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The Maine Event; Solar Energy Brings Electricity to Indian Village; Scientology Investigation Continues; Protecting the Border and the Border Patrol; Coca-Cola Helping to Create Sustainable Business in Haiti; The X-Y-Z of It: Face-to-Face Banking

Aired April 01, 2010 - 14:00   ET

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

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Here's what I've got on "The Rundown." It's a new hour, we've got a new "Rundown."

President Obama arrives in Portland, Maine, in about an hour to tout his health care reform act, and just months from now, we'll see the first effects of that reform. I'll tell you what they are, and when they'll hit. When you'll first feel them.

Plus, allegation of beatings hurled at the Church of Scientology and its leader. But the church says the ex-members are actually the ones caused the violence. So, what did the church do about it? Did they call the police? Did they tell the head of the church? The answers in an "AC360" special investigation.

And it's turning into one of the most dangerous places on earth, the U.S./Mexican border. We'll take you there, and let you ride along with a border patrol agent.

All right. The ink is dry and the deal is done. We're talking about health care, but if we've learned nothing else, we know it continues to be a work in progress.

And thus we follow the president on his second health reform sales trip since he signed the bill into law. A little unusual that the bill is already into law, and he's already going out there and selling it as if it weren't.

He's in Portland, Maine. Maine is the home of two moderate Republican senators who the president hoped would back the reforms, but they didn't, and two Democratic representatives who did back reform. The president carried Maine easily in 2008.

By the way, Mainers have carried out a host of health care reforms of their own, so the focus today is the tax credit for small businesses. And I've had a lot of questions about this. Tax credits to help cover the costs of employee coverage. Those are actually retroactive to January 1st, unlike most of the new measures in the health care reform bill, which phase in over time.

Now, in June, for instance -- let me give you a timeline. In June, for instance -- the small business credits go back to January. In June, the feds will set up a temporary, high-risk pool for sick people who can't afford coverage. That's going to be a big development.

Come September, insurers will not be able to turn away children who have pre-existing conditions. There also won't be any more lifetime caps on insurance payouts. Also, this $250, that's a check that seniors are going to get to help pay for medicine, prescription medicine, until the Medicare doughnut hole is closed.

Next year, 2011, seniors get more help, a 50 percent discount on brand-name prescription drugs to help close that gap known as the doughnut hole. They pay for some of your prescription drug coverages, and then there's a hole, and then they pay for the rest of it.

All right. Just wait until 2014. That's when some of the big changes come into play.

That's when states are due to set up health insurance exchanges. Basically, those are marketplaces where the uninsured can shop for affordable policies. And with these exchanges come historic consumer protections and some mandates.

Now, let's take it over to 2018. This is a tax on the highest- cost policies. You may have heard those referred to as Cadillac policies.

That tax is going to come in 2018, and ultimately it's a tax on the policies for the insurance companies. Most people believe it will get passed on you to, the insurance holder.

And by 2020, let's take a look at this. That doughnut hole is removed. The government aims to close the dreaded doughnut hole for seniors who are trying to get their prescription coverage filled.

All right. Joining me now to set the stage for the president's appearance in an hour is CNN Political Director, Mark Preston, and my good friend.

Mark, for people who don't know our history, you and I traveled across the country a little more than two years ago, at the beginning of the recession. It was hardly -- nobody even knew it was a recession back then. Then we were feeling the pulse really across the country, one coast to another, on the CNN Express. So, you really -- you know the politics and you know the country.

The president is out there. What is the politics of what he's doing?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes. And, of course, you said it, you know, it's buttoned up. He had Congress pass the legislation. He sold it to Congress. Now he needs to sell it to the country, Ali.

The fact of the matter is, he barely got it through Congress.

VELSHI: Right.

PRESTON: There were a lot of promises made to these Democrats who had to take the tough vote -- we will be there for you. That's what we're seeing now. President Obama is heading out across the country, and he's talking to folks, to voters, and saying, do you know something? This Democrat did the right thing.

He's in Maine today, kind of an interesting place for him to be, as you said. Two moderate senators who voted against the bill; however, is this a little bit of pressure for the future, for the coming months on some other issues?

