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Connect the World
Mitt Romney's 47 Percent Comments Not Moving Electorate; French Police On High Alert After Magazine Publishes Prophet Mohammed Cartoons
Aired September 19, 2012 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BECKY ANDERSON, HOST: And tonight on Connect the World.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The question is who can help the poor and the middle class. I can. He can't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Mitt Romney insists he would be president for all Americans despite a gaffe alienating almost half the population.
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN London, this is Connect the World with Becky Anderson.
ANDERSON: The Republican candidate said 47 percent of Americans will never vote for him. Well, tonight, one of those tells us why he will.
Also this hour, one of Colombia's most notorious drug lords is captured. An undercover agent reveals how the global cocaine industry is being infiltrated.
And...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, do you think they're watching me because I'm filming?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: It's not often you get to see inside Myanmar. One documentary maker did. And later we'll discover what he found.
A very warm welcome to the show. I'm Becky Anderson in London for you.
With less than 50 days to go until Americans head to the polls, the fallout from Mitt Romney's controversial comments are not going away. In the last few hours, the U.S. presidential hopeful reiterated his point that people have become too dependent on government under Barack Obama. But he insisted that he is the man to help struggling Americans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: The question of this campaign is not who cares about the poor and the middle class. I do. He does. The question is who can help the poor and the middle class. I can. He can't. He's proven it in four years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, this whole furor started when a secretly recorded video showed Romney disparaging Barack Obama voters saying they rely on government support. Romney told donors at a private dinner that 47 percent of Americans don't pay income tax and would never vote for him.
Well, CNN's political editor Paul Steinhauser joining me now from Washington. And Paul, just in the past couple of hours a new poll revealing Romney's comments aren't going down particularly well, surprisingly with the American public.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Yeah, Becky, and these are the first national poll numbers we've had since this controversy started 48 hours ago. It's been the talk of the campaign trail here in the United States. And take a look at these numbers. They're from Gallop. It's a national poll here in the United States of registered voters. It was conducted last night, Tuesday night here in the U.S. And you can see among registered voters they say from what they've seen and heard of those controversial comments at that fundraiser that were revealed on Monday, one in five say it makes them more likely to vote for Mitt Romney, 36 percent say less likely. And you can see on the right, 43 percent say it makes no difference to them.
But Becky, what about independent voters, because we know Democrats are -- don't support Mitt Romney and Republicans do. What about those crucial independent voters, and here you can see 15 percent say the comments make them more likely to support Romney for president. Three in 10 say less likely. And you can see just over half say it makes no difference.
This is the first number, Becky, the very first number. I'm sure we'll see more poll numbers as the days continue.
ANDERSON: Yeah, OK. So we've seen the significance of these comments as they're played out and the American public get to hear them again and again and again online.
How -- let me ask this another way. Perhaps unsurprisingly none other than President Obama himself weighing in on Romney's remarks. What did he say, Paul.
STEINHAUSER: Yeah, the president at first not saying anything, letting his campaign do the instant reaction, but the president was on David Letterman talk show, the late night talk show here in the United States yesterday. Take a listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: One of the things I've learned as president is you represent the entire country. And when I meet Republicans as I'm traveling around the country they are hard working family people who care deeply about this country and my expectation is that if you want to be president you've got to work for everybody, not just for some.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEINHAUSER: You know, the president's campaign, of course, continuing the rhetoric and using these comments. And an independent group, one of those so-called Super PACs, Becky, that is supporting the president they are using some of these clips now in a campaign commercial that started playing in some of those crucial battleground states that could decide the election.
ANDERSON: Why does that not surprise me?
Paul, thank you. Paul Steinhauser out of Washington for you this evening.
Well, how is it that nearly half of America doesn't pay taxes, Romney claims? Well, if you are talking about federal income tax, then he is absolutely on the nail. He's right. According to the Tax Policy Center, 46.4 percent of households pay no federal income tax, that's the tax that's taken out of American's paychecks every month.
Who are these non-payers? Well, most of them are still paying what's known as a payroll tax, that's used to fund Social Security and the health care program Medicare, but it's the chunk in blue -- big chunk there. Among those that remain there are the elderly, about 10 percent seen in yellow. Then you've got those who earn less than $20,000 another 7 percent there, interestingly there are a few thousand millionaire families who pay no tax as well. So paying neither income or payroll tax you're looking at around 18 percent.
