democracynow--2020-05-04--Headlines for May  4, 2020

Headlines for May  4, 2020

Protests took place across the U.S. and around the world Friday for May Day despite the pandemic .
Essential workers from Amazon , Instacart , Whole Foods , Walmart , Target and FedEx held a mass strike to demand better health and safety conditions , and hazard pay .
In Washington , D.C. , the People ’ s Bailout motorcade rolled through the city .
Around the country , nurses at well over 100 hospitals held “ socially distanced ” protests demanding personal protective equipment and to draw attention to healthcare workers who have died while fighting the coronavirus .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ cars circled the Bell & Evans poultry processing plant to demand they shut down the facility until worker protections can be guaranteed .
At least two COVID-19 deaths and dozens of infections have been linked to the plant .
Here in New York City , protesters took part in a car caravan to call for worker protections and economic protections .
The caravan passed in front of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo ’ s Manhattan office and the penthouse apartment of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos .
In Times Square , demonstrators laid out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
This is Perla Liberato , an activist with Make the Road New York .
Perla Liberato : “ A lot of people are struggling with rent right now .
People are not able to pay rent .
A lot of people are not working .
Especially undocumented folks are not receiving any kind of money to be able to survive in this pandemic .
So we want to make sure that rent is canceled , until we know what ’ s going to happen next .
”

Protests took place across the U.S. and around the world Friday for May Day despite the pandemic. Essential workers from Amazon, Instacart, Whole Foods, Walmart, Target and FedEx held a mass strike to demand better health and safety conditions, and hazard pay. In Washington, D.C., the People’s Bailout motorcade rolled through the city. Around the country, nurses at well over 100 hospitals held “socially distanced” protests demanding personal protective equipment and to draw attention to healthcare workers who have died while fighting the coronavirus.
In Fredericksburg, Pennsylvania, over 30 cars circled the Bell & Evans poultry processing plant to demand they shut down the facility until worker protections can be guaranteed. At least two COVID-19 deaths and dozens of infections have been linked to the plant.
Here in New York City, protesters took part in a car caravan to call for worker protections and economic protections. The caravan passed in front of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Manhattan office and the penthouse apartment of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. In Times Square, demonstrators laid out body bags to represent victims of COVID-19. This is Perla Liberato, an activist with Make the Road New York.


democracynow--2020-05-05--The Case for Prison Abolition: Ruth Wilson Gilmore on COVID-19, Racial Capitalism & Decarceration

This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : I want to bring in another guest into this conversation , as we turn now to look at the coronavirus and the case for abolition .
The spread of COVID-19 poses mortal danger to the more than 2.3 million people locked up in U.S. prisons and jails .
As of May 1st , The Marshall Project reports more than 14,000 incarcerated people and nearly 4,000 workers in state and federal prisons have tested positive for the virus — and that number is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lack of testing .
Activists and human rights defenders are demanding the mass release of prisoners to save lives and halt the spread of this deadly virus .
For more , we ’ re joined by abolitionist scholar Ruth Wilson Gilmore , professor of Earth and environmental sciences and director of the Center for Place , Culture and Politics at CUNY Graduate Center .
She is co-founder of California Prison Moratorium Project and Critical Resistance and author of Golden Gulag : Prison , Surplus , Crisis , and Opposition in Globalizing California .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Racial Capitalism and the Case for Abolition .
Professor Ruth Wilson Gilmore , it ’ s an honor to have you with us , from Lisbon , Portugal , where you are right now .
Can you start off with the basics ?
How would you define “ abolition ” ?
And can you put it in a pandemic context right now ?
RUTH WILSON GILMORE : Oh , why , certainly .
Thank you for having me on the show .
And it was very good for me to hear the commentary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seeks to undo the way of thinking and doing things that sees prison and punishment as solutions for all kinds of social , economic , political , behavioral and interpersonal problems .
Abolition , though , is not simply decarceration , put everybody out on the street .
It is reorganizing how we live our lives together in the world .
And this is something that people are doing in a variety of ways throughout the United States and around the planet already .
It is not a pie-in-the-sky dream .
It is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the city of New York , in Texas , in South Africa , around the world .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : Well , could you talk about this response from other parts of the world to the question of crime and punishment , and why , obviously , we often talk about how the United States has such a disproportionate percentage of the world ’ s prison population ?
RUTH WILSON GILMORE : Yes .
It ’ s kind of interesting , although it ’ s probably just a coincidence , that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ prisoners in the world .
It also has about one in four COVID deaths in the world .
And although that might just be a coincidence , it does make me stop and think about how it is that we organize ourselves in the United States across the disparate and various polities that go from the Atlantic to the Pacific and beyond .
So , in other parts of the world , what one sees is a very simple fact : Where life is precious , life is precious .
In places where @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , social justice organizations , faith communities , labor unions work together to lift up human life , the incidents of crime and punishment , including the incidents of interpersonal harm , are less likely to occur .
And this is in places where populations are every bit as diverse as in the United States .
We also see that in places where inequality is the deepest , the use of prison and punishment is the greatest .
Nowhere , however , gets even close to the United States .
AMY GOODMAN : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about organized abandonment and organized violence of the state .
You talk about this as twin evils of the pandemic .
Please explain .
RUTH WILSON GILMORE : OK. Did I use the word “ evil ” ?
I might well have done .
They ’ re twin aspects of the pandemic .
And that is to say that organized abandonment has to do with the way that people , households , communities , neighborhoods do not have equal levels of support and protection against the pandemic , and that the response to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shelter themselves and save themselves — let ’ s take an example from the city of New York , homeless people living in the subways — is to use policing and criminalization — i.e .
punishment — to resolve the problems of abandonment .
Now , organized abandonment is not only abandonment by the state , it ’ s also abandonment by capital , whether it ’ s abandonment by real estate capital , that produces more and more luxury apartments but not affordable housing , as we can see in struggles throughout @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the United States , or tourism capital , that pushes certain kinds of people out of certain areas of the city and only welcomes them in if they work as workers in the service industry , delivering , serving , taking care of and cleaning .
There are many , many ways for us to think about organized abandonment , but that thinking should bring us to consider both how capital — large and small — and state — municipal or greater — work together to raise barriers to some kinds of people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ GONZÁLEZ : I wanted to ask you — when prison reform is discussed , it ’ s usually talked about help or assistance to nonviolent offenders or release of nonviolent offenders , as opposed to violent offenders , as if a violent offender , there ’ s no question that they could never be released before their sentence is up .
Your take on this issue of the attempt to divide the prison population between nonviolent and violent offenders ?
RUTH WILSON GILMORE : Certainly .
And my colleague from Texas already raised @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The assumption underlying that division suggests that we know something about one group of people that is never , ever going to change .
And what we forget is , most people who go to prison , for whatever the controlling offense — which is to say , what they are convicted of — leaves someday .
That means that instead of thinking that we have these two groups that we can predict the behavior of , that we ought to be thinking about the kind of life that makes possible people to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they ’ ve been removed , in such a way that any harm that might have occurred does not harm anybody again in the future .
What abolitionists do , in all kinds of work surrounding what we call transformative justice , is to try to work that out .
So , some of the leading abolitionists in the United States and around the world today are people like Mariame Kaba and Andrea Smith and Kelly Gillespie and others , who came out of work against domestic violence — i.e .
it was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ against violence and harm , that they realized abolition was the only way to resolve the problems that were not being resolved by having better , faster , more swift and sure punishment when somebody harmed somebody else .
AMY GOODMAN : I wanted to bring Azzurra back into the conversation to ask about the media coverage of the prisoners , again , and get Ruth Wilson Gilmore ’ s response to this astounding situation in Ohio , 80 % of the prisoners testing positive .
You have that happening right now in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
In Tennessee , you have — in Arkansas , Governor Asa Hutchinson announced Tuesday nearly 40 % of the state ’ s coronavirus cases are concentrated at Cummins maximum-security prison , where some 850 prisoners have tested positive .
In New York , the former head of the jails ’ doctor is accusing MDC , Metropolitan Detention Center , of not releasing figures on the prisoners who are detained there .
So , what is your exact demand right now , as your husband remains in prison , and the response of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ AZZURRA CRISPINO : Sure .
First of all , I just wanted to thank Professor Wilson Gilmore , because my husband has been convicted of a violent offense .
That doesn ’ t mean that he ’ s a violent person .
And people absolutely can change .
I think , in terms of the media coverage , one of the frustrations has been that Ohio DRC has been unwilling to release the names of the dead , especially at Pickaway .
We have one of our coalition partners , who was formerly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ know which of his friends may have died , but we are being told that we can ’ t have that information due to privacy reasons .
Yet , at Marion Correctional , when recently two well-known people who had committed murders died , both of them got media coverage in their deaths .
But when Jesse Zeigler dies — right ?
— a beloved father , then we don ’ t talk about him , right ?
So , from the use of the word “ inmate ” versus “ incarcerated person @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , such as Governor DeWine , without focusing on what everybody else can do , we ’ ve seen , I think , some pretty mixed media coverage .
And I would like to see journalists continue to do better by reaching out to people who are directly impacted , and uplifting those voices .
I think the people who are closest to the problem are always closest to the solution .
And it ’ s so wonderful to see journalists , such as Democracy Now !
, doing a great job of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And , Professor Wilson Gilmore , we have about a minute left , but I wanted to ask you .
You focus a lot of your research and attention on the role of incarceration in California specifically , the nation ’ s biggest and most populous and prosperous state .
Could you talk about that , as well , the lessons from California ?
RUTH WILSON GILMORE : Certainly .
I think the major lesson I would like to share with our audience , these last few seconds that we have together , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to making what was an huge and bulging prison system to be bigger and bigger and bigger .
And that ’ s where contemporary abolition movement in the United States took root .
And we fought and fought and fought , throughout urban and rural California , making common cause with labor unions , healthcare workers , faith communities , environmental justice activists , and other , to denaturalize the notion that crime was the problem for which prisons and punishment was the right solution , as a result of which the number @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lower than it was even imagined it could be in the year 2000 , because of the work that abolitionists did .
That work needs to expand .
But we see victories in Los Angeles County , where a plan to build multibillion-dollar jails was defeated after nearly 15 years of struggle .
We can — AMY GOODMAN : Ruth Wilson Gilmore , we have to leave it there , but I want to thank you so much for joining us , from Lisbon , Portugal , author of Golden Gulag : Prison @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Globalizing California .
Her forthcoming book , Change Everything : Racial Capitalism and the Case for Abolition .
And I want to thank Azzurra Crispino , co-founder of Prison Abolition Prisoner Support .
I ’ m Amy Goodman , with Juan González .
Stay safe .