VELSHI: So, in other words, there's no call to action here. Unlike the last several weeks before the bill was signed, every word the president said was a call to action for Democrats to support the bill, for Republicans to support the bill. Here, this is really a sales job. This is going out and saying it's done and it was good, rather than it's done and it's bad, as some people would have you believe.

PRESTON: Absolutely. And it is a very important sales job, because we're heading into the midterm elections. And look, if you were to look at our most recent CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, it shows us, Ali, the fact of the matter is, is that only 42 percent of Americans support this health care bill, 56 disapprove of how it was done. They don't like how it is.

So, look, President Obama has a lot of lifting to do. Not for the legislation. We know the legislation's going to be enacted. It's all about politics.

VELSHI: You know, one of the thing that was interesting, you followed it very closely, we all did, is on the day that the legislation was signed, VP Biden went up to the president and gave him a big hug and said something that we can shorten to this is a "BFD."

PRESTON: Yes, and he wasn't talking about Ali Velshi, although, I'll tell you what, had it been me, it would have been about you.

VELSHI: There you go.

PRESTON: You know, I'll tell you, Obama's political arm, you know, the campaign organization that helped get him elected, they are now printing T-shirts. And, in fact, what it says is "Yes, it is a big BFD." And in fact, we see it right here: "Health care reform is a BFD."

They're embracing it. They're asking for donors to donate at least $25. And if you do so, Ali, you get one of these shirts.

VELSHI: Mark, let's take a break, because I want to talk to you about a few other things politically about how this is all playing out and things that our viewers need to know about.

Stay with us. We're going to come back.

Mark Preston, our political editor.

We're going to pause for a second, but when it comes to the health care debate, did you ever feel like you've been there before and you've done that? Mark Preston rejoins me with some more tidbits you need to know.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: All right. It's a real treat to have Mark Preston here. He's our political editor. He normally lives in Washington, or wherever he's traveling, but he's here spending a few days with us.

So we want to really milk it for everything you've got.

You know these numbers cold. First of all, there is a real effort to repeal health care reform. Tell us about it.

PRESTON: Sure. There's a real effort, at least from the Republican side, to talk about repealing and replacing health care reform. Look at this CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll.

It asked this question. Forty-seven percent of Americans actually like that idea, Ali. Only 23 percent say leave the bill at it is. And, of course, 27 percent say that they think that there needs to be more government involvement.

Here's the deal, though, Ali. Will this stand up to a legal, you know, judgment?

VELSHI: Yes.

PRESTON: Democrats say no.

VELSHI: Right. And there are attorneys general who have launched the appeal. But it's interesting that the two -- the leave it as it is and the increased government involvement beat the repeal and replace.

PRESTON: Yes. It can (ph) get you to 50 percent.

VELSHI: Yes. All right.

Listen, I want to talk to you about one more thing, the health care act. Issue groups are spending a lot of money helping the president try and sell this to people.

PRESTON: Sure. They spent over $200 million just last year selling the plan. Right?

VELSHI: Yes.

PRESTON: Now these stakeholders have spent $1.6 million since the bill was actually signed into place. Why would they continue to do that? It goes back to selling, selling, selling.

These are liberal interest groups operated by unions, operated by pharma, all part of these coalitions -- $1.6 million running ads across the country thanking people, thanking Democrats for voting for the bill.

VELSHI: All right. And finally, we can't let you go without talking about phone sex.

PRESTON: I hope my wife's not watching.

VELSHI: Phone sex in the Republican Party.

PRESTON: Phone sex in the Republican Party. Look, things couldn't get any worse right now, Ali, for the Republican National Committee.

They've come under a lot of criticism, of course, for picking up the tab at the risque L.A. nightclub where there were some things going on that wouldn't work so well with social conservatives. Chairman Michael Steele is under a lot of criticism for paying for that tab. He wasn't there, but still under criticism.

Today we find out that they put out a fund-raising letter. It went to Minnesota. At least we know of one place it went to, Minnesota, asking for donations, asking some questions.

It had a telephone number on that solicitation. It takes you straight to a phone sex line. It was a mistake. It was a mistake, but, really, they didn't really need this at this point.

VELSHI: But some phone sex line made a lot of money from Republicans.

