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Thousands Protest in Cuba; Arrest in Haitian President's Murder; New Era of Space Tourism; England Players Hit with Racist Abuse; Bucks Beat Suns. Aired 9:30-10a ET.
Aired July 12, 2021 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[09:31:09]
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Just truly remarkable developments out of Cuba. Thousands have taken to the streets in part of a rare protest against the authoritarian government there this weekend.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: It has been decades. Look at this. Look at this. This is yesterday in Havana. It has been decades since Cuba saw protests of this size.
This morning, Cuba's president, Miguel Diaz-Canel is blaming the United States for sanctions, for worsening the economic problems behind a lot of this unrest. Also in Miami, demonstrators came out there. These are images out of Miami just yesterday to support the protests in Cuba.
Our Patrick Oppmann is in Havana this morning with more.
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PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN HAVANA CORRESPONDENT: Thousands of protesters took to the streets here in Havana and across Cuba on Sunday demanding change. This is something that almost never happens here, that people engage in anti-government protests. The government does not permit it. Usually, they are shut down very, very quickly. And many people are just too afraid to openly criticize the government.
But on Sunday, it was a very different picture as thousands of people did just that. They said they were sick of energy shortages, of empty store shelves. Many complained about the government's coronavirus response. The economy here has been deeply, deeply damaged. It was an economy that was ailing before the pandemic. But now with more than a year of almost no tourism, very little tourism to this island, people are hurting.
And many of the people who took to the streets said they were simply not afraid anymore. They had nothing left to lose. And in front of Cuban police officers, they criticized their government. They called for a change.
But, so far, at least, those calls have fallen on deaf ears because we saw several arrests, people being taken away violently by the police. We saw the government sending in their own counter protesters that said they supported the revolution. They try to drown out the anti- government protesters.
And Cuba's president, Miguel Diaz-Canal, the successor to the Castros, said that the supporters of the revolution needed to take to the streets, needed to defend the revolution and that he was giving them an order to flood the streets to defend their government. So, so far at least, despite these calls for change, unprecedented calls for change, the Cuban government does not appear to be giving an inch.
Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Havana.
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HARLOW: Of course we'll stay on top of exactly what is happening in Cuba.
Meantime, in Haiti, police say they have arrested the man who orchestrated, they believe, the assassination of Haiti's president, Jovenel Moise.
SCIUTTO: At the same time, the White House is sending what it calls a technical team to Haiti to help with the investigation into this assassination.
CNN's Matt Rivers, he's been on top of the story from Port-au-Prince.
Matt, tell us what we know about this alleged mastermind behind the president's assassination. Do we believe this allegation?
MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, I think there's still a lot of questions out there, including whether this particular person is even the mastermind. I don't think that we know where the end of all of this is yet, Jim or Poppy. It's still an ongoing situation. It was on Sunday evening here in Port-au-Prince that authorities came out with their first press conference, first update, really, in two days, in part to announce the arrest of Christian Emmanuel Sanon, he's a 63-year-old.
He was born here in Haiti. And basically what they're saying is that through working with a Venezuelan security firm that is based in Florida, Sanon was able to get in touch and recruit these 26 Colombian mercenaries and these two Haitian-Americans that the Haitian government says actually were the ones who actually did this assassination.
[09:35:00]
He orchestrated them here in the country. He organized their efforts. And when police raided his home a few days ago, Sanon's home here in Port-au-Prince, they said they found lots of ammo, they found shooting targets, they found pistol and rifle holsters, a slew of those kind of things that led them to back up their assertion.
Interestingly, they didn't say what he has been charged with. They didn't say if he has a lawyer yet. So there's just a lot of questions. But this is a pretty big update here.
SCIUTTO: No question. We know you'll follow those questions. Matt Rivers on the ground there in Haiti for us.
Well, billionaire Richard Branson successfully reached the edge of space aboard the Virgin Galactic space plane. What does that mean for the future of space tourism? When will the rest of us who don't have a few million siting around be able to afford a trip like this? We're going to discuss, next.
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SCIUTTO: It's a new era for space tourism after billionaire Richard Branson's successful trip to the edge of space on Sunday. Branson, the founder of Virgin Galactic, is the first person to travel to space aboard his own space aircraft. And now he's offering two contest winners the chance to take his spot on the next flight.
Here's Branson right after landing back on earth.
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RICHARD BRANSON, FOUNDER, VIRGIN GALACTIC: I would go back tomorrow if I didn't feel I was taking a seat away from the many hundreds of people who have already signed to go up and the many hundreds of people who will want to sign up.
And, you know, we've also just launched this, I -- this amazing, I think, raffle today so that anybody in the world could have a chance to go up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: Because right now you need a lot of money to do so.
