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Security Tightened At U.S.-Mexico Border in Tijuana; Officials: Caravan May Try to Force Its Way Into U.S.; Big Mountain Takes On Immigration In New Song; More Fighting in Yemen Despite Talks of Truce; U.S. President Slams Architect of bin Laden Raid; Facebook on Child Auction; May to Hold First Cabinet Meeting since Draft Brexit Deal Reached; Nissan Chairman Arrested. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired November 20, 2018 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Cars, cows and cash, the winning bid for a child bride in an auction conducted by Facebook. (INAUDIBLE) how the social network failed to police itself.
The commander in chief continues to insult American military heroes, the five-time draft deferral ramping up his attacks on the architect of the bin Laden raid.
First, there was thousands of troops, now a temporary border shutdown as the U.S. closes a busy border with Mexico, installs miles of razor wire, all to keep the caravan of migrants out.
Hello and welcome to our viewers all around the world, I'm John Vause, this is CNN NEWSROOM.
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VAUSE: The talk about cease-fire does not seem to have impacted the fighting in Yemen. Media aligned with the Iran-backed Houthis said the Saudi-led coalition launched more airstrikes. They said the Houthis destroyed coalition military vehicles. This comes less than a day after the Saudi-backed Yemeni government said it was on board for a new round of U.N.-backed peace talks.
The Houthi leader also announced they were ready for a truce and would end missile and drone attacks. The U.K. is one of the countries backing a cease-fire and trying to push through a draft resolution at the U.N. Security Council. It calls for a two-week break in the fight to allow in humanitarian aid but a vote is not expected until after Thursday.
CNN's Ben Wedeman has this look at a potentially peace and why the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi could actually be a factor.
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is a slight glimmer of hope for a country ravaged by war, disease and hunger.
Monday the Houthi rebels declared that they will halt their missile and drone strikes on Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and their Yemeni allies. This comes after the Saudi led coalition declared it was halting its military operations in and around the Houthi held port of Hudaydah, through which much of the country's food and goods pass.
The Yemeni war is seen as the brainchild of 33-year-old Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and that war has left thousands dead and the country's population threatened by starvation and disease.
Now United Nations' special envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, is hoping to be able to resume peace talks with the warring parties. Those talks are set to resume sometime before the end of the year in Sweden.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is suspended in air refueling of Saudi aircraft over Yemen and Germany has declared its halting all arms sales to the kingdom and is also slapped the travel ban on 18 Saudi suspected of involvement in the murder of Khashoggi. Old friends of the kingdom aren't quite as friendly as they once were -- Ben Wedeman, CNN, Beirut.
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VAUSE: Trump, who took five deferrals and avoided the Vietnam War is taking another shot at an American military hero, renewing his feud with the four-star admiral in charge of the Osama bin Laden raid.
The commander in chief tweeted, "Of course we should have captured Osama bin Laden long before we did."
That criticism is aimed at retired Admiral William McRaven, who said last year President Trump's attacks on the press were the greatest threat to democracy in his lifetime. This is what the president said on Sunday.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's a Hillary Clinton backer and an Obama backer and, frankly --
CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS HOST: He was a Navy SEAL for 37 --
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TRUMP: -- wouldn't it be nice if we got Osama bin Laden sooner?
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VAUSE: In response from the side remark, deputy director shot this statement.
"Correction needed to POTUS' comment today that McRaven should have found bin Laden sooner. CIA did the 'finding.' McRaven's special operators did the 'getting.' They moved within days of President Obama giving the order."
Joining us now from Orlando, Florida, CNN military analyst Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, the former Army commander general for Europe and the 7th Army.
General, good to see you.
LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good to see you, John.
Here's the response from Admiral McRaven.
"I did not back Hillary Clinton or anyone else. I'm a fan of President Obama and President George W. Bush, both of whom I worked for. I respect all presidents of any political party --
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VAUSE: -- "who uphold the dignity of the office and who use that office to bring the nation together during challenging times."
At the same time the Republican National Committee is backing the president. They put this statement out on Twitter.
"Worth noting after recent comments retired Adm. William McRaven was reportedly on Hillary's short list for vice president in 2016. He's been critical of Trump, even dating back to the 2016 campaign. He's hardly a nonpolitical figure."
You can debate that back and forth but what is the end result when a military leader of Admiral McRaven's standing becomes politicized and becomes another prop in the president's reality TV show?
