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Inside The Dangerous World Of Human Smuggling, How Migrants Risk Their Lives To Cross The Border; How Migrants Risk Their Lives And Rely On Human Smugglers To Cross The Border; Deadline Looms For Netanyahu To Form A Government; Saudi Arabia Could Sell A 1 Percent Stake In Aramco; Critical Advice Unheeded; CNN Speaks To The Head of Indian COVID-19 Forecasting Committee. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired May 04, 2021 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN, Abu Dhabi. This is CONNECT THE WORLD with Becky Anderson.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST: Well, this hour we're following two stories out of Mexico for you. A deadly train crash. And CNN takes you along on one of
the most dangerous journeys on Earth there.
Well, first an elevated section of Mexico City subway line collapsed on two traffic below. A nearby camera caught the moment the overpass fell, causing
flames and sending up what you can see here is a cloud of debris and smoke. Mexico City's Mayor says at least 23 people lost their lives in what was
this collapse dozens more are in hospital.
And while we're in Mexico, another incredibly important story that we are covering for you where the CNN exclusive thousands of migrants desperate to
cross the U.S. southern border from Mexico about 6000 a day picked up by border police in April alone.
In Washington, the Biden White House says it's raising the overall refugee Capitol more than 62,000 after it was criticized for an earlier decision to
keep the Trump era limit of just 15,000. Keep in mind the refugee program is separate from the migrant surge from Mexico.
While you're hearing these numbers being tossed around, they still do not reveal why so many people are willing to risk almost everything and pay
thousands of dollars to professional smugglers to get into the U.S.
Well, CNN Correspondent Matt Rivers met with and followed human smugglers capturing the moment when two migrants from Mexico were smuggled into the
U.S. It is video rarely seen from the migrants' point of view. Human smuggling is, of course, a crime. We wanted to document this process,
though, because it is happening at the border every single day.
Well, I want to get you to that story with Matt Rivers. And I want to start down at the crash site in Mexico City. Dreadful scenes overnight, of
course, at this point, what more do we know?
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now obviously, a lot of news to talk about right now here in Mexico, Becky. But starting here at this crash site,
which is just a couple of 100 meters behind me there. Rescue crews are really salvage crews at this point, are trying to remove all of the debris
left by those two train cars that fell when that overpass collapsed.
There is no more - there isn't anyone left in terms of people being trapped in that debris, everyone has been accounted for, as you said at least 23
people have been confirmed killed as a result of this incident. We know that nearly 70 people are hospitalized here locally at this point.
And of course, the death toll could go up if the multiple patients who were told are in serious condition, unfortunately, get worse. The big question
now, Becky about this crash is going to be the investigation moving forward. How did such a catastrophic failure of infrastructure happen here?
We've talked to multiple people in this neighborhood who said there have been problems with this particular subway line going back to its
inauguration back in 2012. Multiple documented cases of structural failures. The Mayor of Mexico City says they're going to be hiring a yet to
be named international firm to essentially conduct an audit of this line of code. You have to wonder why that wasn't done earlier Becky.
ANDERSON: Absolutely. Well, as we continue to monitor the site, and what goes on with that investigation? As we outlined at the top of this hour,
you documented one of the most dangerous journeys that migrants take on a daily basis to get from Mexico into the U.S. Tell us more about that Matt.
RIVERS: Yes, Becky, I think very often this story is told from the point of view of those inside the United States and we have seen people cross before
from the point of view of cameras on the U.S. side, but rarely have we seen the kind of point of view that we were able to capture from the migrants
point of view.
What is it like at the end of thousands of mile long journey, just before they enter into the United States? This is happening in Tijuana. It's
happening in Matamoros. And it is also happening in Ciudad Juarez where we documented this process.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RIVERS (voice over): As long as there's been a border wall. People have tried to climb it up from Mexico down to the U.S., hoping for something
better on the other side. Today one such attempt starts here in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. We watched from afar as two men carry a makeshift ladder
toward a car, lashing it to the side.
