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Connect the World
Police Investigating What Caused Tiger Woods Accident; Tiger Woods, "Awake, Responsive And Recovering" After Surgery; Greece Urges EU To Adopt COVID Vaccine Passport; Political Standoff Grows Between President And Opposition; CNN Goes Inside The Louvre Museum During Pandemic; Overcoming The Mental Health Challenges Of The Pandemic. Aired 11a-12p ET.
Aired February 24, 2021 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAIN ASHER, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to "Connect the World. I'm Zane Asher in for my colleague Becky Anderson. At this hour Golf Legend Tiger
Woods is recovering in Los Angeles hospital after losing control of his vehicle. Police say they believe he was speeding on a downhill curve.
With went into oncoming traffic before rolling down an embankment. Doctors performed surgery on his badly injured right leg and ankle, inserting a rod
and pins as well. Was official Twitter posted a statement about his condition it reads we thank everyone for the overwhelming support and
messages during this tough time.
The statement from the doctor says that Woods is awake. He is responsive and he is recovering in his hospital room right now. Our Josh Campbell
takes a look at the events as they unfolded in Tuesday's car accident.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Tiger Woods is awake, responsive and recovering in his hospital room this morning. His team is
showing the update on the golf legend in a statement Wednesday, after he suffered serious injuries that a rollover car crashed near Los Angeles.
Authorities responding to the incident around 7 am local time.
CARLOS GONZALEZ, LOS ANGELES COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPUTY: When I got there, he was lucid. I was able to ask him his name. I was able to ask him if he knew
where he was.
DARYL OSBY, FIRE CHIEF, LOS ANGELES COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: My firefighters used a - to help try the seats and the metal from around his legs. They
also use an axe to break out the windshield.
CAMPBELL (voice over): Investigators are now looking into what caused Woods to lose control of the vehicle. Before emergency crews pulled him out of
the wreckage and transported him to Harbor UCLA Medical Center.
ALEX VILLANUEVA, LOS ANGELES COUNTY SHERIFF: No skid marks no braking. So apparently the first contact was with the center median and from there then
cross into the opposing lane of traffic hit the curb hit a tree and there was several rollovers during that process.
CAMPBELL (voice over): Woods becoming a 15 time major champion over a decade's long career. The golfer is sometimes sidelined by multiple
surgeries, and a number of controversies, including in 2017 when Woods was arrested in Florida after police found them pulled over on the side of the
road asleep in his car.
Woods making a big comeback to golf in 2019, winning his fifth masters title and telling CBS Sports Sunday he was hopeful about competing in the
tournament this April, after undergoing his fifth back operation.
TIGER WOODS, PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: A lot of space on many of our surgeons and my doctors, my therapists and making sure that I do it correctly. And
this is only back I got.
CAMPBELL (voice over): Fellow athletes, celebrities and fans sending an outpouring of support to Woods on social media.
DWYANE WADE, RETIRED NBA PLAYER: And I got an opportunity. I say the goat he's not comfortable with it.
CAMPBELL (voice over): Including retired NBA Star Dwyane Wade, who posted on Instagram that he played with a golfer on Monday.
WADE: I woke up today so proud to be able to post that moment, you know, for the world and be able to get like a you know, like a little snippet
moment together. And I took a nap and I woke up and I woke up to the news. My prayers go out to him. And hopefully, you know, hopefully a speedy
recovery.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Josh Campbell reporting now. I'm going to bring in Omar Jimenez who is outside Harbor UCLA Medical Center where Tiger Woods has been treated.
Omar, I think everybody wants to know at this point, what will these injuries which sound quite serious mean for his future as an athlete?
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right and that's a major question. It's going to be a long road to recovery just for Tiger Woods, excuse me to
be able to walk again, at the very least actually play. But those three descriptors awake, responsive and recovering are the most important words
to think about here because this situation could have been so much worse.
And thankfully, we're not talking about the loss of another sports icon here in Los Angeles. Now what we are right now is just about 24 hours
removed from the time of this actual crash. Police say when they actually found Woods he was conscious, but he was pretty beat up especially when it
comes to his legs those he had serious leg injury.
So when he was finally transported here to Harbor UCLA Medical Center the Chief Medical Officer here says that his bone was fractured at multiple
points into multiple pieces. And then at one point, his bone was even exposed to the open air so obviously very serious injuries there. But when
you look at the condition the car was actually in I think we all share in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's description of it saying that Tiger Woods
is lucky to be alive.
The Sheriff says he's seen accidents with far more or far less excuse me, obvious damage that ended up being fatal. Now as for where Woods was going
we're getting more insight to that he was headed to the rolling estates or the Rolling Hills Estates Club not too far from where this crash happened
to shoot with Golf Digest and Golf TV for their series where Tiger Woods works with celebrities and gives on the course instruction.
