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El Chapo Back Behind Bars; South Korea Responds To Pyonyang's H-Bomb Claims; Muslim Woman Ordered To Leave Donald Trump Rally After Staging Silent Protest. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired January 09, 2016 - 02:00   ET

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

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[02:00:12] NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: The world's most wanted drug lord is back behind bars. We'll tell you how Mexican authorities finally managed to catch up with El Chapo.

North Korea says these speakers are driving the country to the brink of war. We'll take you live to Pyongyang after the country claimed to test an H-bomb. And we'll have more on South Korea's blasting response.

Also, kicked out. A Muslim woman is ordered to leave a Donald Trump rally after staging a silent protest.

It's all ahead here on CNN Newsroom. Hello, everyone. We're live in Atlanta. I'm Natalie Allen.

Thanks for joining. Our top story is from Mexico where drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is being sent back to the same Mexican prison he escaped from last July. Mexican officials captured him Friday after a month-long investigation led them to a house where he was holed up.

During a shootout, Guzman escaped that house but was later captured after stealing a car and he was caught on a highway near the coastal city of Los Mochis. Mexico's attorney general outlined the final moment leading up to Guzman's dramatic capture.

ARULY GOMEZ, MEXICAN ATTORNEY GENERAL: During this confrontation with Guzman, he managed to have hide through the sewer system of the town, which had already been considered in the capture strategy. This action he did along with his chief of security, Jorge Ivan Gastelum Avila. This is a very dangerous criminal who is also part of the 122 priority objectives of organized crime.

This operation and this persecution, naval personnel, followed through the tunnels and the drainage ditches. And when they found the two criminals there, they opened a trap trying to get out into an avenue and tried to escape by vehicles. When the alert was given that these vehicles were stolen in the area, federal police implemented a security operation to find the units and to stop the criminals.

When one of the vehicles was located on the highway in Los Mochis a Navojoa, elements of the forces that were participating in this intercepted and stopped Guzman Loera and Gastelum Avila. With the objective of securing the criminals and protecting the integrity of the elements, these were transferred to a nearby motel to wait for reinforcements. A few moments later, they were transferred to the airport of Los Mochis and subsequently to the city of Mexico.

ALLEN: Joining me now is Jan-Albert Hootsen. He is a Dutch journalist based in Mexico and he has done extensive investigative work on El Chapo's drug cartel to Sinaloa Cartel.

Thank you for joining us, Jan.

JAN-ALBERT HOOTSEN, DUTCH JOURNALIST LIVING IN MEXICO CITY. Thanks for having me.

ALLEN: Well, let's get your reactions since you've covered this extensive lay to the fact that he was captured yet again.

HOOTSEN: He was captured yet again six months after he escaped last year. And for the Mexican government, this has been if you can hear them exert a huge sigh of relief because for them, this is in a way, a way to restore, to repair some of the damage that this escape inflicted on their image.

ALLEN: Let's talk a bout the question of extradition. The United State has requested he be sent to the United States because he faces charges here, but Mexico has denied that in the past. So what kind of position are they in now with that question?

HOOTSEN: Well, the Mexican government is in a very difficult position. In 2014, El Chapo was arrested for the second time and the Mexican government said with the (inaudible) that he would have to stay 300 to 400 years in Mexico before any extradition could even be contemplated. Then he escaped, which severely damaged the level of trust between the U.S. and Mexican authorities. There is now an official request for extradition and the Mexican government is not in a position in which it is almost -- in which this kind of almost impossibly resist the demand for extraditing Chapo. But then again, Chapo's lawyers will most likely file more injunctions which could delay his extradition for an extended period of time.

So, right now, the Mexican government is going to need to extradite him at some point, but it's still -- the question is still how long that's going to take.

[02:05:13] ALLEN: And let's talk about his capture. Certainly he's always surrounded by armed guards, much -- many guns, all kinds of things to keep him alive and during shootout he's known for tunneling into United States out of prisons, out of his homes. What do you hear about how they finally got him?

HOOTSEN: According to the sources that have said something about today's capture, he was found based on a tip in a home in Los Mochis in Sinaloa. Mexican authorities started an operation very early in the morning today. The shootout ensued and eligibly Chapo escaped from that shootout in which five people were killed, sums in through a drainage pipe which might explain why his shirt was so dirty on the pictures that have been shown to the media.

And later on, he was found in a motel on the outskirts of the city. So, unlike the last time in 2014, this was a pretty violent operation and certainly the shootout in which five people were killed, that definitely shows that he was prepared for any kind of attack.

ALLEN: And we know that some of the -- his members of his cartel were captured, some were killed in the shootout, what does Guzman being back in prison assuming this is -- this time it is to stay, what does that mean though to the Sinaloa Cartel? Obviously they're always grooming the next generation of leadership.