HERTLING: That's what concerns me the most, the politicization of the military and the president has done this already with other institutions -- or at least tried to do it -- with the intelligence community, with law enforcement and with the judicial branch and all of that is contributing to the divisiveness that we see across our society.
It's unfortunate because the military -- and, interestingly, I counted today how many presidents I served for during my years -- and Admiral McRaven and I were in the military about the same amount of time. We entered about the same time and left the same time.
And both of us served under eight different presidents, five Republican and three Democrats. I would not have known that unless I stopped to think about it.
The military serves the ideas embedded in the Constitution. They don't serve an individual. Yet, it seems Mr. Trump wants that fealty of the military serving a person. And that's not what we do. When he doesn't go the way he wants it to go, the same way he treats his political adversaries, he mocks them, as he did with McRaven and as he's done with several others.
VAUSE: This is just the latest example of Donald Trump insulting a war hero. It comes after he skipped that WWI ceremony in France because it was raining, followed by a no show at Arlington Cemetery on Veterans' Day.
And here's his reason he didn't lay a wreath on Veterans' Day.
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TRUMP: I should have done that. I was extremely busy on calls for the country. We did a lot of calling, as you know.
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VAUSE: Many like Democratic congressman Don Beyer have questioned that. He tweeted, so far, he, the president, has spent one of every four days of his first term golfing and two to three months at Mar-a- lago.
How credible do you find that excuse coming from this president?
HERTLING: Not credible at all. In fact, it speaks to me of what he sets as his priorities. On a national holiday dedicated to honoring veterans, I can understand the president is busy. But as we've seen, he certainly takes a lot of time off to do the things he wants to do, vacationing and golfing.
Now I'm not knocking him for that. But on a day that's dedicated to veterans, you would think that he would at least dedicate a certain amount of time to honoring those vets when Arlington Cemetery is literally a 10-minute drive away from the White House.
VAUSE: Especially when you consider how much this president has publicly declared his overwhelming support for the troops -- like this.
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TRUMP: There's nobody, nobody that loves the military like I do. I love the military.
I don't think anybody been more with the military than I have.
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VAUSE: What was interesting, the "Military Times" polled 900 readers and found that while support for the president remains relatively high, almost 44 percent, that approval rating has slowly been eroding since 2016. But that seems like a negligible decline in the context of the past year or so.
Why is the military so supportive of the commander in chief?
Why remain so loyal to a commander in chief who won't go to places like Iraq and Afghanistan because he doesn't support the wars those soldiers have been sent to fight?
HERTLING: When you look at military.com's survey, there are some -- some challenges within there. There's differences between the lower ranks and the higher ranks. There's certainly been a shift in terms of women in the military's support for the president.
I think we're seeing some huge shifts across the board. Now the military.com, I've said this from the beginning, that survey instrument is not very reliable. And they admit that themselves. It showed much greater support for the president during the campaign than it is showing now.
I think we're seeing the shifts because, truthfully, I hate to say it this way, but the military is getting wise to him. He likes the military when he can use it in his speeches and when he can use it for his props.
But I think many people who wear the uniform or have worn the uniform are beginning to become a little bit more wise to his ways and what he's doing with the military as part of the defender of our country versus his particular political props.
VAUSE: It has been an interesting year, I guess, for the military as well as everybody else, when it comes to the president.
General, thank you, good to see you.
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HERTLING: Good to see you John, thank you.
VAUSE: Another scandal for Facebook but this time the tech giant is under fire after the social network was used to auction a child bride in South Sudan. The winning bid for the girl was a combination of cows, cards and cash. Human rights groups are demanding an investigation and accused Facebook of failing to protect the rights of women and girls.
We get more details now from CNN's Samuel Burke.
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SAMUEL BURKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A "barbaric use of technology." That's how humanitarian organization Plan International is describing the auction to marry a girl in South Sudan, who they say is just 16 years old. All this carried out via Facebook.
The girl's father reportedly received 500 cows, three cars and $10,000 in exchange for his daughter.
The post was originally published on Facebook on October 25th. But Facebook did not become aware of it until November 9th, 15 days later.
The social network has taken down the post and a spokesperson tells CNN, quote, " Any form of human trafficking -- whether posts, pages, ads or groups -- is not allowed on Facebook.
"We removed the post and permanently disabled the account belonging to the person who posted this on Facebook. We're always improving the methods we use to identify content that breaks our policies, including doubling our safety and security team to more than 30,000 and investing in technology."
