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Plane Crash in Colombia; South Korean President Says She Will Step Down if Asked by Parliament; Syrian Regime Retakes Key Areas in Aleppo; Investigators Seek Motive in Ohio University Attack; Donald Trump Slams Vote Recounts; France's Fillon Compared to Trump. Aired 2- 2:30a ET

Aired November 29, 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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[02:00:31] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: This is NEWSROOM L.A. Hello, everybody. I'm John Vause.

We're covering two breaking news stories right now.

First, out of South Korea, President Park Guen-hye has announced she will ask parliament to manage a way for her to relinquish power. A corruption scandal has been threatening to unravel her administration for months.

In Colombia, a serious accident involving a plane carrying a Brazilian football team. Officials have not said yet what happened to the plane. Colombian airport operators say there are six possible survivors.

CNN's Rafael Romo is live in Atlanta with the latest.

Rafael, what do we know about the conditions at the time of the crash and where the plane may have gone down?

RAFAEL ROMO: John, we just received information on this accident. What we have heard is that the aircraft reported some sort of emergency at 10:00 p.m. local time in Colombia. The plane was carrying 72 passengers and nine members of the crew. Among them was the team, the football team from city and southern brazil. The team was supposed to travel to a city in Colombia to play the finals against a local team there. It was game number one out of two when this accident happened. Not a lot of information, but like you were saying before, John, there may be, according to authorities, as many as six survivors.

Back to you.

VAUSE: With that in mind and given the location where this happened is there any idea how long it may take to get those survivors out of the crash zone to medical treatment. What are the conditions like as far as weather is concerned? ROMO: It is a mountainous area. We have seen weather reports. There

were scattered thunderstorms for the last 12 hours. Some rain, as well, that might have caused some turbulent situation for the aircraft. At this point, we don't know if that was a factor. What the pilot reported was that they had some sort of electrical failure on board and that's the reason why he activated an alarm and called for an emergency. But then also we are talking about a mountainous region in that part of Colombia near Medellin, southeast of Medellin to be precise - John?

VAUSE: Rafael, thank you. Rafael Romo with late details on that plane crash in Colombia.

Now to breaking news out of South Korea. President Park Geun-hye says she will step down if asked by parliament. She has placed her fate in their hands after struggling to weather a corruption scandal. Millions of people have been demanding her resignation.

Let's turn to Paula Hancocks in Seoul.

Paula, she stopped short of resigning. It would seem a matter of time before she actually is forced from office by parliament.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is interesting what she said. There are hundreds of thousands of people, millions around the country that were hoping it would be a resignation speech. She stopped short of that but effectively handed over control of her fate to the parliament. She has said you decide whether or not my term needs to be shortened in office and whether or not I should go. If you decide I should, then I will. Which of course sounds like her, she is giving the people what they want. The problem is there are technicalities, legalities. What's the process for this? How will the national assembly decide this? They have already said the opposition leaders they were going to start the impeachment process this week and there are some questioning whether or not this is her way of avoiding the impeachment process and buying time. That's what we are hearing some pundits say on local media. There's a lot of questions that haven't been answered exactly what this entail. What president Park said she wants to make sure there is no power vacuum in the country. When parliament decides what they want her to do she will do it and pass over authority to her successor. It hasn't made the protesters happy. The organizers said it will not stop them protesting on a Saturday night. They plan to continue the candle light vigils. The organizers saying Park can't even decide on her own to resign from the presidency. She is letting the national assembly decide. So, they, for one organization, not happy with what they heard today -- John?

[02:05:41] VAUSE: And, Paula, as you said, there's a lot of details to be worked out and to actually be revealed in all of this. Is Park Geun-hye is forced from office by lawmakers does she lose her presidential immunity from prosecution?

HANCOCKS: Once she is no longer president she does lose that immunity. The prosecutors want to investigate her as a suspect. They have made that clear. Originally, she said she respected that process and will be a part of it. They said she can't be questioned by prosecutors. She is simply too busy at the moment and then this announce today.