PRESTON: I would say that a lot of calls probably went in there.

VELSHI: Ouch!

Is this stuff going on with the Republican Party, is it meaningful?

PRESTON: You know, it's meaningful because at a time when they've had so much momentum, the won the Virginia governor's race, New Jersey's governor's race, they are looking towards the midterm elections, they don't want to be sidetracked with this.

VELSHI: Yes. OK.

Mark, good to have you around.

PRESTON: Thanks, Ali.

VELSHI: Always a pleasure to have you around. Come back any time.

Mark Preston, our political editor.

All right. We're going to take a break.

When we come back, imagine not having electricity in your home, having no lights, no TV. It makes life a lot harder. Well, one very poor Indian village didn't have any of that stuff, but one simple thing turned on the switch. I'll tell you what it was when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: About half the people in India don't have access to electricity, but deep in a forest in southern India one small village has power all day, every day.

CNN's Mallika Kapur shares one simple thing that's lighting up the town.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MALLIKA KAPUR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Beyond urban India, life moves slowly. Many villages are off the beaten track and off the grid. These villages in a remote corner of southern Indian have no running water, no roads, no sanitation. What they do have is sunlight, lots of it, all year around.

India sees solar power as a solution to its massive energy deficit. Currently, 450 million -- that's almost half its population -- lives without electricity.

"The government put up power cables on the highway," says this farmer, "but not in my village. I lived in the dark until I learned about solar lamps."

The two lights in his home are thanks to SELCO, a private company that provides renewable energy options to rural households at an affordable price.

SARAH ALEXANDER, SELCO: The goal is profit, yes, but, you know, we always tell people that we're in between an NGO and we're in between a corporate. We 're socially driven. I mean, if tomorrow we were to choose -- if you were to ask SELCO to choose between lighting up 300 homes and doing an institutional installation, we would do the 300 homes.

KAPUR: SELCO's representatives go from home to home to explain their product. They then connect customers with local banks to finance it for the villagers.

The technology costs 7,000 rupees, about $150. In addition to giving banks business, it also gives local entrepreneurs an opportunity.

For 27-year-old Mohan (ph), batteries mean business. During the day, he charges solar batteries at home. As the sun sets, he takes them to the local market where he rents them out to street hawkers.

This man (INAUDIBLE) and can barely keep pace with his customers' demand. He says business has improved since he replaced his old kerosene lanterns with the solar light. "There's no smoke or smell now," he says, "so customers like it." Back at the village, it's a big day for Kalama (ph). She's getting solar lights installed in her home. A rural bank is financing all of it for her. "Once I repay my debt, I won't have any costs," she says. Sunlight is free."

SELCO's army of solar engineers are rewriting thousands of life stories across rural India one light bulb at a time. At the end of the day, it's time to test it. Kalama (ph) says a prayer and flips a switch. "I can't believe it," she says, "my home is bright. Finally, there is light in my life."

Mallika Kapur, CNN, Bommalapura, southern India.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: Great story.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: OK. Live picture of Marine One. This is in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the Portsmouth Air National Guard base which is right in the New Hampshire/Maine border, about an hour away from Boston.

There's Air Force One. The president's airplane has just landed at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where we're expecting the president to come down those stairs momentarily. He will come down the stairs, get on to Marine One, where they will fly him to Portland, Maine -- from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to Portland, Maine, where he will deliver a speech on health care, as Mark Preston was talking to us about, part of his sales pitch in New Hampshire and in Maine.

In Maine, he did not get the support of two senators who he was hoping would support health care reform. He did get the support of two members of Congress. And there's some sense that he is showing his gratitude for that support by coming out there selling health care to Maine. Maine is also a state which has its own form of health care reform, including a government option, and it seems to have worked quite well in Maine.

So, there's the president of the United States exiting Air Force One, coming down the stairs. And he is going to head over to Marine One, where he will fly over to Portland, Maine, and deliver his speech.

Let's watch the president for a moment on his way over to the helicopter.

All right. Well, he seems to be deciding he's going to stay and have a little chitchat. So we'll keep an eye on the president.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VELSHI: We have some information just in from Disney World, at Fort Wilderness at Disney. Apparently, we have confirmed from the Florida Highway Patrol that a 10-year-old boy has been hit by a bus, apparently, at a Disney property. The boy has been killed.

