Return to Transcripts main page
Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Day of Mourning and Hope in Haiti; Assault Launched on Taliban in Afghanistan; Olympic Athlete Killed
Aired February 12, 2010 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. We're live in Port- au-Prince.
It has been a day of mourning and of celebrating as well, celebrating life, a remarkable day in which this blood-soaked city seemed to stop and raise its hands to the heavens.
We're going to show you what it was like on this, the one-month anniversary of the earthquake.
But we begin with breaking news, extraordinary news about the 10 American missionaries that may -- well, the startling news that may blow -- blow against -- blow the case against them or at least the hope that some of them might get out soon.
Karl Penhaul is working the local end of this breaking story. He joins us now with the latest.
Karl, what have we learned?
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, take a look at this. The man on the left put together the missionaries' legal defense team. He's from the Dominican Republic.
And his name is Jorge Puello. Now take a look at the man on the right. He's Jorge Torres Orellana. He's wanted in El Salvador on charges of trafficking young prostitutes.
Now, the Salvadoran police say that they think it's the same man. And, today, police in El Salvador issued an international arrest warrant for Jorge Torres Orellana. The arrest warrant for Orellana is on charges of trafficking young prostitutes between the Dominican Republic and Central America.
COOPER: So, that man is being accused of trafficking. The photos take -- that you got from the Salvadoran police, talk us through them.
PENHAUL: OK. This is the man they know as Jorge Torres Orellana.
The photo is taken from an I.D. card. And police say that they arrested his wife in May. And in the same operation, they found his I.D. card. His wife is in jail on the same charges of trafficking young prostitutes. Now, also in that raid, they found this photo on a Salvadoran passport in the name of Jorge Anibal Torres Puello. And take a look at this. This is the man I met Monday who showed up at court in Haiti surrounded by a group of bodyguards. He introduced himself at Jorge Puello. He said he had come to organize a team of attorneys for the Americans. So, we have three photos, three names, all of whom appear to be the same man.
COOPER: And let's be careful here. Do the Salvadoran police say this is the same guy that they're looking for?
PENHAUL: Exactly.
Well, the police have said that these photos all look like the same man, but they say that they won't be able to be sure until they can compare fingerprints. For the time being, the international arrest warrant has been issued in the name of Jorge Torres Orellana.
COOPER: So, obviously, this would be a blow to the Americans who are currently in custody if their representative was in fact wanted for trafficking.
I know you have talked to this guy several times this week. What does he say about all this?
PENHAUL: Well, first of all, he offered an interview to a member of the CNN team in the Dominican Republic earlier in the day. And after that, he never picked up his telephone.
I phoned him tonight. He wasn't picking up. I talked to his secretary and she said that he had issued no comments. He apparently told "The New York Times" earlier this week that he had no passport and he had never been to El Salvador.
COOPER: Did he know any of the American missionaries before he started representing them?
PENHAUL: We don't know that from here in Haiti. I suspect at least part of the answer may be there in Idaho.
COOPER: All right, Dan Simon, I think, is standing by in Idaho.
Dan, what are you hearing? You're in Boise. You have been talking to family members of the detained Americans and church members about Puello. I mean, how did this guy get hired? And how concerned are the families?
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, first of all, the only thing family members have offered thus far for Jorge Puello is praise. This is a guy they trusted implicitly and somebody they thought who was acting in good faith on their behalf.
Let me explain how Jorge Puello gets hired. He makes what has essentially been described as a cold call to the church offering his legal services for free. That call then gets routed to a guy named Sean Lankford, his wife and daughter both detained in Haiti. I spoke with Sean Lankford today. He confirms that he did hire Jorge Puello on behalf of the families. And he says he's glad that he did and he says he's somebody who -- quote -- "wanted to help the children."
As for the allegations, very surprised. Nonetheless, he says the church would work on drafting some kind of statement, a statement we haven't received as of tonight -- Anderson.
COOPER: I mean, this is obviously -- if it does turn out to be true that this man -- and it's very confusing, Dan, with all these names.
But this man in the Dominican Republic who has now been representing these families, these American missionaries who are in custody here in Haiti, he's -- there are now these accusations that he is one in the same person as a man wanted for trafficking young girls into El Salvador, of all places.
I mean, it's -- it sort of boggles the mind. There's clearly, as you're hearing, a lot of skepticism on the part of the families. I mean, they find this hard to believe, yes?
SIMON: Well, absolutely.
I spoke to another family member tonight, a guy named Eric Thompson. His wife, Carla Thompson, is there in Haiti. She's the one who got a leg infection earlier this week off of mosquitoes. He's been very concerned, terrified for what is happening to her, but, as for -- Jorge Puello is concerned, again, a guy he completely trusted, almost dismissive of these allegations, in a way, because, in his mind, they just did not seem to ring true, again, very skeptical.
And he says that, really, Jorge Puello is somebody who is offering him and the families some compassion in really their darkest hour.