Questions are asked, what does this mean, how long will she resigns from power. Let's listen to what President Park said earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PARK GUEN-HYE, SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT (through translation): I will step down from my position, according to the law, pass on the administration in a civil manner that will minimize political unrest and vacuum after the opposition party ruling discussion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: A confederation of trade unions had a nationwide strike called for tomorrow, for Wednesday. They said despite this announcement it is going ahead until president Park resigns. Clearly the protests will continue apparently.

VAUSE: Paula, thank you.

Syrian forces appear on the brink of crushing the rebellion in Aleppo. The army and its allies broke through and took control of a large portion of Aleppo on Monday. There's been fierce fighting for the rebel's last urban stronghold for the past two weeks. Activists say about 10,000 people have fled in recent days and an estimated 250,000 people have been trapped in eastern Aleppo since July. Russia has been backing the regime's push with relentless air strikes.

CNN contributor and former Moscow bureau chief, Jill Dougherty, is joining us from Moscow with more on this.

Jill, just looking back at this, over the course of the last year or so, has Putin played a better game here? He manipulated the West to the point that there are delays from the Europeans and Americans in supporting the rebels and now the advance in Aleppo is past the point of no return.

JILL DOUGHTERY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I think you can make that point, John. He would get bogged down, wouldn't work, et cetera. Now you have the opposition, is, plus whoever else is there in eastern Aleppo pushed back and pushed back by the Syrian forces. You have Putin, Russia a role at the table if there is a resolution and many aspects of this has worked out well for Putin. I'd say positioning the opposition, challenging the United States to separate the legitimate opposition from the terrorists which has not worked. That was one of the points that president Putin made. Look, you can't do it, United States. We have to go after the bad guys, and we will. This is a very difficult answer for the United States right now. So, I think as you watch Donald Trump become president of the United States, pretty soon, that will be one of his challenges. Do you simply accept the situation, as it is on the ground right now, that Russia has created, or what do you do? Do you work with them? If you work with them it would appear it would have to be pretty much on Russia's terms.

VAUSE: There's 51 days until Donald Trump is inaugurated. Is there a timetable the Russians are aware of despite the friendly things that Trump has said act Putin and Russia? Are they concerned there could be some unpredictable factor in a Trump administration, say a Mitt Romney as secretary of state, who warned about Russia four years ago?

DOUGHERTY: Absolutely, on every level. They heard things they like but will it actually be that. Will they make something that Russia would like? No guarantee. Some things that President-elect Trump could do on his own but a lot of things depend on the Congress. Also, you have to look at, as you mentioned the personnel, the secretary of state, although they probably will not make foreign policy, they would be a very important person, chief diplomate. and person who would advise and jointly work on creating that policy for President Trump. Who is that going to be? Right now, we have very dis-operate characters discussed. So, that's not even being guaranteed at this point.

[02:10:46] VAUSE: It seems a matter of time before east Aleppo falls. An any sign they will back Assad as he tries to reclaim the last remaining areas from the opposition and will they continue to use the brutal tactics they used in eastern Aleppo?

DOUGHERTY: Remember, the Russians are saying they are not carrying out the bombing. That it is actually the government forces that are. So, you have a certain deniability that Russia wants to maintain. At least with the bombings in Aleppo. Russia does not want to be associated with things that hurt civilians. So, this has been a real problem for them. Looking as if they were condoning or maybe participating. They have made it clear, denying they are a part of that. That can help them in talking with Donald Trump in the future saying, look, we didn't do this. It was the Syrian government. Please, United States, join us to fight the terrorists. We have to do it jointly.

VAUSE: Jill, thank you. Jill Dougherty there with good analysis and perspective in Moscow. Thank you, Jill.

U.S. investigators are digging through social media, trying to find the motive behind an attack at Ohio State University. Shortly before Monday's rampage, Abdul Razak Ali Artan wrote on Facebook that the mistreatment of Muslims in Myanmar led to a boiling point because they called radical cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, a hero. Police say Artan rammed his car in a crowd of people and charged at them with a knife, wounding 11. The campus was put on lockdown during the attack.

CNN's Brynn Gingras has details on the frightening day at Ohio State.

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BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tonight, university police naming the suspected attacker as OSU student, Abdul Razak Ali Artan. A federal law enforcement official says he was a Somali citizen who lived in the area. A U.S. official said he was a legal, permanent resident. Investigators are still working on determining motive and cannot rule out terror at this point.