We don't have more information on that right now, but we are working on it. CNN's Jerry Simonson is on the case to find out exactly what is going on. We will bring it to you as soon as we have it. Again, what we have is that a 10-year-old boy has been hit by on bus on a Disney property and has been killed.

We'll bring you the latest on that.

Over the last three nights, "AC 360" has told you about allegations of physical abuse made by former high-ranking members of the Church of Scientology against the Church's leader, David Miscavige. The Church not only denies all of those allegations, but says they come from people who are working together to destroy the Church. And the Church says one of the people making allegations was demoted then removed from his senior position precisely because he was violent.

The competing versions of what happen ultimately raise questions that the public is entitled to know about. What was going on in the Church and why were the police never called to investigate?

Here's Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTY RATHBUN, FORMER SCIENTOLOGIST: In late '03 there was a beating every day. And if it wasn't him doing it, it was from him inciting others to do it to others.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In front of other people?

RATHBUN: In front of other people.

COOPER: Since first come forward last year in the "St. Petersburg Times" with allegations of abuse against church leader David Miscavige, Marty Rathbun and five other former high-ranking scientologists have found themselves under vigorous attack by the church they once dedicated their lives to. The former scientologists are accused of working together to destroy the church. Tommy Davis is the church spokesman.

TOMMY DAVIS, CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY SPOKESMAN: And the church is going to defend itself. It's going to defend itself for its own sake and it's going to defend itself for the sake of its parishioners. And the fact of the matter is, is these individuals are out there and they're lying.

COOPER (voice-over): Current and former senior scientologists sent CNN dozens of declarations, e-mails and affidavits defending the church and its leader and attacking the credibility of those who have spoken out. The church says former construction manager Tom De Vocht was violent and wasted millions of church dollars during his time in the Sea Organization, the church's religious order. They allege former spokesman Mike Rinder physically attacked his subordinates and say former marketing manager Jeff Hawkins has attended rallies with an anti-Scientology movement called Anonymous, which protests against the church. Most of the church's affidavits specifically name Marty Rathbun, whom they say assaulted members of the Sea Organization on numerous occasions.

(on camera): The affidavits are from people who said -- within the church who said that the beatings and the physical abuse was not perpetrated by David Miscavige but was perpetrated by you.

RATHBUN: Right. Outright lies. I did some and I didn't come in here ever telling you I was Little Lord Pomperoy and never did anything wrong. I'm no angel. I'm going to tell you, I was involved in this. But for God's sake, to try to make it sound like I perpetuated the whole thing is just a complete and utter fabrication.

COOPER (voice-over): In sworn affidavits, a number of church members make specific allegations against Marty Rathbun, including more than a dozen instances of physical violence. One person writes she witnessed Rathbun hitting a colleague, quote, "about the head and face while yelling at him."

Another one writes Rathbun, quote, "walked into the office and appeared upset with me," adding, he "suddenly punched me in the stomach."

And his own ex-wife says Marty Rathbun "lives for war."

(on camera): People, many of them who you know very well, they all say David Miscavige is kind, they say he's hardworking, that he's a passionate man who has done really nothing but good for the church.

RATHBUN: They will say anything they need to say, Anderson.

COOPER (voice-over): Current senior members of the Sea Organization say that while their farmer colleague, Marty Rathbun, was repeatedly violent, for many years none of them informed the church's leader, David Miscavige.

GUILLAUME LESEVRE, SCIENTOLOGY SEA ORGANIZATION MEMBER: That guy had the streak of violence, you know.

COOPER (on camera): Four occasions between 2000 and 2002 to you, Mr. Starky (ph), as well as at least five incidents in 2001. So that's nine incidents between 2000 and 2002.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. But that's Marty Rathbun.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But the bottom line is, Marty Rathbun is gone. When it was found out, he's out of the church. There is no culture of violence

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: So no one can answer me why David Miscavige was not informed for several years?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just let me -- let me just finish.

(CROSSTALK)

LESEVRE: I absolutely can answer you. Mr. Miscavige was not there.