[11:05:00]
RIVERS (voice over): These are poor - or human smugglers who helped cross migrants who pay them to get into the United States. Today, the smugglers
had told us to be in this neighborhood at a certain time. If they had migrants to cross they told us we could follow them, but would not tell us
exactly when or where this would take place.
After we arrived, though, we're told they would indeed try to cross two migrants currently in the backseat of that car. And so the car takes off
driving just a stone's throw from the border wall in El Paso, Texas on the other side. Further up the road the car slows, and a minute later, the trio
heads toward the wall as we follow behind.
This smuggler has never allowed cameras to trail him before he agreed to have only myself and a local producer follow him only recording on our cell
phones, knowing our presence could increase his chances of getting caught. Trying to cross the wall here is extremely dangerous.
RIVERS (on camera): Right now, they're making their way slowly towards the wall. They're crawling clearly trying to avoid being seen by anyone who
might be on the border dragging us to go up and over the wall. This is a difficult track question.
RIVERS (voice over): It's slow progress on their hands and knees and a bit further on they catch their breath. So we had about 30 seconds to talk with
the migrants. They allowed CNN to record them only if we hit their identities, a young man and woman 18 and 20 years old. Originally from
Ecuador they say they paid various smugglers thousands of dollars each to bring them to this point. They told us they're hoping to eventually find
work in South Texas.
This is the last step of a journey tens of thousands of people make every year risking their lives and their freedom migrating to the U.S. with the
help of smugglers. Smugglers who are often accused of everything from sexual abuse to extortion, some taking terrible advantage of the vulnerable
migrants they purport to help.
And some of those migrants or children has record numbers of unaccompanied minors have been headed north recently many from Central America. Some make
it to the U.S. and others get caught by Mexican officials and end up in government run shelters like this one. Either way, it's likely their
families paid smugglers to bring them here.
Officials at the shelter say about three quarters of the kids here were smuggled a horrifically dangerous trip. The shelters' psychologist says
they can be raped, they can be robbed, they can be extorted, and they can die on the journey.
This 14 year old girl says she was smuggled from Guatemala and that along the journey passed from smuggler to smuggler the threat of rape was always
there, at times crowded into a van with many others. She felt like she couldn't get enough air.
We couldn't make any noise. She says they would only open up these little windows for a bit and then they would close them. It felt like you were
choking. Human smuggling like this is often run by loosely organized groups. But sometimes and especially in Mexico, experts say there is a big
role played by organized crime, the cartels that operate so freely here.
Smugglers bringing people north either work directly for those cartels or they work independently, but they have to pay the cartels for the right to
move through certain territories.
VICTOR MANJARREZ, FORMER CHIEF, U.S. BORDER PATROL EL PASO SECTOR: Human smuggling is a multi-million dollar industry and I would venture to guess
that it's approaching a billion dollar industry.
RIVERS (voice over): Former Border Patrol El Paso Sector Chief Victor Manjarrez says some cartels have used that money to create wide reaching
sophisticated smuggling networks.
MANJARREZ: And it's almost like a Fortune 500 Company dealing with their supply chain.
RIVERS (voice over): And at the very end of those chain smugglers like these, the men that we would later follow to the wall. They say they work
for - an armed wing of the hottest cartel. Each migrant they cross pays the cartel roughly $2,000 a staggering sum for most migrants that often leaves
them penniless.
The smugglers say the cartel gives them a small cut for performing what they call a service. We try to help them he says people come and ask for
help kids, women, men, we support them. But this isn't some selfless act. They get paid for this. And they are part of a system where rape,
extortion, kidnapping and even murder are rampant.
We don't do that he says we're all humans. They want to arrive safely. We don't harm them. We give them food and water and help them cross. Other
people may hurt them. But we don't. We of course have no way to know if he's telling the truth. But he says for him this is a family affair.
He works with his brother and even his 14 year old nephew. They all smuggle people. The 14 year old shows me one of the ladders they. Now when he
crosses kids over the wall, some his own or even younger he does it another way.
[11:10:00]
RIVERS (voice over): He says they tie a thick rope around their bellies and lower them down so they don't fall. His uncle says without them to
migrants, like the ones that we follow through the desert or want to get to the U.S. wouldn't be able to. We watch as they hook their ladder over the
border wall fence, the young man goes first.