COOPER: Do we know, Karl, much -- Jorge Puello, who is the man who is representing the 10 American missionaries -- and, again, for accuracy's sake, we don't know for a fact that he is the same man wanted by authorities in El Salvador. Their pictures look similar.
But, as you said, until the Salvadoran authorities get fingerprints, they can't say for sure. Do we know, like, his background at all? Is he -- do we know for a fact he's a lawyer?
PENHAUL: We don't know that. That's something that we're trying to check.
Now, we're trying to check on the bar register. But even if he's not registered on that, he could still practice as a lawyer. On his identification information, which is registered in Dominican Republic with the electoral office, he only appears there as a businessman. But that's pretty broad-scope. He could still be a lawyer. But we're still checking on that.
COOPER: And he says he's never been to El Salvador.
PENHAUL: He says that, according to "The New York Times," that he's never been to El Salvador. He said he had never even got a passport. That begs the question, how did he get into Haiti from Dominican Republic?
COOPER: And, I mean, there had been all this talk about maybe some of the missionaries being released this week, maybe even some more next week, though maybe not all of them. Has that talk sort of subsided now? Is the judge here focusing on this story?
PENHAUL: We don't know that for a fact.
We do know that the judge is aware now of these allegations against somebody who certainly looks identical to Jorge Puello. We know also that the attorney general's office is looking at this information as well.
We had information that the first ruling that they may give on the bail application for the 10 Americans wouldn't be until Monday. So, essentially, they have got two more days -- two more days for this information to soak in.
COOPER: It just seems like the legal system and everything is really murky down here. And, I mean, it's very easy to kind of get lost in who's really in charge and who does what. And, I mean, it seems like no one really knows who anybody really is.
PENHAUL: But I think as well, because this case is developing, and, in some cases, it seems that the media have found out a little bit quicker even than the investigators.
We know that the judge is the one who will make a final ruling, possibly as early as Monday, on the bail application. But now he has got to filter in this extra information. So, we will see what he does.
COOPER: OK. Karl Penhaul, appreciate it very much.
We're going to take a look up next at the memorial gathering that really took our breath away. You're going to see what we saw, the strength of the people here in the face of so much.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: In an event like this in the United States, there would be hundreds, if not thousands, of police officers to keep control. There are hardly any police in sight here, but it doesn't look like they're needed. The crowd is -- is happy to be here. They're here to -- to -- it's a day of mourning, but -- but they're celebrating their life as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Later, an update on the little boy whose smile can light up Port-au-Prince, Monley Elize, and how he is doing now. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: We have breaking news tonight. NATO has a major offensive right now in Southern Afghanistan. We're hearing about an intense firefight under way. About 3,000 U.S. Marines are taking part in the operation aimed at the city of Marjah, where Taliban fighters control and have controlled for quite some time.
Atia Abawi joins me now.
Atia, what are you seeing and hearing?
ATIA ABAWI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, we are hearing gunfire. We have -- the enemy is in the city of Marjah at the moment.
They are fighting. The Marines we're with, actually, the 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, that's the main actor in the battle in Marjah. They're the first U.S. Marine boots on the ground, with Afghan soldiers.
It started about five-and-a-half-hours ago in the dark hours of night. And the sun is out, and so is the Taliban. They are fighting back. And they expect a very long fight to come -- Anderson.
COOPER: Atia -- Atia, that had been the big question, whether the Taliban actually would stand or fight, or would resolve and then come back to fight more guerrilla-style for months. For months, the Taliban has been in Marjah. It's basically been a no-go area for U.S. Marines. Now they're assaulting it head-on.
Does it seem like the Taliban is, in fact, staying to fight?
ABAWI: Absolutely. Absolutely. (AUDIO GAP) the last Taliban stronghold in Helmand Province.
And you're right. In the past, the Taliban, whenever the U.S. Marines, whenever the U.S. troops, along with NATO forces, come into an area, they tend to flee and come back. But, this time, it seems like they're here to stay. They're here to fight for their last stronghold in Helmand Province.
And we're already hearing the gunfire. We're already seeing the engagement. We're hearing it with the company that we're with. We're also hearing it across the city of Marjah with a different company of Marines that are also engaging the enemy.
So, it's only -- we're waiting to see just how much they will engage the U.S. Marines and the Afghan troops. Obviously, this is an important battle for both sides at the moment.
COOPER: Yes.
ABAWI: This is the largest NATO operation since the war began in 2001.
COOPER: All right. Atia, stay safe. Here in Haiti: moments today we will never forget, a sea of survivors making a joyful noise. As you will see, it transformed a day of remembrance, a day of mourning a month after the quake into a celebration of the spirit and strength.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): In a park by the ruins of the presidential palace, the city stops to mourn its dead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hallelujah!
COOPER: "Long live the blood of Jesus," they cry. Their faith is strong, in spite of it all.
On a distant podium, preachers and pop singers take their turn at the mike. The crowd can barely see them, but that's not the point.