COOPER: He was not there. But there are telephones. You have fax machines. You have e-mails. Why was he not informed?

LESEVRE: Yes. Well, when someone blows up, like a Marty Rathbun or commits something, you don't immediately pick up the phone and call the leader of a worldwide religion.

COOPER: Well, you have four years to do it here. So no one over the course of four years informed David Miscavige that there were that a high-ranking member of the church is physically abusing people?

(CROSSTALK)

LESEVRE: (INAUDIBLE) like this. No, we have a -- we -- plus, you have -- there's something you don't understand. Marty Rathbun --

COOPER: You can say yes or no. I'm just asking a question.

LESEVRE: No, Marty Rathbun was not in a top position when that happened at all. He was -- and, you know, we --

COOPER: Well, he was -- he was in -- he was a member of the Sea Organization. He was important enough to have an office next to you. Nobody informed David Miscavige this was going on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And here's the point, is that when -- is that when -- the point is, is that when Mr. Miscavige was informed, Marty was removed. That's what matters.

COOPER (voice-over): There's no physical evidence proving the former scientologist charges, just as the affidavits supporting Miscavige and attacking his critics also cannot be verified.

But surprisingly, though they disagree on who was perpetrating it, both sides describe a work environment inside the church where punching, choking, kicking as a means of discipline and intimidation occurred on numerous occasions and no one ever filed criminal charges or even called the police.

Tommy Davis is the church spokesman and Monique Yingling is an attorney for the church.

(on camera): How is it possible that a member of the church could assault about a dozen people and nobody come forward about it and nobody file any charges?

MONIQUE YINGLING, CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY ATTORNEY: People did. People --

COOPER: How come the church didn't file any charges if, in fact, Marty Rathbun was really beating people up?

YINGLING: People did come forward about it and there were reports written, as Mr. Davis pointed out. And the reason that there were reports written was because it was very untoward. There may have been some people who decided they didn't want to report it and they suffered it in silence. But there were, indeed, reports written.

COOPER: So why didn't the church then decide to proceed with charges? I mean aggravated assault is a felony. It's against the law.

YINGLING: The church treated it as an internal matter and he was disciplined internally.

COOPER: I'm trying to understand, you've said that Marty Rathbun beat people more than a dozen times or so. You said Mike Rinder has beat people. And that was known apparently at the time, at least some of it was known at the time, and yet that seemed to be acceptable behavior in the church. I mean that no charges were ever filed against any of these people.

DAVIS: Well, they were removed.

COOPER: It seems remarkable to me if, in fact, that is really the truth. Unless, the opposite is true and their charges are true and it was the head of the church who was doing these beatings, in which case it would make sense that no charges would be filed or no one would come forward.

DAVIS: Well, they were removed. The point is, is that they were removed. The choice of the individuals who were attacked on whether to file charges or not was completely their choice. And they --

COOPER: But if this is so important to Scientology's belief, beatings, why then -- it doesn't seem that it was taken all that seriously.

DAVIS: Oh, it absolutely was.

YINGLING: Oh, I think it was taken very, very serious.

DAVIS: I just -- I just -- I mean I --

COOPER: If my boss is beating -- starting to beat me up here, and the head of Time Warner said, oh, well, you know, we're going to deal with it as an internal matter, I mean, I think that would be pretty shocking.

DAVIS: Here's the thing. The point is, is that when it was discovered he was disciplined and he was removed.

(END VIDEOTAPE) VELSHI: David Miscavige, the chairman of the board of Scientology, rarely meets the media. He's not done a news interview since 1998. "AC360" has offered many times for Mr. Miscavige to appear for this series, but his spokesman, Tommy Davis, has declined for Mr. Miscavige. The invitation is still open.

Tonight on "360" what happens to those who leave the church and speak out. Go to AC360.com to watch parts one and two of our investigation. Again, the series continues tonight and Friday night.

Well, it took jurors 37 minutes to convict Scott Roeder, a man who murdered an abortion doctor. And today, he'll find out if he'll spend 50 years behind bars.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Hey, you're looking at live pictures -- or you'll be looking at live pictures in a moment, coming to you from Disney World, just outside of Orlando, Florida. Here we go, this is courtesy of WFTV, our affiliate in Orlando.

