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Mexico Abduction Kills 2 Americans, 2 Rescued Near Border; Ukrainian Government Denies Involvement In Nord Stream Pipelines Sabotage; Russian Forces Hammer Ukraine's Bakhmut In Quest For Breakthrough In War; Senate, White House Push New Bipartisan Bill That Could Ban TikTok; U.S. To Loosen COVID Restrictions For Travelers Coming From China. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired March 08, 2023 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up here on CNN Newsroom, the longest and bloodiest battle of the Ukrainian War in Bakhmut, hand to hand combat as Ukrainian defenders hold off non-stop Russian attacks. But for what, why have so many (INAUDIBLE) to die for a city most experts say is of little strategic guidance.
The push by U.S. Republicans suggesting a drug cartels in Mexico terrorist organizations, paving the way for unilateral military action, but it's also known as an act of war.
And the surge in Doxxing. Even Elon Musk says he's a victim of cyber bullies releasing private information on social media.
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.
VAUSE: After four Americans were kidnapped in Mexico, some Republican lawmakers in the U.S. and are pushing for military strikes against the drug cartels believed responsible. Two of the Americans now recovering in a Texas hospital. The other two though were found dead Tuesday.
Authorities say the victims were found in a wooden house in the city of Matamoros where the kidnappings took place. They've apparently been moved on a number of times to confuse lawmakers. One man is in custody accused of doing surveillance on the victims but officials have not said he is tied to the criminal group.
The wife of one of the survivors, Eric Williams says he was shot in both legs. The other survivor Latavia Washington McGee was not injured. Her mother told her affiliate WPDH, she's spoken with her daughter and that she's doing OK but struggling with the fact she had to watch her friends die. U.S. government says those responsible must be brought to justice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NED PRICE, U.S. STATE DEPARTMETN SPOKESPERSON: In terms of justice and accountability, this is something that will be within the purview of our law enforcement colleagues. Of course, the FBI is engaged on this Mexican authorities are engaged on this. It's not for me or for the State Department to be prescriptive. But ultimately, we want to see accountability.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: More details now from CNN's Josh Campbell.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PRICE: We extend our deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of the deceased.
JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): The search for Americans kidnapped in Mexico ending in tragedy, all four have been located but only two of them alive.
PRICE: The two survivors have since been repatriated back to the United States that occurred with the assistance of our Mexican partners with the assistance of our officials in Mexico. We are in the process of working to repatriate the remains of the two Americans who were killed in this incident.
CAMPBELL: They have been identified as though Latavia "Tay" Washington McGee, Eric Williams, Zindell Brown, and Shaeed Woodard. Washington McGee and Williams have survived the incident while Woodard and Brown did not. Washington McGee was found uninjured and Williams reportedly shot in the leg. The two survivors are now back in the U.S. receiving medical care.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We condemn what happened and feel sorry for the loss.
CAMPBELL: Today the Mexican government speaking about the tragedy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The victims were found in a wooden house three days after the crime. The four persons who were kidnapped were taken to different places, one of them to a clinic. In an effort to make this more confusing and avoid rescue.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): The investigation is ongoing to find who is responsible.
CAMPBELL: Mexican authorities will process the bodies of the two dead victims before returning them to the United States. Family members tell CNN the group of friends traveled by car from South Carolina so one of them a mother of six could undergo a medical procedure.
Investigators believe that after they crossed the border from Texas and entered the city of Matamoros, they came under gunfire and crashed their minivan. According to a U.S. official familiar with the investigation.
Terrifying video appears to show one of those Americans being shoved into the bed of a pickup truck at gunpoint in broad daylight and taken from the scene.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): One person has been detained.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It seems to be that there was a confusion of mistaken identity but the investigation is still ongoing.
CAMPBELL (on camera): Now source familiar tells me that the two surviving American victims are now in the care of the FBI. They were taken back onto us soil on Tuesday for medical treatment as well as observation. Although the recovery phase of this terrible episode is now over.
The investigation continues and sources tell me that those surviving victims will likely be key witnesses for the group of FBI agents and Mexican law enforcement officers that continue to search for the captors responsible for this heinous attack. Josh Campbell, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Ukrainian officials have denied any government involvement with the sabotage of the Russian own Nord Stream pipelines. The denial is in response to a New York Times report, which says new intelligence suggests a pro-Ukrainian group carried out the attack last year leaving the pipelines badly damaged.
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A source that tells CNN that assessment was not made with high confidence and is not the predominant view of the intelligence community. The criminal is also reacting with the spokesman telling Russian state media the report is part of a quote, obvious misinformation campaign coordinated by the media.
And Ukraine's eastern front lines, Russian forces continue to be sent in wave after wave to try and overwhelm Ukrainian defenders in the city of Bakhmut. The World War I Russian style tactics is why this battle has been described as a meat grinder. Small Russian advances have come with staggering loss of life. And while many have questioned the strategic value of what's left to the city, both sides have doubled down on their commitment to try and control it.