HOOTSEN: One of the things that you need to understand about the Sinaloa Cartel is that it works as a sort of multinational franchise. It means that if you cut off the head of the CEO which is in this case Chapo Guzman, the organization will continue to function and the proof of that was the fact that when he was captured in 2014, the Sinaloa Cartel continued to function pretty much the way it did before and after he escaped last year, the cartel continues to function exactly the same way. It is very unlikely that the Sinaloa Cartel will change its way of working that his arrest will cause much damage to it. But then again, the arrest and takedowns of Chapo's in the past have led to some violent infighting. The Sinaloa Cartel has so far proven immune to that kind infighting but then again, but he hasn't been imprisoned for a very long time this time. So it remains to be seen if it's going to cause a power struggle.

ALLEN: Journalist Jan-Albert Hootsen, we appreciate you talking with us. Thank you.

HOOTSEN: Thank you.

ALLEN: And as he pointed out, El Chapo's cartel is one of the most notorious in Mexico. Apart from being incredibly powerful, the drug rings in Mexico are also infamous for their unspeakable brutality and ruthlessness. And it's all about who is number one.

Polo Sandoval explains the disturbing inner workings of Mexico's deadliest drug gangs.

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POLO SANDOVAL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The dynamics of Mexico's cartel landscape are constantly changing most like the population inside this maximum security prison into west of Mexico City.

Well, since former Mexican President Felipe Calderon launched aggressive campaign against the cartels in 2006, there has been a tremendous outbreak of violence in the streets for the people of Mexico. It just so many groups that are constantly fighting to gain control of very lucrative smuggling routes. They make their way to north through Mexico and over America's southwest boarder. They didn't branch out across the country.

Think of it as a pipeline that's constantly used to smuggle people and drugs north, and then money and guns, south. Currently, you have the Gulf Cartels and the Zetas that have been duking it out from nearly a decade in Northeast Mexico. These are constant outbreaks of violence and along boarder towns really not far from South Texas. And then further South, you have the smaller splinter cartels that are popping up, for example cartel Nueva Generacion, The New Generation. These are a lot younger members, more violent.

Meanwhile, you have the more established organizations like Juarez Cartel and also the Sinaloa Cartel. Any time, they start picking a fight, blood get spilled, criminals gets killed, but also innocent men, women and children, thousands of them have been caught in the crossfire.

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ALLEN: And a big question surrounding the capture of Guzman yet again is whether the United States will see him extradited here.

The U.S. federal authorities say the man who admitted shooting at Philadelphia police officer had traveled to the Middle East. The FBI says Edward Archer went to Saudi Arabia and Egypt within the past five years but could not say whether Archer interacted with terrorist groups. Police say he confessed shooting the officer in the name of ISIS. The officer was shot in the arm during the ambush Thursday.

[02:10:01] Aid groups watching the Syrian civil war hope to get much- needed relief to one city in particular. We just reported about after graphic pictures and video of people starving in this video emerged. We warn you again, you'll see some of those pictures.

Madaya, the city is just west of Damascus near the border with Lebanon. The town of 40,000 is rebel controlled and hemmed in by Hezbollah and Syrian regime forces.

Its isolation is said to have left people starving. The photos you're about to see haven't been independently confirmed by CNN or aid groups, but there are reports of some people eating soup just made from leaves and grass. And pictures of children eating soup made of leaves.

The Red Cross says it's preparing an aid convoy for Madaya right now.

CNN's Hala Gorani talked with a spokesman earlier about what it will carry.

PAWEL KRZYSIAK, SPOKESMAN, INTERNATIONAL OF THE RED CROSS: We will definitely bring enough supplies to cover immediate, urgent needs of the people in those three towns. The ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent will bring the medicines, then UN will take care of foods, then we will bring, you know, other essential supplies such as blankets, such as hygiene piece. But you are making here a very important point.

One time food distribution will never be enough to cover the long-term needs of these people. We need to be able to access those places on a very regular basis. ALLEN: This is how bad it is as far as when food is even available in Madaya, virtually, no one can afford it. A liter of milk cost $300. That's compared to just over $1 in Damascus.

Well, in a CNN exclusive, we will take you to the hometown of a Shia Cleric whose execution by Saudi Arabia has sparked sectarian and diplomatic tensions with Iran. That's next.

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ALLEN: North Korean officials say the South's propaganda broadcasts are pushing them to the brink of war. They made the announcement during celebrations on Friday, days after saying the country detonated its first hydrogen bomb. This of course, is not new rhetoric from North Korea. South Korea has been blasting its anti-Pyongyang messages through the demilitarized zone for two days now in response to the North's nuclear weapon claim, because North Korea hates these propaganda broadcasts that South Korea employs.