Yesterday he was scheduled to work with two NFL quarterback sources tell us obviously then this happen. Right now he is recovering in this hospital
behind us.
[11:05:00]
JIMENEZ: But when you look at the situation overall even I was just reflecting it was exactly a year ago, my team and I were here in Los
Angeles, covering Kobe Bryant's celebration of life. Right now I think everyone is just celebrating Tiger Woods is alive.
But as you touched on when we began this report, it is going to be a long road to recovery for him much less before he actually is able to step back
foot on the golf course, Zain.
ASHER: Yes, - this is for himself as an athlete. There's certainly a lot of relief in the air. Omar Jimenez live for us there, thank you so much. CNN
Sports, Don Riddell has interviewed Tiger many times and he joins us live now to give us more.
So Don, when I heard this story, I was just thinking that, you know, we are so invested in society in terms of what happens to Tiger Woods. We've known
him for so long. We've seen clips of him playing golf, you know, with his dad coaching him when he was like two or three years old. We've seen his
ups, we've seen his downs. We've seen him come back many, many times. What does he mean not just to golf, but to the sports world and even beyond?
DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Well, he means everything's golf. I mean, he revolutionized the game, and then he transcended it. There's no doubt that
he's one of the greatest sportsmen alive in the world. I asked him a few years ago, if there's any way he could go, where he wouldn't be recognized.
And he didn't miss a beat. He said, yes, underwater. That's why I like diving. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine being that famous that
underwater is the only place in the whole planet you can go where you won't be recognized and bothered?
He doesn't enjoy the fame, I think to be honest, and he hates it. He probably won't enjoy at all the fact that once again, we are all talking
about Tiger Woods. And of course, he's got bigger things to worry about right now. But he's huge in golf.
And when you look at what he achieved over the last 18 months, two years with the comeback, I mean, this was the first event the Tour Championship
here in Atlanta at the end of 2018, where he won that event. And I mean you're looking at kind of Hollywood scenes with him just being more by
thousands and thousands of fans on the golf course.
And he went from there, to the Masters in 2019, which, of course, he won with that sensational performance, his fifth green jacket. And then shortly
after that, he went back onto the PGA Tour and won his 82nd title there tying him with the great Sam Snead. That was just a really golden moment
for Tiger.
And when you think about what he had been through, you know, we've covered in great detail, the marital infidelity, and just the utterly humiliating
situation that he really brought upon himself. But of course, all the injuries, the knee injuries, the back surgeries now five back surgeries, he
had another one recently.
We were all wondering what he was still going to be capable of? How much more entertainment and inspiration he was going to provide on the golf
course? I think he knew he was in the twilight of his career anyway, with regard to major tournaments and further titles.
And now we have this, it's yet another twist and turn that we just couldn't possibly even have imagined. And honestly, the time doesn't feel right to
be discussing his future as a golfer because he clearly has so many other hurdles to overcome, just to be able to get back out of hospital and just
be able to walk again.
ASHER: But in terms of his path, I mean, just how did he especially as a black man, revolutionize this game? Honestly Don my son, my husband teaches
my son golf he is only two and a half because of Tiger Woods because of Tiger Woods.
I mean, we watch that documentary. You know, his dad wrote a book about it. And it was such an inspiration to my husband that he teaches my son golf
now. And so, you know, there was golf before Tiger Woods and what that felt like and then there was golf after Tiger Woods?
RIDDELL: Yes. Well, he revolutionized that in a number of ways. And I think you referenced the documentary there. Remember, I mean his dad, put - so
before many of us had even heard of him, he was going to be greater than Gandhi he was going to be bigger than Jesus. He was going to be this great
unifier the world was never going to see anything like Tiger Woods.
I mean, there was clearly a lot of pressure to put on a young child. Clearly Tiger Woods didn't particularly appreciate that, I don't think. But
he, as a black athlete, as you say, was making it in arguably the whitest of sports. And we can't underestimate what a huge impact that had on
clearly on golf but on athletes everywhere and just on society generally.
But he also revolutionized the game with his attitude to it. The power game one of the reasons he suffered so many injuries is just because of the you
know, the aggressiveness of his drive the sort of violent swings that he put his body through time and time and time again. But he made everybody
else on the golf tour go out and take it seriously. They had to get fit.
[11:10:00]
RIDDELL: They had to improve their stamina. They had to hit the golf ball further. They talked about Tiger proofing golf courses, golf courses had to
be redesigned because now Tiger and others were hitting the ball further and further and further. It was just becoming too easy.
So he just changed it in so many ways, inspired so many people and that is why today, people are so concerned, of course, because of Tiger as a human
being and you want to reach out to somebody that's going through a situation like this. But so many people owe so much to Tiger Woods for all
those reasons.