This video posted on social media appears to show a Ukrainian combat vehicle coming under fire from fighters with the Russian Wagner mercenary group. Elsewhere, Ukrainian forces have been able to hold their defensive lines. This video appears to show Russian soldiers in retreat from the city's outskirts.
Russia claims to have captured settlements around Bakhmut and the Russian defense minister says a victory here will open the way to further advances in eastern Ukraine. There is no doubt this battle has become a symbolic one. But what about the strategic value? President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke with CNN about the decision to continue defending Bakhmut.
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WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Why have you decided not to withdraw from Bakhmut?
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We understand what Russia wants to achieve that. Russia needs at least some victory, a small victory, even by ruining everything in Bakhmut just killing every civilian there. They need to put that little flag on top of that, to show that society.
It's not a victory for them. It's more like, you know, like support to mobilize their society in order to create this idea of that such a powerful army. For us it's such a difference. This is tactical for us. We understand that after Bakhmut, they could go further. They could go to Kramatorsk, to Slovyansk.
It will be an open road for the Russians after Bakhmut, to other towns in Ukraine and in the Donetsk direction, in the east of Ukraine. That's why our guys standing there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Wolf Blitzer exclusive interview with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy will there Wednesday at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time here in the U.S., 10:00 a.m. Thursday in Hong Kong, you will see it only on CNN.
Violent protests have erupted in Georgia after parliament approved a draft bill requiring some groups to register as foreign agents.
Police use water cannons, tear gas and stun grenades to clear thousands who gather to oppose the bill would force groups like charities and news organizations to register with the government if more than 20 percent of their funding comes from overseas. Protesters compare it to a law in Russia, which is used to stifle the freedom of the press as well as other expression.
Disruptions to rail service in France expected to continue over the coming hours and knock on effect from Tuesday's mass industrial action. More than a million people took part in nationwide protests over the government's plans to raise the retirement age.
Walkouts by workers left thousands without electricity. Schools were disrupted so to airports, trains, and fuel deliveries. Workers at some oil refineries will continue blocking shipments until the end of the week. The government says pension reform is necessary to rein in a funding deficit. But it comes at a time when living costs are rising and critics say there are other options apart from increasing the retirement age from 62 to 64. CNN's Jim Bittermann reports are from the Paris in -- protests in Paris.
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JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): This the section a series of demonstrations against government reform the Venture Program basically raising the retirement age from 62 to 64. And we've seen a lot of people, including some very young people out here in the crowd today, protesting because, in fact, this is what the French like to call it, the droit acquis (ph) which acquired right and (INAUDIBLE) required or right, of course, you don't want to give it back up again. And so a lot of people have been turning out at these demonstrations.
Now the real question here is what happens after this? Are these demonstrations going to continue or the strikes that are behind these demonstrations? Are they going to continue? Today, about a quarter of the public sector workers and government employees stayed off the jobs? About a quarter of school teachers. Four out of five of the high speed trains were canceled today. So there is a lot of support for what's going on here.
But almost certainly the government is going to get its way with this because they're going to present the bill that enables reform of the pension program, going to present it to the parliament in about eight or 10 days.
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Then after that, if it doesn't pass, they still have a mechanism by which they can, by decree, enact the legislation that will reform the protection program.
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VAUSE: Jim Bittermann there reporting in. Now, U.S. markets took a dive after a warning on interest rates from the head of the Federal Reserve. Jerome Powell says the economy is strong, and that likely means higher than expected rate hikes. The Dow closed down 575 points Tuesday.
Powell says there are signs U.S. inflation is easing somewhat. But the core services sector remains stubbornly high. Analysts are expecting a half point rate increase at this month's Fed meeting. Powell also had this warning for lawmakers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEROME POWELL, U.S. FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIR: we've taken, Congress really needs to raise the debt ceiling, that's the only way out in a timely way that allows us to pay all of our bills when and as to. And if we fail to do so, I think that the consequences are hard to estimate. But they could be extraordinarily averse -- adverse and could do the long standing harm.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: More now on Powell's testimony and the coming interest rate hikes from CNN's Matt Egan.
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MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER (on camera): Jerome Powell is essentially saying that this war on inflation could drag on perhaps into the summer. Here's why, despite the Feds best efforts to cool things off, the economy got off to a very hot start this year, hiring boons in January, retail sales skyrocketed. And here's the big problem. Inflation remains way too high.
If you look at the Feds preferred inflation metric, it shows that, yes, price gains have cooled off over the past nine months. But they heat it up in January, and inflation remains well above the 2 percent level that the Fed is targeting. Listen to what Jerome Powell said about what all of that means for interest rates.
POWELL: Although inflation has been moderating in recent months, the process of getting inflation back down to 2 percent has a long way to go and is likely to be bumpy. As I mentioned, the latest economic data have come in stronger than expected, which suggests that the ultimate level of interest rates is likely to be higher than previously anticipated.
