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England to Reopen Next Week; Johnson & Johnson With Rare Side Effect; Hospital Fire in Iraq Took 64 Lives; South Africa's President Deployed Military to Restore Peace and Order; Former U.S. DEA Agent Arrested; How Authorities Caught Jovenel Moise's Assassins; Top U.S. General Steps Down as Part of Withdrawal; Cubans Demand Change; Latin American Governments Face Unrest Over COVID; Tokyo is Under COVID Emergency with Summer Games in Ten Days; Racist Abuse Directed at England Players; Mattel Unveils Naomi Osaka Barbie Doll. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired July 13, 2021 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.
Just ahead on CNN Newsroom. Why England is sticking with its COVID reopening plan despite a rising number of cases and a rapidly spreading variant.
New details on the suspects behind the assassination of the Haitian president, and how they were tracked down.
Plus, a massacre committed by the Taliban, raises more concern about Afghanistan's future.
Thanks for being with us. The head of the World Health Organization is warning of a setback in the global battle against the coronavirus. He says infections increase last week in almost every region of the world. And after 10 weeks of declines deaths are also rising once again.
The highly contagious Delta variant keeps driving up cases in much of Europe. Hot spots include Italy, Portugal, and The Netherlands. The Dutch prime minister is now apologizing for lifting restrictions too soon, and he is re-imposing curves on nightlife and events with large crowds.
France has announced vaccinations are now mandatory for all health care workers, and they could be required for the general public as well if infection rates don't improve.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EMMANUEL MACRON PRESIDENT OF FRANCE (through translator): Depending on the situation, no doubt we will have to ask ourselves the question of mandatory vaccination for of the French. But I have made the choice of trust, and I'm appealing to all our non-vaccinated countrymen to go out and get vaccinated as soon as possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH (on camera): Meanwhile, England is pressing on with plans to reopen on Monday even though the dominant Delta variant is leading to tens of thousands of new infections each day. British authorities are betting the country's successful vaccine rollout will keep the death toll and hospitalizations under control.
About 87 percent of people there have had a first dose. And about two- thirds are fully vaccinated. The prime minister says the most crucial thing is to get that jab but warns the pandemic is not over yet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We cannot simply river instantly from Monday the 19th of July, July as it was before COVID. We will stick to our plans to lift legal restrictions and to lift social distancing. But we expect and recommend that people wear a face covering in crowded and in enclosed spaces where you come into contact with those who don't normally meet such as on public transport.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH (on camera): So, let's go to Nina dos Santos, she joins us live from London. Good to see you, Nina.
So Prime Minister Boris Johnson seems very confident that his calculation is right here, but infections are on the rise, of course being driven by this Delta variant. What is the latest on his reopening plans?
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well the latest on his reopening plan, Rosemary, is that it's going ahead come what may it seems, according to that press conference that he gave yesterday evening in the U.K. That means that as of a week for now you don't have to wear a mask legally, although it is encourage that you do so if you do so if you are in a confined space like, for instance, the subway system here in London.
And you can gather with as many friends as you like, you can go to a nightclub, you can to major concerts or sporting event and there won't be any of the type of vestiges of COVID restrictions that have really affected people's lives for quite so much time here in this country. Also have kept some specific types of businesses particularly in the hospitality sector shuttered for about 16 months.
Well, the government says that essentially what they believe they've done is broken the link here between COVID-19 getting very, very ill and making them need a hospital stay, thanks to the fact that the vaccine rollout has been such a success. As you pointed out, two- thirds of adults were already vaccinated in this country, now hoping that all adults will have been fully vaccinated by the fall when the kids start to go back to school. They say that this is the only time to do it, essentially because the
children will be on summer holidays, it will be better weather so people can spend more time outdoors where the virus is less likely to infect people. But they are facing staunchest resistance here, particularly from scientific and medical courses.
[03:05:01]
We've another report this time from the British Medical Association which is an association that brings together doctors, nurses, people who are in the National Health System saying that, essentially they are questioning whether or not this is responsible of the government to do this at a time when infection rates are rising.
If you look at some of the latest data, Rosemary, it predicts that we could see thousands of people in hospital, thanks to COVID-19, in just one month from now and also that the government should resign itself to a death toll on the daily basis of about 200 in mid-August when this new wave of COVID-19, particularly thanks to that Delta variant is likely to peak.
But the government despite this confusion and ongoing concern says that now is the time to do it. What they're essentially doing is saying they want to move the responsibility of taking these personal measures they call them now from the government and making, stopping making a legal onus and putting the responsibility onto the people. That, of course, as I said, has caused some confusion here in the U.K. Rosemary?