CNN is the only U.S. broadcaster reporting from inside North Korea. Our Will Ripley is live in Pyongyang.

And, Will, it's tit for tat and now the oddity is the people celebrating about the North's tests that it did.Tell us about that.

[02:15:07] WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, the mood here in the North Korean capital, Natalie, really has been celebratory ever since the announcement that North Korea claims it has successfully tested a hydrogen bomb.

As you mentioned, that claim has been disputed by so many international observers. And so far here on the ground, we haven't -- for ourselves, seen any scientific evidence to prove the North Korean claims.

But certainly here, there is no suspicion among regular folks in Pyongyang. They absolutely believe what their government is telling them that this was in fact an H-bomb.

And the North Koreans took us to a science center where we had a chance to speak to some folks, some students and researchers in Pyongyang who tell us about their pride for what their nation has accomplished.

On the front page of North Korea's main state newspaper, Kim Jong-un, signing the order to test what the regime calls a hydrogen bomb.

Many outside observers questioned the claim. But there is no doubt among these students lined up outside Pyongyang's Science and Technology Center, the North Koreans say, "We're the first foreign media to visit the brand new building."

LEE WONG, NORTH KOREAN RESEARCHER: It looks like a symbol of science.

RIPLEY: North Korean researcher, Lee Wong, believes this week's nuclear test ensures peace, even as much of the world calls it a dangerous, provocative act.

WONG: It is only for the self-defense.

RIPLEY: So the North Koreans want to be friends with Americans?

WONG: Why not?

RIPLEY: But the current political climate makes that impossible. Years of isolation began during the previous Kim regimes.

Young future scientists, doctors and other students have little or no access to the internet. Only a state controlled internet.

So you see a lot of students doing research here in the library and they're using North Korea's version of the iPad.

They study surrounded by photos of their leaders, and models of North Korean weapons.

UNKNOWN MALE: It means that our nation is very powerful.

RIPLEY: Medical student, Lee Jui Siang (ph) sits beneath a replica of a rocket that launched a North Korean satellite into orbit.

LEE JUI SIANG: This is all for peaceful purposes. We don't want war.

RIPLEY: But outside experts accuse North Korea's space program of being upfront for ballistic missile development, missiles that could someday carry nuclear warheads across the region or even the world.

And they are continuing to develop their missile technology, Natalie. The South Korean Intelligence, the United States Intelligence knows that.

In fact that just on Friday, the state media here released some video that they claim is new video of a missile that was launched from an underwater submarine. Now of course the concern there, a North Korean submarine could get very close to enemy shores.

And if they claim, if their claim is true, that they've miniaturized nuclear warheads and they can launch missiles from a submarine, then you can see how that would only expand the area that could potentially be in danger of a possible attack.

But when that video was released, quickly, there was a lot of skepticism certainly in South Korea, with claims these were actually old pictures that were reedited to make them look new. But nonetheless, it is a verifiable fact that North Korea continues, not only investing in their nuclear program but also submarine, missiles, and missiles that they can launch form within this country as well, Natalie.

ALLEN: And just months ago, they were shaking hands with their South Korean counterparts in a diplomatic meeting there on the demilitarized zone. How quickly things can change when you're talking about North Korea. Will Ripley, live there in Pyongyang. Will, thank you so much.

Arab foreign ministers will be meeting on Saturday to discuss the attack on the Saudi embassy in Iran last weekend. The violent protests were triggered by the Saudi execution of a Shiite cleric.

CNN's Nic Robertson and his crew are the first foreign journalists to travel to that cleric hometown, which has become the epicenter of escalating Shia-Sunni tensions.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Driving around here on the east of the country, we're on the outskirts of Dammam now. And it looks and feels like every other bit of Saudi Arabia. We just passed a Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Hardee's.

You wouldn't believe that not far from here, there's an intense security operation underway. We're beginning to get closer to our Awamiyah now, and the military bases and the soldiers protecting them. They've got more gear on the military bases, look harder, stronger, bigger, taller fences, more armored here.

Just outside the town of Awamiyah so much military hardware. These officers are the ones that are providing the security around that town.

These are the armored vehicles of the police using to patrol Awamiyah. I've never seen anything quite like this before. These spikes here, so no one can grab ahold of the wind (inaudible) here.

Heavy armor protected all the way around heavy tires to defeat bullets. We've seen video posted on the internet of these tires being shot at by the people of the town of Awamiyah.

[02:20:10] Police are telling us, it's too dangerous to go into the town without an armored vehicle. They're going to take us in in one of their big sturdy armored vehicle.

It's hard to get in. This is one of the main checkpoints going into Awamiyah where it seems pretty busy right now. But after (inaudible) were told the situation changes, all these big trucks forming a ring of steel. It's the only way right now the government feels that they can control the situation here.