But activists worry this could inspire other families to use social media to try to get larger dowries for their daughters. Plan International is calling on the South Sudanese government to investigate this matter and suspend any officials who took part in the bidding.
Even though it's against the law there, UNICEF says more than half of girls in South Sudan are married before age 18 -- Samuel Burke, CNN, London.
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VAUSE: Zainab Salbi is a women's rights activist, author and editor at large of Women in the World Media. She joins us from New York.
Zainab, thank you for taking time to be with us. Facebook only removed the post after the auction was done and only then after the company was actually made aware of the material in the first place. That statement makes it pretty clear, they have no idea who was posting what.
ZAINAB SALBI, WOMEN IN THE WORLD MEDIA: Facebook does have a responsibility. It is not the first case nor is it going to be the last, where actually traffickers generally put postings on many social media networks. This was Craigslist in America; Facebook now.
So this is common practical actually with a lot of traffickers doing that.
This case is even more complex because it is a family of the girl who did that. And in a culture that does allow for a dowry -- and they have to distinguish between dowry, which is a common practice in many cultures, including South Sudan, which does not mean selling or auctioning your daughter.
What this family particularly have done is actually done in the greatest act even in their own culture standards. There's huge things here that we need to distinguish. One is not to generalize all South Sudanese culture.
Second is actually to hold social media platforms responsible for such acts and they have to do something to make sure that mitigates more damages from happening to women and girls.
And third, we need to look at what actions are needed to resolve that, both for South Sudanese girls as well as the social actions needed by social platforms.
VAUSE: I was wondering, how much responsibility, where do you allocate the responsibility?
How much with Facebook?
How much with the Sunni authorities?
The auction happened in public because of the very fact it was taking place online.
How much responsibility is with the family?
SALBI: I would hold all of them accountable. I think the public outrage is very important in this case. And the messaging here for the family and for anybody that considers doing that, it is absolutely no.
We need to also explain to understand the language, in Southern Sudan, he needs understand because cows in South Sudan is basically money. So (INAUDIBLE) the culture. You marry your daughter and you get dowry of money, cows. And then you use these cows to feed yourself as a family and then recycle it to use to marry your own sons.
When you talk to a lot of South Sudanese girls, they say, look, we need to actually get jobs. We need higher education and secondary education because the jobs are more incentives for us and our parents to get us into jobs rather than marrying us. We need more financial incentives.
So first, we need to look into these things. Second, South Sudanese government does need to look into that. It is a big issue. It is a big crisis in South Sudan. There's war there. There is fighting and usually women and girls are the first victims in war and fighting. So on nobody takes what happens to them seriously.
So this case is really a serious grievance that needs to be taken seriously by the South Sudanese government.
And then social media --
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SALBI: platforms, again, it is very important because a lot of traffickers, above and beyond the case, a lot of traffickers do sell ads and exchange and -- you know, different platforms about girls being sold in trafficking. So they do need to take this case very seriously because it's an indicator of a much larger behavior that's happening in the world.
VAUSE: We'll leave it there; we're out of but thank you so much. Obviously, it's a complicated problem, a multifaceted problem, and Facebook is not making it better by this. So thanks for being with us.
SALBI: Pleasure.
VAUSE: The British prime minister facing a growing number of threats not just to her Brexit withdrawal plan but also her leadership and the party's grip on power. Details in a moment.
And later this hour, details on the alleged financial wrongdoing which ended with the arrest of one the most powerful executives in the auto industry.
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VAUSE: In a few hours, the British prime minister will hold her first cabinet meeting since last week's emergency session on the draft Brexit deal. In a speech to Britain's business lobby on Monday, Theresa May vowed to fight for the deal, despite facing a possible leadership challenge.
Meantime, the government plans to publish economic forecasts for all Brexit scenarios in the draft deal she secured, also the free trade agreement possibility and maybe a no deal possibility as well.
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VAUSE: CNN European affairs commentator Dominic Thomas joins us now from Los Angeles.
Dominic, good to have you with us.
DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Thanks, John.
VAUSE: Let's deal with the most immediate crisis facing Theresa May and her government in Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party, which may rely on for 10 votes in Parliament from majority. The DUP has withheld supporter on a series of budget measures because they're furious over this Brexit withdrawal agreement.