ASHER: Yes, certainly do. Don Riddell live for us there. Thank you so much. Johnson & Johnson vaccine is one step closer to being put in the mix. Here
in the United States the U.S. Food and Drug Administration now says the vaccine meets the requirements for emergency use authorization, the drug
was found to be more than 66 percent effective against moderate to severe COVID-19 cases.
FDA Advisors are set to meet Friday to review the information and make a recommendation on whether or not the vaccines should be authorized? It
would be the third vaccine to be put to use in the U.S. As well as your countries compete to buy vaccines lower and middle income nations are often
shut out.
The program known as Covax is hoping to help those who are more vulnerable and get them to billion vulnerable countries while they get them 2 billion
doses before the year is through. Today, Covax took the first step with this shipment to Ghana. The next shipment will head to the Ivory Coast this
week.
CNN's David McKenzie looks at why about more than a - why this is about more than just getting shots into arms? It could also be about preventing
new COVID variants as well. Here's our David McKenzie with more.
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the moment when those 600,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine arrived in Ghana the very first of the Covax
initiative, which is a global initiative to get vaccines to low and middle income countries.
You can see the level of pomp and circumstance getting those vaccines in. Earlier they left the Serum Institute in India, and there'll be many
countries in the coming weeks, particularly in the African Continent who receive vaccines through Covax.
Now, this is both a moral issue, say World Health Organization officials, but also a public health issue. They say that if any one country still has
transmission of COVID-19 even if other countries have been vaccinated, it gives the virus an opportunity to continue to mutate, and more variants to
come through which could put everyone at risk.
The Trump White House largely ignored Covax as it was set up. But the Biden White House has been much more active and engaging. And just in recent
days, G7 countries announced $4 billion of additional funding to Covax and vaccine facilities like it to get vaccines predominantly the AstraZeneca
vaccine into countries to start this vaccination drive. The largest say UNICEF in modern history. David McKenzie, CNN, Johannesburg.
ASHER: Russia's Sputnik vaccine is being distributed widely across the world. Dozens of countries, mostly developing nations are making deals to
purchase millions of doses and that includes Mexico. Matt Rivers has more.
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, like so many other countries around the world Mexico is desperately trying to get its hands on more doses of
different vaccines and it got some help in that regard. On Monday night, that is when some 200,000 doses of the Russian developed Sputnik vaccine
arrived on a British Airways flight here in Mexico City.
The Mexican Foreign Minister was there to greet those doses as they arrived. Those doses are going to be put to immediate use. The government
says those doses will be used to try and help vaccinate elderly people in certain sections of Mexico City those vaccinations are going to start as
soon as today.
Mexican health officials say that this came about in part because of a conversation that Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had with
his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. In late January, the two men agreed to increase the supply that Mexico would be receiving of this Russian
developed vaccine.
We know that Mexico already has a purchase agreement to eventually acquire some 24 million doses of this Russian developed vaccine. But Mexican
officials have not laid out a timeline exactly for when the rest of those doses are going to arrive.
And Mexico is just one of a number of countries in Latin America beginning to rely on this Russian vaccine. We know at least six countries here in
Latin America will be using this Russian vaccine we know others are also considering granting this vaccine, emergency use authorization.
[11:15:00]
RIVERS: And it comes at a time here in Mexico when vaccines are desperately needed as of Tuesday afternoon, the country had administered less than 2
million doses of different vaccines. Matt Rivers, CNN in Mexico City.
ASHER: Despite those countries putting faith in the Sputnik vaccine, many actually within Russia are quite skeptical of it. We want you to take a
look now, for a peek behind the scenes of where those Sputnik vaccines are made. CNN's Matthew Chance got this exclusive access to one of Russia's
newest Coronavirus vaccine facilities. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The site was once a Cold War Biological Weapons Center secret, remote and
closed. But CNN has gained exclusive access to the high tech facility where Russia now makes Sputnik V its controversial, but effective COVID-19
vaccine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The next important part is to get the extra pure clean and throw water.
CHANCE (voice over): Every step in the large scale process had to be carefully calibrated. The Chief Scientist tells me delaying mass production
of Sputnik V approved in August last year until now.
CHANCE: Have you already made that step? Are you already now producing millions of vaccines, millions of doses every month?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we are producing several millions of vaccines every month. And we are hoping soon to get even higher amounts maybe like 10 or
20 million per month.
CHANCE (voice over): With those numbers, Russian officials now say any healthy adult here who wants Sputnik V can have it. Opening pop up clinics
like this one in a Moscow mall, encouraging shoppers to get vaccinated offering a free ice cream with every jab to sweeten the deal.
Even the secretive Russian lab that pioneered Sputnik V has opened its doors offering the vaccine directly as it were from the source.