(on camera): We're trying to make our way through the crowd to get to the stage, but it's -- it's virtually impossible. It's -- the crowds are packed so tight here. Really never seen anything like it.
The truth is, it's not that important to get to the stage, because this isn't about dignitaries. This event is not about those who are speaking. It's really an event for the people of Haiti themselves.
(voice-over): Clutching Bibles and babies, they stay for hours in the heat. Many have no homes to return to.
(on camera): In a crowd this size in the United States, you would probably have hundreds of police officers trying to maintain order. Here, there are no police officers visible. At least, I haven't seen any. But they're not needed. It's a -- it's a national day of mourning. And this is a prayer service.
But, at the same time it's a celebration, a celebration of life. And everyone here is thanking God that they're alive.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (singing): Hallelujah.
(MUSIC)
COOPER (voice-over): There are songs and smiles, somber, silent prayers as well, clutching photos of loved ones and the lost. It's rare to hear such silence in this city.
(APPLAUSE)
COOPER: Margalita Belhumer (ph) lives in New York, but arrived in Haiti one day before the earthquake.
(on camera): Why did you want to be here today?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Today, the meaning of this gathering, it's -- it's like a journey of deliverance, because we're looking for deliverance. After what happened on the 12th, everybody is searching for some kind of comfort.
And getting together means a lot to the Haitian people right now. As you can see, I don't think this has ever happened before, a gathering like this, so many people. A lot of people here didn't expect to live to see this day, you understand? So, the fact that we're all here like this means a lot.
COOPER: This is the month anniversary. And I think a lot of people watching this maybe in America think this is something that happened a month ago. But, in truth, this is still happening every single day.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's still happening. It's still happening, because, every day, you feel a little shake, every day. There are people that still haven't recovered family members, children, fathers, mothers. So, it's happening. It's an everyday thing for people in Haiti.
COOPER: The disaster continues every single day.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It does. It does.
COOPER (voice-over): The disaster does continue. The dead are still mourned, and the struggle to live goes on.
(MUSIC)
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: It was an incredible day. I wish you were here for it.
When we come back: inside General Hospital. What has changed since our first, frankly, horrifying visit one month ago? It's still devastating for the volunteer doctors and nurses.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOMINIQUE VALENTINE, NURSE PRACTITIONER: To actually know what's going on, they have to be here to experience it, because I know, when it first -- first happened, I was glued to CNN. That was like my lifeline. I was hooked to it, until I came here and saw the reality of what's -- what's there. I think you have to really come here to feel it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Later, how those pulled from the rubble are doing today -- you're going to see her reunion with the doctor who saved her life, our Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COOPER: It's the one-month anniversary of the earthquake, and the question I get asked a lot when I call home and talk to friends and family is, is it better?
And, of course, the answer, technically, is yes. It is better. Things are better. But they're not good. And they're not normal. And they're not good by any stretch of the imagination.
We have been spending a lot of time today going to places that we were a month ago or even two weeks ago to see how it compares to the way it is now. And, in a moment, we're going to introduce you some of the kids that we met, even some of the kids we saw being pulled out of the rubble in the first couple of days after the earthquake. We're going to give you an update of how they are doing.
We wanted to take you back to General Hospital, which is a place that Dr. Sanjay Gupta visited an awful lot and also that we went to immediately after the earthquake, to take a look at how it was then and how it is now. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): The last time we were in General Hospital, about a week after the earthquake, supplies were low and frustration high.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have had enough. OK? I have had it. I have had enough.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: In the pediatric tent, a girl constantly screamed in pain. Haitian-American doctors and nurses were doing the best they could.
DOMINIQUE TOUISSANT, HAITIAN-AMERICAN NURSE: I don't even have something to wash my hands. I have one bottle of hand sanitizer. We can't do anything under sterile technique. It's impossible not to have, you know, horrible infections.
COOPER: Now, one month since the earthquake, General Hospital is calmer. But, for the volunteer doctors and nurses, it is still overwhelming.
VALENTINE: This lady got raped, and there's nothing in place to help her. There's no resources, nowhere to go. And she's dealing with it alone. She's afraid to home. She cannot tell her husband. And she has to put on a good face when she goes home. And that is very heartbreaking.
QUESTION: Do you think people really understand what's happening?
VALENTINE: To actually know what's going on, they have to be here to experience it, because I know, when it first -- first happened, I was glued to CNN. That was like my lifeline. I was hooked to it, until I came here and saw the reality of what's -- what's there. I think you have to really come here to feel it.
COOPER: Dr. Sabia Lubin (ph) is an OB/GYN from New York. She's been here a week and leaves tomorrow.
(on camera): So, what has it been like for you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, initially, we were just so excited to be here, just kind of like really gung-ho, because we were able to come down here and give a hand. But, over the course of the last couple of days, it's just gotten harder and harder, because reality really sets in.
COOPER: In what way?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The sense of just the sheer devastation, the sheer amount of things that just can't be done here, because we don't have the supplies, we don't have the facilities up and running really the way that they should be.