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to bring in another guest into this conversation, as we turn now to look at the coronavirus and the case for abolition. The spread of COVID-19 poses mortal danger to the more than 2.3 million people locked up in U.S. prisons and jails. As of May 1st, The Marshall Project reports more than 14,000 incarcerated people and nearly 4,000 workers in state and federal prisons have tested positive for the virus — and that number is expected to be far higher due to lack of testing. Activists and human rights defenders are demanding the mass release of prisoners to save lives and halt the spread of this deadly virus.
For more, we’re joined by abolitionist scholar Ruth Wilson Gilmore, professor of Earth and environmental sciences and director of the Center for Place, Culture and Politics at CUNY Graduate Center. She is co-founder of California Prison Moratorium Project and Critical Resistance and author of Golden Gulag: Prison, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California. Her forthcoming book is Change Everything: Racial Capitalism and the Case for Abolition.
Professor Ruth Wilson Gilmore, it’s an honor to have you with us, from Lisbon, Portugal, where you are right now. Can you start off with the basics? How would you define “abolition”? And can you put it in a pandemic context right now?
RUTH WILSON GILMORE: Oh, why, certainly. Thank you for having me on the show. And it was very good for me to hear the commentary from my colleague in Texas.
Abolition seeks to undo the way of thinking and doing things that sees prison and punishment as solutions for all kinds of social, economic, political, behavioral and interpersonal problems. Abolition, though, is not simply decarceration, put everybody out on the street. It is reorganizing how we live our lives together in the world. And this is something that people are doing in a variety of ways throughout the United States and around the planet already. It is not a pie-in-the-sky dream. It is actually something that is practical and achievable in the city of New York, in Texas, in South Africa, around the world.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, could you talk about this response from other parts of the world to the question of crime and punishment, and why, obviously, we often talk about how the United States has such a disproportionate percentage of the world’s prison population?
RUTH WILSON GILMORE: Yes. It’s kind of interesting, although it’s probably just a coincidence, that the United States has about one in four prisoners in the world. It also has about one in four COVID deaths in the world. And although that might just be a coincidence, it does make me stop and think about how it is that we organize ourselves in the United States across the disparate and various polities that go from the Atlantic to the Pacific and beyond.
So, in other parts of the world, what one sees is a very simple fact: Where life is precious, life is precious. In places where the state, the government, municipalities, social justice organizations, faith communities, labor unions work together to lift up human life, the incidents of crime and punishment, including the incidents of interpersonal harm, are less likely to occur. And this is in places where populations are every bit as diverse as in the United States. We also see that in places where inequality is the deepest, the use of prison and punishment is the greatest. Nowhere, however, gets even close to the United States.
AMY GOODMAN: Professor Ruth Wilson Gilmore, you talk about organized abandonment and organized violence of the state. You talk about this as twin evils of the pandemic. Please explain.
RUTH WILSON GILMORE: OK. Did I use the word “evil”? I might well have done. They’re twin aspects of the pandemic. And that is to say that organized abandonment has to do with the way that people, households, communities, neighborhoods do not have equal levels of support and protection against the pandemic, and that the response to people trying to figure out how to shelter themselves and save themselves — let’s take an example from the city of New York, homeless people living in the subways — is to use policing and criminalization — i.e. punishment — to resolve the problems of abandonment.
Now, organized abandonment is not only abandonment by the state, it’s also abandonment by capital, whether it’s abandonment by real estate capital, that produces more and more luxury apartments but not affordable housing, as we can see in struggles throughout the city of New York and around the United States, or tourism capital, that pushes certain kinds of people out of certain areas of the city and only welcomes them in if they work as workers in the service industry, delivering, serving, taking care of and cleaning. There are many, many ways for us to think about organized abandonment, but that thinking should bring us to consider both how capital — large and small — and state — municipal or greater — work together to raise barriers to some kinds of people and lower them for others.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: I wanted to ask you — when prison reform is discussed, it’s usually talked about help or assistance to nonviolent offenders or release of nonviolent offenders, as opposed to violent offenders, as if a violent offender, there’s no question that they could never be released before their sentence is up. Your take on this issue of the attempt to divide the prison population between nonviolent and violent offenders?
RUTH WILSON GILMORE: Certainly. And my colleague from Texas already raised this in her discussion with you. The assumption underlying that division suggests that we know something about one group of people that is never, ever going to change. And what we forget is, most people who go to prison, for whatever the controlling offense — which is to say, what they are convicted of — leaves someday. That means that instead of thinking that we have these two groups that we can predict the behavior of, that we ought to be thinking about the kind of life that makes possible people to return to the world, from which they’ve been removed, in such a way that any harm that might have occurred does not harm anybody again in the future.
What abolitionists do, in all kinds of work surrounding what we call transformative justice, is to try to work that out. So, some of the leading abolitionists in the United States and around the world today are people like Mariame Kaba and Andrea Smith and Kelly Gillespie and others, who came out of work against domestic violence — i.e. it was in doing work to try to fight against violence and harm, that they realized abolition was the only way to resolve the problems that were not being resolved by having better, faster, more swift and sure punishment when somebody harmed somebody else.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to bring Azzurra back into the conversation to ask about the media coverage of the prisoners, again, and get Ruth Wilson Gilmore’s response to this astounding situation in Ohio, 80% of the prisoners testing positive. You have that happening right now in Ohio. In — what is it? In Tennessee, you have — in Arkansas, Governor Asa Hutchinson announced Tuesday nearly 40% of the state’s coronavirus cases are concentrated at Cummins maximum-security prison, where some 850 prisoners have tested positive. In New York, the former head of the jails’ doctor is accusing MDC, Metropolitan Detention Center, of not releasing figures on the prisoners who are detained there. So, what is your exact demand right now, as your husband remains in prison, and the response of the governor of Ohio, DeWine?
AZZURRA CRISPINO: Sure. First of all, I just wanted to thank Professor Wilson Gilmore, because my husband has been convicted of a violent offense. That doesn’t mean that he’s a violent person. And people absolutely can change.
I think, in terms of the media coverage, one of the frustrations has been that Ohio DRC has been unwilling to release the names of the dead, especially at Pickaway. We have one of our coalition partners, who was formerly incarcerated there, who really wants to know which of his friends may have died, but we are being told that we can’t have that information due to privacy reasons. Yet, at Marion Correctional, when recently two well-known people who had committed murders died, both of them got media coverage in their deaths. But when Jesse Zeigler dies — right? — a beloved father, then we don’t talk about him, right?
So, from the use of the word “inmate” versus “incarcerated person,” the focus on state actors, such as Governor DeWine, without focusing on what everybody else can do, we’ve seen, I think, some pretty mixed media coverage. And I would like to see journalists continue to do better by reaching out to people who are directly impacted, and uplifting those voices. I think the people who are closest to the problem are always closest to the solution. And it’s so wonderful to see journalists, such as Democracy Now!, doing a great job of covering these issues.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Professor Wilson Gilmore, we have about a minute left, but I wanted to ask you. You focus a lot of your research and attention on the role of incarceration in California specifically, the nation’s biggest and most populous and prosperous state. Could you talk about that, as well, the lessons from California?
RUTH WILSON GILMORE: Certainly. I think the major lesson I would like to share with our audience, these last few seconds that we have together, is that California was on a path to making what was an huge and bulging prison system to be bigger and bigger and bigger. And that’s where contemporary abolition movement in the United States took root. And we fought and fought and fought, throughout urban and rural California, making common cause with labor unions, healthcare workers, faith communities, environmental justice activists, and other, to denaturalize the notion that crime was the problem for which prisons and punishment was the right solution, as a result of which the number of people in California prisons is much lower than it was even imagined it could be in the year 2000, because of the work that abolitionists did. That work needs to expand. But we see victories in Los Angeles County, where a plan to build multibillion-dollar jails was defeated after nearly 15 years of struggle. We can —
AMY GOODMAN: Ruth Wilson Gilmore, we have to leave it there, but I want to thank you so much for joining us, from Lisbon, Portugal, author of Golden Gulag: Prison, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California. Her forthcoming book, Change Everything: Racial Capitalism and the Case for Abolition. And I want to thank Azzurra Crispino, co-founder of Prison Abolition Prisoner Support. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González. Stay safe.


democracynow--2020-05-05--Calls Grow for Mass Release from Ohio's Marion Prison as 80% of Prisoners Test Positive for COVID-19