Once he's down, he runs. And the young woman then follows. Once up and over, she hits the ground and races off as well. We can't watch where she
goes, because the smuggler tells us we've got to go.
RIVERS (on camera): I had to run back from the fence, obviously, because we're still afraid of getting caught. But for him, it was the successful
mission.
RIVERS (voice over): But for the two people that just crossed their journey is far from over. It's mainly desert on that side of the wall. And they
didn't really seem to have a plan. The smuggler told us he had no idea what happened to them after they went over.
Those two migrants managed to get in. But for many, that's not the case. A few days later, we were filming something else on the border when we
noticed something. More people desperate to cross a woman and three young children make a break for the wall. Here they'll the actual border is just
the Rio Grande more of a stream really.
One by one holding hands, they make their way and once they've crossed there in the U.S., but then come the wall, a towering steel presence
between them and where they want to be. Border Patrol detained them a few minutes later.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIVERS: And, you know, the first day that we tried to go to the smugglers house to interview them, we weren't able to because when we arrived, Becky,
there were three law enforcement vehicles out front, Municipal Police, Federal Police, and the country's National Guard all represented there.
Later on checking in with the smugglers they told us that all three of those organizations were there to collect what the smugglers call their
semi regular bribe a bribe, that the law enforcement agencies used to say, OK, smugglers, you can now continue to do what you do.
All of those agencies were contacted by CNN; they all say bribery is unacceptable. But look, corruption has been a horrific problem in Mexico
for decades. It continues to be a problem in Mexico. And there's little to no doubt that at least some elements of the state are at a minimum looking
the other way when it comes to facilitating the smuggling of these migrants into the U.S.
ANDERSON: Thank you Matt, remarkable reporting. Well, 20 million cases of COVID-19. India surpassing what is an unwanted milestone today with another
357,000 new cases reported and 3400 more deaths and those of course, are just the official figures.
The devastating second wave has been going on for several weeks, sapping oxygen supplies, overwhelming hospitals, and forcing the extension of
lockdowns while all of this is happening there are calls within India for transparency over distribution of international aid the Rajasthan Health
Minister accusing the central government of keeping states "In the dark".
Well, for its part the government says a "Streamlined Mechanism" is in place that is so far delivered nearly 4 million items across the country.
Well, aid cannot come soon enough for families desperately trying to save the lives of loved ones stricken with COVID-19.
My colleague CNN's Clarissa Ward went to the State of Uttar Pradesh where overwhelmed hospitals have reached their breaking point. The material in
her report is disturbing. The families she spoke with did want people to see the reality of the tragedy India is now confronting. This is her
report.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDNT (voice over): A man vales in anguish like no one is listening. His cry just one of many this
hospital in Uttar Pradesh state. Oh my child he says oh my God, my baby.
Inside the entrance his son Deepak (ph) is fighting for his life gasping for air, his body convulsing. There are no doctors attending to him. The
handful of medical staffs working in this ward is stretched thin to breaking point.
[11:15:00]
WARD (voice over): This hospital is completely overwhelmed. The doctors say that they have about 55 beds and currently they're treating more than 100
patients and you can see people are literally just lying on the floor desperately hoping to get some medical attention.
32 year old Kavita (ph) says she's been here for four days begging for oxygen that has not come. I'm begging for anxious she says no one is
listening to me here.
WARD (on camera): Are you struggling to breathe?
WARD (voice over): I'm unable to breathe freely she tells us to no one is taking care of me. In the next room, more than 20 patients are packed in
tightly. This is what now passes for the intensive care unit. Family members have taken on the role of primary carers where medical staffs are
simply unavailable.
This man complains no one will change his wife soiled bedding. Suddenly, there is an emotion. Will someone please call the doctor this man shouts?
His mother 55 year old Raj Bala (ph) appears to be slipping away. Her sons worked furiously to revive her. A doctor comes in and tells them to stop
crowding her but her family is inconsolable.