COOPER: Even now?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Even now, a month later, today.
COOPER (voice-over): Newborn babies are watched by their mothers or fathers. Family here is essential for good care.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After you deliver a baby, your family has to come and bring a little towel to actually wipe down the baby. Something that we take advantage so much in New York, you know, like, just in the states, we -- we are so fortunate that there's nurses and techs and someone who's always there to kind of, like, help with the ancillary stuff. There's nothing like that here.
COOPER: In the postpartum tent, mothers who delivered this morning are allowed just a few hours' rest before sent out into the streets.
(on camera): That has to be a strange feeling. In the states, you know you're sending somebody to a home. Here, you don't know where you're sending them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's really impossible, actually, sometimes to think about it. How can we make this a better life for them? How?
COOPER: And that's what you -- you ask yourself every day?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every single day that I'm here. How can I make a better life for people that are living here?
COOPER (voice-over): That is the question. That is the challenge. And it's been one month since the earthquake, and there's still no clear answers.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Yes, no clear answers to that question, because so many of the system's shortcomings were here in Haiti long before the disaster. So, the answer right now seems to be for everyone just to do what they can and do the best they can.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta certainly has. And, this week, he has been revisiting some of his patients, patients we have all gotten to know. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): January 18, we got a call: Come quickly. A 12-year-old girl broken by the rubble, cement embedded in her brain.
The U.S. military asked me to help. That was the last time I saw Kimberly, Until today. We received word that Kimberly is alive, doing well, and, in fact, ready to go home. It was time for a follow-up visit, a house call.
(on camera): Now, we expected her father to actually come here and meet us for this reunion, but we're told he didn't have enough money to get transportation to come down to this port. So, instead, the rescue worker who helped rescue Kimberly is going to come and collect her and take her back to her father.
(voice-over): Kimberly was healed. And it was so good to see that smile aboard the world-class USS Comfort, just a typical 12-year- old showing off all the new toys that she's received.
(on camera): One thing that was sort of surprising is that Kimberly really didn't know, up until just now, that she was on a ship. It's such a big place that she actually thought she had been transferred to the United States. So, she's actually about to see the water outside for the first time and recognize where she's been for the last several weeks.
(voice-over): Kimberly knows, just moments from now, she will be reunited with her father. Truth is, I wish I could end the story right here, but that would be unfair to Kimberly and thousands more like her.
(on camera): You know, this is -- this is part of what happens here in Haiti. You know, Kimberly obviously is doing well medically, but now this is really about the rest of her life and what's going to happen to her, how she recovers from all this.
They used to have a home. Now they don't. He used to have a job. Now he doesn't.
(voice-over): What you're looking at is their new home, her recovery room. Confusion sets in. Her eyes shift with the tragic realization.
You see, because she's been in the hospital the last month, she doesn't even remember the quake, the quake that she now learns took away her home, her sister, her mother.
Her dad, also confused, he asks me what to do next. No medications were sent with Kimberly. And the instructions, they're in English, which he can't read.
(on camera): It says you need certain medications, ciprofloxacin and clindamycin.
Are you going to be able to get these medications?
(voice-over): Without money, he says there's no way. In this case, we point him to the direction of a free clinic.
But what about all these other people? This was a remarkable day for Kimberly, full of moments like this. But the image I'm left with is this one: a young girl with a brain operation struggling to recover in a place, in a country so devastated.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: It's -- I mean, it's so incredible, when you think -- you know, we all think, as you said, that the story ends there. It's a happy reunion. And that's -- in the movies, that's where the story ends.
But, you know, this is real life. Haiti is not the movies, and things don't have happy endings. And, at General Hospital today, we saw all these people who would get discharged right after giving birth and they go back to a tent.
GUPTA: I know. And that's the hard part.
You know, we -- you do stories like this, and part of you wants to say, OK, things are getting better. And they are, to some extent. But there is so much more. I mean, Kimberly, for me, as I was sort of following her story along, was very emblematic of that.
She's going to do well medically, I think, from -- from her operation and everything, but she's living underneath that tent now. People don't recover like that in most places around the world. But that's what she is left with. She can't pick up her antibiotics. We were able to help her with that today. But so many other people just simply can't get the very basic stuff after the operations.
COOPER: And it's, welcome to your new life, here's your tent, and, oh, by the way, your sister has died, and the life you knew is gone.
GUPTA: She didn't -- I mean, that was -- that was something I didn't even realize. Because she was injured during the quake and immediately taken to a hospital, when we were driving her back, we were in the car with her, she was just looking around and in total shock at what had happened there.
I wish I had, in some ways, had protected her a little bit more against that, because I had forgotten that just couldn't have known. And then, when she got there and looked at her own house, she was completely shocked.
COOPER: Yes. I was reminded of this today, because we met up with Monley, the little boy who we're going to show you in a few moments.