This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : This is Democracy Now !
, democracynow.org , The Quarantine Report .
I ’ m Amy Goodman , with Juan González , as we turn now to a prison in Ohio where one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the U.S. has killed at least 11 prisoners and one staff member .
Eighty percent of the prisoners , half the prison staff at Marion Correctional Institution tested positive for COVID-19 in April , making it the largest virus hot spot in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ devastated Pickaway prison , where at least 23 prisoners and one staff member have died from the virus .
This is an incarcerated person at Marion describing conditions inside the prison .
INCARCERATED PERSON : I ’ m in Marion Correctional , where the coronavirus is just spreading like wildfire .
Out of 2,500 people , they say 1,300 people got it .
You know , that ’ s a scary thought .
I might not make it home to my children , you know .
I just wanted to speak up for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that this will make a difference and it reaches the right hands and , you know , we get some kind of relief .
All I can ask is just keep us in your prayers .
AMY GOODMAN : Despite growing calls to release thousands of Ohio ’ s nearly 50,000 prisoners as the coronavirus spreads , Governor Mike DeWine has only approved the release of more than 100 people in the state ’ s prisons .
Protesters recently held a car demonstration outside the Ohio Statehouse demanding the governor free 20,000 people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ News .
This clip begins with Teresa Rogers , whose son is imprisoned in Ohio .
AMY GOODMAN : This comes as a new report by the Prison Policy Initiative finds that while some jails have drastically cut populations , state prisons have released almost no one .
Well , for more , we go to Austin , Texas , where we ’ re joined by Azzurra Crispino , co-founder of Prison Abolition Prisoner Support , or PAPS , associate professor of philosophy at Austin Community College in Texas .
Her husband James @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Democracy Now !
Can you tell us , Azzurra , about the situation at Marion ?
I mean , this is 80 % of the prisoners and half the staff ?
What are you demanding ?
How is your husband ?
You ’ re asking that he be released .
He has served the vast majority of his time .
What is the response ?
AZZURRA CRISPINO : So far , we have received a response from the County Prosecutor ’ s Office filing a motion against his judicial release , and we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ decide whether she will grant him a hearing or if she will deny his judicial release .
We ’ re seeing a few people being released out of Marion through the judicial release process .
They are able to attend hearings by teleconference , if they wish , but not anywhere near the 20,000 in May that we and others in our coalition are demanding .
In terms of conditions at Marion , Governor DeWine has been bragging about the fact that he called in the National Guard .
However , that has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people who are not trained in deescalation and really don ’ t understand the prison environment .
You have incarcerated people who are taking care of each other , as they are scared to request medical facilities , because they are led to believe , and probably are , being placed in solitary confinement conditions if they are seen as being too sick , and then they won ’ t be able to help each other .
So , we ’ re getting reports of people using Vicks VapoRub and putting it in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fellow incarcerated people .
Meanwhile , the governor is bragging about how great a resolution to this situation Ohio has .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : And , Azzurra Crispino , this is not just an Ohio problem .
Obviously , we ’ re getting the reports — we ’ ve seen reports that in Cook County Jail in Chicago , 800 confirmed cases of the virus , and so far six prisoners and one correction officer have died .
We ’ re seeing in New York City , at Rikers Island , 800 city @ @ @ @ @ @ @ eight have died .
The city jails seem to be moving much more quickly to reduce prison populations , but some of the state prison systems are much more slower to react or are resisting .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : Why do you think that is ?
AZZURRA CRISPINO : Well , I think that it ’ s a political problem , right ?
The governors don ’ t want to be seen as being soft on crime .
And politically , they have absolutely nothing to lose .
Whereas those of us who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ understand that these are loved ones , and we don ’ t want to see them die .
In addition , I don ’ t think that there ’ s been enough focus on the judiciary and how it can be involved .
Now , Ohio is a little unique because it has a completely different parole system than most states .
Long/short , it almost got rid of parole in ’ 97 .
So , what that means is that it ’ s easier for political officials to basically be able to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ think , in state facilities , in a way that we have not seen at the federal level or at the city and county jails , where , due to the pretrial nature of many people , I think there ’ s been a greater focus on helping people who are presumed innocent .
So , I think , ultimately , this is a question of humanization .
As long as we continue to see incarcerated people as disposable , then we ’ re not going to deal with this problem head on @

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The Quarantine Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González, as we turn now to a prison in Ohio where one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the U.S. has killed at least 11 prisoners and one staff member. Eighty percent of the prisoners, half the prison staff at Marion Correctional Institution tested positive for COVID-19 in April, making it the largest virus hot spot in the country. A massive outbreak has also devastated Pickaway prison, where at least 23 prisoners and one staff member have died from the virus. This is an incarcerated person at Marion describing conditions inside the prison.
INCARCERATED PERSON: I’m in Marion Correctional, where the coronavirus is just spreading like wildfire. Out of 2,500 people, they say 1,300 people got it. You know, that’s a scary thought. I might not make it home to my children, you know. I just wanted to speak up for what I believe in, and hopefully that this will make a difference and it reaches the right hands and, you know, we get some kind of relief. All I can ask is just keep us in your prayers.
AMY GOODMAN: Despite growing calls to release thousands of Ohio’s nearly 50,000 prisoners as the coronavirus spreads, Governor Mike DeWine has only approved the release of more than 100 people in the state’s prisons. Protesters recently held a car demonstration outside the Ohio Statehouse demanding the governor free 20,000 people in May. Demonstrators spoke to ABC News. This clip begins with Teresa Rogers, whose son is imprisoned in Ohio.
TERESA ROGERS: I think it’s a reasonable number, but most of them are going to get out anyway. Most of them are on their way out anyway.
CHAZIDY BOWMAN: How are we protecting these people? They don’t have proper PPEs. Some of them have masks that are made from toilet paper and sheets.
AMY GOODMAN: This comes as a new report by the Prison Policy Initiative finds that while some jails have drastically cut populations, state prisons have released almost no one.
Well, for more, we go to Austin, Texas, where we’re joined by Azzurra Crispino, co-founder of Prison Abolition Prisoner Support, or PAPS, associate professor of philosophy at Austin Community College in Texas. Her husband James is incarcerated at Marion.
Welcome to Democracy Now! Can you tell us, Azzurra, about the situation at Marion? I mean, this is 80% of the prisoners and half the staff? What are you demanding? How is your husband? You’re asking that he be released. He has served the vast majority of his time. What is the response?
AZZURRA CRISPINO: So far, we have received a response from the County Prosecutor’s Office filing a motion against his judicial release, and we are waiting for Judge Wanda Jones to decide whether she will grant him a hearing or if she will deny his judicial release. We’re seeing a few people being released out of Marion through the judicial release process. They are able to attend hearings by teleconference, if they wish, but not anywhere near the 20,000 in May that we and others in our coalition are demanding.
In terms of conditions at Marion, Governor DeWine has been bragging about the fact that he called in the National Guard. However, that has substantially increased tensions, as you have people who are not trained in deescalation and really don’t understand the prison environment. You have incarcerated people who are taking care of each other, as they are scared to request medical facilities, because they are led to believe, and probably are, being placed in solitary confinement conditions if they are seen as being too sick, and then they won’t be able to help each other. So, we’re getting reports of people using Vicks VapoRub and putting it in hotpots to basically create steamers for their fellow incarcerated people. Meanwhile, the governor is bragging about how great a resolution to this situation Ohio has.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Azzurra Crispino, this is not just an Ohio problem. Obviously, we’re getting the reports — we’ve seen reports that in Cook County Jail in Chicago, 800 confirmed cases of the virus, and so far six prisoners and one correction officer have died. We’re seeing in New York City, at Rikers Island, 800 city correction employees have tested positive, and eight have died. The city jails seem to be moving much more quickly to reduce prison populations, but some of the state prison systems are much more slower to react or are resisting.
AZZURRA CRISPINO: Absolutely.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Why do you think that is?
AZZURRA CRISPINO: Well, I think that it’s a political problem, right? The governors don’t want to be seen as being soft on crime. And politically, they have absolutely nothing to lose. Whereas those of us who have family and friends who are incarcerated understand that these are loved ones, and we don’t want to see them die. In addition, I don’t think that there’s been enough focus on the judiciary and how it can be involved. Now, Ohio is a little unique because it has a completely different parole system than most states. Long/short, it almost got rid of parole in ’97.
So, what that means is that it’s easier for political officials to basically be able to pass the hot potato around, I think, in state facilities, in a way that we have not seen at the federal level or at the city and county jails, where, due to the pretrial nature of many people, I think there’s been a greater focus on helping people who are presumed innocent. So, I think, ultimately, this is a question of humanization. As long as we continue to see incarcerated people as disposable, then we’re not going to deal with this problem head on.


democracynow--2020-05-05--Navajo Nation Suffers Third-Highest COVID-19 Infection Rate in U.S. with Limited Healthcare & Water