CHURCH: Yes. Understandably so. Nina dos Santos joining from London, many thanks.
So, I want to bring in Dr. Peter Drobac now who is an infectious disease expert at the University of Oxford. Thank you, doctor, for joining us.
PETER DROBAC, GLOBAL HEALTH EXPERT, OXFORD SAID BUSINESS SCHOOL: Thanks, Rosemary. Nice to be with you.
CHURCH: So, trends across Europe are now looking good with the Dutch prime minister apologizing for lifting restrictions too early. Now re- imposing them along with other European leaders. A new data in the U.S. shows more than 99 percent of all COVID deaths are unvaccinated people. Yet, England is set to lift its final restrictions. Is this a responsible move? Is that the right move?
DROBAC: I think it's a dangerous gamble, you know, despite the success we've had here in the U.K. with the vaccination campaign only 51 percent of the total population including children are vaccinated. And so, in the setting of this highly infectious Delta variant we are already seeing exponential rise in cases, about 30,000, 34,000 per day and counting.
And so, it's really unusual and perhaps the first time we've seen this in the pandemic for a government to be lifting restrictions at a time when the virus is spreading exponentially. There are a number of risks here as we just heard. We do expect to see a significant rise in hospitalizations and deaths. Hopefully not to the level that it was in previous waves. But still significant.
But we are also risking hundreds of thousands more people developing long COVID. They're already a million people in the U.K. right now suffering the effects of long COVID, as well as the risk of breeding further variants. The government is saying that as an exit wave is inevitable whether they release restrictions now or later, I think that's just not true.
What they're really saying right now is that they don't want to rely on vaccinations alone to control the spread. They want to open things up and allow as many unvaccinated people as possible to get infected sooner rather than later to try to build up a population level of immunity. To me, that's unethical and that's dangerous.
CHURCH: And doctor, we know now that there is a very slim chance that the Johnson & Johnson single shot COVID vaccine could trigger a rare neurological condition. And we do emphasize this is incredibly rare. But how concerned are you that those same people who refused to get vaccinated will now say well, this is why I was hesitant? And therefore, will have fewer people wanting to line up for the jab.
DROBAC: Well, that's right. There been about 100 cases of Guillain- Barre syndrome. And people who had receive the Johnson & Johnson vaccine out of over -- about 13 million people who had received that vaccine, and that rate is just a little bit higher than the general rate of this condition in the population.
So there does appear to be a slightly increase risk not absolutely tied it when a causal relationship to the vaccine. I do think it's important to be transparent and to share this information with the public. Overall, however, the benefits of vaccines still vastly outweigh the risks of the vaccine which remain incredibly small.
And I do think that we owe it to everyone to be transparent in providing this information and allowing them to make a decision but still really encouraging everyone to get vaccinated when they have the opportunity to do so.
CHURCH: Yes. And we certainly take your point, doctor. And of course, there's an ongoing debate on whether we will need a third booster shot. There are some mixed messages out there. What is your view on this?
DROBAC: We don't know yet. The real concern particularly with Delta which has some level of immune evasion, meaning that it is causing some degree of cases in already vaccinated people is that a third jab might allow a boost in antibody and immune levels that might prevent the spread with Delta. We are seeing it happen in Israel. It was the first country to announce this. Only for those who are extremely critically vulnerable with immune deficiencies, et cetera.
[03:10:01]
We don't have a lot of data yet to be able to tell us whether this is indeed warranted. And so, I think time will tell on this. It does raise some interesting ethical questions as well. If we move towards a third vaccine for people in wealthy countries while around the world there are still frontline health care workers who have not yet received a vaccine. And I think that's an ongoing tension as we see that the spread of Delta around the world is going to make us all less safe in the long run.
CHURCH: Yes, very important point. Dr. Peter Drobac, thank you so much for talking with us. We appreciate it.
DROBAC: Thank you.
CHURCH: Well, rescue crews are searching for survivors of a deadly hospital fire in Iraq. It's believed the fire started after oxygen tanks exploded in an ICU treating COVID patients in the southeastern city of Nasiriya.
The fire is now out. But at least 64 people were killed and 50 are critically injured. Iraq's president blames a tragedy on corruption and mismanagement.
CNN's Jomana Karadsheh joins me now from Istanbul with more. So, Jomana, what is the latest on this tragedy? What more are you learning about how this happened?
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, what we understand from Iraqi officials is that this fire broke out at this hospital on Hussein hospital in Nasiriya to the south of Baghdad late on Monday night. This is a hospital that was set up to deal with COVID-19 patients.
And you we mentioned, at least 64 people confirmed killed. More than 50 injured. They are expecting the death toll could rise because there are many people who are still in critical condition. The fire is under control.