Well, one of our CNN iReporters David Rice says he's part of that 47 percent, Republican supporter who though feels insulted and written off. But at the moment he says he'll still vote for Mitt Romney. David joins me now from Lehigh Acres in Florida alongside Egberto Willies, another one of our iReporters who is also upset and feels this will tip the election in Obama's favor.
Egberto, you are a Republican. So I assume you heard these sort, this is a big gaffe. Gaffegate is going to do Mitt Romney whatsoever, and you are a pleased as a result of it are you?
EGBERTO WILLIES, CNN IREPORTER: Are you speaking to me? Then, yes, it was a big gaffe. And I tell you I don't understand what he was thinking when he was doing it, whether he was there where he thought was private or not, especially in these days, it just shows he's really not ready for the job.
ANDERSON: David Rice, 47 percent -- part of the 47 percent Mitt Romney was referring to, a Republican supporter who feels insulted and written off, sir. Explain.
DAVID RICE, CNN IREPORTER: Right. I felt a little insulted because I thought that he was trying to exclude me, because I am in the lower income bracket. And I didn't really understand why he would do that. Number one, I don't think that that's a proper analysis. I certainly don't think that everybody that's in the group that doesn't pay taxes are going to vote for Obama. I -- there are a lot of other reasons to vote for Mitt Romney and the Republicans that have nothing to do with Food Stamps or dependence on the government of anything like...
ANDERSON: OK, David, OK. Let me put this to you. You say you're still going to vote for Romney despite what he says, despite the fact that he has insulted you. Explain to our international viewers who may not be as up on the U.S. election as you are, why? Why are you still going to vote for him?
RICE: I'm going to vote for him, number one, because I am a values based voter. And I just can't deal with Obama's stand on abortion and gay marriage and some of those other things. They just don't get me.
The other thing is that I'm much more likely to vote in favor of things that line up with the constitution of the United States. And I -- I really, really, really don't trust a socialistic thing. I've seen what socialism has done in Greece and Spain and so many other places. And I just don't want it here.
ANDERSON: Egberto, you've heard what David says. You are an Obama supporter as we have said. You've seen, though, the most recent poll. Romney's comments have upset some Americans, but I don't think he's got the sort of Phillip, the sort of bounce in the polls that some might have hoped for if they were Democrats.
How do you see those latest poll figures?
WILLIES: That is so true. Let me tell you something that is so scary. And in fact, the other iReporter scares me, because he falls into the same trap that Republicans put all the time to make this a values elections. When they are governing, it has nothing to do about values, it's simply a plutocratic instant.
If you take a look at what he said about relative to Greece or these other places with socialism, there's nothing socialist about Obama. So what we have here in the United States is a concerted effort to misinform the right. And in doing so, they consistently vote against their own interests.
If you listen to the young man on the other side of the call, the Republican Party is anathema to everything he believes, but still he's willing to give them a chance. And that is a calculated thing that they have done to the psyche of many Americans and that is the only...
ANDERSON: David, your response.
RICE: My response is simply this, that I do -- I am a great student of history. I am a great student of Karl Marx and Thomas Jefferson. And when I examine policy and direction and look at the things that President Obama is actually doing, his presidential decrees, all of the direction that he wants to take finances in, I see nothing but socialism. And I am a student of socialism. And I see it very plainly there.
I don't know what my democratic opponent there...
ANDERSON: OK. Well, he's shaking his head, I'm going to give him the last word, finally, Egberto.
WILLIES: That -- all the information that he just mentioned was information placed into a domain to mislead him. And if he thinks England, one of the most democratic countries, the Magna Carta, is somehow a socialist country and we are still not yet at that point of England with a health care system that works. He's sadly mistaken. We are not a socialist country or anywhere close to that.
ANDERSON: David and Egberto, we thank you very much indeed for joining us.
Sense of where two voters stand with less than 50 days to go until the U.S. elections mid-November of course.
Still to come tonight here on the show, heightened security at a magazine headquarters in Paris as the controversial publication prints cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
Also ahead, it took four countries, 14 teams, and 45 days of intelligence operations. At the end of it all, a notorious drug lord is finally behind bars.
And four years after it was awarded to her, Aung San Suu Kyi will be picking up her congressional gold medal. All that and much more when Connect the World continues. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: You're watching CNN. This is Connect the World. I'm Becky Anderson in London for you. Welcome back.
