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CNN Sunday Morning
Interview with Santiago Nieves, Blanquita Cullum
Aired February 10, 2002 - 08:40 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It's time now for our "Week in Review" segment. Here to discuss the headlines, Santiago Nieves, Executive Producer and Host of "Latino Journal," New York's longest running English language radio broadcast targeted to Latinos. And, Blanquita Cullum, who is the Host of Radio America. She joins us from Washington this morning. Good to have you both with us.
BLANQUITA CULLUM, RADIO AMERICA TALK SHOW HOST: Hi. Good morning.
SANTIAGO NIEVES, LATINO JOURNAL: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: All right. Where should we start? Let's talk -- should we talk about Enron first or airline security? Both of those on my mind this morning.
CULLUM: Oh, just pick.
O'BRIEN: Is there anyway we can...
NIEVES: Enron is so new to us, why don't we tackle that. Blanquita, you go first.
O'BRIEN: All right. The news on Enron this morning -- CNN (UNINTELLIGIBLE) with a report that there was $55 million in bonuses paid as this company is unraveling.
CULLUM: Disgraceful.
O'BRIEN: And they're saying, "Well, we wanted to keep the people around to make sure that they could protect whatever assets remain." I just -- you know, each time...
CULLUM: They're thugs.
O'BRIEN: ... you think it can't get any worse, it does.
CULLUM: Yeah, it's terrible. It's terrible -- you know, the interesting thing is I was talking to the chairman of the subcommittee, the congressman from Florida who said that these guys were trying to cut deals as they were coming to Congress to get immunity. They're planning to be very tough with them in Congress. They're not going to cut a deal with immunity, because they don't want them to come testify and have them walk with all the cash. So I think that what I'm hearing is that they're going to try to make sure that they disclose everything. They are going to try to -- you know, after -- during the period of the last eight years, a lot of people came before the Congress and they acted like they didn't have to talk, like it wasn't a big deal. And I believe that Chairman Peterson (ph) says he is going to enforce the law on this one. He's going to make sure that there are legal ramifications if they are not forthcoming and they don't -- and they don't show up, which I think is really wonderful.
O'BRIEN: Santiago, what do you think? Is Ken Lay going to be there on Tuesday morning at 9:30 and...
(CROSS TALK)
NIEVES: Oh yeah. I think Ken Lay's going to be there, but what he's going to say, I don't know whether it's going to be relevant. I certainly think it's outrageous what he's been saying so far, which is that he didn't know what he's going -- what was going on. This is a CEO that took great pride in having great control and a daily control. And, you know, micro-managing his company. Don't tell me he didn't know what was going on.
As far as the others pleading the fifth, you know the "New York Post" is not one of my favorite newspapers, but it did have the headline that said, "Dumb and Dumber," and I think that pretty much explained the way I feel. This is a scheme; it was a convoluted partnership scheme. You know, once we talked (ph), by the way, Bush supreme court nominee (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Gonzalez (ph) is under question for having received -- been one of the biggest donors that have received moneys from Enron. So I think this is a can of worms that is just beginning to be opened.
CULLUM: For everybody, Santiago, for everyone.
O'BRIEN: But, yeah. I mean, this goes both ways.
CULLUM: It's for everybody.
O'BRIEN: This is on both sides of the aisle, isn't it?
CULLUM: It really is. And the funny thing is that...
NIEVES: Absolutely, both sides of the aisle.
CULLUM: And Santiago -- Santiago will remember this. Remember during the O.J. trial they had the maid that was from El Salvador, Rosa Lopez (ph).
O'BRIEN: There's a name from the past, yeah.
CULLUM: And her famous line was -- and her famous lines was, "No me recuerdo," I don't remember. This is just not going to play well to people, if we have to keep hearing the "I don't recall, I don't remember, No me recuerdo" line. O'BRIEN: I love it when you speak Spanish, Blanquita. All right, what about Mr. Skillings testimony, though? It was rather -- I was incredulous as I listened to it.
NIEVES: Well I think that that's the word.
