. aid and Latin America's military spending but there's also this general rational resentment against Latin America going back to events like 1954 when the U.S. administration helped topple elected government in Guatemala. You then see in 1973, the U.S. support of the coup against another democratically elected president in Chile. You then see things like invasion of Panama, the ongoing U.S. attitude towards Cuba. And the Latin American left as a whole says that they don't believe that is right. It's too much stick and not enough carrot. It's very much a generational thing. Every generation has had its problems with the United States so it would be naive to pretend that in just a seven-day swing through Latin America that somehow President Bush is going to make things better. It may quite well take generations to make the perception of the United States better in the eyes of a lot of Latin Americans. Rick?

SANCHEZ: But what is it about the Bush administration that seems to have crystallized this resentment?

PENHAUL: Well, certainly, for the younger generation, the ones that maybe don't remember the overthrow in Guatemala or the coup in Chile, maybe for the younger generation, yes, they do see President Bush as bellicose as a war monger and also they feel that his efforts to have free trade with the area and nothing more than trying to get access to Latin America's commodities. Rick?

SANCHEZ: Thanks so much. Karl Penhaul doing yeoman's work down there, getting inside the story and bringing it to us. We thank you so much, Karl.

U.S. immigration policy is a huge sore pain for many in Latin America. President Bush is seeing evidence of that on the streets as well with the protesters and also in some of his talk with some of the Latin American leaders. Uruguay's president for example, he's pressing Mr. Bush to endorse a more liberal immigration policy for the United States and President Bush responded to that today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: The president has spoken eloquently to me about the need for there to be an immigration policy that upholds the values of America. I explained to him that it is my interest to get a comprehensive immigration bill out of the United States Congress as soon as possible. I look forward to working with both Republicans and Democrats, Mr. President, to do what is right to uphold the laws of the United States. But at the same time I recognize that on the one hand we can't grant automatic citizenship nor on the other hand can we kick people out.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Meanwhile, back home, strong views on immigration on display in the streets of Chicago. About 1,000 supporters of immigration reform rallied today. They want to make it easier for undocumented workers to become citizens. A second protest with a decidedly different opinion was held at the very same time. These demonstrators, opposite view, they favor strict immigration policies and stronger border controls.

A federal appeals court has overturned Washington, D.C.'s ban on handguns. This is new for them because a law has been on the books now for more than 30 years. It was one of the nation's toughest anti- gun laws. The ruling could lead to a Supreme Court showdown over gun possession. More now on this story in fact from CNN's Gary Nurenberg.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If someone breaks into George Lyon's home in Washington, D.C. he's not exactly convinced that little Yonto is going to be an effective deterrent. He sued the city saying its ban on guns in homes is unconstitutional and didn't prevent the city last year from having 137 gun-related homicides.

GEORGE LYONS: I want, for myself, the right to protect my home and my family in the event of violent attack.

NURENBERG: Shonda Smith lost her 19-year-old son and 14-year-old daughter when they were shot to death on city streets 14 years ago. Her son trying to protect his little sister.

SHONDA SMITH: You know he got shot in his hand, throwing his hand up because his sister was sitting right in the car next to him.

NURENBERG: She says she was insulted by the court's decision to allow citizens to have guns in homes and says more guns mean more kids will die.

SMITH: What's going to happen to the kids, mothers are going to be lined up in the cemeteries putting flowers on their children's graves.

NURENBERG: D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty says he's outraged.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We intend to do everything in our power to work to get this decision overturned.

NURENBERG: The gun rights lobby says this is a narrow case.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is just about the god-given right that people have to defend their homes and their families from criminals, armed criminals who attack them.

NURENBERG: The case goes to a lower court first but it could end up in the Supreme Court.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This decision is so monumental, so sweeping and such a change from prior rulings on gun control that it's basically on a freight train to the U.S. Supreme Court for the justices to finally decide.

NURENBERG: Meaning the case could eventually limit gun controls nationwide.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: So what's the significance of the case, Gary?

NURENBERG: Rick, it's really the first time a federal appeals court has thrown out a gun control law saying that the right to bear arms in the second amendment of the constitution is not tied exactly to the need for a militia, that there's an independent right for us to have guns in our homes. It's a groundbreaking ruling and could cause the Supreme Court to decide whether this is a proper interpretation of the constitution in what could be the biggest gun control case they decided in the last 70 years, if in fact it gets there.

SANCHEZ: Gary Nurenberg, really good at putting things in perspective for us on a case in Washington. We thank you Mr. Nurenberg for bringing that to us.

The 82nd airborne division in mourning these days. We're going to tell you why, that straight ahead from the NEWSROOM.

Also, a horrific blaze in the Bronx and now a deadly fire in Chicago. The full story here. When? Ten minutes, take or leave a few.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: You know how we like to move and bring you to different places, well this is B control. This is where some of the people bring you the news behind the scenes. What we want to do right now is bring you a story, it's a special story that we prepared for you. They were brothers in arms in Iraq and now their families are unfortunately united in grief. Earlier this week, you might recall this, a heart wrenching day for the 82nd airborne. As our Barbara Starr reports, it's an IED attack that forever has changed the lives now of six families. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, the 82nd airborne division is mourning. On Monday six of its paratroopers were killed in an IED attack in Samarra, north of Baghdad. The deadliest day for the 82nd since the war on terror began. While Washington debates the concept of a troop withdrawal and talks of a security crackdown in Baghdad, for six families, the grief is personal. In Texas, Marlon Kosters' 19-year- old son, Private first class Cory Kosters, graduated high school just two years ago. Cory put off going to college.