What you're looking at right here is what appears to be a Disney- operated bus at Fort Wilderness, which is an accommodations area, a resort operated by Disney. A Disney-operated bus which has apparently, according to Florida Highway Patrol, hit a 10-year-old boy and that boy has died. Florida Highway Patrol tells us that the boy has been hit and killed. We are looking at emergency workers and people milling around next to a Disney-operated bus at Fort Wilderness in Disney.

That's what we have right now. We're getting more information on that as we speak. Fort Wilderness is a Disney property, it's a campground as well, it's got sort of a frontier theme to it.

All right, let me bring you up to speed on the hour's top stories that we're following here at CNN.

Scott Roeder's day of reckoning. The man who killed a well-known abortion provider in Kansas is being sentenced today in Wichita, and prosecutors are asking for life with no possibility of parole for 50 years, a so-called hard 50. Roeder's lawyers say that's too harsh. Roeder is a fervent abortion-rights opponent who says that he had to kill Dr. George Tiller to save lives. We'll let you know when the sentence comes down.

President Obama marks Census Day by marking his Census form. April 1st is when everybody in America is supposed to be stand up, or if you prefer, sit down and be counted. We're hearing 52 percent of U.S. households have mailed in their form so far. If you don't, expect a visit from one of 600,000 official government headcounters.

And the crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery has started the pre- prelaunch preparations. The seven astronauts arrived at Kennedy Space Center today ahead of Monday's scheduled liftoff. They are headed for the International Space Station to deliver some science equipment and make some repairs. Jay Leno launched back into late night exactly a month ago today. Perhaps you heard there was some kind of kerfuffle with Conan O'Brien. Anyway, last night, HLN's Joy Behar was Leno's guest on "The Tonight Show" and as she was getting ready backstage, he popped by for a chat. So Miss Behar got right down to business.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOY BEHAR, HLN ANCHOR: Do you feel bad about Conan?

JAY LENO, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": Conan got screwed. I got screwed. I mean, this is TV. The reason show business pays a lot of money is so when you get screwed, you got something left over.

BEHAR: That's right.

LENO: You know, if you're a nurse or a cop and you get screwed out of your pension, you are screwed out of your pension.

BEHAR: And you're done.

LENO: On TV they give you -- at least you walk away with some money.

BEHAR: That's right.

LENO: No, Conan was treated terribly and I was treated terribly. And guys, make a decision. I think Conan will come back and he'll be strong and you know, we'll all compete against one other. It should be me against Letterman against Conan again Kimmel, and then you see who wins. This is -- you know how it works.

BEHAR: Kimmel was a little bit of a turncoat.

(LAUGHTER)

BEHAR: He's a comic. We're all comedians.

LENO: Comedians, that's right. I mean, all comics are friends, when you are on stage, your job is to blow the other guy off the stage. I get it. That's the way it works.

BEHAR: Well, yes. Yes.

LENO: You know, you don't impede somebody else's opportunity.

BEHAR: No.

LENO: But -- it's -- when you go out there, that's what you do.

BEHAR: Right. Well, see, now you don't have to come on my show.

LENO: Oh, we got it all.

BEHAR: We just did the interview.

(LAUGHTER)

LENO: Thanks, doll.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: All right, Conan, if you want to respond, I'm sure we can carve out a few minutes for you.

All right, Border Patrol agents on the front lines of the door next door, but with drug and gang violence escalating, is it a battle that they can win?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: It's like an April Fool's joke. He's not there. "The Ed Henry Segment" -- every day at this hour we visit with our senior White House correspondent, Ed Henry. Ed, where are you? Come back. I miss you! Come back. He's -- he's off all week. He's planning his wedding. I don't know what kind of wedding this is going to be, because he's been off all week planning the wedding. Come back, Ed, we want to talk to you.

All right, meantime, let's move on to something else. Mexico's drug and gang violence is escalating just across the border, often threatening to spill over. And it's the job of the Border Patrol to protect the 1,900 jobs where Mexico and America meet, along with the Canadian border and the shorelines. There's a lot of work to be done. During the 2009 fiscal year, the Border Patrol seized more than $4.7 million pounds of narcotics, believe it or not; 9,500 suspects were arrested.