We've been here for six days and only today we got the ventilator for my mother he tells us. The oxygen is out. We had to bring an oxygen cylinder.
It's a story we hear again and again. One man approaches us pleading his wife can't get a bed. No one's listening to me. I've tried everything he
says. Please help me or she will die.
WARD (on camera): I'm not a doctor. I'm so sorry. I can't help you.
WARD (voice over): Another man tells us his wife is struggling to breathe outside. They won't let her in. We spot the hospital administrator and ask
him what's going on?
WARD (on camera): This man says his wife is dying outside and needs oxygen.
WARD (voice over): He insists that oxygen isn't the problem that says they are desperately short of staff. Those who do work here risk becoming
patients themselves. These men tell us they move a dozen bodies a day.
WARD (on camera): Have you ever seen anything like this before? Are you not worried to be working here or not wearing protective gear?
WARD (voice over): We should be wearing proper PPE they say but even the doctors don't have it. So how can we? We hear screams coming from the ICU.
Raj Bala has flat lined again. Her son desperately pumps her chest. A doctor comes in takes her pulse. But it's too late. This time there is no
point in trying to resuscitate.
The agony of her sons is shared by so many in this country failed by a healthcare system on the brink of collapse. And the government accused of
mismanaging this crisis. Just a few 100 yards away in the same hospital complex it's a very different picture.
Orderly lines of people patiently wait to be vaccinated following the Prime Minister's announcement that anyone over 18 can be inoculated. A state
lawmaker is amongst 600 people getting their vaccine. The hospital administrator and local journalists eagerly stand by to capture the moment.
WARD (on camera): We were just in the hospital over there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
WARD (on camera): It was shocking.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why?
WARD (on camera): Because the conditions are so bad here. Why do you think India has been hit so badly?
WARD (voice over): The hospital administrator interrupts and warns him that we have been asking too many questions.
[11:20:00]
WARD (on camera): Sir, you don't need to coach him what to say.
WARD (voice over): He's telling him what to say.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're trying to best handle some problems were there but we are trying. Now condition is better.
WARD (on camera): Do you accept that the government has failed its people in the handling of this crisis? Because I've been talking to a lot of
people and I have to tell you, people are angry. People feel that this didn't need to be so ugly.
WARD (voice over): The situation is not only bad here we're trying to find solutions he says. We're increasing the number of beds, and we're working
tirelessly around the clock. But back in the COVID hoard, the impact of those efforts is not yet being felt. Raj Bala's body is left for nearly an
hour before it is finally moved.
India's leaders may promise that everything is being done to end this crisis. But for now, there is no light at the end of the tunnel Clarissa
Ward, CNN Merut, India.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: And we'll have a lot more on this ongoing crisis in India ahead. The government was warned back in early April not to wait to respond to
what is this brutal second wave. I'll talk to the Head of the Committee that laid out the facts and figures.
Plus, this hour the clock ticking for Benjamin Netanyahu will he pull off a last minute surprise and form a new government with his rivals? We're live
in Jerusalem for you and--
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel very angry about it very, very angry it even hurts me. It's not right because this land belongs to me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: CNN goes to Namibia, where local farmers said big oil firm took their land away in search for oil. Why that search could worsen the effects
of climate change in the region?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Well, time is running out for the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to form a new coalition government. He is facing a midnight
deadline. Now if the clock strikes 12 and Mr. Netanyahu's Likud Party is not coaxed enough of its rivals into a partnership Israeli President could
assign coalition building to another member of parliament.
Well, let's bring in Hadas Gold live from Jerusalem. And if that doesn't happen, of course, what Israel could be facing is a fifth election in what
is it two years? I know that possibly nobody wants that or perhaps I'm not quite correct in saying that? Hadas, what's the story?
HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Benjamin Netanyahu may want that that might be for him his best option considering all of the other options on
the table may be that fifth election, try again why not?
[11:25:00]
GOLD: See if he can somehow in another election, get enough of majority. But we are just under six hours away before that midnight deadline where
Benjamin Netanyahu needs to prove that he can form a majority governing coalition of some sort.