KIM JACOBS, CHIEF, COLOMBUS, OHIO, POLICE DEPARTMENT: We have to consider it is that possibility. We had an attack earlier this year with a man with a knife causing multiple injuries. We are always aware that's a potential and we will continue to look at that. That's why our federal partners are here and helping.

GINGRAS: Police say the attacker deliberately jumped the curb with a car and ran into a group of pedestrians. A federal official says the car used in the attack was registered to a family member.

MONICA MALL, PUBLIC SAFETY DIRECTOR, OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY: 9:52 a.m., the emergency dispatch center got a report that a vehicle had struck pedestrians.

GINGRAS: He then continued to attack, slashing people with a knife.

CRAIG STONE, CHIEF, OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY POLICE DEPARTMENT: He exited the vehicle and used a butcher knife to start to cut pedestrians.

GINGRAS: Less than a minute later, the attacker was confronted by a police officer.

STONE: He engaged the suspect and eliminated the threat. The suspect is DOA.

GINGRAS: Within minutes of the attack, a campus-wide alert went out reporting an active shooter on campus, run, hide, fight.

A law federal enforcement official says the gunshots may have been of a police officer shooting the attacker.

On campus, students and faculty blocked doorways and hid while waiting for the all-clear.

UNIDENTIFIED OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY STUDENT: Our teacher ran and blocked the door and saw a ton of -- we heard a bunch of sirens and a bunch of cop cars started to flood toward the area.

UNIDENTIFIED OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY EMPLOYEE: It was scary. We barricaded ourselves in our rooms, like we were taught, turned off out lights, and just hunkered down.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Thanks to Brynn Gingras for that report.

The officer who stopped the attack is a graduate of Ohio State University. Campus administrators are praising him for his quick action.

[02:14:38] Next here on CNN NEWSROOM, despite a lack of evidence, Donald Trump alleges voter fraud in the election, which he actually won. State election officials say his accusations are insulting.

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VAUSE: A source says U.S. President-elect Trump has picked House Republican Tom Price, of Georgia, to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Price has been an outspoken critic of Obamacare. A formal announcement on Price is expected Tuesday.

Wisconsin election officials could begin recounting votes as early as this week. Pennsylvania may follow.

And as we hear from CNN's Suzanne Malveaux, the drive to recount some ballots has been extremely annoying to the president-elect.

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SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Trump is spreading false claims about the election he won. The president-elect tweeting, "In addition to winning the Electoral College, in a landslide, I won the popular vote, if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally."

Trump, who now trails Hillary Clinton by more than two million votes in the latest national count, offering no evidence to back up his statement about millions of illegal ballots.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Unbelievable.

MALVEAUX: Echoing themes from his campaign.

TRUMP: It is a rigged system. Be careful with the voting. Be careful with everything.

MALVEAUX: He is raising unfounded allegations of voter fraud in three states he lost, tweeting, "Serious voter fraud in Virginia, New Hampshire and California. So why isn't the media reporting on this? Serious bias, big problem."

Leaders in all three states pushed back saying their elections were fair. Some Trump allies are urging him to let it go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is the president-elect. It is time to move forward.

MALVEAUX: As the recount moves forward in Wisconsin where election officials rebuked the president-elect for casting doubts on the integrity of the voting process.

MARK THOMSEN, WISCONSIN ELECTION COMMISSION CHAIRMAN: Firstly, I'd like him to come out of his Trump Tower and spend time with the folks on the ground counting these votes. To say that people are counting illegal votes is an insult to the people that run our election.

MALVEAUX: The bipartisan election commission today signed off on a plan to complete a new statewide tally by mid-December.

The recount push is led by Green Party Candidate Jill Stein, but the Clinton campaign is also taking part in the process. A lawyer for the Clinton campaign saying it's doing so "to ensure that it is fair to all sides." Adding, "The campaign has found no evidence of hacking of voting systems."

Trump, who leads Clinton in the state by 20,000 votes out of three million cast, calls the recount a scam.

Wisconsin officials say they are confident that Trump's margin will hold once the recount is finished.