Here with me now, CNN aerospace analyst Miles O'Brien.
Miles, good to have you back.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AEROSPACE ANALYST: Thank you, Jim.
SCIUTTO: You know, I wonder, listen, this is exciting to watch. The technology is amazing both for this and for Bezos' operation. But, at the end of the day, this is extremely high-priced space tourism. And I wonder, is that good for space exploration?
O'BRIEN: Well we have to think of the long game here, I think, Jim. If we were having this conversation in, you know, 1927 after Charles Lindbergh flew the Atlantic and we were talking about rich people flying on Ford trimotors, you and I might have a similar conversation about how aviation is just for rich folks.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
O'BRIEN: It would have been hard for us to imagine an Airbus A-380 flying across the ocean and paying a couple of hundred bucks to -- you know, for a ticket. But this is what the idea is here, to begin with the rich people and, as it becomes more repeatable, more reusable, more affordable, more seats becoming available, it becomes more accessible to a larger group of people. And that's kind of an exciting prospect.
SCIUTTO: It's a good point. It's a good, historical comparison there.
Over what time period does that happen, though? Does that happen over a few years? Does it happen over decades?
O'BRIEN: Well, you know, it's interesting. I did the math yesterday. Seventeen years after Lindbergh flew, it was 1944, we had the B-29. We were on the cusp of flying supersonically. Seventeen years since the XPrize, which ushered in this era of civilian space and this technology that Branson is using, we're just getting to this.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
O'BRIEN: So, it's taken much, much longer. Space is not the same as aviation in the sense that there was a -- there was a built-in reason for aviation, for commerce and for people to just get together. We have to sort of build a destination out there, too, right?
SCIUTTO: Yes.
O'BRIEN: There's no hotels to stay at.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
O'BRIEN: There's no infrastructure.
So it's taking longer than we had hoped. Sir Richard, way back in, you know, 2004, when he announced all this, said we'd be flying in 2008.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Obviously, that hasn't happened. Space is hard.
SCIUTTO: As they say. I was just going to say, presumably some of this is space is hard. It's one thing to conquer gravity. It's another to conquer the earth's gravity, right? Kind of get out of its pull.
How important, though, is this other development we've seen? Beyond space tourism, we now have private sector companies, you know, carrying satellites to space all the time. I mean this used to be exclusively the territory of NASA. And they do it cheaper and they do it reliably. I mean is that a hopeful sign for the peace of this that may be yours and mine, right, the chance to fly on one of these things? O'BRIEN: Absolutely. It's all part of the big picture. The fact that
NASA stepped out of the process of contracting the way that it handled Pentagon contracts, cost-plus contracts with a lot of scrutiny that was kind of onerous, and let the likes of Elon Musk do, you know, build their own rockets, retain their intellectual property and sell seats back to NASA, that was a brilliant way to start a true economic enterprise in lower earth orbit. And that's what we're seeing right now.
And when you get the capitalist system involved, costs get driven down, competition comes into play and Elon Musk is doing it much cheaper than the space shuttle or any of the NASA rockets previously could do it.
SCIUTTO: That's good news.
Now, I don't want to get in the middle, between two billionaires here on, you know, who can claim victory. So, Jeff Bezos is going to be eight days later than Branson, but the Blue Origin, that goes higher, much higher into space. I mean does that give him bragging rights? The real bragging rights?
O'BRIEN: I don't know. The sky is dark. The earth is -- has got a spherical look to it. And the earth is very far below you and you're floating.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
[09:45:08]
O'BRIEN: I would say you're in space either way. Wherever that, you know, imaginary line is drawn by U.S. standards or by international standards.
I'm going to give Branson space bragging rights.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
O'BRIEN: I will say this. The Bezos' craft, it's a different architecture. He's going to fly -- he'll be in space a lot quicker. He doesn't have to fly up on board that mothership aircraft. And it does have a crew escape system.
And, interestingly, Jim, there -- there will be no pilots on board his craft. It's all autonomous and monitored on the ground.
SCIUTTO: Interesting.
Well, listen, I would take a seat on either one, to be clear, if anybody's listening.
Miles, you might as well --
O'BRIEN: Yes.
SCIUTTO: You might as well join me some time. Let's make a date. O'BRIEN: Let's do it.
SCIUTTO: OK.
Thanks.
HARLOW: Not me for that.
All right, changing directions here in a significant way.
There is outcry this morning after racist abuse hurled online at England's players following the team's championship loss. We'll take you live to London, next.
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[09:50:34]
SCIUTTO: British police say they will investigate a torrent of racist abuse directed at three black players on the England's national football team. Police say a mural honoring England player Marcus Rashford was vandalized with graffiti in the hours after the team's loss to Italy. Just horrendous to see.