Their Brexit spokesman tweeted this, "The government made clear commitments never to undermine the constitutional or economic integrity of the United Kingdom. They have reneged. Consequences were inevitable."
So, is that a shot across the bow by the DUP? All of the sudden, the government is in serious trouble. THOMAS: Well, it's more threats and blackmail, actually. I mean, the whole reason that the DUP are even an issue is because Theresa May underestimated her popularity and kind of greedily launch this snap election, hope to -- hoping to consolidate her power in Parliament and it post dramatically backfired.
THOMAS: So she entered into this deal with the DUP to give a majority in what is confidence and supply. And the confidence part here has gone away.
The DUP are dissatisfied with the European Union deal that stands to potentially treat them differently from the rest of the United Kingdom. And so essentially in this finance deal discussions by holding back the vote they're sending her a very clear message that if she did not come back to Brussels with a different deal, they will not go along and support it. Of course the situation is completely dramatic. Because they don't want a hard border and they want the rest of the United Kingdom to essentially remain in the customs union and in the single market union which is, of course, what the hardcore Brexiteers are wont to do. So this another serious problem Theresa May has to tackle.
VAUSE: Crisis number two, this one seems to come out of nowhere. Spain warning it will reject the Brexit over Gibraltar. Madrid wants veto power to vet any E.U. trade deals with Britain that actually covers the peninsula.
So what's going on here?
THOMAS: Well, more threats yet again. Of course, you know, Gibraltar for over 300 years now has been an overseas British territory. And essentially the Spanish, although they're not happy about it, as a condition for entering the European Union and becoming a full-fledged member in 1986, essentially argued that they would put that --
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THOMAS: -- argument aside.
Now, they've said, as the DUP have said, guess what?
We had a deal with you initially but we're no longer going to really honor that deal because things have changed. You're now looking to go leave the European Union.
We don't want the E.U. involved in this. And on future deals that have to do with trade and defense, we want to deal directly with the United Kingdom or we will not support the European Union's deal with the U.K.
So more threats of nemesis (ph) here.
VAUSE: And crisis averted at least for now. Tory rebels maybe aren't able to get enough support to trigger a no confidence vote in May's leadership. Again it's a job that no one wants.
THOMAS: Right. Well, these hard-core Brexiters are really, really creating, you know, problems here. I mean they needed 48 votes. The reason they need 48 is in order to trigger this vote of no confidence.
You need 15 percent of the elected members of parliament of the Conservative Party. If you're not even able to get 48 together, there is absolutely no likelihood that you're going to be able to get a majority of the 326 elected MPs. So this has dramatically backfired.
And all of this really, you know, goes back to, you know, the Boris Johnsons and the Rees-Moogs of this world who got the U.K. into a mess in the very first place. So I think people are getting increasingly upset with them and with their shenanigans.
VAUSE: And finally crisis ignored, the U.N. putting out a report, what is it, budget austerity of Britain has rarely impacted the level of poverty and Brexit will make it worse. This report by the U.N. special raconteur on extreme poverty and human rights.
He warned, "In my meetings with the government it was clear to me that the impact of Brexit on people in poverty is an afterthought to be dealt with through manipulations of fiscal policy after the event, if at all."
You know, this comes just as the government put out those scenarios on the economic various Brexit outcomes, deal or no deal, or maybe the trade deal that Theresa May is talking about.
THOMAS: Well, I mean the very fact the United Nations issues a report using the words "extreme poverty" to talk about a country like the United Kingdom is in and of itself outrageous.
Of course, what further upset the British government beyond the fact that its economic policies are being heavily criticized here is the fact that he also mentioned that things would be worse after Brexit.
So all of these things are connected. So it's all very well to talk about austerity deals, the impact of it, of lowering the national debt and so on. They won't even look specifically at the ways in which the policies of the Conservative Party, since David Cameron came to power in 2010 have impacted the British population.
The lowest 20 percent average household income is the only category that has dramatically dropped since that particular time and all other groups have risen. And the one that has benefitted exponentially from the Conservatives being in power are the top percentage income brackets.
These economic disparities ironically enough are precisely what fueled so much of the Brexit vote from which the Conservative Party has benefited from staying in power.
And when one looks at the ways in which these measures impact people in the U.K. -- cost of living and housing and the cuts (ph), this is a government that has been completely distracted by Brexit and that is falling short in its mission dealing with the greater concerns of the British public.
And these disparities are growing every day and Brexit is making it worse.