It would seem that the hospital, Rosemary, was packed at that time. Iraq is right now going through a third wave of the pandemic. Registering its unprecedented daily confirmed cases. Now, according to the Iraqi government, the prime minister has ordered an investigation into the incident to get to the bottom of how this happened. The interior ministry says that it appears the fire started in an isolation center on the hospital grounds. These are caravans, they say, that are made up of flammable material. And the fire spread from there into other parts of the hospital.
Local health officials are blaming this right now, saying it was possibly started after an oxygen tank exploded. This is a very similar incident to what we saw less than three months ago, Rosemary, in Iraq, in Baghdad. Al Khatib hospital. More than 80 people were killed in a pretty much identical incident after an oxygen tank exploded in that hospital.
Iraqis right now are in shock. They are angry. They are simply fed up. And we saw that anger late last night. Hundreds of people gathering outside the hospital calling for a revolution. This anger has driven Iraqis out to the streets in the past, they are really fed up with the living conditions, the lack of basic services, the corruption, the mismanagement they say. And you know, we are waiting to see if this is going to lead to any more protests.
As you mentioned, Iraqi officials are coming out calling, blaming it on corruption and mismanagement. Including the Iraqi president saying that there must be a strict review of this. And there must be protection of citizens. Iraqis, Rosemary, have heard this all before. They have also seen these officials blame games in the past, local officials and central government officials all blaming each other when something like this happened.
And it is, again, the Iraqi people who continue to pay the price tragedy after tragedy. Rosemary?
CHURCH: Jomana Karadsheh, thank you so much for bringing us the details on the story. We'll continue to watch it very closely. I appreciate it.
Well, still to come, protests and looting ramping up on the streets of South Africa. We will have a live report from Johannesburg on the growing unrest.
Plus, suppressing new details on the suspects involved in the assassination of Haiti's president. That's coming up.
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CHURCH (on camera): New details on the increasing violence in South Africa. The country's military has been deployed to restore order after days of protests and looting sparked by former President Jacob Zuma's imprisonment. At least six people have been killed and hundreds arrested since the start of the chaos. South Africa's current president, Cyril Ramaphosa says it's time to end the violence and restore calm.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CYRIL RAMAPHOSA, PRESIDENT OF SOUTH AFRICA: The path of violence, of looting and anarchy leads only to more violence and devastation. It is therefore a matter of vital importance that we restore calm and stability to all parts of the country without any delay. It is vital that we prevent any further loss of life or injury or destruction of valuable infrastructure and property that sustains the lives of our people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH (on camera): And CNN's David McKenzie in Johannesburg where violence erupted on Monday. He joins us now live. So, David, what is the situation right now, what is the latest, and what is the likely outcome here?
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, those words from the president are ringing hollow to me. I'm here in Jabulani in Soweto. Just take a look at these scenes. Total anarchy. Now just to give you some perspective, Rosemary, right next door there is a major police station, not a single policeman or police officer in sight.
And if we just show the scenes here people are looting with impunity. They're bringing taxis into this area, picking up groceries, TV's, microwaves, all sorts of stores being completely just ransacked in the third or fourth day of this kind of looting in South Africa.
This is total impunity, no sign of the army that was promised to be out in the streets here in South Africa, certainly not in Johannesburg. Looting continues in other major centers of Durbin and other parts of KwaZulu-Natal province. Scores of people have now been killed according to the provincial head and that part of the country.
And it's clear that Cyril Ramaphosa is not able at this to get any semblance of order in this country, Rosemary?
CHURCH: So, what could this mean? I mean, this -- why is the military not there? I mean, he said that they would be there to control this. Do you expect that that will happen ultimately, or will people just allow this looting to run its course?
MCKENZIE: Well, that is a good question. And we've been asking ourselves that every day. Let's walk just a little bit. You know, my understanding is there has been military out on the streets -- I mean, just look over here. There is a full shopping cart full of groceries, people are just helping themselves to what they want. You know, this country is the most unequal country on earth.
There is a huge gap between the rich and the poor. So, yes, this did start somehow linked to the imprisonment of former president Jacob Zuma and his supporters inciting frankly, the violence and looting we're seeing now. But it's become more than that. It is just a general anarchy of people helping themselves.
[03:20:01]
I've seen grandmothers, young kids, you know, professionals, they even fancy cars at this neighborhood and at this mall where people are coming up to take whatever they want. There is a massive amount of destruction of property throughout the country, and really, as I said before, those promises of calm or calls for calm and the calls for arrest -- there is a police station I can see right behind me, not a single police officer here trying to restore calm. So maybe the strategy is to let it run its course but that's a dangerous strategy, indeed.