EGAN: In other words, more tough medicine from the Fed probably on the way. The Fed has already raised interest rates, eight straight meetings, it lower the dosage of that inflation fighting medicine in the last two meetings. But after this hearing, investors have begun pricing in a growing chance that the Fed has to go big again, with a 50 basis point rate hike later this month. And that did not sit well with Wall Street.
Markets were very little change before Powell started speaking, but by the end of the day, they closed down big.
Now for Main Street, all of this, of course, means higher borrowing costs, mortgage rates, they're already creeping closer to 7 percent again. Credit card rates have never been higher than they are right now. The problem is that the more the Fed has to do to tame inflation, the greater the risk that they do too much, and they accidentally slow the economy right into a recession. Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: To Los Angeles now, Ryan Patel, senior fellow at the Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University. Thanks for being with us. Good to see you.
RYAN PATEL, SENIOR FELLOW, DRUCKER SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT: Great seeing you, John.
VAUSE: OK, so after record pace of interest rate increases, which seems to have done little in slowing demand driven inflation, the Fed chairman seems to think the answer right now is to increase interest rate hikes. So here we go. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POWELL: There's a little sign of disinflation thus far in the category of core services, excluding housing, a category that accounts for more than half of core consumer expenditures, to restore price stability, we'll need to see lower inflation in this sector, and there will very likely be some softening in the labor market conditions. (END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Let's translate that into people speak. What you're saying, Ryan, is that rates will continue until the economy stalls and people start losing their jobs. We're going to kiss that soft learning goodbye, right?
PATEL: Well, you stop putting me in this position. He really is. Let me just break this down everybody. He's put himself in a position for just two options, let me be clear, to raise interest rates higher, or a little bit higher. We're not -- that's what he's going to do it. And he's going to do that because of what he's talking about that core services that excludes housing.
What that means is that prices are not stable and that they have to continue to do things. So what you heard for maybe the last segment that you and I did John months ago, about, well, maybe there's a soft landing, maybe we'll see the data, throw that out the window, because we're not getting there, the 2 percent that you and I have talked about inflation now. Well, we'll see where it is. It's still a long time going.
So for the people who are listening to this, it means buckle down because the data or the important data that he's looking right now is not indicating anywhere near for them to ease up on that.
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VAUSE: The floggings will continue until morale improves. Senator Elizabeth Warren asked Jerome Powell, how many people will need to lose their jobs for the Federal Reserve to meet their targets? Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POWELL: I don't -- I don't have that number in front of me. I will say it's not intended consequences.
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MS): But it is, and it's in your report. And that would be about 2 million people who would lose their jobs. What would you say to them? How would you explain your view that they need to lose their jobs?
POWELL: Inflation is extremely high, and it's hurting the working people of this country badly, all of them, not just 2 million of them, but all of them are suffering under high inflation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Which brings us to the mission of the Federal Reserve System, which is to foster the stability, integrity and efficiency of the nation's monetary, financial and payment system. Congress explicitly stated, the Feds goal should be maximum employment, stable prices, moderate long term interest rates. If inflation is running at a consistent 4 or 5 percent a year that's stable, is it really worth 2 million jobs to try and hit that 2 percent annual inflation rate? PATEL: You know, right now, if you asked me today, I think there's a way not to do that. I think it's clear that the economy's grown and change. I know they're trying to do have the unemployment to be higher. But I think controlling it 4 to 5 percent is the best way for them to move forward and having some stability behind that.
But you know what, John, you know, we've been following you. I feel like I'm an expert on Jerome Powell now, every word he says now. There's no point of return. I truly believe that the mistake that they've made in the past and that summer of not touching it, he is not going to go anywhere backwards or decreasing this either. He's in it for the long haul, and no matter what cost that is there, that's what he's trying to get the economy back.
So all of this questioning by Congress and Senate, I kind of laugh because it's not going to change his mind. He's set on doing this. And this is -- and then he's been following the playbook every meeting, any kind of good news, well, maybe but today he dropped a bombshell. I mean, it caused a ripple effect, John. This is not something that there was he just said just to say he knows that there's repercussions to this. So stay tuned to that.
VAUSE: You know, in the world of Federal Reserve Chairman, Paul Volcker was voted the pin up star. He's the rock star guy and more he tamed inflation in the 1980s. And, you know, Jerome Powell scene was a piece of that action. Because what we have right now is that the bond yield inversion. Remember the bond yield inversion? You know, this is when the spread between the two and 100-year yields here shows a discount larger than percentage point for the first time right now since 1981. That's when you're short. You get a better yield from short term rates a year from long term rate.
And as Paul Volcker, who was engineering, you know, this is a recession, when there was double digit inflation. It seems that Jerome Powell is just going down the same road, it was 1980s thinking then, it is 1980s thinking now. So I guess the question is, it's no longer a question of if there'll be a recession, it seems the question is, when will the recession be and how long and how painful it will last for?