This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : This is Democracy Now !
, democracynow.org , The Quarantine Report .
I ’ m Amy Goodman in New York , the epicenter of the pandemic .
Juan González is in New Jersey .
It ’ s number two for coronavirus infections .
And now we ’ re going to number three , per capita , Navajo Nation , as we continue to look at how the Navajo Nation has been so hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic , highest number of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ States following New York and New Jersey .
The rural community has reported having nearly 2,300 known cases of COVID-19 , 73 deaths as of Sunday .
The Navajo Nation is the largest Indigenous reservation in the United States with a population of some 350,000 , a territory that spreads over 27,000 square miles .
As we turn now to two doctors who know this land well , on the ground treating patients .
Joining us from Gallup , New Mexico , Dr. Sriram Shamasunder is a leading medical volunteer — he ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 21 nurses and doctors from University of California , San Francisco , where he ’ s an associate professor of medicine , to the Native American reservation near Gallup .
He ’ s the co-founder of the HEAL Initiative , which has worked across nine countries , including Navajo Nation , since 2015 , promoting health equity .
And joining us from Winslow , Arizona , Dr. Michelle Tom , member of the Navajo Nation , family physician , treating COVID-19 patients at the Winslow Indian Health Care Center and Little Colorado Medical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reservation .
She was a basketball star in college at Arizona State University .
We welcome you both , Doctors , to Democracy Now !
Dr. Tom , let ’ s begin with you .
You work in the clinic where you were born .
As you listen to Valentina ’ s story , a 28-year-old Navajo woman who suddenly died after being diagnosed with COVID-19 , your response ?
Can you put it in the context of what ’ s happening right now in the Navajo Nation ?
DR. MICHELLE TOM : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of what we ’ re going through as a people , and it correlates with what this virus can do to our young and someone who was very motivated , loved our culture , spread our culture , our rich and strong , and our language .
And that ’ s what we ’ re trying to fight for .
You know , there ’ s not many who really promote really great things , who is a young person , and she was one of them .
And she was going to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , it was a hard loss of our community .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : And , Dr. Tom , why do you think there has been such a devastation in terms of COVID-19 throughout the Native population , especially in Navajo Country ?
DR. MICHELLE TOM : I think the spread — we ’ re a very matriarchal society , and we have a connection to the land and to our community .
And so , we really concentrate on the community .
And when someone is sick , we tend to be there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in multigenerational homes .
So , the contact of that and the spread is obviously more than we wanted , but that was just part of our culture , is to help one another and to visit one another and encourage one another .
And being with a very strong family and all these strong ties , that was probably — you know , it ’ s multifactorial , but that was one of the reasons .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : And what about the external conditions confronted day to day ?
For instance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people in the Navajo reservation do not have running water , how that affects their ability to combat this disease ?
DR. MICHELLE TOM : Oh , absolutely .
And that ’ s from a long state of histories with treaties and our relationship with the government .
We ’ ve had — set aside for certain things like that , and our infrastructure for water has never been at the capacity where we can provide water for everyone on the reservation .
So , you ’ re telling people to wash your @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people are trying just to get water just to drink and just to cook with .
And we know that water is part of a healthy body .
You know , so , when you ’ re trying to have people wash things all the time , we are struggling with just clean water in general .
AMY GOODMAN : I want to bring Dr. Sriram Shamasunder into the conversation .
You ’ re leading this group of volunteer doctors and nurses from San Francisco to Navajo Nation .
You ’ re in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ right now by the governor because of this massive outbreak .
You ’ ve described treating four generations of one family .
Talk about your work that you ’ ve been doing there for years .
DR. SRIRAM SHAMASUNDER : Yes .
So , I helped co-found the HEAL Initiative , which is a global health immersive fellowship that trains and transforms frontline health professionals to make serving the underserved a lifelong choice .
And so , over the last five years , we ’ ve had 150 frontline health professionals come through @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are U.S. doctors or nurses , and the other half are either Navajo or from countries such as Haiti or Mexico or Malawi or India .
And so it ’ s this really diverse community of frontline workers that are trying to get better at serving underserved populations .
And we worked in Navajo Nation for the last five years , since 2015 , and had partnerships .
And I think it ’ s important to know that before COVID-19 , Indian Health Service , Navajo population , what we ’ re seeing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ underfunded health system , where IHS is funded one-third the rate per capita as the VA or Medicare .
And the level of inequity that you ’ re seeing and the COVID cases that you ’ re seeing in Gallup , as well as Chinle , it ’ s part of this pattern .
You know , in Michigan and Chicago , we know that in Michigan , 14 % of the population are Black folks , and yet 40 % of the deaths are Black people .
And in Navajo Nation and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the population is Native American , but you see almost a third of the cases , of COVID cases , being Native American .
And I think in — I ’ ve been practicing both in Gallup , New Mexico , with our team of volunteers , as well as Chinle , Arizona .
In Gallup , I think what ’ s amazing is that I am running a sprint , but my colleagues , like Dr. Tom , have really been running this marathon for a long period of time .
And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ve done an amazing job .
I think you ’ ve have seen this incredible local leadership , where they ’ ve been able to put 125 unsheltered people , community members , into motel rooms and have a collaboration to take care of them , as well as stop community spread .
And in Chinle , Arizona , this last weekend , I was taking care of patients .
And like you mentioned , Amy , there ’ s been four generations — a great-grandmother , a grandmother , a mother and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And I think that this is what the Navajo — my Navajo colleagues have been dealing with for the last six weeks .
And the surge is upon us , where , taking care of a grandmother this last weekend , we ’ re always deciding whether these facilities can manage .
And it ’ s such a humbling disease , because a lot of the facilities that we ’ re in , once you intubate the patient , you have to transfer them to Phoenix or Albuquerque .
And so , all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is the trajectory , because every time you intubate a patient , it ’ s just one more level beyond what we deal with in San Francisco , because the Navajo people , where the land is so sacred , they are going to wake up isolated in another city , such as Phoenix or Albuquerque .
And I think that that is humbling .
So , the providers , the Navajo providers , are trying to see how much can they take care of their patients in their facilities , and when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re going to have to transfer patients out .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : Dr. Shamasunder , I wanted to ask you about the extraordinary mobilization of the tribal authorities to combat COVID-19 , and also how the government of New Mexico , the state government , has responded .
Obviously , there was a lot of reports about the state invoking the Riot Control Act and sealing off Gallup .
Could you talk about both , the state response and the tribal government response , especially in view of what we ’ ve @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the federal level on this disease ?
DR. SRIRAM SHAMASUNDER : Yeah .
I think that the incredible resourcefulness and resilience of the Navajo people is totally apparent when we come here .
We actually met with President Nez , the Navajo president , when we arrived .
And he ’ s really been on the forefront of having people shelter in place .
And really , you know , like Dr. Tom was saying , when you ’ re trying to shelter in place and you live with eight or 10 people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the community is so connected , you ’ re going to have community spread .
And so , the outbreak , I think , in Navajo Nation is not a lack of leadership .
I think President Nez has been incredible at having these weekend lockdowns , which is extremely difficult for the Navajo people , and is really leading with wearing masks in public , and so doing all the right things , I think , from the national sovereign level .
And he ’ s been very vocal to say that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
And that ’ s what I ’ ve seen in Chinle , Arizona .
We have HEAL fellows that are behavioral health coaches , that are not — are usually not taking care of COVID patients at this time , so they ’ ve taken over the cafeteria and are making PPE and sewing PPE , and so the whole cafeteria has folks sewing PPE .
So , I think you see , from the top of the Navajo leadership to the citizens and health professionals , really leading an incredible response @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been incredibly slow .
And then , obviously , Gallup is a border town , which is not under jurisdiction of the Navajo government , but it is an area where a lot of Navajo people come to get groceries , come into town , and there ’ s a lot of activity .
And it ’ s the second-highest caseload of new cases in the country in the last two weeks .
And , you know , I ’ m here .
I ’ m going to go on shift later today @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said — earlier , last week , they said , you know , “ I don ’ t think we need you.
” And this week , they ’ re saying , “ We ’ re getting exhausted .
The surge is just coming and coming , and there ’ s more and more patients .
And we need you to help out and do some shifts.
” And I think the New Mexican government has been strong and really almost following the lead that the Navajo president has put in place .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Michelle Tom , we have 30 seconds .
What you feel the rest of the country should understand , especially with compromised healthcare , in general , in the area , due to poverty , due to uranium mining and how that compromises the health of so many people ?
DR. MICHELLE TOM : Yes , it ’ s just access , just funding .
And it ’ s kind of made our work harder .
But like Dr. Sri said , we ’ re coming together as community .
I ’ m @ @ @ @ @ @ @ m proud of the facilities I work for .
And yeah , just getting the public health notice out there , of just wash your hands , social distancing , maybe hand sanitizer , and really just listening to our leaders right now , and healthcare professionals .
So , you know — AMY GOODMAN : We want to thank you so much , Dr. Michelle Tom — AMY GOODMAN : — speaking to us from Winslow , Arizona , Navajo Nation family physician , one of the few Navajo doctors on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ associate professor of medicine at University of California , San Francisco , has led a group of doctors and nurses to Navajo Nation , has been doing that since 2015 , and in Gallup , New Mexico , right now , which is under lockdown .
When we come back , the pandemic in prisons .
We go to one prison in Ohio where 80 % of the prisoners have tested positive , half the staff .
We ’ ll go to Marion .
And we ’ ll talk about prison abolition .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ That ’ s the audio premiere of Steve Earle ’ s new song , “ Union , God , and Country , ” from his latest album , Ghosts of West Virginia , that will be released May 22nd and centers on the Upper Big Branch coal mine explosion that killed 29 men in that state in 2010 , making it one of the worst mining disasters in American history .
Steve Earle says , quote , “ West Virginia was the most unionized place in America until very recently .
Upper Big @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that mountain — and it blew up and killed 29 men .
This is a song about better days , ” he said .