[02:20:39] THOMSEN: I fully expect given the history of how elections are conducted in Wisconsin and their accuracy and I don't expect the outcome will be qualitatively different.

MALVEAUX (on camera): Michigan's secretary of state announced Trump won that state, bringing Trump's electoral total to 306 compared to Clinton's 232. He won Michigan by 10,704 votes.

Stein is initiating three recounts where Trump destroyed the so-called blue wall, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Wisconsin has already vowed to begin the count in all 72 counties. Wednesday is the deadline to petition a recount in Michigan. And Monday, Pennsylvania got challenged.

Stein's camp insists she has the million dollars necessary to pay for these recounts.

In the meantime, Trump's transition team has been unable to provide any credible evidence that millions voted illegally in those states or any states.

Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: French conservatives have chosen Francois Fillon to lead their party in that country's presidential election next year. A few weeks ago, Fillon was considered an unlikely bet. But the lawyer-turned- politician won support for his tough stance on unions, immigration, and fighting Islamic terrorism. And some are comparing him to Donald Trump for pulling off an upset victory.

Joining me is Dominic Thomas, the head of the Department of French and Francophone Studies at UCLA.

Thank you for coming in.

Dominic, thank you for coming in.

Francois Fillon, making France great again. How similar are his policies to Donald Trump?

DOMINIC THOMAS, CHAIR, DEPARTMENT OF FRENCH & FRANCOPHONE STUDIES, UCLA: It is interesting, John, to see the fact that in the polls until the 20th of November, two days, or until the 18th of November, two days before Francois Fillon made it to the second-round runoff, not a single poll had him in winning the election. One can only think the U.S. election played a role. Remember, in the first time the right has had such a primary. Francois Fillon ran on a conservative platform. Speaking out in favor of an old traditional France of Catholic values. That's a code name for addressing the issue of whiteness and malaise around these questions. He published a book on totalitarian Islam, which bolstered his security credentials. He has been talking about a traditional France at a time when France was a great and grand nation.

VAUSE: Looking ahead to the presidential election, and given the collapse of the ruling Socialist Party, does this mean the next election in France will be a contest between the hard right and the far right?

THOMAS: The entire election so far has been shaped around the far right, as to who can defeat Marine le Pen. The interesting thing will be whether or not the constituents that supported Fillon with a platform that is especially -- or shares points of commonality with everything except the economy with Marine le Pen, is whether this will be palatable to a centrist electorate and people on the left and whether or not Fillon making concessions to the left will lose that base. If the Socialists who haven't held their primary yet -- there are people who announced their candidacy, former government ministers, especially in the economic sector, have announced they plan to run. But Francois Hollande has not declared whether he will run. His prime minister, considered the front runner for the party, has not yet announced whether he will run out of loyalty to a sitting president. The big question will be how the Socialists are able to organize themselves and whether Francois Fillon, who runs this party that has 10 percent of the vote, can present themselves with a more moderate platform that will stand up against Marine le Pen.

VAUSE: You mention the economy that is one of the big differences between le Pen and Fillon. Given some of Fillon's stances on taxes and free markets, could you see Marine le Pen doing what Donald Trump did, an end run with blue collar voters with the message she has on the economy?

[02:25:21] THOMAS: I don't think she has to do an end run. I think many of those voters already constitute the base of her party. The economic issues did not play a major role in the primary. In the malaise, dissolution, and so on, absolutely did. What will be interesting is whether Fillon's attack on welfare, job security, raising the retirement age, and downgrading of taxes for the wealthy is what Marine le Pen will focus on to make the case, that her party will be if greater appeal to the worker and to those left behind by globalization, and one should not under estimate the power of that argument after Brexit and the election of Donald Trump.

VAUSE: Almost looks like a mirror image in so many ways.

THOMAS: Absolutely is.

VAUSE: Dominic, as always, thank you so much.

THOMAS: Thank you, John.

VAUSE: Appreciate it.

Thailand is moving forward to crown a new king. The parliament will invite the crown prince to be the new king in the next day or so. According to procedure, the prince has to accept the invitation to be proclaimed king. He will be formally crowned after his father's cremation next year. The king died last month. The popular monarch was the world's longest-servicing head of state.