PATEL: Yes. And you know, from six months ago now, John, from our conversation, I think that's what's changed, in my opinion that Jerome Powell is committed to pushing it toward that, that the recession will come. I think, you know, if you heard his rhetoric last year, he's like, Well, we may not be in recession, but the way the path and the data is proving it's really -- it looks like we're going to get there, it looks like it's going to be a low -- when he says bumpy, doesn't that make you cringe? He says, bumpy it scares me, because he's saying that that means be prepared and soft pillows, no longer there.
And I think the other thing too, to really pay attention the next, you know, the next week -- the next inflation report and obviously the jobs, you know, jobs hiring report. That's very interesting to see if that's going to go the indication to what you see to that data and if that's the case, you know, the whole plan of what they put together for the beginning of the year of potentially decreasing interest rates, you could throw that out the window. VAUSE: We're out of time. As you say like, this is equal to a recession which we don't have to have. I mean, this is there are other ways of doing this. I don't know why they're coming into recession, but we'll see what happens. Ryan Patel --
PATEL: Because it's easy button for him to press. That's the key.
VAUSE: Bingo.
PATEL: It's pretty good for him. Yes.
VAUSE: You nailed it. Thanks, Ryan. Twitter CEO Elon Musk says the company has a shot at being cash flow positive next quarter, largely thanks to aggressive cost cutting measures and a reduction in non-debt expenditures by as much as $3 billion for has long had trouble turning a profit even before Musk took over and started laying off thousands of workers. He says Twitter has also been hit by a massive decline in advertising. Fancy that. What happened?
Well, taking on TikTok, when we come back, U.S. push to rein in the hugely popular social media platform and other technology that could pose a national security threat, from that in a moment. Plus, the White House tried to lower the temperature after China's very bold claims that the U.S. is trying to stifle China's development. And later CNN exclusive Dr. Anthony Fauci discusses the potential origins of the Coronavirus.
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VAUSE: The White House is trying to reduce tension with Beijing insisting the U.S. does not see conflict. On Tuesday, the Chinese foreign minister said conflict and confrontation were inevitable unless the U.S. hits the brakes stops trying to contain China.
Similar remarks were made behind closed doors by President Xi Jing ping that was unprecedented. The White House says despite the heated rhetoric is determined to manage what is -- what it considers a consequential relationship.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The President's approach to China has not changed. And again, we've been very clear we do not see conflict. And we do not want conflict. What we're seeking is competition. And we've been very clear about that these past two years. The President will always defend American interests, as you all know, but he has been clear we want -- we need to keep open lines of communication.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The bellicose remarks came on the sidelines of the National People's Congress in Beijing. CNN's Selina Wang shows us what it's like to cover this rubber stamp Congress where every moment is staged in what is the ultimate in message control.
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SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Thousands of government delegates across China are gathering for the biggest annual political meeting known as the Two Sessions. It's the first since China abandoned its zero-COVID policy.
But reporters covering the event are still stuck in a COVID bubble required to stay overnight at a quarantine hotel and get an on-site PCR test.
WANG (on camera): We just left the quarantine hotel we're now headed to the venue. Everything is highly controlled.
WANG (voiceover): The foreign media bus gets dropped off at Tiananmen Square.
WANG (on camera): It is very rare for journalists to get access to this. As you can see there's heavy security. There are guards everywhere. Normally the Two Sessions is the rare chance for media to get up and close to China's top leadership. Right here on the steps of the Great Hall of the People. This is normally where you will see media trying to doorstop the top leadership but as you can see, this year, we the media were completely separate from the rest of the leaders.
WANG (voiceover): The Two Sessions is a carefully choreographed event. The new government shakeups that the rubber stamp parliament will vote on have one unifying goal to strengthen Xi Jinping and the ruling Communist Party's power. And the COVID restrictions are the perfect tool for Beijing to control the message.
WANG (on camera): So media has to apply to get access to specific events were not granted approval to all of them. And this is the media area inside the Great Hall of the People. As you can see it's pretty empty. So it's clearly not an issue of capacity.
WANG (voiceover): Some of the events during the week-long meeting allow select reporter questions, including Qin Gang first press conference as China's new foreign minister. He said that conflict with the U.S. is inevitable. It's Washington has not changed course.
Qin Gang called Washington's approach a reckless gamble accused the U.S. of creating a crisis over Taiwan defended China's partnership with Russia as imperative and said it has not supplied weapons to Russia for Ukraine.
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Meanwhile, Chinese state media is portraying the legislative meeting as an open event where journalists can freely operate.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sri Lanka.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm from Luke News. It's an amazing country. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The assemblies also offer journalists the opportunity to put questions to the Chinese Premier, and ministers.
WANG: But under these controls spontaneous run-ins with top leaders like the Premier and ministers are out of reach. But after today's meeting ended, we had a few minutes to approach them delegates, which are a curated group of local representatives.