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The Quarantine Report. I’m Amy Goodman in New York, the epicenter of the pandemic. Juan González is in New Jersey. It’s number two for coronavirus infections. And now we’re going to number three, per capita, Navajo Nation, as we continue to look at how the Navajo Nation has been so hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic, highest number of coronavirus infections per capita in the United States following New York and New Jersey. The rural community has reported having nearly 2,300 known cases of COVID-19, 73 deaths as of Sunday. The Navajo Nation is the largest Indigenous reservation in the United States with a population of some 350,000, a territory that spreads over 27,000 square miles.
As we turn now to two doctors who know this land well, on the ground treating patients. Joining us from Gallup, New Mexico, Dr. Sriram Shamasunder is a leading medical volunteer — he’s leading a medical volunteer group of 21 nurses and doctors from University of California, San Francisco, where he’s an associate professor of medicine, to the Native American reservation near Gallup. He’s the co-founder of the HEAL Initiative, which has worked across nine countries, including Navajo Nation, since 2015, promoting health equity. And joining us from Winslow, Arizona, Dr. Michelle Tom, member of the Navajo Nation, family physician, treating COVID-19 patients at the Winslow Indian Health Care Center and Little Colorado Medical Center in northern Arizona near the Navajo reservation. She was a basketball star in college at Arizona State University.
We welcome you both, Doctors, to Democracy Now! Dr. Tom, let’s begin with you. You work in the clinic where you were born. As you listen to Valentina’s story, a 28-year-old Navajo woman who suddenly died after being diagnosed with COVID-19, your response? Can you put it in the context of what’s happening right now in the Navajo Nation?
DR. MICHELLE TOM: It just kind of is a reflection of what we’re going through as a people, and it correlates with what this virus can do to our young and someone who was very motivated, loved our culture, spread our culture, our rich and strong, and our language. And that’s what we’re trying to fight for. You know, there’s not many who really promote really great things, who is a young person, and she was one of them. And she was going to lead our next generation. And so, it was a hard loss of our community.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Dr. Tom, why do you think there has been such a devastation in terms of COVID-19 throughout the Native population, especially in Navajo Country?
DR. MICHELLE TOM: I think the spread — we’re a very matriarchal society, and we have a connection to the land and to our community. And so, we really concentrate on the community. And when someone is sick, we tend to be there for one another. And we live in multigenerational homes. So, the contact of that and the spread is obviously more than we wanted, but that was just part of our culture, is to help one another and to visit one another and encourage one another. And being with a very strong family and all these strong ties, that was probably — you know, it’s multifactorial, but that was one of the reasons.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And what about the external conditions confronted day to day? For instance, as much as 40% of people in the Navajo reservation do not have running water, how that affects their ability to combat this disease?
DR. MICHELLE TOM: Oh, absolutely. And that’s from a long state of histories with treaties and our relationship with the government. We’ve had — set aside for certain things like that, and our infrastructure for water has never been at the capacity where we can provide water for everyone on the reservation. So, you’re telling people to wash your hands for 20 seconds, and yet people are trying just to get water just to drink and just to cook with. And we know that water is part of a healthy body. You know, so, when you’re trying to have people wash things all the time, we are struggling with just clean water in general.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to bring Dr. Sriram Shamasunder into the conversation. You’re leading this group of volunteer doctors and nurses from San Francisco to Navajo Nation. You’re in Gallup, that is put under lockdown right now by the governor because of this massive outbreak. You’ve described treating four generations of one family. Talk about your work that you’ve been doing there for years.
DR. SRIRAM SHAMASUNDER: Yes. So, I helped co-found the HEAL Initiative, which is a global health immersive fellowship that trains and transforms frontline health professionals to make serving the underserved a lifelong choice. And so, over the last five years, we’ve had 150 frontline health professionals come through our program. And half of them are U.S. doctors or nurses, and the other half are either Navajo or from countries such as Haiti or Mexico or Malawi or India. And so it’s this really diverse community of frontline workers that are trying to get better at serving underserved populations.
And we worked in Navajo Nation for the last five years, since 2015, and had partnerships. And I think it’s important to know that before COVID-19, Indian Health Service, Navajo population, what we’re seeing right now is this trajectory of an underfunded health system, where IHS is funded one-third the rate per capita as the VA or Medicare. And the level of inequity that you’re seeing and the COVID cases that you’re seeing in Gallup, as well as Chinle, it’s part of this pattern. You know, in Michigan and Chicago, we know that in Michigan, 14% of the population are Black folks, and yet 40% of the deaths are Black people. And in Navajo Nation and in New Mexico, 11% of the population is Native American, but you see almost a third of the cases, of COVID cases, being Native American.
And I think in — I’ve been practicing both in Gallup, New Mexico, with our team of volunteers, as well as Chinle, Arizona. In Gallup, I think what’s amazing is that I am running a sprint, but my colleagues, like Dr. Tom, have really been running this marathon for a long period of time. And so, in Gallup, they’ve done an amazing job. I think you’ve have seen this incredible local leadership, where they’ve been able to put 125 unsheltered people, community members, into motel rooms and have a collaboration to take care of them, as well as stop community spread.
And in Chinle, Arizona, this last weekend, I was taking care of patients. And like you mentioned, Amy, there’s been four generations — a great-grandmother, a grandmother, a mother and daughter — that were all hospitalized. And I think that this is what the Navajo — my Navajo colleagues have been dealing with for the last six weeks. And the surge is upon us, where, taking care of a grandmother this last weekend, we’re always deciding whether these facilities can manage.
And it’s such a humbling disease, because a lot of the facilities that we’re in, once you intubate the patient, you have to transfer them to Phoenix or Albuquerque. And so, all the providers are trying to learn what is the trajectory, because every time you intubate a patient, it’s just one more level beyond what we deal with in San Francisco, because the Navajo people, where the land is so sacred, they are going to wake up isolated in another city, such as Phoenix or Albuquerque. And I think that that is humbling. So, the providers, the Navajo providers, are trying to see how much can they take care of their patients in their facilities, and when is it not safe anymore and they’re going to have to transfer patients out.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Dr. Shamasunder, I wanted to ask you about the extraordinary mobilization of the tribal authorities to combat COVID-19, and also how the government of New Mexico, the state government, has responded. Obviously, there was a lot of reports about the state invoking the Riot Control Act and sealing off Gallup. Could you talk about both, the state response and the tribal government response, especially in view of what we’ve been seeing of the relative inaction at the federal level on this disease?
DR. SRIRAM SHAMASUNDER: Yeah. I think that the incredible resourcefulness and resilience of the Navajo people is totally apparent when we come here. We actually met with President Nez, the Navajo president, when we arrived. And he’s really been on the forefront of having people shelter in place. And really, you know, like Dr. Tom was saying, when you’re trying to shelter in place and you live with eight or 10 people and this expansive definition of family where the community is so connected, you’re going to have community spread. And so, the outbreak, I think, in Navajo Nation is not a lack of leadership. I think President Nez has been incredible at having these weekend lockdowns, which is extremely difficult for the Navajo people, and is really leading with wearing masks in public, and so doing all the right things, I think, from the national sovereign level. And he’s been very vocal to say that the federal response has been extremely slow.
And that’s what I’ve seen in Chinle, Arizona. We have HEAL fellows that are behavioral health coaches, that are not — are usually not taking care of COVID patients at this time, so they’ve taken over the cafeteria and are making PPE and sewing PPE, and so the whole cafeteria has folks sewing PPE. So, I think you see, from the top of the Navajo leadership to the citizens and health professionals, really leading an incredible response. And the federal government has just been incredibly slow.
And then, obviously, Gallup is a border town, which is not under jurisdiction of the Navajo government, but it is an area where a lot of Navajo people come to get groceries, come into town, and there’s a lot of activity. And it’s the second-highest caseload of new cases in the country in the last two weeks. And, you know, I’m here. I’m going to go on shift later today. And the Gallup providers have just said — earlier, last week, they said, you know, “I don’t think we need you.” And this week, they’re saying, “We’re getting exhausted. The surge is just coming and coming, and there’s more and more patients. And we need you to help out and do some shifts.” And I think the New Mexican government has been strong and really almost following the lead that the Navajo president has put in place.
AMY GOODMAN: And finally, Dr. Michelle Tom, we have 30 seconds. What you feel the rest of the country should understand, especially with compromised healthcare, in general, in the area, due to poverty, due to uranium mining and how that compromises the health of so many people?
DR. MICHELLE TOM: Yes, it’s just access, just funding. And it’s kind of made our work harder. But like Dr. Sri said, we’re coming together as community. I’m proud of our nation. I’m proud of the facilities I work for. And yeah, just getting the public health notice out there, of just wash your hands, social distancing, maybe hand sanitizer, and really just listening to our leaders right now, and healthcare professionals. So, you know —
AMY GOODMAN: We want to thank you so much, Dr. Michelle Tom —
DR. MICHELLE TOM: Thank you.
AMY GOODMAN: — speaking to us from Winslow, Arizona, Navajo Nation family physician, one of the few Navajo doctors on the reservation. And Dr. Sriram Shamasunder, associate professor of medicine at University of California, San Francisco, has led a group of doctors and nurses to Navajo Nation, has been doing that since 2015, and in Gallup, New Mexico, right now, which is under lockdown.
When we come back, the pandemic in prisons. We go to one prison in Ohio where 80% of the prisoners have tested positive, half the staff. We’ll go to Marion. And we’ll talk about prison abolition. Stay with us.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: That’s the audio premiere of Steve Earle’s new song, “Union, God, and Country,” from his latest album, Ghosts of West Virginia, that will be released May 22nd and centers on the Upper Big Branch coal mine explosion that killed 29 men in that state in 2010, making it one of the worst mining disasters in American history. Steve Earle says, quote, “West Virginia was the most unionized place in America until very recently. Upper Big Branch was the first non-union mine on that mountain — and it blew up and killed 29 men. This is a song about better days,” he said.


democracynow--2020-05-05--Remembering Valentina Blackhorse, Beloved 28-Year-Old Navajo Community Activist Who Died of COVID-19