CHANCE: OK, I'm rolling up like I'm not that nervous about having the Russian vaccine because at the minute because, you know, it's had large
scale clinical trials. And it's been peer reviewed in a major journal. And it's been found to be very safe and 91 percent - 91.6 percent effective,
which is very good.
Anyway, though, anyway, it's too late now, because it's, it's been done. The interesting thing, though, is the fact that I can get a vaccine here in
Russia at all given that I'm not in a vulnerable category.
CHANCE (voice over): Fact is the country with one of the world's highest numbers of COVID-19 infections, also has one of its highest vaccine
hesitancy rates fewer than 40 percent willing to have the job according to one recent opinion poll.
You'd think Vladimir Putin would step forward to allay public fears. Unlike many other world leaders, the Russian President has yet to take the plunge.
Kremlin says it will announce when a presidential vaccination takes place. But in a country that looks to its strong man for the lead is vaccine
hesitancy is doing nothing to bolster confidence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The packed and labeled vaccine is stored before being distributed to the patient.
CHANCE: But this is - this is how the distributor how many doses in his boat?
CHANCE (voice over): Still, more than 50 countries have now ordered Sputnik V according to the RDIF Russia's Sovereign Wealth Fund. Russians may still
be shunning their vaccine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The same boxes are going to Argentina, Brazil and other countries.
CHANCE: Some size wherever it goes in the world.
CHANCE (voice over): But global demand for Sputnik V continues to serve. Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Right, let's get you up to speed on some other stories that are on our COVID radar right now. The World Bank has threatened to suspend funding
for vaccines in Lebanon. If a decision to vaccinate MPs over the age of 75 goes ahead. The bank's Regional Director says that giving lawmakers
priority would be a violation of the terms and conditions they've agreed for equitable vaccinations.
Lebanon received its first batch of vaccines earlier this month in a World Bank financed operation. Just days after Argentina's Health Minister was
forced to resign in a scandal over secret vaccinations the country's president is now defending and giving COVID shots to about 70 VIPs. Alberto
Fernandez says it was a necessary move and not preferential treatment.
Greece is urging the European Union to adopt a vaccine passport, Athens may have been under snow recently, but the Greek Tourism Minister says the
priority is now safe summer vacations. Telling "The Financial Times" the EU should move quickly on the issue the Greek economy relies heavily on
tourism.
[11:20:00]
ASHER: You are watching "Connect the World" live from New York. Still to come, Tiger Woods recovering today after a frightening roll over crash that
left him with serious leg injuries. We'll talk to the host of a Tiger Woods Podcast about the accident and of course the golf legends future as well.
Plus, I'll be talking to the Foreign Minister of Haiti about the political turmoil surrounding the country's president and those who want him out.
That's just a little later.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: A rod screws and pins now stabilizing the leg of Tiger Woods. The golf legend underwent extensive surgery after a rollover crash Tuesday in
California. With this vehicle ending up on its side police say that it left the road and apparently high rate of speed. They also say there are no
signs Woods was impaired. Firefighters used a pry bar and an axe to remove him from the vehicle.
I want to talk about the accident. And what is a very uncertain future for Tiger Woods with Cam Rogers Golf Commentator and Host of a Tiger Woods
Podcast. He joins us live now from Maryland Cam, thank you so much for being with us. So, of course everybody wants to know, you know, what will
this mean for his golf game and will he be able to compete again?
CAM ROGERS, HOSTS TIGER WOODS PODCAST: Hey Zain so great to be with you. Yes, I think this is a really difficult situation for Tiger Woods. We're
talking about somebody by the way who has gone through so many peaks and valleys of his career just within the last five years; we're talking about
multiple back surgeries.
But at the other end, it's oh; by the way, he won the Masters in 2019 won the Tour Championship back in 2018. So if there's anybody who can come back
from some sort of adversity, it is Tiger Woods. I will say Zane yesterday was really tough. My stomach really sank when I saw this news, just you
know, a year after Kobe Bryant and you start thinking these things and it's like, What's going to happen?
It's great to hear that he's OK. Now he's going through the rehab process, if you will, but it's going to be an uphill climb for this guy. This might
be the biggest episode of adversity he has ever had.
ASHER: And I mean, obviously he's a - I can't say it enough. Like he's a phenomenal athlete, and we all get that. But why are we so invested in him?
Because you know, there are so many athletes that are extremely remarkable across all different sports and industries.
However, there's something about Tiger Woods. He is a flawed person, but an incredible person. What is it about him that inspires everybody, regardless
of race, age, where you're from?
ROGERS: Yes, absolutely. It really is truly amazing. First of all, golf is really an individualistic sport, if you will. So it's really easy to latch
on to that one singular person because it's just them out there in competition. He looks fantastic in red is certainly not as good as me.
I tried my best, but he means so much to the game in terms of play on the course but also we're talking about media jobs out there as well.