But you just realize that these are kids. I mean, and we kind of -- you know, we have been here a month, and -- or, you know, the last three weeks out of this month, and we're kind of not used to this, but used to talking about people who have lost everything.
And then you realize, you know, this is a little girl. These are little children, and it's -- the death is compounded, you know, tenfold.
GUPTA: The thing -- that last image, Anderson, you saw in the piece there, she's sitting on that little stool. She's holding this plastic bag? That's everything she has in the world.
COOPER: Right.
GUPTA: That is everything she owns. And she was just holding that bag, because, I mean, I don't think she knew what else to do.
COOPER: It just breaks your heart.
GUPTA: It really does.
COOPER: And you go through these tent cities. And, in each tent, you know, you open up any tent, and you talk to the people, and there's just -- there's one story after another like this.
And there's no real solution in sight in terms of -- it's not like we're going to say, oh, well, a month from now, there's going to be new homes for people, because, I mean, that's -- the consideration -- that's -- that's even -- who knows how long it's going to take and how that's even going to be possible.
GUPTA: I -- I don't -- don't know how the story ends.
COOPER: Yes.
GUPTA: I -- I -- I want to come back.
COOPER: Yes. Yes. Well...
GUPTA: I know you do, too.
COOPER: We will continue covering this, even if -- even if others aren't.
Coming up: what some are calling the miracle of Monley, a young boy rescued from the quake. But, as you're going to see today, again, not all miracles have happy endings.
Later: tragedy at the Olympics. An athlete dies on the luge track, death just hours before the opening ceremony -- the latest ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: We have more on our breaking news tonight. New details on the man who's put together the legal team for those ten American missionaries accused of kidnapping 33 kids here in Haiti. The missionaries are still in jail here.
Take a look at these photos. The man on the left is the legal adviser they've hired. He's from the Dominican Republic. His name is Jorge Puello. The man on the right is a man named Jorge Torres Orellana, wanted in El Salvador for -- get this -- charges of trafficking young prostitute.
Now, the Salvadoran police say they think these are the same people, that that is the same guy. Today police in El Salvador issued an international arrest warrant in the name of Jorge Torres Orellana. Now, the arrest warrant for Orellana is on charges of trafficking young women to be prostitutes in Central America from the Dominican Republic.
Now, police won't know if it's the same guy until they compare fingerprints.
Karl Penhaul talked to the legal adviser's secretary. She said he had no comment. He apparently told "The New York Times" earlier this week that he had no passport and had never been to El Salvador. He says he's not the same -- it's not the same guy. It's mistaken identity. We'll continue to follow it.
But it certainly has not helped the case of the ten American missionaries in custody.
Let's get an update on some of the other important stories we're following. Candy Crowley has tonight's "360 News & Business Bulletin" -- Candy.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Anderson.
An Olympic luger from the Republic of Georgia was killed today during a training run. The horrific accident captured on videotape just hours before the start of the winter games. We want to warn you, this is very hard video to watch.
On the final corner of the course, 21-year-old Nodar Kumantashvili was thrown from his sled and slammed a metal pole at nearly 90 miles an hour. Doctors were unable to revive him.
A female suspect is in custody after a deadly shooting at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Three people were killed and three others wounded. The victims were faculty members and a staff employee. No students were harmed.
Walter Frederick Morrison has died. His name may not ring a bell, but the Frisbee, his beloved invention, is famous worldwide. Wham-o signed a contract with Morrison in 1957 and has sold more than 200 million of the flying disks. Fred Morrison died in Utah this week. He was 90.
This was especially sad news, Anderson, for the ultimate Frisbee fanatic on the staff, Kyra, seen here with her own flying disk -- Anderson.
COOPER: It's funny, the orphanage I was at yesterday I watched a bunch of kids also playing with a Frisbee. So his invention has changed the world.
CROWLEY: It really has. Added a lot of fun to it.
COOPER: Yes. That is true.
Still ahead, a little boy who was pulled from the rubble. His name is Monley. I hope you remember him. We've been following his story for weeks now. We have a new update tonight on Monley and some other quake survivors you may remember.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Want to give you an update on some of the remarkable survivors that we've met over this last month.
I want to introduce you first to a child who became to a lot of people for a while the face of hope in Haiti. His name is Monley. Here with his uncle. He was rescued from the rubble in Port-au- Prince, trapped for eight days, according to his uncle. Just 5 years old.
When we found him -- when we saw him at General Hospital, he had just been brought in. He was emaciated. Treated for -- by the international medical corps in their clinic. We were there at the hospital.
We've been following his progress. A lot of people have been touched by him. A lot of people want to know how he is doing.
So today we went out to look for him. We tracked him down in a tent city, a makeshift tent encampment where he is living with his two brothers and uncle and his uncle's kids. They are crammed into a small tent. The uncle says Monley rarely speaks. He does ask about his parents. The uncle has not had the heart to tell Monley that his parents have died. So he thinks that his parents are just in the hospital. At this point he doesn't know that they've died.