This delegate is part of the Zhuang ethnic minority from the southwestern Guangxi province. She says this is her first time attending the Congress and she feels happy to see her motherland becoming stronger. The rest of the delegates quickly rush out before we have a chance to approach them.
The question is how much of these COVID controls will remain in post- pandemic China, it limits access even more to China's already extremely opaque political machine. This much is clear. The communist leadership only wants the world to see one narrative from China. That is the image of unity of strength and victory. Selina Wang, CNN, Beijing.
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VAUSE: What else now has legal authority to ban the Chinese owned video app TikTok. After the U.S. Senate passed the so called Restrict Act does not specifically target TikTok but aims to rein in foreign technologies that could pose national security risks.
The bipartisan legislation would also cover AI, quantum computing and E-commerce. But the fear is that China could force TikTok's parent company to hand over user data. TikTok CEO insists the company has ever received such a request from the Chinese government and would not comply with one even though there is a law in China which makes it actually for legal to do so. TikTok also says has been working with the U.S. government to address national security concerns.
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SEN. MARK WRNER (D-VA): So instead of playing whack-a-mole on Huawei one day, ZTE the next, Kaspersky TikTok, we need a more comprehensive approach to evaluating and mitigating these threats posed by these foreign technologies from these adversarial nations.
SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): It's safe to assume that if the CCP is willing to lie about it spy balloon and cover up the origins of the worst pandemic in 100 years, they'll lie about using Tiktok to spy on American citizens.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: With the COVID 19 pandemic in the rearview mirror, there's now a renewed effort to discover the origins of the virus. Recently, both the FBI and the U.S. Department of Energy had pointed to evidence suggesting the virus was the result of the lab leak in China. In a CNN exclusive, Dr. Anthony Fauci spoke to Anderson Cooper, about the lab theory. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, FORMER DIRECTOR, U.S. NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: They're talking about information that they have that we don't have privy to. So, we don't really know. They have made opinions on low confidence from the Department of Energy and moderate confidence, I believe, from the FBI.
So I don't think there's a really correct and verifiable answer to your question. It's just still remains unknown at this particular point.
There are two theories, as we're all familiar with now. One is the lab leak theory. The other is that it was a natural occurrence from an animal spillover.
The one thing is that we have to keep an open mind about this until there's definitive evidence.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: How important is to figure it out?
VAUSE: Well, it is, Anderson, because you want to make sure that whichever of those alternatives it is that we do whatever we can to prevent it from happening in the future because we have had outbreaks before. I mean, we had SARS-CoV-1, which was clearly shown to go from a bat, to a civet cat to a human. And if there's a possibility, which there is certainly we haven't ruled that out of the being lab leak, there are things that you can do to prevent the recurrence of these things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Meantime, COVID testing restrictions on travelers from China to the U.S. are expected to be eased as soon as Friday. A source familiar with the decision says it will play for rules in place since January, requiring a negative COVID test before entering the United States, whose rules were in response to an uptick in cases in China.
CNN has been told the U.S. is revising the policy since infection rates and that coming down.
Still ahead on CNN, from China to Mexico to the United States. Authority said the flow of fentanyl is complex. It's challenging to stop and we'll look at how the Mexican army is battling the cartels selling this deadly and readily available drug.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Its dirt cheap. You can take a life for probably 5 cents, 10 cents what cost on a pill.
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[01:32:02] VAUSE: Two of the four Americans kidnapped in a notorious Mexican
border city are now recovering in a Texas hospital. The other two though were found dead. The local government says the group was discovered in a house in the city of Matamoros where they were abducted by gunmen on Friday.
One of two survivors said to be severely injured. At least one person has been detained. Investigators believe the group was targeted by a Mexican cartel that likely mistook them for Haitian drug smugglers.
U.S. Lawmakers though say this is not an isolated incident.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. VICENTE GONZALEZ (D-TX): This has happened across this region and across other regions in Mexico now for the better part of two decades. And I'm glad that this one seems to be the straw that broke the camel's back that's got national attention, the people's attention across the country.
But this is nothing new to what we have been experiencing via cartel activity in Mexico for now 15 to 20 years. And I think it's a real concern that they are our second largest trading partner and I think we're at a point where it is a national security concern that we need to start having conversations on Capitol Hill and with our friends and neighbors in Mexico about having critical ideas to dismantle and ultimately stopped cartels across the border.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Vanda Felbab-Brown) is a senior fellow at the center for security strategy and technology at the Brooking's Institute. Welcome to the program.
VANDA FELBAB-BROWN, SENIOR FELLOW, BROOKINGS INSTITUTE: Thank you.
VAUSE: So here is how the White House has been dealing with drug cartels in Mexico and the growing threat they face to the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: In the past few months, President Biden signed an executive order giving the Department of Treasury expanded authorities to penalize cartel organizations and those who control or enable them.
And we have imposed powerful new sanctions against cartel invasions (ph) in recent weeks. We remain committed to applying the full weight of our efforts and resources to counter them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: How does that translate into the real world? What does that actually mean? And how effective have those sanctions been?