[11:25:00]
ROGERS: Somebody like me who covers him, talks about him on a podcast. I even have customized Bluetooth Speakers for my show just because of Tiger
Woods. So he's just one of those transcending figures that are out there. And he brings in just so many different fans.
You know, I used this example, Zain, back in the 2018 Masters, when Patrick Reed won, the Masters Twitter account tweeted out that final winning putt,
and that tweet got around 300,000 views, Tigers winning putt in 2019 1 million, maybe even over that at this point.
So you see that juxtaposition there to just how much he means to the game. And he really brought in the athlete golfer before Tiger Woods, golfers
were going to the gym or watching their weight, or you know, having a really big time diet regimen.
No, he brought all of that to the fray. And now we have the likes of Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler, and all of these elite golfers Brooks Koepka,
who look jacked out there because of Tiger Woods. So he's just so unique.
And obviously, coming from African American descent and Asian descent, he can bring in a lot more interest that way as well. I think it is truly
needed to because golf needs to be a more diverse, diverse sport.
ASHER: We've talked so much about what Tiger means to golf? But what does golf actually mean to tiger? I mean, some people might look at this and
say, you know, you've already proved yourself Tiger Woods, we know you're the greatest, we know you're the greatest of all time.
We know you're one of the most remarkable athletes in the world, after going through something like this, or even some of the other injuries he
suffered over the past few years. Why is that? That needs to continue to come back and play constantly.
ROGERS: Yes, it really does beg the question at this point Zain after this latest accident whether he wants to go back in terms of PGA Tour
competition? Earlier in your programming, you guys talked about Tigers kids, and how Charlie in particular really helps bring out that extra
interest for Tiger Woods in the game of golf.
So I think if anything is going to pull him along in terms of wanting to play on the PGA Tour, I think it is Charlie Woods because Daddy wants to
show his son that he can still do it. Even after this sort of injury, it's again going to be an uphill climb for him in terms of getting back to
regular health.
But again, if anybody can do it, it is Tiger Woods. He is one of the most mentally tough athletes of my generation, perhaps ever outside of Michael
Jordan, I sincerely believe that. And obviously at this point, Zain, we want him to just be able to bend over, play with his kids do the mundane
things every single day, you almost have to put golf to the side for a second to just really hope that he can be a dad again. He can just live a
life, you know?
ASHER: Yes, but he is one of the most resilient people one of the most resilient athletes I've ever seen as well. All right, Cam Rogers, thank you
so much for being with us. Appreciate that. Coming up next in "Connect the World", I'll be speaking live to the Haitian Foreign Minister about the
political turmoil gripping his nation.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:30:00]
ASHER: We turn to Haiti now where political crisis is growing over the president's time in office and his refusal to leave office. The country's
judges staged a walkout after the president ordered three Supreme Court justices to retire. And protesters have been taken to the streets for four
weeks now calling the president a dictator.
At the heart of the unrest is a dispute over his term limit, which he says ends next year. A stance backed by the U.S. and the U.N., the opposition is
slamming Washington and calling for a transitional government. Let's go to - now to speak with Haiti's Foreign Minister Claude Joseph has also served
as Haiti's Ambassador to Argentina and as the Charged Airfares for Spain.
Claude Joseph joins us live now. Mr. Claude Joseph, thank you so much for being with us. So opposition leaders are basically saying the president's
term ended on February 7th, he of course begs to differ he believes he has another year in office. How do you answer criticism that democratic norms
in Haiti at this point are under attack?
CLAUDE JOSEPH, HATIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Thank you for having me Zain. Let me let me say clearly that our constitution is crystal clear as far as
president's term is concerned. President Moise started office in February 2017. He will leave in February 2022.
The constitution is clear president serves in Haiti for five years. So when politicians are campaigning to have President Moise to step down one year
prior to the end of his term, this is just false theories about president term. So I need to tell you that the Haitian people do not buy into this
campaign to have President Moise to step down one year prior to the end of his term.
So they are trying so many illegal things to have President Moise to step down. But we have the Haitian population that is indifferent toward this
campaign, and actually the U.S., or the U.N. and many international partners supporting actual president term, which end in February 2022.
ASHER: Part of the issue is that this brings up a lot of painful memories, because just like a lot of countries in the region, Haiti has a history of
dictators from "The Devalue" a puppet dog, baby dog; they had their first democratic elections in 1990. So this is a sore subject for a lot of
Haitians.
So what is the plan at this point, given that the President Moise was saying one thing, opposition leaders and people protesting are saying
something completely different in terms of when his term ends? What is the plan to bring the country together in a way that is fair and democratic?
JOSEPH: Listen, President Moise is a man who wants change for his country. President Moise is doing his utmost to change this situation. But I need to
tell you that it's not an easy job for him, given that the status quo in Haiti is powerful.