Of course, in the last 24 hours, we've seen a sort of last ditch attempt by Benjamin Netanyahu trying to convince the Naftali Bennett, the leader of a
small right wing party to join him in a sort of rotating leadership position were Naftali Bennett would be Prime Minister for a year followed
by Netanyahu.
Bennett did not seem to accept that offer. But even if he had, Netanyahu still would not have had the numbers needed to get that 61 seat majority.
So what happens at midnight? The clock strikes midnight, Netanyahu does not seem to have been able to pull this off. What will happen then?
Well, Netanyahu can ask for an extension from the Israeli President. But it's not clear the Israeli President will give it to him because when the
Israeli President first gave Netanyahu the mandate, he gave this very long speech where he sounded very reluctant about it talking about how he had to
give Netanyahu the mandate.
But he was reluctant to do so especially because Netanyahu, we must remember has a corruption trial ongoing right now. As you noted, the
Israeli President could then offer the mandate to somebody else, for example, the leader of the Centrist Party, Yair Lapid who's been working
for weeks to try to build a sort of anti Netanyahu coalition across the spectrum of parties.
That might be Netanyahu's potentially worst option. The Israeli President could also send it back to the Israeli Parliament, give them 21 days. And
of course, if all of this fails, then we could still be heading towards another election a fifth election in Israel.
But I should know and keep in mind that even if this midnight deadline arrives, Netanyahu has not formed this coalition even as all these
negotiations continue on. Benjamin Netanyahu will remain as Prime Minister and where he wants to be in power until a new government is formed, Becky.
ANDERSON: Hadas Gold is in Jerusalem for you Hadas, thank you. Want to sign the world's economy is on the mend? Well, perhaps look no further than your
local petrol station or gas station. Fuel prices are on the rebound. And we will have one of the big winners on that story coming up.
Plus, a Canadian oil firm is also hoping to strike it big in Namibia. More on what is the controversial oil field exploration that is sparking a
climate change debate in the region.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Well, demand for Saudi oil has come roaring back in what is a big way Saudi Aramco saw a 30 percent rise in net profits in the first quarter
of this year, that translates to $21.7 billion for the quarter.
[11:30:00]
ANDERSON: And that soars past the 19 billion that analysts had been forecasting. Now other oil companies posted similar jumps in profit as fuel
demand, recovers from the pandemic. John Defterios showing us now, with a look at the oil rebound for the last time, by the way as our Emerging
Markets Editor. Good evening, sir. You're looking very smart.
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Thank you, Becky.
ANDERSON: This is all of course, let's start with - we'll start with Saudi Aramco. Biggest Oil Company in the world would you say that these results
are evidence that Saudi strategy to be cautious about putting oil back into the market is actually paid off at this point?
DEFTERIOS: Well, it's amazing Becky, if you take us back to March of 2020, right? And we had this price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia, and then
the collapse and demand it did take Saudi Arabia to say we need to be bold with deeper cuts here.
So they were cutting nearly 10 percent of global supplies for 9, 10 and 12 months. It's only now they're starting to put the oil back on the market,
in fact, this week, through the month of July, and the cuts won't be over even yet. So this worked.
Amin Nasser who's the CEO of Saudi Aramco was suggesting that he has reason to be optimistic. I remember talking to him in Riyadh before the pandemic,
and people are just talking about COVID-19. He said, well, I think it'll be over in the summer of 2020.
So they had to adjust their business model completely. So to walk away with profits of $21.7 billion is impressive. The challenge for Aramco here is
that more than $18 billion of that Becky goes in a dividend to the state, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia here because they're very dependent on the
revenues from the Kingdom.
And the Crown Prince is suggesting here they'd like to do more with Saudi Aramco in terms of unearthing value in the future. But let's call it like
it is the Minister of Energy along with the Crown Prince, the CEO of Aramco took drastic action, they cut back to production, it lifted prices were at
$68 a barrel today, and that fed right into the bottom line with the cost cutting they've taken on board for the last year.
And let's not forget and a story we've talked about the attacks coming from Yemen via the drones, putting pressure on Aramco. They never lost
production during all those challenges in the last 18 months with those drone attacks.