Ted Rowlands is live in San Ysidro, California, where -- you know, where do we stand on this, Ted? Are we winning this war at the border?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, two elements to this, Ali. One is good news, it seems like there's progress being made in terms of traffic going back and forth between the two countries on the border. But then there is a real dire development. Because of the escalating drug trade in Mexico, the level of assaults against Border Patrol agents has gone up, in terms the game has changed in that they're now experiencing lethal assaults in some cases.

We've got some great access right here. We're in between the two fences that separate Mexico and the United States. That's Tijuana over there. And you get a real look at the progress that's being made here. We'll go through it real quickly.

See that old fence? It was a joke. The only thing separating the two countries for decades. And what would happen is someone would scale the fence. In about 30 seconds, a Border Patrol agent would come up in a car on this old access road, and as he was trying to make an arrest, he would be assaulted by rock throwers on the other side or people would gang up. And then while that was going on, it created a diversion and more people would come across the border. It was a cat- and-mouse game that quite frankly the U.S. was losing badly. Here's what's been done over the past few years that has made a difference. First, a new road. This is a new access road which obviously gives them a buffer because it's so far away from the border. And then the new, the secondary fence, which was completed two years ago. But -- and at first it made a pretty good difference, but people would still scale it with ladders. Last year they put the razor wire up and that has essentially halted the traffic in this area which has been the most violent in the country for decades.

The only way now into the country is through the fence, and it does happen. People come up and they'll cut holes in the fence, you can see evidence of it there. But that takes time to get through the fence and while they're doing that, the cameras, as you can see up here, are watching them. So they are making more arrests here, the violence is down here.

But here's the problem, a Border Patrol agent here was killed. Lured away and shot in cold blood. His name is Robert Rosas, this was last summer. And Border Patrol agents along this corridor say that murder changed their jobs forever. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASSISTANT CHIEF SAMMY ANDERSON, U.S. BORDER PATROL: There's not a day that goes by that we don't think about what happened to Robert Rosas and our duty and our mission to protect this nation along the southwest border.

ROWLANDS: Bottom line it for us, are we winning this battle?

ANDERSON: I would say, especially here in the San Diego sector, our ability to control or gain operational control of this particular area has increased immensely.

ROWLANDS: Is it worth taxpayers money? This is millions, billions of dollars.

ANDERSON: Yes. You have to gauge, for instance, where you're going to put your infrastructure. Say for instance here in San Diego, because we're in an urban area, you would need to have this level of security. You would need that double fence, you would need that technologies, those cameras and this fence because the people are able to quickly assimilate into the population. You go further out east, you do not need that much infrastructure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: Bottom line, Ali, is that agents say, in terms of taxpayers' investment, it's really paid off, especially in areas like this, separating urban areas. They say building a fence across the entire southwest, probably not cost effective, it's easier to nab people as they move across.

But the drug violence on this side on the Mexican side in areas like Tijuana here and in Juarez is really creating a lot of anxiety with Border Patrol agents because now when they're coming up to somebody, it may or may not be somebody who is coming to the U.S. for a better life. They say now if it's somebody smuggling drugs, they could be armed. A lot of times they are armed and that could be the last day on the job for a Border Patrol agent.

So they have changed their mentality. It is getting scarier. But they are, they say, making a lot of progress.

VELSHI: And there's some sense that they -- I mean, do they have a sense that they need to do something other than the fence, the secondary fence that you're standing next to? Are they -- are they adequately armed to deal with people who are prepared to bring drugs in for profit into the United States?

ROWLANDS: Yes and no. You can be adequately armed, but in the case of Robert Rosas, where he was lured away to an area --

VELSHI: Right.

ROWLANDS: -- intentionally so that they could murder him. That really changed the game for them. So, now they are being cautious . They're a lot like a police officer going to a domestic call.

VELSHI: Right.

ROWLANDS: They're going with a different mentality now every time they encounter anybody trying to get across the border.

VELSHI: Fascinating story. Ted, thanks very much.