CHURCH: Yes, absolutely. David McKenzie there on the scene as we watch in the background, they are looting going on and people just grabbing what they possibly can.
Thank you so much, David McKenzie, bringing us the latest from Johannesburg.
Well, in Haiti, police say that the man accused of orchestrating the assassination of the country's president had plans of becoming president himself. Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a Haitian man who had reportedly been living in Florida was arrested on Sunday. According to police, he arrived in Haiti last month to organize a group of 28 mercenaries who carried out the attack. Now we are learning that several of the suspects have ties to U.S. law enforcement.
CNN's Evan Perez explains.
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: At least one of the men arrested by Haitian authorities in the assassination of the country's president previously worked as an informant for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. President Jovenel Moise was killed Wednesday in an operation that Haitian authorities say involve at least 28 people. Many of them Colombian mercenaries hired through a Florida-based security company.
In response to questions from CNN, the D.C. said, quote, "at times, one of the suspects in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise was a confidential source to the DEA. Following the assassination, the suspect reached out to his contacts at the DEA. A DEA official assigned to Haiti urge the suspect to surrender to local authorities and along with a U.S. State Department official provided information to the Haitian government that assisted in the surrender and arrest of the suspect and one other individual.
The DEA says that it is aware of reports that some assassins yelled, quote, "DEA" at the time of their attack. The DEA says that none of the attackers were operating on its behalf. Others also had U.S. ties including working as informants for the FBI, according to sources.
The FBI says that it doesn't comment on informants except to say that it uses, quote, "lawful sources to collect intelligence as part of its investigation." Now it's not clear that the man who worked as U.S. law enforcement informants wittingly participated in the assassination plot or were aware of the mission.
Evan Perez, CNN, Washington.
CHURCH: And we are also learning new details about how last Wednesday's attack unfolded.
CNN's Matt Rivers has more now from Port-au-Prince.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Hours after Haiti's president was assassinated, gunfire still crackled through Port-au- Prince. But this time it was the alleged assassins under attack. As bullets slammed into the concrete walls around the group, one fighter called his sister.
"He told me they were in the house," she says, "under siege, under fire and fighting." She added "he is not a killer."
Just 36 hours after a group of more than two dozen Columbians and two Haitian-Americans allegedly assassinated the president most would either be detained or declare dead. This is how that happened according to a source with knowledge of the operation to track them down.
UNKNOWN: DEA operation, every back up! Stand down!
RIVERS: Nighttime video from around the time of the president's death quickly going viral where you can hear a suspect claiming there was a DEA operation ongoing. Later, a convoy of five cars can be seen leaving the area with ease but down the road, a trap was being set.
As the convoy traveled down Kenscoff Road, a roadblock was ready. Heavily armed security forces would not let them pass without a fight. Arriving and seeing they couldn't go any further the convoy stops, part of which you can see here. Our source says the suspects jumped out and solve this building across the road. They raced toward it immediately taking the stairs to the second floor.
It's in this building that these alleged mercenaries will begin defending themselves, but at the same moment they are coming in here according to our source Haitian security forces are making a crucial decision. They know that these alleged attackers have limited food, water, ammunition, and no power. So, they essentially decide to wait them out.
[03:24:57]
About 12 hours later after baking in 90 plus degree Haitian heat authorities throw tear gas in front of the building. It's enough to force negotiations and the Colombians inside eventually send out four people, including this man, one of two Haitian-Americans whom authorities have detained. He is joined by the other Haitian-Americans and two Haitian hostages, a pair of police officers who were are at the president's house.
According to our source at some point during the negotiations a group of the Colombian still here come out of this building and start heading up this hill on the back side of the building. And eventually they make their way to a seemingly strange destination.
Just about 100 meters up the hill from the building lies the Taiwan embassy. Our source thinks the Colombians went there because it wasn't an easy place for police to enter given its diplomatic immunity.
In order to get all the way here to the embassy though, they had to walk through a pretty residential neighborhood, and according to our source, someone tip off authorities that this group of heavily armed men was here. When they arrived at the embassy, they found a largely empty building except for two security guards whom they'd tied up.
Security forces quickly surrounded the embassy and then turn their attention back to the building below where they believed a few suspects remained. It was time to go in.
A small assault team went in on the ground floor and were met with fierce fire that you can hear from the handful of Colombians that were still inside. The hour-long firefight shattered windows, scarred concrete ceilings and walls, and in the end the government says at least three Colombians died in the fighting.
The next day with Taiwan's permission, authorities went into the embassy. Our source says authorities checked CCTV cameras and found nearly a dozen Colombians in a room who ended up giving up without more fighting. Nearly a half dozen still hasn't been found.