There is an aunt who lives in Miami who we believe -- who has said she was interested in trying to adopt all three of the kids. But it turns out she's not a citizen of the United States, and that process may be very difficult.
We're going to try to get in touch with an organization like UNICEF to see if they have suggestions as to what to do.
The uncle saying he's had a hard time feeding Monley and feeding his brothers. There's just a lot of mouths to feed, and he has no work at all. We want to bring you up to date on two other survival stories. Anna Zizi (ph), 70 years old. She was rescued a week after the earthquake, pulled out by a Mexican and South African search team. She was dehydrated. She needed medical attention. She was taken to a clinic next door and then dropped off.
Now, the clinic said it couldn't take care of her. Her femur was broken. They didn't have the equipment for surgery. So she was rescued, but her life was still in danger. They say she'd die if she wasn't treated.
On the air we sort of made an appeal if anyone who could help get in touch with us. U.S. military said it could help. They sent a Coast Guard helicopter. A chopper landed on the grounds of the presidential palace. They took Anna to the USS Comfort, which Sanjay showed you before.
We're told now Anna is a rehab center in Font Parisienne (ph). We're told she is in good shape.
A little boy -- also a little boy with a broken leg. His name was Johnny. We met him in the pediatric ward of General Hospital. He didn't know his last name. We were told his parents were dead. We met him. He really didn't say anything. He just sat there. He'd had surgery on his broken leg.
He was air-lifted to an orphanage on January 25. It's called Danita's (ph) Children. That's the orphanage's name. They told us that 53 of the 130 kids there were received after the earthquake.
Johnny's one of three kids the orphanage is unable to find a family member for. He's gained weight. He's in good condition, we're told. His personality has come out. He's described as a joy to be around. He starts school next week. Right now there are no adoptions at this orphanage.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta has also been looking into the case of people.
You've been -- you were just looking into the case today of this man who was allegedly pulled out after 27 days in the rubble.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. And, you know, we went back to hospitals today to try and get some more details. It's still a little -- it's a little confusing. It wasn't even authenticated, the whole story.
Doctors really do believe him. I talked to several doctors today who independently examined him. And I asked them flat-out, I said, when they boil it all down, "Do you believe this?"
And they said, "Yes, we do." And a couple things sort of emerged. One is that it appears that he was in an area that had a lot of muddy water around him. It wasn't clean water, but it was muddy water. And he was not completely pinned, and he was able to have a little bit of movement and even be able to drink some of this water. That's what the doctors are sort of putting together now. Remember, Anderson, we talked about this. He had told me that he believed a man in a white coat was giving him water. Now that seems like that was a hallucination, which happens in situations like this, someone who's been deprived of these basic necessities for some time.
The other thing is that he lost 60 pounds, Anderson.
COOPER: Wow. That's incredible.
GUPTA: He weighs 80 pounds now. I saw him actually sitting up in a wheelchair today. And his legs were visible. I mean, they are so thin. And it's just remarkable. He weighed 140 pounds, and now he weighs 80 pounds. And so...
COOPER: Incredible. Does he have family, I mean, that are visiting him?
GUPTA: His mother and his brother have been visiting him. They were able to identify him. In fact, it was challenging because of how different he looked...
COOPER: Incredible.
GUPTA: ... as a result of the emaciation. His feet -- his heels were lying on the ground for so long that he's actually developed third-degree burns on his heels, or the equivalent of...
COOPER: Really?
GUPTA: ... just sort of these ulcers on his heels. And that's really his biggest sort of issue right now. They're wrapping those. And they may have to do skin grafts on those. And he may, in fact, have to be transferred to a different hospital to get that treated.
So he's putting on weight slowly. He asks for chocolate a lot. That's his food. They're giving him that.
COOPER: It is. I mean, we've talked about this before, but I mean, it bears repeating. It just -- you know, in movies the end of the story is they're pulled out of the rubble, and you know, in the United States they would get a book deal or a movie of the week or something. And here they're just one more person in the crowd.
GUPTA: I know. And, you know, someone like him, he sort of was making this point a little bit today, although he's still a little bit confused. He was asking, "What happens to me next?" You know, his mother was trying to placate him a little bit. But they really don't have a place to go to.
So this man, Anderson, is sort of world known, because he is probably going to be the longest-known survivor for this Haiti earthquake. But I can tell you his home, if we come back in a month, is probably going to be, again, just we talked about with so many of the other survivors like Kimberly, one of these tents.
COOPER: Yes. Unbelievable. Sanjay, thanks. Appreciate the update.
If you want to help go to AC360.com for information on how you can make a difference here on the ground in Haiti. There are a lot of different ways to do it.
Coming up next in the program, who pilfered Haiti's money? The lavish lifestyle of Haiti's former first lady. How much did she and her husband squander? Abbie Boudreau is on the money trail again tonight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Haiti was ill equipped for disaster at this scale. We all know that. It's the poorest country in the western hemisphere. Decades of dictatorship and corruption has stolen the future of generations.