And he has been fighting against state captured by an elite - President Moise knows certainly the history of dictatorship in Haiti. That's why he's
a democrat. He wants to organize elections, so he can leave and transfer power to an elected president in 2022. So that's what politicians need to
understand.
They need to stop providing false theories to his supporters that undermine the democratic process, and compels them to violence. We cannot let a
violent mobs determine Haiti's political leadership. Only the people have that right. We cannot let violent insurrection actually replace elections
in Haiti.
This is not how democracy works? That's why the government is putting everything in place to organize elections, and actually, our international
partners support elections. So we see that Moise can leave office peacefully in February 2022.
ASHER: Because you bring up you know how democracy works, the question of when the president's term, ended or ends should actually be settled by the
country's Constitutional Court?
[11:35:00]
ASHER: Now, a lot of people are concerned because several Supreme Court justices in Haiti were forcibly removed and installed with other people
that the president put in power. What do you say to people who are very concerned about the fact that there doesn't seem to be an independent
judiciary in Haiti right now?
JOSEPH: They were not forced to be removed. This needs to be clearly understood. This hello--
ASHER: I can hear you, forced to retire.
JOSEPH: They actually, they chose some of them, for instance, just think about a Supreme Court Justice in the United States, that self proclaimed
himself president, or that conspired with politicians to actually either get force a president to step down, this will not be acceptable in the
United States.
We cannot accept that also, because the president according to the constitution's, he's the one who has to make sure that all institutions
perform well, including the independence of the justice system. So what is happening now is you have one judge of the Supreme Court, that was part of
a constitution to get the president killed, and that would bless him.
This is an unacceptable situation, this will not be acceptable anywhere. So we cannot accept that in Haiti. President Moise is a Democrat; he was
elected in 2016 by 56 percent of the people who voted. He took office in 2017. So he will leave according to the Constitution, in its article 134.1,
he will leave office and an elected president should replace him as again, per the constitution's.
Politician need to understand in Haiti, we choose to replace our leaders through elections. So they need to convince the people instead of
compelling them to violence, instead of trying to get a mob determining hates the political leadership, they need to understand that we need to put
ourselves together to work for Haiti.
And we need oligarchs, politicians who feel actually that the president is fighting against those privileges that they have been having in the country
for years. They need to understand that we need to put Haiti first. Our own interests should be second.
Let's have the people because we the people are tired. I need to tell you that the Haitian people are tired of politicians trying to ask over and
over for transitioning a government they don't, they cannot in they are not patient enough to wait for elections, to actually either be elected.
The Haitian people are tired. They are indifferent, as I said before, to this campaign, trying to get the president sit down one.
ASHER: Mr. Joseph, I have to interrupt because we are running out of time. But of course, as you know, a lot of people would beg to differ with you in
terms of whether or not Haiti has an independent judiciary? At what point the President Moise's term ended and the crackdown on opposition happening
in the country right now?
We have to leave it there. We will try to save it for another conversation. In the meantime, your country certainly needs to heal given some of the
images we're seeing right now on CNN. Claude Joseph, thank you so much for being with us.
Now to a landmark ruling - now to a landmark ruling involving the Syrian government a German court has convicted a Former Syrian Regime Officer for
crimes against humanity. Prosecutors say the Former Intelligence Officer transported dozens of detained protesters to jail despite knowing they will
be subjected to systematic torture.
He was sentenced to four and a half years in prison. Syrian President Bashar Al Assad and his government have repeatedly been accused of war
crimes and crimes against humanity during the country's Civil War they deny the allegations.
And we also want to give you an update on a story we covered earlier this week. The body of the Italian Ambassador who was killed in the Democratic
Republic of Congo Monday has been returned to Rome, along with the remains of an Italian soldier who died in that same ambush.
The two were part of a World Food Program convoy when they were attacked. Their Congolese driver was killed as well. An Italian team has been sent to
Congo to investigate. Alright, it's time for quick break here. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:40:00]
ASHER: Now "Call to Earth" CNN's call to action for the environment. There is nothing that will shape tomorrow's world more than the education of our
children. In today's report, we turn to Mexico to meet someone who is cultivating a new generation of future environmentalists.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARITZA MORALES CASANOVA, ENVIROMENTALIST AND EDUCATOR, HUNAB: When you're sick kids, you can see how they smile and also you can see the bright on
the eye. I think that kids are the best teachers because they can share the knowledge they can share the feelings with the same language.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice over): Maritza Morales Casanova runs an Environmental Learning Center for HUNAB on the outskirts of Medida, the
Capital City of Yucatan. She aims to teach a generation of young people how to care for the community's fragile environment?