CULLUM: Outrageous.
NIEVES: Yeah, incredulous, outrageous, you know, you pick your word.
O'BRIEN: Yeah.
NIEVES: It was absolutely unacceptable is what it was. And I think the American public knows what he was talking about, which is essentially zero. That was a run on the bank blaming the people for it. It's outrageous. I think the question...
CULLUM: Somebody said they should be -- they should be tried on the Rico (ph) law. They should be tried like the Mob.
O'BRIEN: Why not?
NIEVES: I understand -- I understand they will be.
(CROSS TALK)
CULLUM: You know, when you think about the...
NIEVES: Yeah. All right, I'm sorry. I understand that some RICO laws will be applied, that they're thinking about applying this to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I think is very appropriate.
O'BRIEN: Florida is going after them using some of their RICO, because they have a little looser RICO statutes there.
NIEVES: Yeah.
O'BRIEN: Let's -- I'll tell you what, let's move on to -- because we're going to be talking about Enron forever. We could talk forever. Let's talk a little bit about airline security here. The flight -- the United flight from Miami to Buenos Aires, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) decided he wanted to pay a visit to the pilots. Not a good idea. The pilots did what they should do, they took out their crash ax and did a number on him. They really probably should have beheaded him for being in there, but, you know, they were nice enough...
CULLUM: They should have had a stun gun. They should have some other -- I mean, you think about it...
O'BRIEN: Exactly. And here's my point, now we entrust these guys with our lives. They've got their hands on the yoke. And yet when they pass through security, we take their nail clippers away. You know, I think they should be armed.
NIEVES: Yeah.
CULLUM: It's a joke.
O'BRIEN: Give them -- give them, whether it's a taser or a gun, don't you think?
NIEVES: Yeah.
CULLUM: And believe me, I've gone through -- I've gone through airline security and I'm sure that Santiago has recently too. We've all been patted down. I got patted down; I had a little pair of like manicure scissors and I gave them over to them, no big deal. But this lady laughed because when I was sitting next to her and she said, "Oh, I have a whole pair of scissors. I've got two pairs of scissors in my purse. They didn't stop me."
O'BRIEN: Yeah.
CULLUM: And, you know, if you still go to Dulles, 80 percent of them are not from this country.
NIEVES: Yeah.
O'BRIEN: Right.
CULLUM: It's like who's getting patted down and who's getting across that doesn't need to get across the security line.
NIEVES: By the way, you know there's a group of women who are very angry. They're talking about civil rights laws being broken somehow when they were patted down. And by the way, let me remind you that all of this patting down went down went Albright, I believe is the name of the company that was controlling...
CULLUM: Argenbright.
O'BRIEN: Argenbright.
NIEVES: Argenbright that was controlling security for over 40 percent. So I think it's very credible to believe that that company would be suspect to the kinds of patting down -- inappropriate, by the way, because I've been there and have seen some very inappropriate patting down. By the way, yeah, I just took a flight recently from Hawaii to New York and my bags basically weren't looked at. And there was virtually no security there. I agree with you.
(CROSS TALK)
CULLUM: Miles, things haven't changed. Do you remember when the last time I was on with you -- which I'm so grateful that you kept our repeat date -- I was in Montreal and I was talking to one of the guys when I was at Dulles and he said, "You know, it's really hard to be trained to do security with a guy that doesn't speak English. He said, "What happens is you wait and you try to learn from someone else." But in the meantime, things are pretty much status quo. So what's happening, you're getting guys who are -- I mean what kind of a weird thing, the guy is lighting his tennis shoe on fire and you have this (UNINTELLIGIBLE) that is going up?
NIEVES: Yeah, by...
CULLUM: You know, you're not going to stop those things really.
NIEVES: Yeah, by the way -- By the way, the guy who was lighting his foot there, I don't know whether he wanted to get caught or not. But, look -- by the way, the pilot did have a weapon, and that ax was it. And I think that's going to come into the case.
O'BRIEN: Well...
CULLUM: But it's not enough, Santiago.