Matt Rivers, CNN, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Still ahead, the Taliban accused of a mass execution as government forces struggles to prevent Afghanistan from once again becoming a haven for terrorists.
Plus, we will find out how U.S. officials are responding to the Cuban government blaming them for recent unrest.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH (on camera): The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan is stepping down with the withdrawal of the American forces nearly complete. As he leaves his post, General Austin Scott Miller is sounding the alarm about the Taliban and the risk of civil war. Miller has spent several decades in Afghanistan making him the longest serving U.S. commander in the country.
[03:30:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AUSTIN SCOTT MILLER, FORMER COMMANDER, U.S. FORCES IN AFGHANISTAN: I believe that it's very appropriate to remember sacrifice. As I said, the countries that have served here, many have lost service members, civilians. Our Afghan partners have lost service members. They've lost civilians. And as we spoke in about it previously, on this very ground with this group over time, our job is now just not to forget.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH (on camera): The Taliban now claimed to control 85 percent of Afghan territory with new gains reported almost daily, and peace talks in Qatar have produced few results.
CNN's Anna Coren has this report from Kabul.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNKNOWN: (INAUDIBLE).
ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After over two hours of heavy fighting, all ammunition spent, Afghan commandoes walked out with hands in the air.
UNKNOWN: (INAUDIBLE).
COREN (voice-over): Surrender, commando, surrender, yells a Taliban member.
(GUNFIRE)
COREN (voice-over): But the rules of war don't exist on this battlefield.
(GUNFIRE)
COREN (voice-over): Seconds later, more than a dozen members of the elite special forces have been executed.
UNKNOWN: (INAUDIBLE).
COREN (voice-over): The Red Cross confirmed the bodies of 22 commandoes were retrieved.
UNKNOWN: (INAUDIBLE).
COREN (voice-over): A villager pleads with the Taliban to stop shooting, asking, how are you killing Afghans?
UNKNOWN: (INAUDIBLE).
COREN (voice-over): CNN has spoken to five eyewitnesses to this massacre, which occurred last month in Dawlat Abad, a district of Faryab province in northern Afghanistan. All confirmed these events took place.
The commandoes called for air and ground support but none came, said this local resident. Then they surrendered, but the Taliban just shot them.
Among the dead is 32-year-old commando Sohrab Azimi, the son of a retired Afghan general. This born leader did his military training in the United States and was due to marry his American fiancee next month.
His father said Sohrab tried to call in air support during the attack, but it never came. Anyone would be angry if that happened to their son, he tells me. Why didn't they support the operation and why did someone tell the Taliban they were coming?
Ever since the U.S. announced its withdrawal, an emboldened Taliban has launched offensive across the country. The militants have gone to great lengths to show they're accepting the surrender of Afghan troops. But that PR effort is contradicted by the commando execution.
A week before the massacre, this video was taken of Afghan special forces in the same district attempting a clearing operation. When that mission proved unsuccessful, Sohrab's unit was called in.
The Taliban said, when foreigners leave, they will stop fighting and make peace. How long will they continue killing our brothers in this country?
UNKNOWN: (INAUDIBLE) COREN (voice-over): Eyewitnesses say they did not understand the language spoken by the militants, evidence that fighters weren't local or that some may have come from outside of Afghanistan. And just last week, the Red Cross says it collected at least two dozen more bodies of Afghan commandoes from Faryab, the result of new fighting.
(On camera): U.S. President Biden says he believes in the capability of the Afghan forces despite the mass casualties. But when U.S. trained soldiers like the commandoes are dying in such high numbers, many people in this traumatized country are questioning if the military can defeat the Taliban on its own.
(Voice-over): These young Afghan warriors stretched in and dying at an alarming rate, and now the last line of national defense. Without U.S. troop support or intelligence, they alone are fighting for this country's survival.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
CHURCH (on camera): And CNN's Anna Coren joins us now live this hour from the capital city. Kabul. Anna, we were just watching your report there. I mean, just horrifying images there, certainly the sense that the Taliban are very much in control. I mean, we understand that they have gained 80 percent or 85 percent Afghanistan. Is there any sense that the Afghan military can stand up to them?
COREN: That 85 percent, that is a figure coming from the Taliban. It is disputed heavily by the government, Rosemary. But, without doubt, you know, they are claiming a huge swathe of territory across the country. Certainly, they are encircling these provincial cities, these provincial capitals.
[03:35:00]
COREN: And that is what is very alarming. The Taliban, we have reached out to them, Rosemary, in relation to these execution videos, and they said that it is fake, it is fabricated, that this is government propaganda. They were in complete denial that this ever took place.