HARLOW: Horrible.
Rashford and two other teammates have been the target of racist attacks on social media after they missed penalties during last night's game.
Let's go to our sports anchor and correspondent Alex Thomas.
Alex, this is, I mean, horrible in every way. What do you know?
ALEX THOMAS, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Well, this should have been a carnival (ph) atmosphere here in England, a soccer-mad nation, who finally got to a major final for the first time in 55 years as far as their men's team is concerned. Instead, despite taking the lead in the Euro 2020 final, delayed from last year because of the COVID pandemic, against Italy, it finished 1-all.
It was still a draw after extra time so it went to the dreaded penalty shootout where three England players missed their spot kicks in quick succession. Marcus Rashford, who plays his football for Manchester United, Jadon Sancho, who's just signed for Manchester United, and Arsenal's Bukayo Saka. Three admirable young men who -- whose performances on the field have really helped this country fall in love with them.
But, instead, straight after the match and again this morning we've seen racist abuse online. It's why these England footballers take the knee before kickoff in every game despite being booed for it, sometimes by their own fans. A really interesting mix of reactions, Jim and Poppy. If I read you some of those now. The London mayor, Sadiq Khan, immediately condemning the racist abuse and saying that there's absolutely no place for racism in football or anywhere else. I'm pointing out the social media companies need to do more to combat it.
The Duke of Cambridge, Prince William, is actually president of England's Football Association, said he was sickened by the racist abuse and he wants those involved to be held accountable.
And that's in stark contrast to the U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, although he did tweet condemnation of the views, in the past he's refused to criticize the fans that booed England players taking the knee. So he's been accused of huge hypocrisy and that that tweet is completely not authentic whatsoever in his views. Just very sad that we're talking about racist abuse instead of what's been a marvelous football tournament over the last few weeks.
Jim.
SCIUTTO: You know, it's such a shame because before the match both teams they took that knee.
HARLOW: Right.
SCIUTTO: The Italy team, the England team, the English coach was pleading with English fans not to boo the English team as they took the knee. They didn't in that moment and then to see it end this way.
Alex Thomas, a shame to see but thanks so much.
Well, if you're like me, it was difficult to leave the couch yesterday because between the Euro --
HARLOW: I was thinking -- I was thinking about your Sunday.
SCIUTTO: It was a long day watching sports between the Euro final, Wimbledon men's final, NBA finals, quite the weekend for sports fans.
HARLOW: Andy Scholes has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report."
Good morning, Andy.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, guys.
Definitely a tough weekend to leave the couch at all. It was just incredible sports all weekend long.
Talk about game three of the NBA finals last night, and this is a game the Bucks had to win because they could not afford to fall behind 0-3 to the Suns. And you had thousands of Buck fans outside the arena in the deer (ph) district watching the game on the big screens. This was the first NBA finals game in Milwaukee since 1974. And there's star Giannis Antetokounmpo, man on a mission in this one. He'd go for 41 points, 13 rebounds, second straight finals game. He poured in more than 40.
And now the Suns tried to hang in this one in the second half. Look at Cameron Johnson just flying through the air with the dunk over P.J. Tucker, plus the foul. But the Bucks got things going after that, a 24-6 run to end the third quarter. They'd go on to win game three, 120-100.
The Suns still lead that series 2-1. Game four is Wednesday night.
Now, earlier on in the day, Novak Djokovic coming through with another historic victory. Joker (ph) beating Matteo Berrettini in the Wimbledon final to claim his 20th Grand Slam title. That ties him with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for the most all-time.
And this was Djokovic's third straight Wimbledon title, sixth overall. And he's now very close to even more history. No man has won a calendar grand slam, which is winning all four majors in the same year, since Rob Labor (ph) back in 1969. Djokovic could do that this September at the U.S. Open. He could also get the so-called Golden Slam, which is all of the majors plus gold at the Olympics in the same year.
[09:55:02]
No man has ever done that. Djokovic, though, says he's 50/50 on whether he's going to compete in the Olympics in two weeks.
But, you know what, if you ask me, though, guys, I think he's going to end up going because, since no one's ever done it, he's in the conversation with Federer and Nadal, who's the best of all time. If he gets that Golden Slam, it might put him over the top.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
HARLOW: You have no idea the excitement in my household with my Serbian husband last night. The kids and he were on the couch and I think I was doing something else, but very happy to see that for Djokovic.
Andy, thank you very much.
SCHOLES: All right.
HARLOW: All right, well, back to really sad news. COVID infections are rising in more than half of the country this morning, specifically in areas with low vaccination rates. An experts warning this could lead to another surge in deaths, if you can believe it. But all of this mainly happening to unvaccinated people. We're on top of it.
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