MARLON KOSTERS, FATHER OF SLAIN PARATROOPER: He wanted to go out there and do something for his country and he did.

STARR: In Virginia, 27-year-old Staff Sergeant Robert Stanley's family said Rob believed his fellow soldiers were not just comrades but his brothers in arms. And the six men died as brothers trying to save each other. According to reports, they were in two armored humvees. After the first hit an IED, the second humvee moved in, trying to push the first to safety. It was blown up by a second roadside bomb. The grief from just one incident felt in so many towns. In New Hampshire, teacher Kathy Hansen remembers the mischievous student who became 22-year-old Specialist Justin Rollins.

KATHY HANSEN, FRIENDOF SLAIN PARATROOPER: He would turn on his smile and his charm and it kind of washed away anything else.

STARR: There is speculation the attacks in Samarra may be coming from insurgents who have already fled the Baghdad crackdown. It matters little right now.

MAJ. JIM BRISSON, CHAPLAIN, 82ND AIRBORNE: The most sorrowful grief, but I've seen the deepest or painful grief I've seen has come from wives. I think soldiers ban together and they say, this is my brother, this is my sister.

STARR (on camera): The six paratroopers who died together in Iraq all came home together. All of their remains returning to the United States on the same military flight. Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: We've been taken aback by some of the videos we've been seeing coming in off of the feeds today. As a matter of fact, let's show you this one. This is a fire that we've been following all day long. It's a man who escapes a raging fire by jumping from a third story window. About three of the residents weren't so lucky. We're going to have more on this fatal Chicago fire right here. Stay with us, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Go to work, go to school, to the store, pick up the kids, go, go, go. Your life, my life, my wife's life. She tells me it's become almost a 24/7 lifestyle. Sleep suffering as a result. We're all going through this. Senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a look at how poor sleep could affect all of us in terms of our health the rest of the day and what you can do now to try and somehow change that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bill Ten Eyck has already battled the bulge, he says since his 40's. He suffered three heart attacks and watch the numbers on the scale go up and down like a yo-yo. His cardiologist couldn't figure out why his weight was fluctuating, so he suggested that Ten Eyck see a sleep specialist.

BILL TEN EYCK, SLEEP APNEA PATIENT: I made the assumption that my fatigue and my inability to do things was because my heart was just failing.

GUPTA: Ten Eyck was diagnosed with sleep apnea. His tests found that some evenings he stopped breathing 33 times in one hour. He wasn't getting rest and that wasn't helping his weight. Not only does a lack of sleep zap your energy, but studies have found that sleep deprived people just seem to eat more. Doctors say chaotic sleeping patterns tend to develop chaotic eating habits and that can mess up your metabolism and cause you to burn fewer calories. Researchers have also found that people who got four hours of sleep or less a night saw a rise in the hormone grayling that stimulates the appetite and causes people to eat.

DR. THOMAS LORUSSO, N. VIRGINIA SLEEP DIAGNOSTIC CTR.: They got these patients to sleep better using various sleep hygiene techniques and when they repeated the levels of these hormones, they found that the level diminished significantly.

GUPTA: Today Ten Eyck is working on keeping the pounds off. He uses a c-pap device to help regulate his breathing. It blows air through his nose and keeps his airways open. He says it's been a lifesaver because for once in his life, he's getting a good night's sleep. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Remember that shot I was talking about in the monitor just a little while ago that we've been following. We got more on it now. This is a tragedy early this morning in Chicago. These are the pictures, it's a deadly fire, it sweeps through a row house. It's a block from Wrigley Field, by the way, for those of you who have been to Chicago and who hasn't? In one apartment police found the bodies of three adults, a fourth body was found in another unit. One man was able to escape by leaping from a third story window. The fire -- still under investigation.

Also a sad development in Wednesday's awful apartment fire in the Bronx. Remember that one, now a tenth victim has died. It's 6-year- old Asimi Murray. The blaze also killed her mother and her cousins, left her father childless. All of the victims belonged to the city's tightly knit community with roots in the African nation of Mali.

Are you thirsty? Are you lazy? You might want to pick up one of these suckers. Details on the beer-launching fridge, it's ahead on CNN. What? We'll explain, me too. The most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: You see that right there? See that, it's right there in that monitor right there. Well it sounds like something my wife would say. If necessity is the mother of invention, then laziness is the father of invention, right? It's a mini refrigerator for the couch potato in all of us. The fridge catapults a cold one right into your hand. The inventor is a recent college grad who was home sick for dorm life. The fridge dispenser holds 10 cans and can fling them up to 20 feet. Yeah right.

Well, we're tracking developments out of Lubbock, Texas where there's a big story that we're following for you on this day. It's a newborn baby snatched from the hospital. Unidentified woman took the tiny 3 day old girl. Tonight at 10:00 eastern we're going to talk about hospital security bracelets, how they work, how this woman was able to get around that technology.

LOU DOBBS: Coming up on "LOU DOBBS THIS WEEK", one of the country's most influential Catholics, one of the most powerful Democrats, forming an alliance to demand amnesty for as many as 20 million illegal aliens in this country. We'll have that special report and leading congressional Republicans furious about the illegal alien lobby's aggressive amnesty agenda. One of those lawmakers, Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner is among our guests coming up here next.

SANCHEZ: We're going to Lou in just a little bit, of course, a check of today's headlines is just about three minutes away and of course we've had a lot of big stories here. But what's the one that most people here in the control room are talking about? The beer launcher, you got it. Lou, take it away.

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