But as you can see from our report, you know, we reached out to five eyewitnesses, who all had the same account, who have seen multiple versions of this video as well. I mean, there is no denying that this took place.
You asked about the Afghan national security forces and what the plan is of the government. The national security adviser spoke yesterday when General Miller stepped down. He said that there was not going to be a Taliban takeover in this country. That the troops needed to recover, regroup, and reorganize.
But it is not exactly what you would call reassuring when you know that there are mass casualties occurring. That vital air support that is missing, that crucial link that Americans provided when they were here, heavily involved in those combat operations, has now gone. There is, of course, an Afghan air force and yes they are supposed to provide air support, but as you could see from that report, it did not come, so that meant those commandoes were left to be slaughtered.
CHURCH: An incredible report. Anna Coren, joining us live from Kabul, many thanks. Do take care there, Anna.
Thousands took to the streets in Cuba, demanding change over the weekend. Just ahead, we will take a look at how the government is cracking down and who they are blaming for the unrest.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH (on camera): Cuba is cracking down on recent unrest in the country and blaming it on the U.S. It has accused the U.S. of economic asphyxiation over sanctions imposed during the Trump administration. U.S. officials say the Cuban government should listen to its own people instead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONY BLINKEN, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE: I think it would be a grievous mistake for the Cuban regime to interpret what is happening in dozens of towns and cities across the island as the result or product of anything the United States has done. It would be a grievous mistake because it would show that they simply are not hearing the voices and will of the Cuban people, people deeply, deeply, deeply tired of the repression that has gone on for far too long.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[03:40:00]
CHURCH (on camera): There are reports of internet blackouts in Cuba after the protests. And according to an exiled rights group, at least 100 protesters, activists, and independent journalists have been detained.
CNN's Patrick Oppmann has more now from Havana.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The protests that swept across Cuba, the largest in decades, stunned the communist-run government, and quickly turned violent. Demonstrators pelted patrol cars with stones and police forcibly arrested scores of people.
The repression, this woman told CNN. All that we have here is repression. Counter protesters organized by the government tried to shut them down.
Some chanting that they are Fidel Castro, but Fidel Castro died in 2016, and his brother, Raul, retired in April.
Now, the job of managing Cuba's worst crisis in a generation falls to their handpicked successor, Miguel Diaz-Canel, who called the protesters criminals. They stoned the police force, damaged cars, he said. A behavior that is completely vulgar, completely indecent.
Tensions have been building for months in Cuba over increased sanctions first imposed by the Trump administration. The pandemic has further wounded an already ailing economy. Cubans wait for hours in crowded lines each day to buy what little there is as the number of COVID-19 cases surge.
(On camera): Cuba's food crisis appears to be getting worse and worse as the pandemic goes on longer and longer. The people here say that they don't want to be waiting hours in these lines, but they feel that the choice they have is run the risk of getting infected or going hungry.
(Voice-over): The Biden administration warned the Cuban government not to crack down on the protesters.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We call on the government, the government of Cuba, to refrain from violence. There are attempts to silence the voice of the people of Cuba.
OPPMANN (voice-over): But after a day of angry clashes, that warning may have already fallen on deaf ears.
Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Havana.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
CHURCH (on camera): And Cuba isn't the only country where economic upheaval is linked to COVID. Over the last year, we have seen protests across the world over government handling of the pandemic. And out of the five countries with the highest death tolls, three spots belonged to Latin America.
Brazil is facing a new COVID wave and protesters have demanded President Jair Bolsonaro be impeached or resign over his handling of the crisis.
In Columbia, human rights groups have accused security forces of using excessive force against demonstrators protesting a proposed tax bill. Critics said it would hurt the middle class in a country already struggling with COVID.
And in Venezuela, there were already shortages before the pandemic. Human Rights Watch warned back in March 2020 the country's health system was teetering on the brink of collapse.
For more on this, let's bring in Christopher Sabatini, a senior fellow at Chatham House in London. Thank you so much for joining us.
CHRISTOPHER SABATINI, SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW, CHATHAM HOUSE: Thank you, Rosemary.
CHURCH: So, why is it that these leaders across Latin America and the Caribbean have failed their people so miserably? The pandemic only highlighting how they have abandoned their responsibilities in terms of health services, medical supplies, food, water, and other basic necessities.
SABATINI: It is important to go back to 2019, the end of 2019, in particular. There is already a wave of protests. You have protests in Chile, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Bolivia, though for different reason, Venezuela. And those protests were because the rising middle class simply didn't feel that it had the quality social services that it deserved, social mobility that it expected. And then, of course, everything was put on hold because of COVID.