BROWN: Well, drug trafficking organizations face a penalty of U.S. Law enforcement actions which entails very significant efforts to go after their finances. This is nothing new.
The difficulty has been that cooperation with the government of Mexico has become really eviscerated during the administration of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and we have really seen close to a halt in meaningful security cooperation.
VAUSE: With that in mind Conservatives in the United States, they want to take a harder approach, to say the least.
Headline over at FoxNews.com seems to sum it up. "The U.S. must declare war against Mexican drug cartels, says an ex-U.S. Marshal" and Senator Lindsey Graham he is ready for battle.
Here he is.
[01:34:58]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I'm going to introduce legislation, Jesse, to make a certain Mexican drug cartels, foreign terrorist organizations under U.S. law and set the stage to use military force if necessary to protect America from being poisoned by things coming out of Mexico.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Wouldn't that sort of unilateral military action effectively be kind of a declaration of war on Mexico, especially given the president of Mexico has already warned the U.S. not to go down that road.
BROWN: Well, it's worked (ph). And I really do not see that this have help accomplish the necessary objective to be protecting the American people from the fentanyl poisoning.
It is not that the cartels live in a forest or in a desert in a camp. They're not terrorist groups like the Taliban or al-Shabaab. They live among the people. They control territories, institutions, peoples and the economy. But they live in urban spaces.
It is absolutely necessary that the United States demands far better cooperation from Mexico and insist on it. And I think there are tools that could be employed.
But neither designating the drug trafficking groups as a foreign terrorist organizations or using military force will advance U.S. objectives.
VAUSE: This idea of military action comes from Bill Barr, the attorney general during the trump administration. Here's some of what he had to say. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAM BARR, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I think we have to deal with his group like we dealt with ISIS. We have to use every tool. We have to use economic, we have to use intelligence assets, military assets, and law enforcement. And we have to methodically dismantle these groups. And we have to tell the Mexicans they are either coming along with us for the ride or step aside, we are going to do it by ourselves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Given that some of these organizations in these cartels are sort of acting like Narco terrorists in similar ways to Islamic terrorists in the way they essentially terrorize a population in Mexico. Does Bill Barr have a point up until the bit about starting a war with Mexico, that there should be sort of a much tougher approach? Here anyway of looking at this and maybe that this is something to think about at least to consider up until the war bit?
BROWN: Well, the Trump administration did consider designating the cartels as foreign terrorist groups and backed away from it. And so did the Obama administration because both administrations realized that this would deeply poison the diplomatic relationship.
But also, it would really not generate any significant new authorities beyond use of military force, which implies getting into a hostile military relationship with our vital neighbor. A country that is potentially closest to U.S. strategic interests than any other.
Again, I do believe that it is necessary to demand far better cooperation from the Mexican government and one possibility is to really intensify inspection of the U.S. border, given that you really no longer can trust the Mexican government of seriously taking actions against the drug trafficking groups inside Mexico.
And this is terrible for both the United States and U.S. citizens, but it is also really terrible for the people in Mexico that suffer the repression and increasing power of the cartels.
VAUSE: Vanda Felbab-Brown, thank you so much for being with us, we really appreciate your insights. Thank you.
According to U.S. officials, the illegal sale of fentanyl is a booming business in Mexico's drug cartels, worth billions of dollars every year. But with many of the chemicals used to make fentanyl coming from China, stopping the flow of this drug is complicated to say the least.
CNN's David Culver reports from Mexico's state of Sinaloa -- what many consider to be the cartel country, that is where the Mexican army is being deployed to find the illicit drug labs.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Culiacan, in the state of Sinaloa, cartel country as some see it.
Here the Mexican army is on the hunt for drug labs with 50 soldiers and in a convoy of six armored vehicles, we travel out of Culiacan into a rural and mountainous landscape. U.S. officials estimate fentanyl makes Mexico's criminal organizations
billions of dollars each year. The cartels determined to eliminate any one or anything that might threaten their profit.
Colonel Alfredo Gonzalez Cuevas -- our guide, taking us to the scene of their latest fentanyl bust.
They are securing the perimeter right now.
Days earlier he says cartel members opened fire on him and his soldiers.
He said they started shooting at them, hitting their vehicles and then the four guys started running.
[01:39:52]
CULVER: The army's intel led them to this unassuming home in a quiet family-friendly neighborhood.
That white building right there -- that's the Fentanyl lab.
The army says they seized 270,000 pills here, all containing fentanyl.
He said they had all sorts of machines to make the pills.
In his nearly 35 years in the army, working to dismantle drug operations, the colonel tells me fentanyl has been far more devastating and n difficult to control than cocaine, heroin, and meth.
They test substances to know what exactly they are seizing.
It shows it here, it's a breakdown of what the chemical is and what makes it happen. He even has here listed the hazmat component to it.