Now police have been stationed outside the headquarters of the Paris based magazine Charlie Hebdo after it published images depicting the Prophet Mohammed. Well, out of fears of a backlash in some countries, French schools and embassies have been closed as a precaution.
Jim Bittermann in Paris with this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM BITTERAMNN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Throughout the day today there has been reaction on the streets, but a lot of official reaction, including from Muslim Council which was outraged and said this was an insult to Islam, these cartoons, the government reacted saying that in fact they would defend freedom of the press as far as they were concerned, but they condemned the magazine for putting out these kind of insulting cartoons. And the magazine itself reacted by saying it was doing what it always does and that is attempting to be outrageous.
One of the cartoonist for the magazine said to me this morning that in fact he was a bit surprised by the kind of reaction there has been.
LUZ, CARTOONIST: It's inside the newspaper. I mean, you don't have to -- you don't have to -- it's not on the cover, you have to pay or you have to open it and you have to -- if you don't like Charlie Hebdo, I'm in (inaudible) religious people hate Charlie Hebdo. And I know it. I don't want to speak with them. It's not -- we are not a generalist newspaper.
So it means you -- we don't oblige people to see it and to read the drawings inside our -- inside our book.
BITTERMANN: Nonetheless, despite the fact that the magazine thinks that it had every right and publish, the government here is saying that it's going to step up security at various embassies around the world, 20 different countries that are -- embassies that are going to be closed and schools are going to be closed from Friday onward, at least until Monday, because of the fear of demonstrations, the government is also saying that they want security stepped up at those embassies and they are urging that French citizens take precautions and avoid crowds.
The foreign minister, Laurent Fabius said he condemned the magazine for publishing these cartoons, but he also defended the right of freedom of the press.
LAURENT FABIUS, FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): It is pertinent and intelligent in this context. We were discussing this earlier, to pour more oil on the fire. The answer is no. But we don't want to say to these people we are infringing on your right to free expression. So there's a balance that has to be struck.
BITTERMANN: One further step that the government has taken and that is to forbid a planned demonstration for Saturday. There was supposed to be a demonstration against the American embassy because of that video that was released last week in the United States, but the government says now that that can't take place.
Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Well, stay tuned after this show for Amanpour. And Christiane talks in depth with the cartoonist Luz and gets an analysis and reaction from French philosopher Bernard Henri Levi.
A look at some of the other stories that we are watching tonight and connecting our world. At least two further magazines have bought photos of the Duchess of Cambridge topless on a holiday. It's emerged that a Swedish magazine published the pictures over the weekend with its sister publication in Denmark due to feature them on Thursday. In France, the first magazine to publish the photos will not say whether it has obeyed a court order Tuesday. A court in Paris told Closer magazine to surrender the original photos and stop distributing them or face a daily fine.
South African police have used tear gas and rubber bullets to break up a wage protest near Anglo-Americans Platinum mine in Rustenburg. The unrest comes a day after striking workers at the Marikana mine reached a pay rise agreement with Lonmin, the plants owners to return to work. CEO of Lonmin, Simon Scott, told CNN it's time for South Africans to do better for their country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SIMON SCOTT, LONMIN CEO: The events of the last few weeks haven't -- you know, haven't done South Africa's reputation any good. But I think as South Africans now it's really up to us to take that challenge, to demonstrate that we can find better ways going forward, to demonstrate that we won't allow these sorts of things to happen again. We'll find better ways of addressing this, you know, we'll find better ways of taking the lessons we do have in mining and converting them into value for our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, after more than two decades in Russia, the U.S. agency for international development is being forced out of the country. The Russian foreign ministry accuses the aid agency of trying to sway March's election and has given them until the end of the month to close their operations.
The move will have a (inaudible) effect on the USAID's funded non- governmental groups alleged fraud in a vote. Well, the U.S. has denounced Russia's decision, calling it, and I quote, regrettable.
Well, in the U.S. Aung San Suu Kyi has received the congressional gold medal, the highest honor that the U.S. congress can bestow on anybody. Aung San Suu Kyi's 17 day tour is her first visit to America for over 20 years.
Yesterday, the leader of Myanmar's opposition met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and she's due to meet Barack Obama on Wednesday evening.