O'BRIEN: Yeah, it's not...
CULLUM: It's not enough.
(CROSS TALK)
NIEVES: I'm not saying it's wrong. I'm not saying it's wrong for him to have a weapon.
CULLUM: But, a lot of those guys are former military. A lot of those guys are former military that fly. You don't think they don't know how to use a (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?
(CROSS TALK)
NIEVES: I think -- look, Miles, is absolutely right.
CULLUM: Absolutely.
NIEVES: The bottom line is the protection of passengers. And, absolutely, the pilot has that responsibility. To that extent, I had no problem in...
CULLUM: OK, but there's good news. There is good news there.
NIEVES: Yeah.
CULLUM: OK, the good news is that the passengers are feeling more empowered.
O'BRIEN: Yes. And I think that's the best point here. Yeah.
CULLUM: And you see in all these cases here that people are saying, "OK, wait a minute, we're not going to go down because this birdbrain wants to break into the cockpit."
NIEVES: Yeah, but...
CULLUM: They have a little moxy now. They're going to take the guy down too. They're not going to let the pilot just (UNINTELLIGIBLE) by himself.
NIEVES: But feelings, you know -- feelings -- but feeling is perception, but it's not real. And I think that's the bottom line.
CULLUM: But the only (UNINTELLIGIBLE) problem.
NIEVES: Let's think about this.
(CROSS TALK)
CULLUM: OK, but the problem is, Santiago, you and I and Miles, we go to the airport, we're waiting forever, we're getting -- we're doing all this stuff about -- we're answering all the little questions, you now.
NIEVES: Yeah.
CULLUM: We can't double park in front of -- we can't do a lot of stuff. We're jumping through hoops and nothing has changed. And the bottom line is that they're going to have to do something about Argenbright. They're going to have to make sure that they check the baggage handlers. They're going to have to make sure that they're checking the rear access, where the people are loading the food. I mean, if Americans have to jump through hoops...
NIEVES: Absolutely.
CULLUM: ... everybody else has to understand we need to check those people that need to be profiled.
(CROSS TALK)
NIEVES: Let me just say -- remind you, however, that also, you know, the pilots who are responsible for this kind of security -- there was also a pilot recently who allegedly kicked off a CIA agent because he was an African-American. There's a racial issue there. So...
(CROSS TALK)
CULLUM: No, no, no. He wasn't African-American, he was Arab.
NIEVES: So part of -- what my point is...
(CROSS TALK)
O'BRIEN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) a Secret Service agent.
CULLUM: That he was packing a gun, Santiago.
NIEVES: The point is that a pilot has to define these kinds of things.
CULLUM: But, no. Look, Santiago, let's just -- look, you're the pilot and I'm the pilot, OK? We got a guy on there, he's an Arab- American, he's packing a gun. NIEVES: Yeah.
CULLUM: Now he doesn't have all his papers in place, he doesn't fill them out properly. Now you're -- you and I are responsible for the security of the passengers. I don't know about you, but...
O'BRIEN: He's on a Greyhound bus in my book.
O'BRIEN: Yeah,
CULLUM: ... I say this guy's out of there.
NIEVES: Absolutely. Packing a gun -- trust me, packing a gun is where I draw the line.
CULLUM: And I don't care if he says he's a Secret Service agent or he's working for the president. I mean, I don't care.
NIEVES: My point is, who's going to decide what an unruly passenger is?
(CROSS TALK)
O'BRIEN: Well I think you've got to give it to the captain. Folks, unfortunately, we've got to leave it there. Santiago Nieves, Banquita Cullum, thank you both.
CULLUM: Miles, thank you.
NIEVES: Take care, Miles. Blanquita, good morning.
O'BRIEN: We'd love to have you come back. And, please, always speak Spanish for us when you come Blanquita. I'll remind you about that.
CULLUM: Hasta la proxima (ph) (UNINTELLIGIBLE) mi amigo.
NIEVES: Equalamente (ph). Take care.
O'BRIEN: Mucho gusto.
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