Crucial in understanding how fentanyl is made is knowing where the chemicals are sourced.
A lot of them he says come from the port, which came in from Asia. High-ranking military officials have told us, most of them come from China.
China's vast chemical industry is where experts say many of the ingredients to manufacture fentanyl, known as precursors, are sourced. And with worsening U.S.-China relations, working with Chinese officials to stop the flow, increasingly challenging.
MATTHEW DONAHUE, DEA DEPUTY CHIEF OF FOREIGN OPERATIONS: With China it is extremely difficult because you don't get information from them. You don't get cooperation from them.
CULVER: Matt Donahue worked for the DEA for more than three decades, retiring last year as its deputy chief of foreign operations.
DONAHUE: Mexico is intentionally making these drugs, knowing it killed Americans and still shipping them up there without putting anyone in jail, without seizing any properties, or going after all their drug assets.
CULVER: High-ranking Mexican officials adamantly pushback on that claim. Instead they point to the U.S. to do more on its soil, a sentiment echoed by China.
On Monday, the foreign ministry responding to our questions saying, in part, the accusation by some people to the U.S. that China is not further controlling the export of fentanyl precursors because of geopolitical influence is a desecration of the spirit of the rule of law and is completely groundless. Adding, using China as a scapegoat will not solve the drug crisis in the United States.
Back in Culiacan, the army keeps a presence at these busted labs 24/7, preserving the scenes for prosecutors and preventing cartel members from restarting production.
They also conduct random inspections at package facilities around Culiacan searching for fentanyl and the precursor chemicals needed to make it. Even setting up checkpoints, working to prevent the distribution of drugs made here.
He said that in one of the searches, for example, it is not uncommon to find that fentanyl or other drugs will be stashed in places like the car wheel or within the car, or even in the gas tank.
DONAHUE: Fentanyl, it is sad. It is dirt cheap, you can take a life for probably five cents, ten cents, what it costs them to make a pill that they are charging $15 for. I mean what is a human life worth now?
CULVER: Just days after our visit, Mexican army officials sent us this video. from the back room of this small home, they seized 600,000 fentanyl pills; Countless lives, potentially saved. But the cartel fueled production is seemingly endless and so too the devastation that awaits.
The biggest concern obviously for U.S. officials is the fentanyl that is not busted, like you saw in that lab, but the fentanyl that is able to cross the border.
We are at one of the most trafficked borders here in the U.S., this is part of the San Diego field office. And to give you some perspective, the San Diego field office deals with more than 50 percent, more than half of all fentanyl that is seized.
So they are very busy and this one here in San Isidro in particular is the most trafficked for that division. It is what they feel to be a very, very difficult and seemingly endless cycle.
David Culver, CNN -- San Isidro, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Still ahead on CNN, in an exclusive interview the U.S. ambassador in Tokyo weighs in on the unprecedented warning from China's president to Washington.
[01:44:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Never before has China's President Xi Jinping directly warned Washington to back off or risk confrontation. All of this is being watched closely by Americas longtime traditional, Japan.
And the U.S. ambassador in Tokyo sat down with CNN's Marc Stewart for an exclusive interview.
Marc joins us now live from Tokyo, and Rahm Emanuel had plenty to say.
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He did John. I think among the many takeaways is that he clearly views Japan as a partner, as an ally to the U.S. But also made a point of basically calling China an aggressor in the world stage here in the Asia Pacific region.
We have seen a lot of verbal jabs from China over the last few days, suggesting that the U.S. is trying to pull in nations like Japan as a part of perhaps a new NATO like alliance. And that it's trying to create a new Cold War here in the region. Take a listen to part of our conversation from earlier from his residence here in Tokyo.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAHM EMANUEL, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO JAPAN: China is going to have to realize that if you want to be a respected -- which is what they want -- leader of the world you have to actually respect the people you're interlocked with. You cannot constantly have one hammer.
That is, they have had a confrontation or near confrontation with multiple countries in the region -- consistently.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART: And this is an interesting time for Ambassador Emanuel to be here in Japan because in recent months we have seen Japan really double down on its military spending, including the planned purchase of tomahawk missiles.
And that is a bit of a shift from a constitution that is really based in self-defense and pacifism. We talked about this environment that Japan and the rest of the region finds itself in. Here's more of our conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EMANUEL: He has brought a level of energy to alliances and to allies that was absent. That has given our allies confidence, like Japan, to increase the defense budget, to be more active on the diplomatic arena and stage.
You know, when it came to the vote on March 3rd, condemning Russia, Japan got on the phone with all the ASEAN countries and produced eight out of the ten countries. So they've been very active diplomatically.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART: And the ambassador is also very forward thinking, and of course as a diplomat is trying to promote peace and diplomacy in the region. He points to a recent agreement between Japan and South Korea over some wartime labor abuses that occurred in Korea.
He said that despite some very deep risk, despite some very deep hate between the two nations, an agreement was reached just this week to try to move forward and to try to make things better, if you will.