VAUSE: It does seem to be a bit of a one-trick pony right now, the British government. They can't seem to you know, walk and chew gum at the same time when it comes to this Brexit deal.
THOMAS: Right.
VAUSE: Dominic, as always, thank you.
THOMAS: Thanks, John.
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VAUSE: One of the highest paid auto executives in the world will soon be out of his job. Nissan announced it found significant financial wrongdoing by chairman Carlos Ghosn. And they're preparing to fire him. He was arrested along with another top executive.
According to Nissan, gone underreported, his salary for years. Prosecutors say he made nearly $90 million over five years but only reported half of that. Ghosn heads up the auto alliance, which includes carmakers Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi.
Journalist Kaori Enjoji joins us now from Tokyo.
Kaori, Ghosn's downfall now threatens that very alliance of carmakers.
KAORI ENJOJI, JOURNALIST: That's right. I'm standing on a busy crossing here in Central Tokyo where the Nissan showroom has a very prominent place. You could ask anyone walking the street, Japanese, young or old, and they'll know who Carlos Ghosn is.
His influence goes well beyond the Japanese auto industry. He was an icon. He stood out because he was a foreigner and he because instituted a huge recovery at Nissan. His ambitions were very, very clear. I think that's why his arrest about 24 hours ago on allegedly improper financial filings, understated his salary potentially used company money for his personal gain, came as a shock and bombshell to the country.
I remember first talking to him when he first landed in Japan nearly 20 years ago. I asked him, what are you doing here, trying to revive a failing Japanese --
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ENJOJI: -- automaker, you came from Michelin, from Renault. I remember to this day what his answer was.
He said when you work at a company like Michelin, you want to be at top of the food chain. That to me signifies the huge ambitions he's had and made no secret of over the last 20 years. And a lot of people will credit him for this recovery.
But I think this -- these allegations and the arrest has dealt a huge blow not only to the Japanese auto industry but the entire auto industry globally.
VAUSE: Kaori, we appreciate the update, thank you so much. Kaori Enjoji live in Tokyo.
When we come back, music to inspire change from the reggae group Big Mountain. We'll talk to Imahi Fishbad (ph) about the immigration controversy in the U.S. But now, an inspired protest song.
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VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. I'm John Vause. An update of the headlines this hour.
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In recent days, the U.S. has dramatically tightened security on the border with Mexico, in particular around the San Diego-Tijuana area, including a predawn closure of the country's busiest crossing at San Ysidro on Monday.
It reopened after several hours. But almost half the vehicle lanes remained closed. In recent weeks, U.S. military troops called out more than 12 miles of barbed wire along the border and over the weekend work crews reinforced another part of the border fence by covering it completely in coiled razor wire, which brought this tweet from the U.S. president.
"The fake news is showing old footage of people climbing over our Ocean Area fence. This is what it really looks like, no climbers anymore under our administration."
All of these measures are intended to harden the border because Customs and Border Protection believe some of the thousands of immigrants who recently arrived in Mexico may try force their way into the U.S. Here's part of a statement they issued on Monday.
"In the early morning hours, CBP officials received reports of groups of persons from the caravan gathering in the city of Tijuana for a possible attempt or attempts to rush illegally through the port of entry instead of presenting themselves as required to a CBP officer."
[00:30:00]At least one activist group says that claim is a deliberate attempt to mislead and mislead the public and demonize refugees.
Many have questioned this administration's claims were just how big the threat really is from thousands of poor, desperate immigrants and those caravans, many seeking asylum from violence and political prosecution, which followed widespread outrage over the administration's policy of separating parents from their children.
And then, there's a signature campaign promise made by candidate Trump, to build a wall on the border, what critics have called a solution in search of a problem. Now, all of those concerns, all of those criticisms have been put to music, a reggae rap, from the band, Big Mountain.
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QUINO MCWHINNEY, LEAD SINGER, BIG MOUNTAIN BAND: But I and I live in a deportation nation that don't want to hear about no civilization, so they can round up the population with no explanation, right in front of our face.
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VAUSE: It's a long way from their 1994 hit, which may be a little more familiar.
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MCWHINNEY: Oh, baby, I love your way, every day, yes. I want to tell you I love your way, every day, yes.
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VAUSE: Joining us now from Los Angeles is lead singer Quino McWhinney and in Chicago, Dr. John Marquez, who sings on the song, is also a professor of Latin Studies at Northwestern University, guys, thanks for coming in, good to see you both.