This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : New York has the most documented cases of COVID-19 in the country , followed by New Jersey , but we begin today ’ s show in the place with the third-highest number of coronavirus infections in the United States per capita : the Navajo Nation .
With a population of some 350,000 in territory that spreads over 27,000 square miles , the Navajo Nation is the largest Native American reservation in the country .
The rural community is reported having nearly 2,300 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as of Sunday .
One of those to die from the coronavirus is a 28-year-old woman , Valentina Blackhorse , a beloved community leader who won multiple pageants , promoted Navajo culture and education .
She leaves behind a daughter named Poet .
Her sister , Vanielle Blackhorse , says Valentina had hoped to enter politics in the future .
She spoke to New Mexico ’ s KRQE .
AMY GOODMAN : Valentina Blackhorse may have contracted the virus while caring for her partner , Robby Jones , a detention officer for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he could have been exposed at work .
Valentina died on April 23rd , just one day after her coronavirus test came back positive .
Well , for more , we ’ re joined now by Robby Jones .
Robby , to begin with , our deepest condolences for the loss of your partner , Valentina .
ROBBY JONES : Thank you .
Thank you about that .
AMY GOODMAN : I know you are just still reeling , for you and your daughter , your family , your whole community .
Can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
ROBBY JONES : Valentina , she — you can say she really loved her immediate family — her parents , her sisters , her nieces and nephews .
She loved her elderly .
She loved children .
She was a kind and hard-working lady , and she was warmhearted .
One thing she would do , she would do anything for her immediate family .
She always tried to take care of them as much as she could .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : And , Robby , could you talk a little bit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the issues and the concerns that she had about the Navajo community ?
ROBBY JONES : OK. For that , she was barely getting into that .
She always wanted to help out the community .
Where she worked at was Department of Community Development , where she was beginning to learn how the Navajo Nation would work and how the chapter houses in each part of the Navajo Nation , how they would provide for the community .
So , she was slowly learning how to be involved in that type of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ getting there .
So she was just an office specialist , but then she was — at that time , she was learning a lot .
And she really wanted to put herself in the community .
I ’ m pretty sure if she was still here , she would have applied for a different — not a different job , but then she would accede into something more that would help her community .
ROBBY JONES : But then , as — I ’ m sorry .
Go ahead .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ could you talk a little bit about the experience that she had there , in terms — because , obviously , she died quickly after testing positive , within a day of being tested positive .
Could you talk about her experience from the time she got ill ’ til the time she sought treatment ?
ROBBY JONES : OK .
When she first got sick , it was basically a week .
She started showing symptoms of being — shortness of breath , body aches , loss of taste and smell .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ taking care of me , I guess she contracted it .
So , like , I did — a little week , over — by the time I started feeling better , and that ’ s when she started feeling sick .
And I took advantage of me recovering to take care of her .
We , her parents and I , advised her to go to the clinic , but then she was afraid to go to the clinic .
She didn ’ t want to get admitted .
So , one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ She wasn ’ t feeling too good .
So , probably the first day she got sick , four days after , that ’ s when I took her to our nearest clinic .
And that ’ s when they tested her .
So , and then , the next four days later , that ’ s when she tested positive for the COVID-19 .
AMY GOODMAN : She was brought to the Kayenta clinic — is that right , Robby ?
And they had hoped to bring her to the hospital in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the clinic ?
AMY GOODMAN : And , Robby , do you think you contracted coronavirus , the coronavirus , from your work in the detention center ?
Where do you work ?
ROBBY JONES : I believe so .
I believe one of my co-workers , he had — he tested positive for COVID-19 .
At that time , we didn ’ t know that he went to get tested again , and this time it came out positive .
So , a few days later , that ’ s when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ positive for the virus .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : And your daughter , Poet , has she been , obviously , informed of what happened with her mother ?
Have you been able to be with her at all , or are you still self-isolating ?
ROBBY JONES : I haven ’ t been with her close to a month .
Since my first sign of COVID-19 , I told Valentina to drop off our baby with her parents ’ house .
So it ’ s been almost a month I haven ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is only 1 year old .
I haven ’ t actually spoke with her yet .
AMY GOODMAN : Were you given the proper equipment , protective gear , Robby , at work ?
ROBBY JONES : During that time , the only thing that we didn ’ t have were masks .
It was during that time where the whole United States had a huge shortage on the protection gear .
So we had gloves .
We had cleaning supplies to clean around the area .
But the only thing we were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when people cough .
So , we didn ’ t have masks at all .
AMY GOODMAN : Robby , Valentina was trying to promote COVID awareness in the Navajo Nation , among the many things she did about promoting Navajo culture , since you are a hot spot in the United States , one of the worst affected per capita , the Navajo Nation ?
ROBBY JONES : Yes , especially with her immediate family .
You know , she would always tell us to wear a mask , wear gloves , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she was pretty afraid .
Even before the Navajo Nation got hit hard , she was pretty aware , and she just wanted her family to be safe .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : And how would you like the world and the community to remember Valentina ?
ROBBY JONES : I would say she was a kindhearted person .
She would put others before herself .
If she knew someone needed help , she would help them .
I know that she loved her elders and she loved her children , or the children @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are in need .
AMY GOODMAN : Robby , we want to thank you so much for being with us .
Robby Jones , Valentina Blackhorse ’ s partner .
Again , our deepest condolences .
Robby Jones , speaking to us from the Navajo Nation , where he is a detention officer .
When we come back , we ’ re going to speak with two doctors who have been working on the reservation , the largest in the country , the most significant hot spot in this country per capita , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ infection , after New York and New Jersey .
This is Democracy Now !
We ’ ll be back with them in a moment .

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: New York has the most documented cases of COVID-19 in the country, followed by New Jersey, but we begin today’s show in the place with the third-highest number of coronavirus infections in the United States per capita: the Navajo Nation. With a population of some 350,000 in territory that spreads over 27,000 square miles, the Navajo Nation is the largest Native American reservation in the country. The rural community is reported having nearly 2,300 known cases of COVID-19 and 73 deaths as of Sunday. One of those to die from the coronavirus is a 28-year-old woman, Valentina Blackhorse, a beloved community leader who won multiple pageants, promoted Navajo culture and education. She leaves behind a daughter named Poet. Her sister, Vanielle Blackhorse, says Valentina had hoped to enter politics in the future. She spoke to New Mexico’s KRQE.
VANIELLE BLACKHORSE: My sister, she — she wanted to see her daughter grow up, and be there for her and encourage her, and, you know, encourage her to run in pageants, just like she did.
AMY GOODMAN: Valentina Blackhorse may have contracted the virus while caring for her partner, Robby Jones, a detention officer for the Navajo Department of Corrections, who says he could have been exposed at work. Valentina died on April 23rd, just one day after her coronavirus test came back positive.
Well, for more, we’re joined now by Robby Jones.
Robby, to begin with, our deepest condolences for the loss of your partner, Valentina.
ROBBY JONES: Thank you. Thank you about that.
AMY GOODMAN: I know you are just still reeling, for you and your daughter, your family, your whole community. Can you tell us a little about Valentina?
ROBBY JONES: Valentina, she — you can say she really loved her immediate family — her parents, her sisters, her nieces and nephews. She loved her elderly. She loved children. She was a kind and hard-working lady, and she was warmhearted. One thing she would do, she would do anything for her immediate family. She always tried to take care of them as much as she could.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Robby, could you talk a little bit about her involvement in the community, the issues and the concerns that she had about the Navajo community?
ROBBY JONES: OK. For that, she was barely getting into that. She always wanted to help out the community. Where she worked at was Department of Community Development, where she was beginning to learn how the Navajo Nation would work and how the chapter houses in each part of the Navajo Nation, how they would provide for the community. So, she was slowly learning how to be involved in that type of work. So, she was slowly getting there. So she was just an office specialist, but then she was — at that time, she was learning a lot. And she really wanted to put herself in the community. I’m pretty sure if she was still here, she would have applied for a different — not a different job, but then she would accede into something more that would help her community.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And —
ROBBY JONES: But then, as — I’m sorry. Go ahead.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And when she became ill, could you talk a little bit about the experience that she had there, in terms — because, obviously, she died quickly after testing positive, within a day of being tested positive. Could you talk about her experience from the time she got ill ’til the time she sought treatment?
ROBBY JONES: OK. When she first got sick, it was basically a week. She started showing symptoms of being — shortness of breath, body aches, loss of taste and smell. During that time, when she was taking care of me, I guess she contracted it. So, like, I did — a little week, over — by the time I started feeling better, and that’s when she started feeling sick. And I took advantage of me recovering to take care of her. We, her parents and I, advised her to go to the clinic, but then she was afraid to go to the clinic. She didn’t want to get admitted. So, one day, she just felt horrible. She wasn’t feeling too good. So, probably the first day she got sick, four days after, that’s when I took her to our nearest clinic. And that’s when they tested her. So, and then, the next four days later, that’s when she tested positive for the COVID-19.
AMY GOODMAN: She was brought to the Kayenta clinic — is that right, Robby? And they had hoped to bring her to the hospital in Flagstaff, but she passed away before in the clinic?
ROBBY JONES: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: And, Robby, do you think you contracted coronavirus, the coronavirus, from your work in the detention center? Where do you work?
ROBBY JONES: I believe so. I believe one of my co-workers, he had — he tested positive for COVID-19. At that time, we didn’t know that he went to get tested again, and this time it came out positive. So, a few days later, that’s when we were notified that he was tested positive for the virus.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And your daughter, Poet, has she been, obviously, informed of what happened with her mother? Have you been able to be with her at all, or are you still self-isolating?
ROBBY JONES: I haven’t been with her close to a month. Since my first sign of COVID-19, I told Valentina to drop off our baby with her parents’ house. So it’s been almost a month I haven’t seen our daughter. And our daughter is only 1 year old. I haven’t actually spoke with her yet.
AMY GOODMAN: Were you given the proper equipment, protective gear, Robby, at work?
ROBBY JONES: During that time, the only thing that we didn’t have were masks. It was during that time where the whole United States had a huge shortage on the protection gear. So we had gloves. We had cleaning supplies to clean around the area. But the only thing we were vulnerable to was, I guess, when people cough. So, we didn’t have masks at all.
AMY GOODMAN: Robby, Valentina was trying to promote COVID awareness in the Navajo Nation, among the many things she did about promoting Navajo culture, since you are a hot spot in the United States, one of the worst affected per capita, the Navajo Nation?
ROBBY JONES: Yes, especially with her immediate family. You know, she would always tell us to wear a mask, wear gloves, make sure to disinfect everything, because she was pretty afraid. Even before the Navajo Nation got hit hard, she was pretty aware, and she just wanted her family to be safe.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And how would you like the world and the community to remember Valentina?
ROBBY JONES: I would say she was a kindhearted person. She would put others before herself. If she knew someone needed help, she would help them. I know that she loved her elders and she loved her children, or the children in general, especially the people who are in need.
AMY GOODMAN: Robby, we want to thank you so much for being with us. Robby Jones, Valentina Blackhorse’s partner. Again, our deepest condolences. Robby Jones, speaking to us from the Navajo Nation, where he is a detention officer.
When we come back, we’re going to speak with two doctors who have been working on the reservation, the largest in the country, the most significant hot spot in this country per capita, third in the United States with coronavirus infection, after New York and New Jersey. This is Democracy Now! We’ll be back with them in a moment.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: “A Woman’s Journey” by Radmilla Cody.