He says that if that can be accomplished then it's a model for other nations in the region to try to replicate this kind of diplomatic exercise, if you will, John.
VAUSE: Marc, thank you. Mark Stewart there live for us in Tokyo and Rahm Emanuel looking very healthy there with a good tan. Thank you Marc.
The U.S. Defense Secretary made an announced visit to Iraq on Tuesday, this comes just days before the 20th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion that ousted the dictator Saddam Hussein and then set of years of sectarian violence and the rise of ISIS. Lloyd Austin says U.S. forces are prepared to remain in country at the invitation of the government to support the fight against terrorism.
Austin met with Iraqi officials in Baghdad. He then traveled to Irbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan to meet with Kurdish leaders.
[01:49:53]
VAUSE: Still to come here on CNN, the dangers of doxxing, a CNN investigation looks at the surge in cyber bullies showing people's private information online.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: More problems for Ticketmaster. On Tuesday fans scrambled to buy tickets to Eurovision, but that is before the tickets were due to go on sale. Many received an internal error message.
Spokesperson for Ticketmaster says only a small number of fans experiencing the internal service message. The Eurovision contest is set to begin in Liverpool England in May. Tickets are now sold out.
Ticketmaster has been under intense scrutiny in recent months by U.S. lawmakers after the site crashed because of huge demand for Taylor Swift concerts.
On this International Women's Day, the United Nations is urging governments and the private sector to make the digital world safer, more inclusive and more equitable.
In the field of artificial intelligence, for example, the U.N. says women make up only 22 percent of artificial intelligence workers globally. And an analysis of more than 100 AI systems world wide found that 44 percent demonstrate gender bias. They point out that 73 percent of women journalists from 125 countries
have suffered online violence in the course of their work.
CNN's As Equal Team reports one type of online harassment though comes in the form of something called "doxxing".
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Internet, a place with endless possibilities and all sorts of content -- happy memories, new arrivals, DIY, lots of food, and just adorable.
But in the midst of the joy, there is also darkness. Personal information is rife in the digital world and if yours is ever maliciously divulged without your consent, well, that is doxxing.
MARWA FATAFTA, POLICY MANAGER, ACCESS NOW: Doxxing derives from the word dox or documents. And it comes from the hacking culture of dropping documents. It is sharing someone's information online without their consent and often with the malicious intent to attack them and undermine them.
That could include, for example, sharing someone's home address, financial information, telephone number, intimate photos, private photos.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To find that information, doxxers might go through search engines, social media histories, or data broker Web sites. And in some cases, they hack.
KARIMA NADIR, HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCATED: It started in 2019, with the initials of my name to say that this kind of women wants to ruin our morals, ruin our vision.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Karima Nadir is a human rights advocate in Morocco. She says she endured a yearlong defamation campaign in the form of many online articles, and in tandem Karima was also doxxed.
In the midst of the lies, true personal information was published online without her consent.
[01:54:48]
NADIR: In 2020, it goes to calling me a horror, a person that sleeps with everybody, that has sex for money. They were mentioning the city and the neighbor that I was living in.
And after that it went as far to even discuss my right of being a mom. They ended up by publishing the birth certificate of my son, so I decided to change my (INAUDIBLE) and go and live in another neighborhood.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Doxxing takes a cultural dimension. For example, a woman's picture without a veil can be shared on social media and when you look at the photo itself. It is very benign, it's very innocent. It does not really violate the platforms in terms of services.
But looking at the social and cultural context in which this doxxing is taking place can be very dangerous and life-threatening to this woman.
FATIMA DERBY, FEMINIST ACTIVIST: Somebody posted a photo of me and somebody else on Twitter with the caption saying, "These are the two lesbians who have started a (INAUDIBLE) agenda in Ghana. Take a good look at their faces."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And activist Fatima Derby's case, the weapon of choice was a photo. They shared a picture of her solo supporting LGBTQ rights in Ghana. She and the friend she tagged as a photographer got attacked. The docs are combed through Fatima's friend's Twitter and posted a picture of both of them. In a comment the attacker invited others to share their names and addresses.
DERBY: Because I was panicking, my palms were sweating, and my head felt hot. (INAUDIBLE) because I'm like what is this? Is somebody going to show up at my gate?
Given the context, given the increasing violence that LGBTQ people in Ghana were facing, especially at the time. That was extremely dangerous, extremely violent. There's concern for our safety. We don't know who is watching me. It was a harrowing experience.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: That report was from our As Equals team, and they are -- in the case of Karima Nadir, CNN reached out to (INAUDIBLE) but we did not get a response. In the case of Fatima Derby Twitter take down the tweet after two days.
The report is part of a new series from As Equals called "System Error: exploring how gender affects a person's life online".
Find more of their work at CNN.com.
Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm John Vause.
Please stay with us, the news continues after a short break with my colleague and friend Rosemary Church.
We will see you right back here tomorrow.
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