We're just about to drive out of Awamiyah right now but driving around there, the streets seemed a little quiet but they didn't look or feel too tense.The shops were open, a barbershop was open, the pharmacy was open, a little supermarket was open. What we did see on the lamp posts, pictures of Nimr Al-nimr, the cleric that was executed at the (inaudible).

ALLEN: Nic Robertson reporting for us there in that exclusive report from Saudi Arabia.

A Muslim woman was ousted from a political rally for U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump in South Carolina.

Rose Hamid wore a hijab to the rally and stood up in silent protest (inaudible) Syrian refugees to ISIS.

Though she said nothing, Trump supporters pointed and shouted at Hamid until police removes her.

Jeff Zeleny has more from South Carolina.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Now, Donald trump attracts protesters pretty much everywhere he goes across the country, no exception on Friday night here in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

He drew a crowd of about 6,000 people or so to the campus of Winthrop University. He fired them up talking about his pointed plans on immigration, his republican rivals, as well as his attacks on Hillary Clinton.

But something changed about midway through the rally. There were few sporadic protest throughout the crowd. And then we noticed that one woman was standing up with a friend of hers, silently protesting.

It turns out she was 56-year-old Rose Hamid, she's a flight attendant from nearby Charlotte. Well, the crowd quickly began to turn on her, right around here, and the police escorted her.

Take a look at some of this video as she's being escorted out of the Donald Trump rally. She says for no reason in particular, she wasn't saying anything, but on the way out, some of these supporters of Donald Trump were aggressive and rude to her.

She said she was not scared at all, but she had this takeaway from her experience.

ROSE HAMID: What happened when the crowd got this like hateful crowd mentality, as I was being escorted, it was really quite telling of an -- and a vivid example of what happens when you start using this hateful rhetoric and how it can incite a crowd where moments ago were very kind to me.

ZELENY: Now, it was unclear if Donald Trump knew exactly what was happening behind him.

There were protests breaking out throughout the event. But his rhetoric has caused some of these protests at his rallies across the country.

Now he's campaigning aggressively in South Carolina which is home to the first primary in the south. But before that comes Iowa, that's why he's heading there on Saturday, he's launching a tough fight with Ted Cruz, the senator from Texas.

He's up in many opinion polls including a new one by Fox News out on Friday night, up four points over Donald Trump which is exactly why Donald Trump is spending a Saturday in Iowa.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN Rock Hill, South Carolina.

ALLEN: A bush fire that has destroyed more than 100 homes in Western Australia is still burning this hour.

Next, what firefighters face as they tackle the flame this weekend.

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[02:25:29] ALLEN: Fires continue to rage in Australia in the summer there. A bush fire in the western part of the state has wiped out a town. It burned at least 120 homes and close to 60,000 hectares flames are tearing through the town of Yarloop at South of Perth.

Thousands of people are without power after lightning started the fire on Wednesday, we seem those are the few that has homes. Four fire fighters have suffered burns.

And Allison Chinchar is here with more and these are what some of the best firefighters in the world and they're up against something that's just well, it's even dangerous.

ALLISON CHINCHAR: They're used to it in this part of the country, but again this particular fire doubled over night and we you have something like that even the most experienced firefighters just can't battle it quite that well.

Take a look at some of the images that we have coming out of this area again. This is out of (inaudible). You can see just the height not just of the flames, but also of the smoke that's there and how wide it is for the next due to the winds it was around the area.

Also look at the flames here, you have a reference point of the car and then again the flames stretching all the way up towards the height of this tree, so again just kind of goes to show you the scale that we've been dealing with.

The Google image again takes you down to South Western Australia, there you can see the city of Perth out there. We did have a few fires there, but the majority is in this cluster, well south of town and again this is going to be that area of Yarloop and this particular cluster again doubled over night, that makes it very difficult for the firefighters to deal with. There is a great way to show you this. This is satellite imagery from NASA on Tuesday. Notice this area. We got some white which is clouds, but then we push forward a day. Now you notice this brown shaded area, that's the smoke pushed forward another day. Look at how widespread it becomes. It grew so rapidly and then by Friday again it's a little bit of skewered because we have some convection that's moved in, we'll be having some thunderstorms, but then actually it wasn't a god thing.

These thunderstorms had actually helped to fuel even more because of the lightning that with them, but Natalie, one perk is that the winds are going to start to shift this weekend and well that won't necessarily fix the fires, it does make it a little bit easier for the firefighters to battle them.

ALLEN: You know, I'm just thinking about all of those people who saw their homes obliterated.

CHINCHAR: And had no time to pack up.

ALLEN: I know. I imagined.

All right, Allison, thank you.

And that will do it for us here at CNN Newsroom. I'll be back with your headlines right after this.

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