Congress awarded her the medal in 2008, but she was still under house arrest at that time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AUNG SAN SUU KYI, MYANMAR OPPOSITION LEADER: This is one of the most moving days of my life to be here in a house undivided, a house joined together to welcome a stranger from a distant land. Yet I do not feel myself to be a stranger. I see many familiar faces, and faces that are new to me, but known through what they have done for my country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Aung San Suu Kyi.
Well, the Space Shuttle Endeavor has begun a three day journey to its retirement home in California. It left Florida earlier today on the last ferry flight of the shuttle era. And it is now in Houston. Endeavor will fly over space centers in at least five states, dipping to a low altitude to give people there a good view before joining Discovery, Enterprise, and Atlantis in California's science museum.
Well, two small words have touched off one huge debate about the life of Jesus. A Harvard University divinity professor has revealed a papyrus script written in Coptic, a language used by early Christians in Egypt. Part of it reads Jesus said to then my wife -- unfortunately the rest of the sentence is cut off. Well, the professor is quick to say this doesn't prove that Jesus was married, just that some early Christians may have believed so.
We're going to take a very short break here on CNN. Do not go away, though, because it is another big night of Champion's League action. Football coming up. Are Chelsea up to the challenge of defending their crown? We're going to get that update on their opening match against Juve up next.
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ANDERSON: After a thrilling opening day of Champion's League action, what could top European squads playing Wednesday do for an encore? What a weeks it has been.
Mark McKay at CNN Center to tell us about what's happening.
Defending champions Chelsea up against Juventus as present. Last time I watched Chelsea were 2-0 up. What's -- what's the status quo as it were now?
MARK MCKAY, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: How about a little excitement at Stamford Bridge, Becky. Good to see you. Yes, Chelsea looking to become the first team to win this tournament in back to back seasons. And they're having a tough go of it at Stanford Bridge tonight. Looked great in the early going as 21 year old Oscar, a Brazilian, and up and coming Brazilian star making his debut in the Champion's League competition, certainly not intimidated by his surroundings, he scored two goals in the span of two minutes in the first half to give Chelsea a dream start.
But, Juve was able to pull one back. And they've pulled another one back. So in the 83rd minute as they play deep into this match, it is 2-all in west London.
Touring other select Champion's League venues tonight. In the north of England, Manchester United hosting Turkey's Galatasary in Group H. United a seventh minute goal from Michael Kerrick. That one is currently holding up.
Bayren Munish, last season's beaten finalists at the Allianz Arena tonight against Spain's Valencia. It was Bastian Schweinsteiger opening the scoring in the 38th. Bayern was able to put another one up as this one starts to wind down.
And look how many goals are being scored tonight at the Camp Nou. Barcelona hosting Spartak Moscow. Leo Messi with two late goals sees Barcelona out in front.
We will be going to Stanford Bridge and round up all of tonight's Champion's League action. Alex Thomas is live for us. We'll check in with his next hour on World Sport -- Becky.
ANDERSON: Yeah, of course we will. And Messi has probably scored about 184 already this season, has he?
MCKAY: Yeah, it seems like it.
ANDERSON: Before you go, and I know you're going to do more Champion's League at the half hour in an hour from now, of course, with Alex. Mark, we're just hours away from golf's tour championship of course. Tiger Woods, do you think intimidated by anybody out there at present? Because it certainly seems like when last I saw him he didn't act as if he was.
MCKAY: No. But there is a train of thought that Tiger is intimidated by Rory McIlroy. In fact, Tiger has this nickname for Rory. He calls Rory The Intimidator. Now McIlroy really doesn't buy it, Becky. He doesn't buy into it. He says how can I intimidate Tiger Woods. He's the biggest thing ever in our sport.
Well, the guy that actually stoked the fire of this debate, none other than former number one golfer Greg Norman, the Shark telling FoxSports.com that Woods had effectively handed over the baton to McIlroy saying Tiger is intimidated by Rory. When asked about Norman's comments, Tiger joked, it must be Rory's hair.
Whether true or not, we get to see Woods and McIlroy paired together in the FedEx Cup playoffs, this time in the tour championship, the finale which tees off Thursday in Atlanta.
Yeah, I guess McIlroy's hair can be intimidating when he...
(LAUGHTER)
ANDERSON: Absolutely. Listen, I think it's great that Tiger is back. I'm really pleased he's intimidated by somebody even if he won't have meant it.
Good stuff.