CASANOVA: There are schools to learn more about music, and if you want to be an artist, there are places when you can polish your talent. But what
happened is as a child, you want to be an environmentalist. When they come to this gate, they experience how to be heroes for grandma ears?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice over): HUNAB was Founded by Morales Casanova, when she herself was only 10 years old, and runs in a model of peer to peer
learning.
CASANOVA: When we see kids sharing the knowledge. The first thing that they do is to understand the message for them and then to share it to a simple
way. They share the information very clear and they're very honest.
Right now the information about environment is very alarmist is very negative around the world. We cannot teach about the theory of climate
change just to scare kids about what's going to happen. What we need to do is to inspire them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice over): 15-year-old - grew up in Yucatan and started coming to the center from a very young age. Before Coronavirus
forced the park to close to visitors he taught weekly classes on plants and then medicinal capabilities.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel like the children are the best to be taught I would say because they are more sensitive. Adult often clings to his
beliefs or claims to his knowledge.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice over): Also 15 years old - has been attending HUNAB for six years. She now teaches students about how diet impacts
environment?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's very important to be here at HUNAB. They teach you everything about the environment and that they also see the value
in us as teachers.
[11:45:00]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice over): And it's 25 years Morales Casanova tells us that HUNAB has trained as many as 50,000 young people to be
environmentalists, but the Coronavirus pandemic has been a real threat to its mission. Remote learning may be a challenge, but it's urgent work
according to Morales Casanova.
CASANOVA: We're printing the material sending by mail or visiting the communities so they can keep working and training as heroes for grandma. In
few years, they are COVID nurse, they are politicians, or they are entrepreneurs. We don't know when I'm sure that they are going to make
decisions that respect for leaving beats.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: We'll continue showcasing inspirational stories like this as part of this initiative at CNN. And let us know what you're doing to answer the
call with the #calltoearth. You're watching CNN right back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: You probably won't be surprised to hear that the Louvre is feeling pretty lonely these days the Mona Lisa is sitting in splendid isolation
missing her crowds of admirers since the pandemic shut the world's most visited museum down months ago.
But she's not completely alone. Even though there are no visitors and no revenue the curators are finally getting their hands on something money
can't buy. CNN got rare television access to the great Renaissance Palace and our Saskya Vandoorne finds it isn't all bad news for art in a time of
COVID-19. Take a look.
SASKYA VANDOORNE, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: The world's most visited museum awakens but there are no visitors here. Escalators that once carried 40,000
pairs of feet a day whistle in the eerie emptiness brought on by COVID restrictions.
Venus de Milo, Liberty, Leading the People and The Mona Lisa having a break from their usual crowds of admirers. What were bustling halls now take mere
minutes to walk through sculptures forced into hibernation in this Renaissance Palace. But they're not completely alone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GAUTIER MOYSSET, PROJECT MANAGER, LOUVRE MUSEUM: It's still living, even though it seems really asleep from the outside.
VANDOORNE (voice over): Since October when the Louvre closed hundreds of artisans have been working five days a week to refurbish and rejuvenate
with a stroke of a brush or the crank of a forklift.
MOYSSET: We have all the arts that are being stored or just studied by the curators. We have all the maintenance work that obviously can start so it's
really rewarding. The stakes are pretty high. Let's say you don't want to just fall into what people have been building in centuries.
VANDOORNE: Not since World War II has the Louvre been shuttered to the public for so long. Last year it lost 90 million Euros in revenue but
curators here say they have gained something more valuable time.
[11:50:00]
VANDOORNE (voice over): These 19th century doors that once opened into the bed chamber of French Kings are being restored to their former beauty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you have two different layers that are meant to recreate all in all the veins of the wood because you have you know, so
many different colors, when you look that closely.
VANDOORNE (voice over): These doors will be finished in three weeks when the Louvre will reopen is anyone's guess. The belief here is that art comes
alive through the public's eye. Until then, the museum prepares for its resurrection. Saskya Vandoorne, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Most of us though, have been avoiding public places like the Louvre, restaurants and bars sometimes even work and school for about a year now.
That's a long stretch of isolation and it's taking a measurable toll on people's mental health.
Young people especially are being hit hard in a recent survey by the CDC and the U.S. Census Bureau 57 percent of 18 to 29 year olds reported having
symptoms of anxiety and depression that is far higher by the way than the national average of U.S. adults reporting the same symptoms, which is about
41 percent.
So let's dig into the reasons behind that and how you can better manage your own mental health right now with Meditation Coach Jeff Warren is
joining me live now from Toronto. Jeff, I'm so - I'm a bit of sort of a wavering meditator so I'm so excited that you're on the show to set me
straight.
Can you talk about this idea that there are two ways to deal with the isolation that's happening right now in this pandemic and the mental toll
that's taking you talk about the warrior and the caregiver, in all of us, walk us through what that means?