Ted Rowlands on that story for us. All right, you can catch, by the way, more of Ted's series "The War At Our Door" tonight on "CAMPBELL BROWN." That starts at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

Now, how can a fruity mango drink help an earthquake-ravaged, impoverished nation? It's more than you might think. It's a venture that could mean real hope for the people of Haiti, after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Done a series of reports this week on a new venture aimed at helped Haiti, not just for the short term but for the long term. Coca-Cola is buying all of Haiti's mango production for three years and has created a mango drink under its Odwalla brand. All proceeds from the drink go back to Haiti.

I'm spotlighting this as an example of how investing in sustainable industries can help a devastated nation like Haiti become self-sufficient for years to come. And I wanted you to know more about it, so I sat down with Jean-Max Bellerive, the prime minister of Haiti, and Muhtar Kent, the chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola, as well as Luis Alberto Moreno, he's the president of the Inter-American Development Bank.

I asked Mr. Kent if the Haiti Hope Project could boost Haiti's economy by promoting export-oriented businesses for that country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MUHTAR KENT, CHAIRMAN & CEO, COCA-COLA: The uniqueness about this is that it's not a very complicated project, it's basically growing from growth in Haiti to the table and to the mouth in the United States. And it touches, as Mr. Moreno has said, the entire supply chain and it is an export-oriented business for Haiti, which is so important.

And it is one that would not be only here today, seven months -- seven weeks, a short seven weeks, after concept -- from when the idea was just born, so speed is important here. Speed is important for Haiti. For the people of Haiti. Speed is important for them. It demonstrates that speed can work, big organizations, government can work with speed.

It also demonstrates that it's -- that the importance of sustainable projects so that three, four, five years from now we can, again, talk about this and talk about it being much bigger, supporting many thousands of families, and having led the idea of -- and many other projects, similar projects, export-oriented projects to follow it.

VELSHI: Prime Minister, other than helping everybody from the mango grove all through the supply chain, what's the larger implication? What will the fringe benefits be of this project?

JEAN-MAX BELLERIVE, PRIME MINISTER OF HAITI: For me is probably to prove that it's possible in Haiti. It's creating a new hope to those people that were severely hit three months ago.

For Coca-Cola doing this now, is so important for us, proving that all those image of people dying, those images of all those buildings that fall down, is the image that is transmitted for all the public of Haiti now. That is the new image -- Haiti producing, Haiti where you can create jobs, Haiti that can create growth and give hope to the people.

So, the big picture for me is that. It's possible in Haiti and it's possible for a big company as Coca-Cola, so it's possible for a lot of people and it's what I'm expecting basically from that project. But other people are going to look to Haiti as a land also of a possibility, where a project could be done not only because you are helping Haiti, it is it's a good juice, so people will like it and buy it also.

VELSHI: And it's a good juice because the mangos --

BELLERIVE: Basically, it's Haitian.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: It is a pretty good juice. I tried it. I'm going to keep an eye on this venture and check up on the results. And next, I'm going to talk more about helping people right here in the United States. My message is directed at your bank. Stay tuned for my "X-Y-Z."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Time now for "The X-Y-Z of It."

Last hour, I told you about an innovative Philadelphia program that urges banks and other lenders to talk with struggling homeowners about how they can avoid foreclosure. Talk -- what a concept? It's one we've been straying far too long away from and my message today is to banks that are still avoiding dialogue with their customers.

Too many people out there have tried to talk to their banks, but instead of straight talk or simple answers they get the runaround, like the person I profiled. Banks need to remember that they're in the business of people, not bottom lines or foreclosure filings. They need to get back to good old fashioned banking, a little customer service, if you will.

I've gotten so many e-mails from people who feel abandoned by their lender. Let's face it. Foreclosures don't help anyone, not the borrower, not the lender, not the bottom line, and not the country. Avoiding foreclosures and boosting healthy home ownership, on the other hand, is a win, win, win. It's a win for borrowers, it's a win for banks, it's a win for the bottom line and it's a win America.

We've had a record number of foreclosures over the past year. I wonder how many could have been avoided with a little face-to-face, human-to-human chat. We've lost plenty of money in this recession, let's not lose our humanity, too.

That's my "X-Y-Z," here's "RICK'S LIST."

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks so much, Ali.