So, what you have was basically a pressure cooker for the last year and a half. Now, we are beginning to see that boil over. And what is beginning to expose is a lot of the structural flaws in the system that those protests were already beginning to identify in 2019.
As you mentioned, access to social services, state capacity, social safety nets, and a large part of this is you ask why, because over 60 percent of many people in Latin America and places like rural Brazil are part of the informal sector. That means they don't have access to insurance, unemployment insurance or health insurance.
And so therefore when these countries shut down, they couldn't simply go back to their homes. They lived on a day-to-day wage, basically. And so they have to eventually go back to work.
So we're seeing not just the effects of a very weak health care system but also a very weak social safety net system that force these people back to work. Consequently, we're seeing only eight percent of the world's population, more than 30 percent of the infection rates.
[03:45:02]
CHURCH: And this was the first major protests in Cuba in decades. The protesters marching for regime change as the government struggles to contain COVID there. They are hurting right now with food shortages, energy blackouts, and restrictions on social media platforms. But what can they realistically achieve or expect, and how do you think the Cuban government will handle this with the world watching so closely now?
SABATINI: It is a good question because for all of the ills of the other countries and their democracies and they are nominally democracies at least, there are elections, and so that provides a safety valve for people's demands. In Cuba, that doesn't exist. They haven't had a competitive election since 1959, since the revolution.
So, consequently, very much bread and butter issues, better health care, better jobs, better access to food or simply challenges to the regime. And the regime is going to act like any government that is feeling threatened because it doesn't have a capacity to mediate those demands. And so it is cracking down.
What is important, as mentioned by Patrick in the beginning story, is that the Castros haven't been around. This is the first protest post- Casto, and so the current president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, is demonstrating -- and he said this, I'm going to respond in a revolutionary way.
What that means is he's not a child of the revolution but is going to respond with the same repressive tactics, an iron fist that the Castros did too, and he has to because you can't look weak. We're already seeing that with over 100 protesters jailed.
CHURCH: And in the wake of these unprecedented protests across Cuba, President Biden said the U.S. stands with the people of Cuba. But he hasn't done anything concrete to help them so far, even after promising to reverse Trump's Cuba policies during the 2020 election campaign. What should Biden be doing right now? Why do you think he hasn't acted on this yet?
SABATINI: Well, let me answer the last question first. He largely hasn't acted on lifting the embargo because he needs to get a series of appointments confirmed in the Senate. In the Senate, there are two very prominent Cuban Americans, Senator Marco Rubio from Florida and Senator Bob Menendez from New Jersey.
If he looks like he is going to tinker with the embargo over their heads, they're going to hold up those nominations. So he has to put his cabinet in place. He has to put ambassadors in place. Now, what he can do now? The problem is all the screws have been tightened as much as they can under the Trump embargo.
So, he really can't -- he just doesn't have any other leverage to do anything more. There are some people, including the mayor of Miami, who is arguing that the U.S. should intervene, which is ridiculous, especially given the U.S.-Cuban history.
What he has to do, I think he has done this very artfully so far, stand with the Cuban people, say he defends their right to protest, and not do what the Trump administration did repeatedly, which is called the Cuban government names, basically engaging in regime change, but went to talk about the need to recognize legitimacy of their demands, citizens' demands, and their right to protest. That is what he has done so far. If the crackdown continues, though, we will have to see what he can do.
CHURCH: The president of the International Olympic Committee praised Tokyo a short time ago as the best ever prepared city for the Olympics. This is despite the surging coronavirus outbreak in the whole city. Tokyo is under a new COVID state of emergency with the summer games now just 10 days away. Security adjustments are being made now that spectators are banned from the vast majority of events.
CNN's Blake Essig joins me now live from Tokyo. Good to see you, Blake. So despite all the problems in the lead up to the Olympics, the IOC president is determined to push on. What was the reaction to his comments?
BLAKE ESSIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, you know, Rosemary, there have been some comments regarding what IOC President Thomas Bach has said. But, you know, he has been saying this about Tokyo for a long time. It was actually a comment, a little slip of the tongue that he made while referring to the Japanese hosts. He referred to them as Chinese people instead of Japanese people, which really caught Twitter on fire here in Japan.
Now, Tokyo very well might be the best prepared city to host the Olympic Games ever but the same thing can't be said for its handling of COVID-19. For the 23rd straight day, the daily count has risen week to week in Tokyo, and experts here in the metropolitan government believe that the infection levels will potentially lead to a fifth wave that exceeds the previous waves nationwide.
Now, the prediction is based on the highly transmissible delta variant, which is behind the most recent surge in cases and an increase in the people's movement here in Japan despite the ongoing state of emergency orders.