When you talk about who wrecked Haiti, and there's a lot of people on this list, a good place is to start, though, is with Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier and his son, Jean-Claude, known as Baby Doc. Father and son dictators who ruled Haiti for decades.
Baby Doc and his wife, Michelle, stole hundreds of millions, maybe billions from Haiti. Where are they now? And what did they spend all that money on? Abbie Boudreau investigates.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ABBIE BOUDREAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Michelle Bennett was Haiti's Marie Antoinette. Beautiful, powerful, and acting as if she owned the world. According to British journalist Peter Allen.
PETER ALLEN, BRITISH JOURNALIST: She was the first lady for life. She felt entitled. First ladies, as we know, have a huge influence on their husbands.
BOUDREAU: Her husband was Jean-Claude Duvalier, nicknamed Baby Doc. At 19 he became Haiti's president for life. But she was the power behind the throne, as records show, says attorney Giles August.
GILES AUGUST, ATTORNEY: The first time she ever received money from Duvalier was about $100,000, some time before their wedding.
BOUDREAU: Their wedding so lavish, so grand it earned a place in "The Guinness Book of World Records." At a time when most Haitians lived on less than $1 a day, they spent $3 million making their vows.
August and his law partners were hired to track how Michelle and Baby Doc pilfered Haiti's money, even from charities.
AUGUST: So here I'm looking at a check which was made to the charity of the first lady and then, if you look at the back of that check, that check was endorsed to the private account of Mrs. Duvalier.
BOUDREAU (on camera): I mean, this money was supposed to go to the people of Haiti.
AUGUST: Absolutely.
BOUDREAU (voice-over): And he says these books are a detailed accounting of a stunning grand larceny.
AUGUST: Cash. Cash.
BOUDREAU: Documentation that the couple stole at least $500 million from Haiti.
AUGUST: And this is the Bank of the Republic.
BOUDREAU: They would throw extravagant parties, buy pricey real estate and designer clothes. Michelle, in particular, had an insatiable taste for the finer things. Her interior decorator was given cart blanche.
AUGUST: For example, Mr. Jean Sambour, which I think was the decorator of Mrs. Duvalier, transferred $27 million to his bank accounts in the Chase Manhattan Bank in New York and in Paris.
Here you see Mr. Sambour, the decorator, probably saving for a rainy day, taking from all sorts of different governmental accounts.
BOUDREAU (on camera): So he had access to the government accounts, as well?
AUGUST: Absolutely. He was taking all this money, and we have pages of this.
BOUDREAU: The designer?
AUGUST: You see $200,000, $200,000, $200,000, $200,000.
BOUDREAU (voice-over): So how did they get away with it? They had their own enforcers, called the Tonton Macoute or, in Creole, the boogiemen, who were responsible for tens of thousands of political murders.
AMY WILENTZ, AUTHOR: If you weren't home and they were trying to assassinate you they would assassinate your wife, your children, the housekeeper, the dog. Everyone died.
BOUDREAU: Amy Wilentz has written a book called "The Rainy Season: Haiti Since Duvalier."
WILENTZ: They would take victims and put them out on street corners, the corpse sitting on a chair out on a street corner, as a sign to other people not to -- not to try to challenge the dictatorship.
BOUDREAU: The Duvaliers' reign ended in 1986 when the people finally rose up and threw them out. They fled to France. The attorneys on their trail say they took $50 million to $100 million with them. The Duvaliers denied doing anything wrong. But the money, and the marriage, soon collapsed. After a messy divorce, Michelle reportedly ended up with most of the money. She's now living in this luxurious Parisian penthouse.
(on camera) She's on the top floor.
ALLEN: She's on the top floor. She has a rather impressive apartment up there. I think she's still quite an enthusiastic shopper. She still has plenty of money to spend.
BOUDREAU (voice-over): As for Baby Doc, he's keeping a much lower profile, and a lower standard of living.
(on camera) Do you think he's in Paris?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I mean, that's what I understand. He's reported to be in Paris and he's reported to be broke.
BOUDREAU (voice-over): Of all the hundreds of millions of dollars stolen, most of it squandered. What's left is frozen in a UBS bank account in Switzerland. It's about $5 million to $7 million. Swiss lawmakers promise the Duvaliers will never see that money.
AMBASSADOR PAUL SEGER, SWISS FOREIGN MINISTRY: It's the same whether you are the mafia or a criminal political organization. He robbed you. The family. He robbed you. Now you got the money back. Crime doesn't pay.
BOUDREAU: For decades it did pay. The dictator and his wife lived like royalty, and then they lost nearly all of it.
(on camera) Is there a part of you that might have some sort of sympathy for him?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. I have no sympathy. You have to understand that in 1986, 80 percent of the population had no access to water. If they had invested $30 million probably everybody would have had access to clean water. Mr. Duvalier took $500 million.
BOUDREAU: So all that money supposed to be going to help the people of Haiti, it ended up just being used for cars and jewelry and to have a good time?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly.