JEFF WARREN, MEDITATION INSTRUCTOR: Sure. Well, I guess they're both aspects of meditation, it's something you get kind of intimate with when
you have a practice. And it can be a very, very short practice, but and it's really how we bring them out into life.
So the warrior is the part that's kind of like when things are intense, when they're really hard like they are right now, you - there's a skill set
around opening to that and building capacity, building capacity around being with challenge.
So I can kind of walk through what that looks like. But it's a lot about instead of fighting with what's happening, instead of struggling, instead
of being in these sort of suffering loops, you open to what's going on, and you allow everything to kind of be here, that's intense.
So we also need to have the caregiver removed, which is like, whoa, that's too much, which knows how to back off from that, and actually then go to
your kind of basic care giving strategies, which I would call, whatever they are.
I mean, meditation is one of them, but so is walking in nature, so is reaching out to a good friend. I mean, there are lots of different
medicines, I guess you can think about. So that's really, when I think about a mature practice, that's kind of like, that's the dialectic, you
know, you're leaning into things, you're figuring out how to be with these challenging times and by not running away, but actually building up the
capacity to be there.
But then when you get to the point where you're feeling like you're at your edge, you're smart about how you allocate your resources, you know, what
your kind of go to self care strategies are. I would say that's a basic kind of outline of how to care for ourselves.
And then, of course, within those care strategies, there isn't just a meditation and mindfulness, there are, you know, knowing having your
support groups, knowing what that looks like, there is whatever else you need in your kind of mental health toolkit.
ASHER: Yes, in terms of a spiritual practice that you touched upon, it's this idea of non resistance. I think that if I was going to sum up what
2020 means it's - I would say about understanding our own powerlessness. And I think that that's the threat that runs through that has run through a
lot of people's lives at this time.
So my question to you, is there a silver lining, to isolation just in terms of finally being able to have the time and space to focus on your internal
world you're inner world as opposed to getting constantly and the external world?
WARREN: Absolutely, I mean, I think you described very beautifully. You know, we're - it's sort of like when you can't escape from your life, you
have to learn how to go more deeply into it.
So these - the quarantine has created this - the pandemic and all the kind of lockdowns have created a situation where all of a sudden you're thrown
back on yourself all your usual ways of being distracted or being entertained or keeping yourself busy. They're maybe not as available for a
lot of us.
[11:55:00]
WARREN: So what does it actually look like to sit and be with your own, not knowing what's going to happen in the future, your own anxiety, your own
discomfort, it forces you to learn how to begin to sit with them? How to begin to create tools to work with them?
And you know, that is the silver lining, silver lining is that all of these practices have suddenly gone viral, you could say it's the other virus,
there's a lot more access to good practice technique and instruction online. There are a lot more kind of teachers and therapists and healers,
who are operating online who are doing working with larger groups.
And so you can - there is more of an understanding, there's more - there's more of a discussion around mental health itself and what mental health
needs the supports it needs. You know, there's less of a taboo around saying, I'm having a hard time right now. So all this has really opened it
up. And I do think that is kind of the opportunity.
Now, that isn't to downplay the intensity of this moment itself. It is a serious sort of ordeal that we're all dealing with. So you need to get
those tools in place. But now, I would say that is the good side.
ASHER: Yes, no, I mean, just in terms of what you're saying, I have taken the same route from my house to work for many, many years. And I noticed
that after locked down last year, around April last year, I was taking the same route and I was noticing trees that I had never noticed before
buildings, streets, that sort of thing.
When you know, I had been taking the same route but been consumed by so many other things. So my question to you is that this lockdown is, of
course, about physical health with the Coronavirus. But so much of physical health is actually linked to mental health walk us through that.
WARREN: Well, I mean, you just said it. Well, first of all, there is a tendency in the human mind to ruminate only on our problems to - and it's
understandable, we want to try to address what's wrong in the world. And we want to try to fix it.
But we can get to this point where we never stop in that cycle of doing and ruminating and trying to fix. And that itself backs up into the body to
create all kinds of cascading health effects. So this basic capacity to reorient your attention to actually simple good things in your experience,
like you just did on your walk, connecting to nature connecting taking the time to connect with just the feeling of your body and the sense of the
breath or connecting to another person.
You have to kind of start to change the ratio, how you're paying attention from only the stressful stuff, which has those negative effects on the body
and the mind to this small little - of rejuvenation and restoration, which are actually all around us.
So that's me that says meditation is very much the art of the obvious. It's starting to pay attention to subtle good things. And the more you pay
attention to those things, the more those things expand and the more your life is filled with those things. It's really is that simple? Now it's hard
to do.
ASHER: Because I have to go - we've run out of time, but you're right, what you focus on expands, expands what you resist persists. Jeff Warren live
for us there. Thank you so much. Stay safe, and be well, and have a good evening. Thank you so much for joining us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