Still to come on Connect the World, a major Colombian drug lord is tracked down and arrested. How big of a dent will it, though, really make in the international drug trade? We'll have all that with an expert for you just after your headlines tonight.
And then why German efficiency means Frankfurt airport never goes to sleep even when the planes stop flying.
And as Aung San Suu Kyi prepares for an audience with the U.S. president we get rare glimpse of life in one of the world's most secretive nations.
That and your headlines, as I said, coming up after the break.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Hello. A warm welcome to our viewers across Europe and around the world wherever you are watching. We're pleased to have you with us. I'm Becky Anderson, these are the latest world news headlines on CNN.
A new USA Today Gallup poll shows the fallout from US presidential candidate Mitt Romney's comments in describing 47 percent of Americans as self-professed victims shows 885 registered voters. Of those, 36 percent say they are less likely now to vote for Romney, 20 percent say they are more likely.
Headquarters of a French magazine are under police protection after it published cartoons of the prophet Mohammed. This comes on the heels of outrage over an anti-Islam film made in the US. The magazine's director said the cartoons are meant to satirize what he calls "a grotesque film, not to insult the prophet."
A Danish magazine plans to print topless photos of the Duchess of Cambridge in Thursday's edition. Pictures which show Kate vacationing in France have already appeared in magazines in France, Italy, and Sweden.
And Myanmar's pro-democracy activist is set to sit down with US president Barack Obama after she received the US Congressional Gold Medal just a few minutes ago in Washington. Congress awarded Aung San Suu Kyi their highest civilian honor four years ago. She was, though, under house arrest and was not able to receive that medal until today.
Colombia says its last major drug lord is no longer in business, and its national sting operation has netted Daniel Barrera, also known as "El Loco." His operation is accused of funneling more than 900 tons of cocaine to the United States and to Europe.
Let's get the details of the arrest from Rafael Romo, who is our Senior Editor for Latin American Affairs. Sir?
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: Becky, just to give you an idea about the profile of this alleged drug lord, just to give you an idea, when it comes to international crime, the reward being offered in the United States for his capture was as much as Osama bin Laden's before his death.
He was wanted in several countries, including Colombia and Venezuela. In the US, authorities called Daniel Barrera a "narco terrorist."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROMO (voice-over): The reward offered in the United States for his capture was $5 million. Daniel Barrera, one of Colombia's most-wanted alleged drug traffickers, was captured Tuesday in a Venezuelan town near the Colombian border.
Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos called Barrera, also known as Crazy Barrera, the last of the big kingpins of Colombian drug trafficking.
JUAN MANUEL SANTOS, PRESIDENT OF COLOMBIA (through translator): He had spent the last 20 years during harm to Colombia and the world, dedicated to all types of crimes, perverse alliances with paramilitary groups, with FARC, with drug trafficking.
ROMO: President Santos said the operation to capture the alleged drug lord was coordinated from Washington, and it came about with collaboration between the governments of Colombia and Venezuela, as well as the CIA and British intelligence.
Barrera is being held in Venezuela, where authorities say the suspect was arrested after a 45-day surveillance operation that involved tapping 69 public phones, the alleged drug lord's means of communication.
TAREK AISSAMI, VENEZUELAN JUSTICE MINISTER (through translator): This individual underwent multiple facial surgeries in an effort to evade intelligence and security forces in Colombia as well as Venezuela.
ROMO: In addition to the $5 million reward offered for Barrera's capture by the United States, Colombia was offering an additional $2.7 million. US and Colombian officials have alleged that Barrera runs a smuggling gang that supplies cocaine to a Mexican cartel, which ships the drug to the United States.
Authorities had been closing in on Barrera in recent months, arresting dozens of his alleged gang members. In the United States, the DEA called Barrera a "narco terrorist" when it unsealed an indictment against him and two of his alleged accomplices last year under charges of conspiracy to traffic cocaine to this country.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMO: Venezuelan authorities said the suspect will be interrogated in Caracas, the country's capital. No word yet on whether he will be extradited to Colombia or the United States, where he faces a sentence of up to life in prison if convicted.
Colombia continues to be one of the world's largest producers of cocaine and is also the main supplier, Becky, of heroine to the United States. Back to you.
ANDERSON: All right, Rafael, thank you for that. That's the story, then. The UN says North America and Europe account for the majority of global cocaine consumption. And this map I'm going to show you now shows you just how the drug gets there.