People in Tokyou have been living under a constant state of emergency or quasi-state of emergency orders since April. It is clear that the fatigue is setting in unlike previous state of emergency orders. There is a noticeable increase in the number of people out and about.
It is also worth noting that the vaccination rate nationwide still remains incredibly low at this time. Only about 17 percent of people have been fully vaccinated.
[03:49:57]
ESSIG: The ongoing ceremony for the Olympic Games is set to take place in just about 10 days. With the Olympic village now open, Olympic officials say that today marks the official start of the games. Although athletes have already been entering Japan for weeks, we will likely see more arrivals in the coming days as the village gears up to host them.
At the same time that the Olympic village is open for business, many bars and restaurants in Tokyo are closed as a result of the latest state of emergency order. It will last until August 22nd and be in effect throughout the Olympics. Rosemary?
CHURCH: Right. Blake Essig, joining us live from Tokyo, many thanks.
Unforgivable. That is how England's manager described racist abuse, directed at some of his players after their lost to Italy at Euro 2020. The details, next.
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CHURCH (on camera): Enthusiastic crowds lined the streets of Rome to welcome home the Italian football team. This was a scene just one day after the team beat England in the Euro 2020 final. It is Italy's first European championship title in more than 50 years. The team's captain spoke about the win after a dramatic penalty shootout.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GIORGIO CHIELLINI, ITALY CAPTAIN (through translator): Only by playing as a team is it possible to obtain such a prestigious result. If we are here today, it is not because we scored one more penalty than our adversaries, but because that penalty was transformed by sharing one of the most beautiful emotions of life, friendship.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH (on camera): Well, for England, the loss alone was heartbreaking enough. Adding to that defeat is the discussed over online racist abuse. It is being directed at three players, who missed their penalty kicks for England in Sunday's final.
CNN's Salma Abdelaziz has more now from London.
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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): What began as a joyous night for English football fans ended with a whimper as their team lost the Euro 2020 final. The match came down to penalties. Three star players, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, and Bukayo Saka, missed the mark.
The heartbroken squad braced for impact. Anger and grief was inevitable. And with it came racist backlash from some, with bigots blaming the trio for England's loss and using the player's bad fortune yet again as a license for hatred. Vial comments flooded the athletes' social media accounts. Nineteen-year-old Saka is bearing some of the worst of it.
In Manchester, Rashford's hometown, vandals defaced a mural of him with profane graffiti. It was quickly covered up. Their teammates quickly took to social media on Monday to make clear they stood as one. Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke out, too.
BORIS JOHNSON, PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: And to those who have been directing racist abuse at some of the players, I say, shame on you, and I hope you would crawl back under the rock from which you emerged.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): But many are calling out the hypocrisy. Campaigners say the government has long fuelled a defensive backlash against the Black Lives Matter movement.
[03:54:57]
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Earlier in the tournament, the home secretary refused to criticize fans, who booed players for taking a knee for racial equality.
PRITI PATEL, BRITISH HOME SECRETARY: I just don't support, you know, people participating in, you know, that type of gesture politics, to a certain extent, as well.
UNKNOWN: So the England fans are right to boo?
PATEL: Well, that's a choice for them, quite frankly.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): And the report commission by Johnson's government last year claimed there was no evidence of institutional racism in the U.K. That was condemned by the U.N. as normalizing white supremacy.
England's team manager Gareth Southgate and his players entered into this moment of racial reckoning, advocating for a more inclusive and tolerant form of English nationalism. It drew fire.
GARETH SOUTHGATE, ENGLAND FOOTBALL TEAM MANAGER: For some of them to be abused is unforgivable, really. I mean, we can't control that. We can only set the example that we believe we should and represent the country in the way that we feel you should when you are representing England.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): England lost the game, but Southgate and his team will keep fighting for a fair, more equal England.
Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
CHURCH: And as we saw, England fans have been showing their support for the players facing racist abuse. In a statement, Rashford thanked supporters for the kind messages and said this.
I can take critique of my performance all day long. My penalty was not good enough. It should have gone in. But I will never apologize for who I am and where I came from. The communities that always wrap their arms around me continue to hold me up. I am Marcus Rashford, 23-year- old Black man from Withington and Wythenshawe, South Manchester. If I have nothing else, I have that.
Whew! Powerful words there.
Fans of Naomi Osaka can now have their own Barbie doll modelled after the tennis star. Toymaker Mattel is working to make the iconic dolls more diverse as part of its Barbie role model series.
The Osaka doll has a Nike outfit that matches one she wore at last year's Australian Open. Osaka says she wants to empower young girls and remind them, they can make a difference in the world.
Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. I'll be back with more news in just a moment.
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