MCWHINNEY: So nice to be here.
VAUSE: OK, Quino, let's start with you.
DR. JOHN MARQUEZ, PROFESSOR OF LATIN STUDIES, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: Thanks for having us.
VAUSE: It is a big leap from Baby I Love Your Way to Deportation Nation. But when you look at your backgrounds and the history of the band, it becomes pretty clear, the issues on the border are pretty personal.
MCWHINNEY: Yes, we've also been artists-activists. You know, from the very beginning, Big Mountain was actually inspired to take on the name Big Mountain because of a group of native-Americans, Navajo. Then their people were being forced to relocate from their native lands and that was our first few shows, we're doing benefits for those folks.
So, we've always been conscious, that's what we believe reggae music is all about, staying provocative and just giving the people the truth, the best way we can, with music.
VAUSE: There have been a lot of controversies surrounding President Trump, you know, and immigration. It started from the moment he started his campaign and that have just kept coming. But, was there one incident in particular, which you felt was the moment when you needed to make the song?
MCWHINNEY: Well, our second album, actually, the album that had Baby I Love Your Way on it, also had a song called Bordertown. And it centered around the activities that were going on back then, 1994, if you remember, that was a year that NAFTA was inducted, a big militarization of the border called Operation Gate Keeper was taking place.
So, we've just been very tied into the activist border community. I'm appalled every day at some of the things that President Trump is using. Some of the political ploys that he uses to get his base rallied up at the expense of human beings, people that are really suffering, people that really need help. And you know, the reason we did this song is to show solidarity with them.
VAUSE: OK. So, here's part of the song which specifically deals with the U.S. President Donald Trump. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCWHINNEY: I and I live in a deportation nation I did my time upon the big plantation I had my spot but then my spot was taken, my reality shaken. Now, everyone's talking, everyone's talking, and history is watching. Oh, what will the angry man do? What will the angry man do? When is he coming for you?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: You mentioned this, you know, the issue of mass deportation did not start under this administration, at one point, President Obama was deporting 400,000 undocumented immigrants a year. That was the result of a policy which began under President Bill Clinton.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: All Americans, not only in the states most heavily affected, but in every place in this country are rightly disturbed by the large numbers of illegal aliens entering our country. The jobs they hold might otherwise be held by citizens or legal immigrants.
The public service they use, impose burdens on our taxpayers. That's why our administration has moved aggressively to secure our borders more, by hiring a record number of new border guards.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: John, to you, why was it not the same anger, you know, the same protest when past presidents have implemented a crackdown on administration?
MARQUEZ: I don't think that's entirely accurate. I think we've been raising awareness around border militarization and the plight of immigrants now; at least, Quino and I have for over 20 years. I think the most powerful element of the more recent art that we produced was Deportation Nation.
[00:35:12] It's a critique more of American history than it is of one particular president. We have just found that unique opportunity to raise that awareness once again. Unfortunately, we have to do it time and time again.
But, there's a strong anti-brown undercurrent to American nationalism that contradicts the heroic contributions that Mexicans and Central Americans have made, towards the building and maintaining of this nation's state.
As artists, we feel that our work is to pull back the curtain on the illusion that Quino mentioned earlier, through which immigrants specifically Mexicans and Central Americans, those along the border lands are persecuted as an invasive species or as a parasite to the nation's state, despite how much we contribute, despite the sacrifices our families have made over time. My grandfather, a namesake, crossed the border without proper documentation, when he received a draft call to join the U.S. army. And he joined the caravan of soldiers that stormed the beaches in France to rid or free Western Europe from fascist impulse or growing fascist threat.
That's the type of American story that we're trying to tell, alongside our critique of the persecution of immigrants that is ongoing now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCWHINNEY: It is a land that needs to cry, needs a mama to hold, so much inside, the centuries of sorrow, the centuries of sorrow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Here's another part of the song and it focuses on child separation at the border and it's done to rap by John, so listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ: Lock our children in cages and they will reinvent our world. Redefine what it means to be a nation. You know not what you do. This steel is making us stronger. Our radical traditions are rooted in how we live and love otherwise.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Lock our children in cages and they will reinvent our world. Redefine what it means to be a nation. So, John, what you're saying is that, that policy, that specific policy implemented by Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions, the Attorney General, somehow, it changed what it meant to be American?