A quick break now. "State of America" with Kate Bolduan is up next for our viewers in Asia.

Next here on CNN NEWSROOM L.A.," a plan carrying a Brazilian football team declares an emergency over Colombia. We'll have the latest on possible survivors.

Also, hundreds of hate crimes have been reported since the election, including many against Muslims. How some Muslim women are now protecting themselves, in just a moment.

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[02:30:12] VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angles.

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[02:30:12] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause, with the headlines this hour --

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VAUSE: A plane carrying a Brazilian football team has been involved in a serious accident in Colombia. This happened in the northwestern region of the country. Officials have not said what happened to the plane but Colombian airport administrators say there are survivors.

Rafael Romo joins us again live from Atlanta.

Rafael, we have new details about the survivors of this crash.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John. In the last few minutes, we got word the first survivor made it to the hospital. Local media reports identify him as Allen Rashal. Aviation authorities say there are six survivors that occurred about 10:00 local time here in Medellin, Colombia. What we know at this time is the plane was carrying 72 passengers and nine members of the crew. There was an emergency call at 10:00 p.m. local time. The pilot reported some sort of electrical failure and, moments later, this incident happened.

Now, there was some weather, foul weather in the area for the last 12 hours, thunderstorms and scattered showers. But at this point, we don't know if that played a role in the accident -- John?

VAUSE: With that in mind, Rafael, is there any more indication of what caused the crash?

ROMO: The only two factors that might have contributed to the accident at this point is what I told you before, the electrical failure that the pilot reported, and also the fact that there had been storms in the area. This is a mountainous, treacherous region for some of the flights. I have flown into many myself and it is definitely not the easiest airport to land in. Again, at this point, the information we have is preliminary. Officials have not confirmed one way or the other what might have been the cause of the accident.

VAUSE: Rafael, thank you. Rafael Romo with this details that one survivor of the crash has made it to hospital and one of six possible survivors.

Rafael, thank you.

Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri also with us to look at the weather in the area where the plane came down.

Pedram, weather conditions right now, as the search and rescue crews try to get to the wreckage and obviously get the survivors to hospital.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah. John, in the last couple of hours, we have seen some storms pop up in the vicinity of where the plane was last reported to have be seen. I want to show you this varied topography. The landscape that Rafael was talking about. If we go to the area, 2100 meters, 7,000 feet high in elevation. That's the airport itself. When you put this across North America it would be among the highest airports in North America. Very difficult landscape to deal. I want to show you the flight radar we have the data for. The flight path and fascinating to see this. I will try to zoom in and give you the best depiction we have. We know of two loops it made based on the estimation of flight radar. In this area, south of the airport, that's where the issues were reported on board with the aircraft. That's something we noticed on flight radar. You can look at the elevation and the speed of this aircraft. You will notice the line indicated in yellow is the speed, around 400 knots. Few minutes before it was making descent it lost speed and then went up in speed right before we lost all connection with the aircraft and the same thing in the blue line. That's the altitude. Stays steady at 20,000 feet and significant drop in the last few minutes before the plane came for a landing - John?

[02:35:04] VAUSE: Pedram, we have word coming from the South America football confederation that all games and activities have been suspended until further notice, which is completely understandable.

Pedram, thank you.

Fears have been rising within the Muslim community for the past three weeks since the U.S. presidential election. The Council for American Islamic Relations says 100 Muslim incidents have occurred since then. Some Muslim American women are taking steps to protect themselves.

Here's Kyung Lah.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a crowd you don't notice Marwa Abediwagani (ph).

MARWA ABEDIWAGANI (ph), MUSLIM AMERICAN WOMAN: I went from expecting to be the center of attention to no attention.

LAH (on camera): Did you feel relief?

ABEDIWAGANI (PH): Yes. A sense of relief. I didn't feel like a target anymore.

LAH (voice-over): A visible target, a Muslim woman in a head scarf. Since she was a senior in high school, she wore the scarf whenever he was in public, part of her Islamic faith, culture and identity.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have to stop the Muslims.

LAH: This presidential election, that changed.

ABEDIWAGANI (ph): I was walking on the street and a driver drove by me and slowed down and rolled down his window and spit at you.