democracynow--2020-05-05--Headlines for May  5, 2020

Headlines for May  5, 2020

The official coronavirus death toll worldwide has topped a quarter of a million , with over 3.6 million confirmed cases .
The official U.S. death toll is expected to top 70,000 today , but that is widely believed to be an undercount .
A pair of studies predict the COVID-19 outbreak is set to become far deadlier in the United States .
A draft Federal Emergency Management Agency report forecasts that daily coronavirus deaths in the United States would rise to 3,000 people a day by June 1 — that ’ s a 70 % increase over the current figure @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington estimates the U.S. death toll will reach around 135,000 by August in the United States — more than double the institute ’ s previous forecast .
Despite the worsening outbreak , many states are continuing to lift restrictions this week , including Florida , where Governor Ron DeSantis gave the green light for state parks , nonessential businesses , and restaurants to reopen across most of the state at reduced capacity .
On Monday , Miami Beach had to close a popular park — just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ thousands failed to adhere to new rules requiring social distancing and wearing a face mask .
In California , Governor Gavin Newsom said Monday some manufacturing and retail businesses — including bookstores , clothing and sporting goods stores , and florists — would be allowed to reopen Friday .
Businesses will have to abide by certain rules , including social distancing and offering curbside pickup .
Gov .
Gavin Newsom : “ The data says it can happen , but we recognize , as we begin to modify , behavior is modified , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ If that ’ s the case and we do not have the capacity to control that spread , to trace that spread , to track that spread , to isolate individuals that may have been in contact with COVID-19 , we will have to make modifications anew .
”

The official coronavirus death toll worldwide has topped a quarter of a million, with over 3.6 million confirmed cases. The official U.S. death toll is expected to top 70,000 today, but that is widely believed to be an undercount.
A pair of studies predict the COVID-19 outbreak is set to become far deadlier in the United States. A draft Federal Emergency Management Agency report forecasts that daily coronavirus deaths in the United States would rise to 3,000 people a day by June 1 — that’s a 70% increase over the current figure. Separately, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington estimates the U.S. death toll will reach around 135,000 by August in the United States — more than double the institute’s previous forecast.
Despite the worsening outbreak, many states are continuing to lift restrictions this week, including Florida, where Governor Ron DeSantis gave the green light for state parks, nonessential businesses, and restaurants to reopen across most of the state at reduced capacity. On Monday, Miami Beach had to close a popular park — just five days after reopening it — after thousands failed to adhere to new rules requiring social distancing and wearing a face mask.
In California, Governor Gavin Newsom said Monday some manufacturing and retail businesses — including bookstores, clothing and sporting goods stores, and florists — would be allowed to reopen Friday. Businesses will have to abide by certain rules, including social distancing and offering curbside pickup.


democracynow--2020-05-06--U.S. Mercenaries Captured in Venezuela After Failed Coup Attempt Compared to a "Bad Rambo Movie"