MARQUEZ: No, that's not necessarily what I mean -- what I meant by that. What I meant -- I was referring to what I described as a brown radical tradition. There have always been caravans of people migrating to improve their lives. There have always been caravans of people displaced and dispossessed of opportunities.
What I'm referring to is the way that our communities stick together, mostly through the work of women, mostly through the work of Mexicans or Latinas who hold our families and hold our communities together, despite the persecution that we suffer, despite the threat of deportation, despite mass incarceration.
What I'm trying to convey in that piece of art is a message both to our people, to our communities, to our barrios, that we will persevere through this, and out of this description, out of these forms of criminalization. We grow stronger. And it is through the struggle that we grow stronger.
It is through the struggle that will build a better community and continue to serve and set an example for what a true democracy is, which is built upon the sacrifices of hardworking people, such as our ancestors and such as those who have held down the communities that we come from.
VAUSE: This is a U.S. president who made a deliberate choice ahead of the midterm elections to stoke fear of immigrants. And in a way, it was a strategy which kind of worked. It helped Republicans increase their majority in the Senate, which means that there are a lot of Americans out there who are willing to cast their votes to support a man who makes blatantly racist remarks.
MCWHINNEY: United States, man. It's a shame to think that in this time and age, we still have to deal, like John said, the battle continues. You know, I wish that news organizations would spend a little bit more time elaborating on Central American history for instance.
The United Food Company has been in Central America for over 100 years. Do you know how many bananas that is? The people of Central America have contributed greatly to this country. And the way that Donald Trump is able to manipulate the news and just stoke the fear of his supporters, it's really a shame.
But, that's why we, artists, that's why we, you know, make the art that we make. If we want a better world, first, it has to be imagined, and that's the responsibility of singers, painters, poets, we're the ones that imagine a better world. And then we hand it off to the people that are supposed to do the hard work, you know.
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MCWHINNEY: I had my spot but then my spot was taken, my reality shaken, now everyone's talking, talking.
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[00:40:28] VAUSE: John and Quino, thank you so much. It was great to speak with you, guys. Appreciate it.
MCWHINNEY: Thank you.
VAUSE: And just ahead here, a company as iconic as Apple Pie and Uncle Sam, Coca-Cola has been with us for 100 years, as it heads into another century, the Atlanta-based company is adapting to a changing world where Coke is not necessarily, it, anymore.
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VAUSE: It was originally sold as an over-the-counter medicine, a remedy, to whatever might be ailing you. But when John Pemberton bought the company, his marketing strategy was so successful; Coca- Cola went on to dominate the global soft drink market throughout the 20th century. And that's why we're featuring Coca-Cola as the second of our five global brands in this year's 100 club.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I like to teach the world to sing.
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CYRIL VANIER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: This 1971 T.V. ad is one of the most memorable in history.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't imagine that commercial being made with any other product being held in those people's hands.
VANIER: Justine Fletcher runs the archives at the Coca-Cola Company, overseeing 193,000 items worth an estimated $100 million. It all began in Atlanta, in 1886, when a pharmacist, named John Pemberton, created a flavored syrup, initially intended as medicine.
JUSTINE FLETCHER, DIRECTOR OF ARCHIVES, COCA-COLA: Coca-Cola was the only drink that this company made from 1886 to 1955. It wasn't until we got into vending. So now you have consumers going to a vending machine who wanted something more than a Coca-Cola, so we introduced Fanta, in 1955, Sprite in 1961, and then our first low calorie drink, in 1963, Tab.
VANIER: Today, the Coca-Cola Company has more than 500 brands and 4,100 drinks around the world and generates about $35 billion a year in revenue.
JAMES QUINCY, CEO, COCA-COLA: It's literally everywhere and just about every language.
VANEIR: James Quincy became CEO in 2016. The same year Coke announced its intent to become a total beverage company.
QUINCY: We have dedicated ourselves over the years, and now, with more focus and more commitment, and more discipline for the search for growth into each of the other categories, including our most recent investment, in coffee.
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VAUSE: That was Cyril Vanier there. And Cyril will host a half hour special featuring the stories all five global brands in this year's 100 Club. You can watch that Saturday at 2:30 a.m. on the U.S. East Coast, 7:30 a.m. in London, and 3:30 p.m. in Hong Kong.
[00:45:10] VAUSE: And thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause, stay with us now. "WORLD SPORT" is next. You're watching CNN.
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[00:45:00] (WORLD SPORT)