LAH (on camera): He spit at you?

ABEDIWAGANI (ph): Yeah. It was getting closer to November 8th and that's when I decided I was going to take it off for a while.

LAH (voice-over): Since the election, they have tracked 708 incidents. Muslim women say, a year ago, their sense of safety began to change after this picture of San Bernardino killer, Tashfeen Malik, went public.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After that people began to see us differently.

LAH: Muslim women began taking self-defense classes, driven by fear. Now post election sharing tips on social media and making a searing choice, their faith or personal safety.

ABEDIWAGANI (ph): The head scarf has become something that went from being a very spiritual element of a woman's life to being somewhere where she has to be scared to wear it. I myself didn't feel like I wanted to continue with that fear.

LAH: The only places where she feels free to express that part of Islam is the privacy of her apartment and her mosque.

To the incoming Trump administration, this young Muslim woman has this message.

ABEDIWAGANI (ph): When you hold that kind of position and you think it is OK to make these racist, Islamophobic, sexist statements, there are people, unfortunately, as crazy as they are that look up to and you will follow you and act out in response to what you are saying.

LAH (on camera): Do you think you will wear it again someday.

ABEDIWAGANI (ph): Yeah, I hope so. I hope to wear it one day again. I hope I can feel safe enough to do so.

LAH (voice-over): To practice one of the founding principles of America, freedom of religion.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Still to come, Cuba is mourning the man that many called the father of their country. Many others did not. How they are commemorating Fidel Castro. That's up.

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[02:40:28] VAUSE: Cuba's mourning for long-time leader, Fidel Castro, is under way. Large crowds poured into Havana's Revolutionary Square to pay respects to the revolutionary who died Friday aged 90. President Raul Castro was mourning, as well. He signed an oath of allegiance at his brother's ashes.

While Cuba remembers the man who shaped it, new visitors are seeing a new country for the first time. American Airlines operated the first U.S. commercial flight to Havana from Miami in more than 50 years on Monday. It's all because of the renewed ties with the United States.

But as Ed Lavandera reports, those ties might be in jeopardy under the incoming in Trump administration.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the shadow of this historic church, Chef Hector Santana is building his future on Angel Hill in Old Havana.

HECTOR SANTANA, CHEF: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

LAVANDERA: Santana says it is a myth that Havana is nothing more than crumbling buildings. Four years ago, he and his business partner, Jacqueline Fumero, opened Angel Cafe. Since the thawing of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the U.S., he has seen tourists flooding this colonial-era area.

(on camera): So they had a restaurant here. It was two tables. They are expanding here, have tables outside, and now they're going to put four tables inside. They're getting so much business, they're able to expand, as you see here.

(voice-over): Santana is spending his modest profits expanding this restaurant at an uneasy time.

For the first time, Cubans will now experience operating their own businesses without the ever-present gaze of Fidel Castro looming over them.

(on camera): Donald Trump is threatening to, quote, "terminate" the re-established diplomatic ties between the United States and Cuba. Trump administration officials say Cuba needs to become less repressive, free political prisoners, and embrace a more open economic system. (voice-over): Jacqueline Fumero says she doesn't think Trump will

close the door that President Obama has already opened.

She says, "It's like Cuban and American politicians have given a baby sweet candy and they can't take this opportunity away now."

Fumero and Santana say running a business in Cuba is far from easy. Strict regulations and permits are tedious.

But Santana says this opportunity is the reason he stayed in Havana.

(on camera): He says in recent years, with the opportunity to open a business up here in Havana, if he wasn't able to do that, he probably would have left the country by now.

(voice-over): Santana says he wants to continue building his future here, and he's banking that the angels are looking over his small cafe.

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Havana, Cuba.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.

"World Sport" is next.

You are watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:45:18] VAUSE: "World Sport" is coming up. but first, this update on our breaking news from Colombia. The first survivor of a serious plane accident near Medellin, Colombia, has arrived at the hospital. Officials have not said what happened to the plane but rescuers are now moving the wounded. A Brazilian football team was on board.

Now here's "World Sport," with Kate Riley.

(WORLD SPORT REPORT)

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[03:00:10] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.