For the North American market, the UN says cocaine is typically transported from Colombia by sea to either Mexico or Central America. From there, it's transported by land to the United States and to Canada. The UN says coke is trafficked to Europe mostly by sea, often in container shipments.
Well, our next guest spent five years infiltrating an international drug cartel as an undercover agent for the DEA. He thinks the arrest of Barrera and other key criminals in the past couple of weeks show that the war on drugs is finally working.
Robert Mazur joins me now by phone. We're unable to show his face because he's had death threats from the drug cartels he's helped bring down. You worked specifically on the Colombian story and, indeed, the Colombian pipeline. How significant is this arrest of Barrera today?
ROBERT MAZUR, FORMER DEA UNDERCOVER AGENT (via telephone): Well, this arrest and an arrest like it of what I would consider to be the heads of the snakes is really pivotal in the international cooperative effort to try to have a major effect on these narco terrorist organizations.
Without a free and open and cooperative relationship between many nations with the US and the military and the intelligence community and the law enforcement community, these types of operations will not succeed and we will not be able to get the people involved in command and control.
That's the key, disrupting command and control, because these people in the leadership positions are attempting to undermine democracies, the institutions within democracies, like law enforcement, military, judicial, and legislative systems. And taking out a person at the top --
ANDERSON: Yes.
MAZUR: -- it's the pivotal mechanism.
ANDERSON: And Robert, that was your job, to disrupt these hierarchies. You spent five years undercover infiltrating the criminal hierarchy of Colombia's drug cartels. Just briefly describe what you did during that time.
MAZUR: During that timeframe over a period of two years, with the help of a few informants, and after putting together a completely new, verifiable identity, I was embedded in real businesses: an investment company, mortgage brokerage business, air charter service, jewelry chain, and even a brokerage firm with a seat on the New York Stock Exchange.
And I was presented as a mob-connected money launderer out of New York. And I got the opportunity to work my way up through the Medellin Cartel, ultimately dealing with the people who were working directly with Pablo Escobar, including one of his principle consiglieres, a lawyer based in Medellin.
And also the major distributors who were producing in the United States roughly $20 million a month in eight different cities, and that doesn't even take into consideration the European routes --
ANDERSON: Wow.
MAZUR: -- which are very, very lucrative because cocaine sells for two and a half times there as it does in the United States.
ANDERSON: Remarkable stuff. And as you've been talking, we've been taking a look at some of the shots that you sent us of some of the work that you've completed during that five years.
So far as the war on drugs is concerned, it's interested me that whilst over the past couple of days we've seen these significant arrests and therefore, one assumes, some progress in the war on drugs, this is at a time that many of the Latin American presidents and leaders have decided it may not be worth waging this war anymore. Prohibition is no good, they say. Legalization is the way forward.
Are we making some significant progress at this point?
MAZUR: I think we are making some very significant progress in the last few years. There are many cases similar to the one that you -- the arrest that you announced today, one that the listener should look for the last name Joumaa, J-O-U-M-A-A.
He was a Lebanese-Colombian businessman who was working in conjunction with, not just the Mexican cartel and the Colombian cartel, but factions of Hezbollah, and moving throughout the globe huge amounts of drugs and money for the cartels.
It's important to note that, I think, that in order to have an effect, we've got to go after command and control, and I get the privilege of working with some of the fine young men and women who are part of the Drug Enforcement Administration, especially their special operations division.
And they are working very closely with military and law enforcement, not just in the United -- and intelligence community, not just in the US, but in many different nations. We haven't had this kind of global cooperation in years prior, and it's getting better all the time.
So, I -- and I can't embrace the idea of crack cocaine and methamphetamine being a drug that we would condone to be legally marketed through our communities. To me, that's -- those drugs are far too powerful to capture the mind and the heart of individuals. We need to do more in the way of education before we ever want to consider legalization, I think.
ANDERSON: The thoughts, tonight, of Robert Mazur, who's a former DEA undercover agent and author of "The Infiltrator: My Secret Life Inside the Dirty Banks Behind Pablo Escobar's Medellin Cartel," talking to you tonight here on the show. Fascinating stuff, thank you for joining us.
Still to come on CONNECT THE WORLD this evening --
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ANDERSON: Here on the taxiway, it's a hive of activity.
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ANDERSON: Well, the lights may have gone out, but the airport doesn't go to sleep. Find out what goes on after this.