BOUDREAU: And he's never been held accountable for that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that's why I have no sympathy.
BOUDREAU (voice-over): Abbie Boudreau, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, it's believed Michelle Duvalier actually was here. We haven't been able to independently verify that. But we were told that we may have actually even seen her up at the Hotel Montana. Her brother is buried at the Hotel Montana. Died and is still missing in the rubble there.
We were up there several weeks ago and saw a very elegant lady dressed in white jeans, well pressed. Certainly did not look like somebody who had been living in a tent at all. We were told she was here for several days and left as people started to find out that she was here. Again, we haven't been able to independently verify that.
She was apparently wearing a wig when she was up at the Montana, a strange -- strange encounter to be sure.
A lot more ahead tonight. Our coverage from here continues. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Let's get a quick check of some of tonight's other important stories. Candy Crowley is back with a "360 Bulletin" -- Candy.
CROWLEY: Hi, Anderson.
Former president, Bill Clinton, is out of the hospital just one day after he had two stents inserted into a clogged coronary artery. Clinton wants to get back to helping the people of Haiti and the work of his foundation. He was on a conference call about Haiti as he was wheeled into the operating room yesterday. Needless to say the former president has no plans to slow down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I do sleep more now than I used to, and I sleep more on planes than I used to, but I have to keep working. It's what I should do. I mean, I -- that's what my life is for. I was given a good mind, a strong body. And, you know, I've had a wonderful life, and it would be wrong for me not to work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CROWLEY: New data today from the CDC on swine flu. From April of last year through the middle of last month, there were between 41 and 84 million cases of the virus in the U.S. The CDC estimates over the same time between 8,300 and 17,000 people died of H1N1-related illnesses. The estimates are so broad because many people don't seek medical care, and that makes exact counts impossible.
From Mississippi to Georgia on up to North Carolina, a winter storm warning. Several inches of snow is expected through much of the region. Many schools and offices shut down today. Airlines canceled flights, and everyone is being told to stay off those roads.
And in Argentina a dramatic rescue caught on tape. A van stalls out on train tracks, and an unidentified man jumps off his motorcycle to push the van off the tracks just seconds before the train comes through. We found this video on Break.com.
Anderson, wow. I don't know if you can see this. It really is...
COOPER: Yes.
CROWLEY: I just -- you always wonder when you see things like that, would I do that? You know. You kind of hope you would.
COOPER: Yes.
CROWLEY: But you never know, I guess, until you do it.
COOPER: I know. That's right. When push comes to shove, literally.
Candy, thank you very much for being with us tonight. We'll be watching you on "STATE OF THE UNION" on Sunday, 9 a.m. Thanks a lot.
We are dedicating tonight's "Shot" to Haiti. The Haitian people have endured so much in the last month, and the road ahead is incredibly long. I want to show you my reporter's notebook tonight. The pictures are by Jonathan Torgovnik from Getty Images. Some of the thoughts we've had just in our time here in Haiti.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): It's been one month. Is it better? That's what most people ask. And of course, it is. It's not good, though. Not by any stretch of the imagination. It's not even acceptable, but it is technically better. It's not saying much, though. Could not have gotten any worse.
A lot of people who haven't been here probably think what happened is old news. I know people aren't as interested as hearing about it as much anymore. That always happens, but it's still hard to accept. Haitians, of course, are used to it. They're used to people losing interest in their plight. This time they had hoped it would be different.
It may feel like this is a month-old tragedy, but here on the ground each day it feels brand new. New struggles, new setbacks, new deaths, new horrors.
Charlie, my producer and my cameraman, Neil (ph), and I have been here three weeks out of the four. The week I was gone all I wanted to do was get back here. Here, nothing is wasted. Nothing is fake. People look each other in the eye. They clasp your hand hard. Everything has been stripped away, gutted.
I've started to pay attention to things no one wants to hear about. I saw a puddle of dried liquid on a concrete slab and a small mound of human hair. It was all that was left of someone. There are packs of dogs that roam the streets at night. People say they've seen them feed on corpses. You hear them barking, growling deep, fighting each other in the darkness.
I see the good things here, too, the love families have for one another. The strong faith. The resilience of people. But it's impossible to ignore that Port-au-Prince is still a graveyard. How many more dead are still buried in its rubble?
I find myself crying at odd times. I'll be walking up a flight of stairs and suddenly realize there are tears in my eyes. I was speaking to someone I hadn't seen in a while. My voice cracked, my throat tightened. I can't remember what I was talking about. It happens to everyone, I think.
For the rest of the world it's been one month. Here on the ground it feels much longer. The clocks have stopped. The earth no longer spins. This place, these people, are once again forced to begin again.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Again, the pictures by Jonathan Torgovnik. Our coverage continues here at the top of the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Good evening. We're live in Port-au-Prince. It has been a day of mourning here and of celebrating, as well. Celebrating life. A remarkable day in which this blood-soaked city seemed to stop and raise its hands to the heavens.