This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : This is Democracy Now !
, democracynow.org , The Quarantine Report .
I ’ m Amy Goodman , with Juan González .
We ’ re in the epicenter of the pandemic , as we turn now to , though , an incredible story unfolding in Venezuela , where President Nicolás Maduro announced Monday the government had detained two former U.S. Special Forces soldiers who took part in a failed coup attempt against him , after 10 armed men landed in a boat @ @ @ @ @ @ @ killed eight of the men , whom they described as “ mercenary terrorists.
” Two men were captured .
Speaking from his presidential palace , President Maduro showed U.S. passports for the two men , identified as Airan Berry and Luke Denman .
A former Green Beret named Jordan Goudreau has acknowledged the men were working with him , and says they attempted to detain Maduro .
Maduro accused the U.S. of being behind the plot .
AMY GOODMAN : The former Green Beret , Jordan Goudreau , runs a Florida-based private security @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Associated Press two Special Forces veterans he fought with in Iraq and Afghanistan were involved in the operation .
Goudreau posted a video on Twitter Sunday in which he called the attack “ Operation Gideon.
” AMY GOODMAN : Goudreau told the Associated Press the last time he communicated with the two Americans who were detained was when they were still offshore , running low on fuel .
Goudreau ’ s plan to oust Maduro reportedly began when he provided security at a concert organized by British billionaire Richard Branson in support @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Associated Press reports Goudreau had a connection to Trump ’ s longtime bodyguard , Keith Schiller , and Goudreau reportedly accompanied Schiller to a meeting with Guaidó ’ s representatives last May in Miami .
President Trump has denied any involvement , any U.S. involvement .
For more , we ’ re going to Miguel Tinker Salas , professor at Pomona College in Claremont , California , author of The Enduring Legacy : Oil , Culture , and Society in Venezuela , as well as Venezuela : What Everyone Needs to Know @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Professor .
Can you explain what you understand took place ?
Was this an attempted coup against Venezuela ?
And at who exactly ’ s direction ?
MIGUEL TINKER SALAS : It all appears to be an attempted coup .
Again , events are unfolding in Venezuela .
At the same time , it looks like a real bad Rambo movie or a really bad Venezuelan telenovela .
The reality is that this involved disgruntled Venezuelan military , former police , deserters , political opponents of the Maduro government , and was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that by landing two boats — one in Macuto , right next to the major airport and port , and the other one in Chuao in the state of Aragua — that they would somehow manage to get to Caracas and capture Maduro and install a new government .
It is almost fictional .
Unfortunately , it ’ s operating in a very charged environment , one in which the U.S. is seeking regime change and one in which the opposition has adopted , in fact , support for military action , as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for a coup against Maduro .
So , it ’ s operating in very troubled waters , and the consequences for Venezuela could be very dire , going forward .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : And , Miguel Tinker Salas , there was a report out of Venezuela that there was a contract that surfaced , a $ 200 million contract , that supposedly the opposition leader , Juan Guaidó , signed with Mr. Goudreau in late October .
Could you talk about that ?
MIGUEL TINKER SALAS : Sure .
Goudreau actually presented the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ broadcaster in Florida .
And she posted it and reported it on her website , and invited Guaidó and J.J. Rendón , the person in charge of Maduro ’ s publicity and campaign , and other individuals to come forward and deny it .
None have come forward to deny it .
So this plot could long-term implicate not only the U.S. government , also the opposition in Venezuela , Guiadó , and others .
It also allows them plausible deniability .
I mean , what they want from this is to say @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would take credit for it.
” They would be part of this transition government .
“ And if it failed , well , we were not a part of it .
We have plausible deniability ” — the same way that Trump has plausible deniability , or at least tries to claim plausible deniability .
But I insist it ’ s the context in which Pompeo , Elliott Abrams and the Trump White House have created , during the pandemic , seeking regime change , imposing further sanctions , tightening those sanctions and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Caribbean and others , that sets the context and the landscape for which this event happens .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : And you mentioned Elliott Abrams .
Is it conceivable that President Trump ’ s special envoy to Venezuela had no knowledge of what was going on here ?
MIGUEL TINKER SALAS : It ’ s difficult to imagine that given they were training on the Colombian border , an area that is highly surveilled , an area where the Colombian military is very active , that somehow they would not have picked up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when he tweeted , included @ realDonaldTrump in his tweets about the activities happening in Venezuela .
So , again , what the U.S. would like is possible deniability .
We may find out later on that , yes , they knew about it , turned a blind eye to it , see if it would actually be successful , and eventually then take advantage of it if it did .
But again , I insist it ’ s the context in which it operates that is the most fundamental , because it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , unconstitutional regime change in Venezuela , when in fact what Venezuela needs in this time period is negotiations between the different political forces , where funds can be released , where they can fight the coronavirus , where they can try to find common ground as opposed to continued conflict we ’ ve seen before .
AMY GOODMAN : So , what more do you know about Silvercorp , this Florida security firm , which provided security for President Trump two years ago at one of his political rallies in North Carolina @ @ @ @ @ @ @ earpiece at a Trump rally in Charlotte , North Carolina , at a coliseum .
And echoes of what is this , Miguel Tinker Salas , especially for young people who don ’ t know the U.S. involvement in the ’ 80s in Latin America ?
MIGUEL TINKER SALAS : It has echoes of a Bay of Pigs .
It has echoes of psychological operations and psych operations and black op operations that were done in Latin America during the entire 1970s , ’ 80s and ’ 90s .
It even harkens to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ attempted an invasion of Venezuela through La Vela de Coro in the Península Paraguaná and did not have any support from the Afro population in the region .
In fact , they rebelled against him .
So there are shades on many things here , which is all very troubling to Venezuela , because , again , Goudreau appears delusional .
He seems to be an Erik Prince Blackwater wannabe .
He provided security for a concert that was held on February 23rd by Branson on the Cúcuta border with Venezuela .
So @ @ @ @ @ @ @ politics , into what was happening with Guaidó at the border .
So , again , it ’ s a very , very dangerous figure .
Although he may have this delusional sense of himself and grandeur , he can play in that role because of U.S. policy .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : And , Miguel , we just have about less than a minute left , about 30 seconds .
But the ability of the Maduro administration to continue to persevere in the face of a U.S. embargo , in the face now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Maduro himself ?
Could you talk about the ability of this administration to survive ?
MIGUEL TINKER SALAS : Well , I think the key thing is that , again , most U.S. policymakers continue to look at Venezuela as Maduro teetering , because , again , their main informants are Guaidó and the opposition , rather than open up space , rather than engage in conversation , in negotiations .
Maduro actually still has military support .
We saw that once again on Sunday when the so-called invasion happened .
AMY @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Miguel .
MIGUEL TINKER SALAS : So I think it ’ s fundamental to understand Venezuela needs negotiations and conversation , not invasions .
AMY GOODMAN : Miguel Tinker Salas is a professor at Pomona College in Claremont , California , author of The Enduring Legacy : Oil , Culture , and Society in Venezuela .
That does it for our show .
Democracy Now !
is working with as few people on site as possible .
The majority of our amazing team is working from home .
I ’ m Amy Goodman @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The Quarantine Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González. We’re in the epicenter of the pandemic, as we turn now to, though, an incredible story unfolding in Venezuela, where President Nicolás Maduro announced Monday the government had detained two former U.S. Special Forces soldiers who took part in a failed coup attempt against him, after 10 armed men landed in a boat near Caracas on Sunday. Venezuelan authorities killed eight of the men, whom they described as “mercenary terrorists.” Two men were captured. Speaking from his presidential palace, President Maduro showed U.S. passports for the two men, identified as Airan Berry and Luke Denman. A former Green Beret named Jordan Goudreau has acknowledged the men were working with him, and says they attempted to detain Maduro. Maduro accused the U.S. of being behind the plot.
PRESIDENT NICOLÁS MADURO: [translated] Mike Pompeo was betting on this attack and believed that this attack would end the revolution, end the constitution, overthrow the government and kill me. God save us and protect us.
AMY GOODMAN: The former Green Beret, Jordan Goudreau, runs a Florida-based private security firm called Silvercorp USA. He told the Associated Press two Special Forces veterans he fought with in Iraq and Afghanistan were involved in the operation. Goudreau posted a video on Twitter Sunday in which he called the attack “Operation Gideon.”
JORDAN GOUDREAU: At 1700 hours, a daring amphibious raid was launched from the border of Colombia deep into the heart of Caracas. Our men are continuing to fight right now. Our units have been activated in the south, west and east of Venezuela. Commander Nieto is with me, is co-located, and Commander Sequea is on the ground now fighting.
AMY GOODMAN: Goudreau told the Associated Press the last time he communicated with the two Americans who were detained was when they were still offshore, running low on fuel.
Goudreau’s plan to oust Maduro reportedly began when he provided security at a concert organized by British billionaire Richard Branson in support of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó. The Associated Press reports Goudreau had a connection to Trump’s longtime bodyguard, Keith Schiller, and Goudreau reportedly accompanied Schiller to a meeting with Guaidó’s representatives last May in Miami. President Trump has denied any involvement, any U.S. involvement.
For more, we’re going to Miguel Tinker Salas, professor at Pomona College in Claremont, California, author of The Enduring Legacy: Oil, Culture, and Society in Venezuela, as well as Venezuela: What Everyone Needs to Know.
Welcome back to Democracy Now!, Professor. Can you explain what you understand took place? Was this an attempted coup against Venezuela? And at who exactly’s direction?
MIGUEL TINKER SALAS: It all appears to be an attempted coup. Again, events are unfolding in Venezuela. At the same time, it looks like a real bad Rambo movie or a really bad Venezuelan telenovela.
The reality is that this involved disgruntled Venezuelan military, former police, deserters, political opponents of the Maduro government, and was training in Colombia, and somehow thought that by landing two boats — one in Macuto, right next to the major airport and port, and the other one in Chuao in the state of Aragua — that they would somehow manage to get to Caracas and capture Maduro and install a new government. It is almost fictional.
Unfortunately, it’s operating in a very charged environment, one in which the U.S. is seeking regime change and one in which the opposition has adopted, in fact, support for military action, as it did in 2019 with its support for a coup against Maduro. So, it’s operating in very troubled waters, and the consequences for Venezuela could be very dire, going forward.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Miguel Tinker Salas, there was a report out of Venezuela that there was a contract that surfaced, a $200 million contract, that supposedly the opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, signed with Mr. Goudreau in late October. Could you talk about that?
MIGUEL TINKER SALAS: Sure. Goudreau actually presented the contract to Patricia Poleo, an opposition broadcaster in Florida. And she posted it and reported it on her website, and invited Guaidó and J.J. Rendón, the person in charge of Maduro’s publicity and campaign, and other individuals to come forward and deny it. None have come forward to deny it. So this plot could long-term implicate not only the U.S. government, also the opposition in Venezuela, Guiadó, and others. It also allows them plausible deniability.
I mean, what they want from this is to say, “If it succeeded, we would take credit for it.” They would be part of this transition government. “And if it failed, well, we were not a part of it. We have plausible deniability” — the same way that Trump has plausible deniability, or at least tries to claim plausible deniability.
But I insist it’s the context in which Pompeo, Elliott Abrams and the Trump White House have created, during the pandemic, seeking regime change, imposing further sanctions, tightening those sanctions and authorizing movement of U.S. military to the Caribbean and others, that sets the context and the landscape for which this event happens.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And you mentioned Elliott Abrams. Is it conceivable that President Trump’s special envoy to Venezuela had no knowledge of what was going on here?
MIGUEL TINKER SALAS: It’s difficult to imagine that given they were training on the Colombian border, an area that is highly surveilled, an area where the Colombian military is very active, that somehow they would not have picked up any information. Plus, Goudreau, when he tweeted, included @realDonaldTrump in his tweets about the activities happening in Venezuela. So, again, what the U.S. would like is possible deniability. We may find out later on that, yes, they knew about it, turned a blind eye to it, see if it would actually be successful, and eventually then take advantage of it if it did.
But again, I insist it’s the context in which it operates that is the most fundamental, because it creates the conditions for a attempted violent, unconstitutional regime change in Venezuela, when in fact what Venezuela needs in this time period is negotiations between the different political forces, where funds can be released, where they can fight the coronavirus, where they can try to find common ground as opposed to continued conflict we’ve seen before.
AMY GOODMAN: So, what more do you know about Silvercorp, this Florida security firm, which provided security for President Trump two years ago at one of his political rallies in North Carolina? A photo shows Goudreau wearing an earpiece at a Trump rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, at a coliseum. And echoes of what is this, Miguel Tinker Salas, especially for young people who don’t know the U.S. involvement in the ’80s in Latin America?
MIGUEL TINKER SALAS: It has echoes of a Bay of Pigs. It has echoes of psychological operations and psych operations and black op operations that were done in Latin America during the entire 1970s, ’80s and ’90s. It even harkens to Venezuela. In 1806, Francisco Miranda attempted an invasion of Venezuela through La Vela de Coro in the Península Paraguaná and did not have any support from the Afro population in the region. In fact, they rebelled against him.
So there are shades on many things here, which is all very troubling to Venezuela, because, again, Goudreau appears delusional. He seems to be an Erik Prince Blackwater wannabe. He provided security for a concert that was held on February 23rd by Branson on the Cúcuta border with Venezuela. So, he has injected himself into opposition politics, into what was happening with Guaidó at the border. So, again, it’s a very, very dangerous figure. Although he may have this delusional sense of himself and grandeur, he can play in that role because of U.S. policy.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Miguel, we just have about less than a minute left, about 30 seconds. But the ability of the Maduro administration to continue to persevere in the face of a U.S. embargo, in the face now of an indictment by the U.S. government of Maduro himself? Could you talk about the ability of this administration to survive?
MIGUEL TINKER SALAS: Well, I think the key thing is that, again, most U.S. policymakers continue to look at Venezuela as Maduro teetering, because, again, their main informants are Guaidó and the opposition, rather than open up space, rather than engage in conversation, in negotiations. Maduro actually still has military support. We saw that once again on Sunday when the so-called invasion happened.
AMY GOODMAN: We have five seconds, Miguel.
MIGUEL TINKER SALAS: So I think it’s fundamental to understand Venezuela needs negotiations and conversation, not invasions.
AMY GOODMAN: Miguel Tinker Salas is a professor at Pomona College in Claremont, California, author of The Enduring Legacy: Oil, Culture, and Society in Venezuela.
That does it for our show. Democracy Now! is working with as few people on site as possible. The majority of our amazing team is working from home. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González. Stay safe.