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ANDERSON: Right. As part of CNN's Gateway series, getting behind the scenes of some of the world's global gateways, this month we've been reporting from Frankfurt Airport. Now, one of the busiest airports in the world, it's set to get even busier with the construction of a third terminal.
Well, local residents, though, are not going to lose any sleep over the expansion as a night ban on flights still prevents any air traffic after 11:00 PM. Despite that curfew, though, the airport never sleeps. The skies may go quiet after the sun goes down, but under the cover of darkness, there is still an awful lot of work to be done. We got behind the scenes. Have a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON (voice-over): As the sun is about to set at Frankfurt Airport, duty manager Gunnar Scheunemann is keeping a watchful eye over all operations.
GUNNAR SCHEUNEMANN, AIRPORT DUTY MANAGER: There is a night ban in Frankfurt, so the last aircraft will come in up to 11:00. All the aircraft are trying to get out as fast as possible, so everybody's busy now to get the aircraft cleaned, filled up with baggage so passengers can depart.
ANDERSON: Following last year's flight ban, there can be no aircraft coming in or out of this airport at night. At 11:00 PM, this international hub shuts down.
Or so it seems. In the main control room, 2,500 CCTV cameras show sleep passengers and empty halls. But out on airside, it's a different story.
SCHEUNEMANN: Have got a majority of the construction in our apron system. There's a big text wheel, which has to be reconstructed from the ground. The airport is always busy, also in the nighttime.
ANDERSON: Work must proceed at speed through the night. In just six hours' time, flights will resume and as many as 100 aircraft will take off and land in the first hour alone.
ANDERSON (on camera): It's after 11:00 PM at Frankfurt Airport, and while the planes are now stalled on the apron over here to my right, here on the taxiway, it's a hive of activity.
ANDERSON (voice-over): Tobias Graszt is on the night shift and has to facilitate all airside movements.
ANDERSON (on camera): When you come out onto the taxiway at night, what's your main role.
TOBIAS GRASZT, AIRSIDE DAILY MANAGER: Coordinate the closures. Then we're going to be the one that the -- all the construction work is going to talk with if they have any problems. If we take a look at our map, technically it's all red during the night.
ANDERSON: Right.
GRASZT: And red designates closed areas.
ANDERSON: My sense is the night shift's job will never end.
GRASZT: We're turning an international airport into a big construction site at night and we turn it back into an airport in the morning.
(LAUGHTER)
ANDERSON: That's fantastic.
ANDERSON (voice-over): Combining the need to grow with the efficient running of the day-to-day operations is key to this busy international hub. As the first morning flights take off, it's the end of a successful night shift for the team here at Frankfurt Airport.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: CNN's Gateway series out of Frankfurt Airport this month.
You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD here on CNN. When we come back, as Aung San Suu Kyi collects a medal in Washington, we get a rare glimpse of life back in her home country of Myanmar.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: All right. I want to get you back to what has been a big match tonight, Champions League action, of course. Tonight, defending champions Chelsea and Juventus at Stanford Bridge. I think we've got the final whistle.
Alex Thomas, live outside the match stadium with all the action. It was 2-nil last time I looked, and then it was 2-2 when I spoke to Mark McKay. How did it close out?
ALEX THOMAS, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Almost Oscar's night here at Stanford Bridge, Becky. But the tearful victory speech will have to be put on hold after Chelsea threw away a two-goal lead to draw with the Italian champions Juventus in their opening match of this season's Champions League.
Chelsea trying to become the first to defend this title since AC Milan back in 1990, and on this performance, they've got some work to do. But they will be encouraged by their new 21-year-old Brazilian signing made over the summer.
He helped this match burst into life on the half-hour mark with an opening goal, and two minutes later, a second goal that was spectacular and brought the whole stadium to its feet.
Juventus hit back with another goal in a mad seven minutes towards the end of the opening half. And then after the break, heartbreak for Chelsea when substitute Fabio Quagliarella -- there's an Italian name for you --
(LAUGHTER)
THOMAS: -- got the second goal, and it meant the points here were shared. So, not a losing start for Chelsea. Two-all it finished here at Stanford Bridge.
ANDERSON: That's when you earn your money, with names like that. Thank you, sir. Two-all. Champions League has been fantastic. Tuesday and Wednesday this week already.
Within the last hour, Aung San Suu Kyi received the Congressional Gold Medal in the US, the highest honor the Congress can bestow. To mark her 17th-day trip -- 17-day trip, sorry -- to America. We're going to give you a rare glimpse inside Myanmar.
Filmmaker Robert Lieberman has spent years shooting inside the secretive nation, and he talked to me about it earlier on. Have a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERT H. LIEBERMAN, DIRECTOR, "THEY CALL IT MYANMAR": Burma at one point was described as the rice bowl of Asia. But now it's -- all that, gone.
ANDERSON (voice-over): The people of Myanmar lived under a ruthless military regime for years. Isolated from the world, almost a third live in poverty. But for over 50 years, the world has seen little of their hardship.
LIEBERMAN: Am I allowed to film in Nyaunglebin?
(LAUGHTER)
LIEBERMAN: Am I?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are not.
LIEBERMAN: So, do you think they're watching me because I'm filming.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
ANDERSON: A new documentary gives us a rare glimpse of life in Myanmar.
ANDERSON (on camera): Talk to me about the challenges that you faced during filming. I know it wasn't easy.
LIEBERMAN: Well, I got into trouble a number of times. You're not supposed to film, and I remember -- you'll see in the movie, I filmed the national library, and somebody came out and demanded my name card and kept on demanding.
Another time I was filming directly in a crowd. I wanted people flowing around me and right in the middle of Yangon, and as woman passed me, she tapped me three times on the shoulder and then disappeared. And I knew I was in trouble, so I quickly just packed up and left. And there were a lot of these sort of close calls.
ANDERSON (voice-over): It shows a nation with little access to health care, food, and education, and where children are often forced into labor.
LIEBERMAN: Hi. Hello.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Fourteen.
LIEBERMAN: Are you 14? Are you 14?
UNIDENTIFED CHILD: Yes, 14.
LIEBERMAN: And the educational system has been wrecked. It's been 50 years of military rule, and health care and, essentially, education are almost nonexistent.
And I think that was the biggest shock, that you see children laboring in factories, you see children working in garages, changing transmissions. I know this occurs in other countries, like India, but this is probably more extreme.
ANDERSON: One symbol of hope is democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi.
LIEBERMAN: Most journalists fawn over her, and I was determined not to fawn. Yet when I looked at the rushes we had, I started to fawn. This woman is spellbinding. She is super smart and articulate. And at the time, she was exhausted, but nevertheless, she could answer your questions. She focused and just didn't give political answers.
And I -- she was very open, I found. And I -- she was able to take me through the country, and essentially she becomes your guide in "They Call it Myanmar" to Burma.
ANDERSON: If the film depicts the struggles of life in Myanmar, it also shows the magic of the landscape, the diversity and hope in a long- suffering land.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would love to see Burma one day become the kind of country where you speak, read, write poetry, the way your heart tells you to do it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: "They Call It Myanmar" opens in New York Friday and in cities across the US and Europe next week.
In tonight's Parting Shots, just because they are the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, it doesn't make them good dancers, apparently. CNN's Phil Han reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHIL HAN, CNN DIGITAL PRODUCER (voice-over): Talk about having princely moves. All eyes were on the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at a traditional send-off in Tuvalu at the end of their South Pacific tour. The royal couple proves they still have what it takes to make an impression.
It's unclear if the pair may have taken some tips from William's younger brother, Harry. He impressed crowds in the Caribbean with his dancing during a recent trip. Here he is in the Bahamas and again in Jamaica.
The royals are the latest in a long line of global statesmen turned dance stars.
(AFRICAN DRUMS)
George Bush tried his hand -- or hands -- at a traditional African Dance.
HAN: Even former President Bush's closest confidant, Karl Rove, took a chance, albeit with a more modern take.
The dancing bug even reaches Russia. Then-president Dmitry Medvedev was caught on film getting down at a university reunion.
(CROWD CHEERS)
HAN: But thankfully in recent time, some could say the standard has been raised. During his run for the White House, President Obama impressed viewers with his appearance on the "Ellen" show.
(MUSIC - "DON'T STOP THE MUSIC" BY RIHANNA)
HAN: But the award for best moves must lie with his better half, Michelle Obama, a familiar and graceful figure on the dance floor.
Phil Han, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: I'm Becky Anderson sitting down for you this evening. That was CONNECT THE WORLD, thank you for watching. Headlines up after this.
END