ANDERSON: You talked about the vision and the plans that the Crown Prince has for the company. Just describe what we know at this point?
DEFTERIOS: Well, the latest goal for the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is to sell 1 percent stake in Saudi Aramco over the next one to two years.
You know, he appeared on state television recently and said that he's talking to a major global energy player; a big company from an oil
consuming state is what everybody is assuming right now.
That the lead candidates would have to be China and India, and India Mukesh Ambani and Reliance Industries has the largest refinery in the world.
They're talking about a joint venture refinery in India, but perhaps now having Reliance come into Aramco as an investor.
The other leading candidate would have to be CNPC of China again, another large customer for Saudi Aramco in terms of importing the oil. Now, this
seems like a kind of funny twist. But you can imagine where the Crown Prince would like to bring in both partners lock them in for a longer
period of time.
I know at 1 percent sale, he's hoping to rise up to $25 billion, that money would be raised. Becky, as you know, it goes into the public investment
fund his main vehicle for the diversification 2030, the vision 2030 for Saudi Arabia.
So again, it is a burden on Aramco. Can they deliver it so far, so good? And the strategy to raise more money by producing less oil by 8.35 million
barrels a day is working right now. But we have to see what that sale materializes. He said over the next one to two years, the Crown Prince.
ANDERSON: John, here's the question, and it's a question that people have had since vision 2030 was launched five years ago. Is it too much of a
burden for a single company, not just to focus on its business, that being energy, but also to be so depended on for development and investment? It is
pivotal for the vision for Saudi Arabia going forward?
DEFTERIOS: Yes. Well, we've traveled to Saudi Arabia together, and it's hard to describe the outsides role of Saudi Aramco right? So it is the
largest oil company in the world is discovered gas. It was asked by the Crown Prince or ordered to do so to take 70 percent stake in SABIC, the
giant chemical company that raised money again for the public investment fund. Now they're looking for synergies between Aramco and that big,
chemical giant in SABIC.
[11:35:00]
DEFTERIOS: So that's one task for Aramco, which is a pretty large one, then the Crown Prince recently talked about this partnership program, where both
Aramco and SABIC would raise $1.3 trillion over a decade to help investments and foreign direct investment to come back into the Kingdom.
Again, Becky, this is not an investment vehicle. This is an energy company. But the Crown Prince thinks this is the Crown Jewel, and we can extract
additional funding, they came up with another strategy selling $12 billion in the pipeline business to AIG energy partners recently, so that raised
more money for the public investment fund.
All good strategies than they have to say you build hospitals, you build universities as Saudi Aramco, you handle Saudization in the training of the
Saudi workforce, is it too much of a burden for this company, going forward, and then at the same time trying to sell 1 percent stakes,
potentially to China or India, or both?
There's a lot on the table. So you can see the heavy burden on the shoulders of this oil company, which is now partially publicly traded, and
they're looking to raise more money out of it in the near future.
ANDERSON: Going to miss your analysis and indeed, you, John, because after what is what 30 odd years at CNN, today is your last day, and I just want
to play this short clip for you and for our viewers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is money week, with John Defterios and Terry Keenan.
DEFTERIOS: It's a time of year for winter sports. But this week, you're more likely to run into a boardroom executive rather than a snowboarder.
I was looking back at January 2008 in a referendum even then, more than three quarters of your population wanted NATO membership, and it still
remains about 80 percent. But isn't that provoking Moscow? Doesn't it strain relations even more?
Isn't it difficult, though with this cloud over Jamal Khashoggi to continue pushing ahead with business? People must be asking what's going on behind
the scenes. How do you handle is the CEO of Aramco?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Looking younger by the year, sir, just a short clip of what has been a phenomenal run. And what are you going to miss the most?
DEFTERIOS: Well, that's not an easy question to answer in 30 or 40 seconds. Number one, Becky it's been 10 wonderful years here in the UAE. Let's put
it that way. We came shortly after the Arab Spring. And it's a region that continues had to have its challenges and prevents a number of different
stories, whether in Saudi Arabia here in the UAE, Iran, Iraq, the challenges in Libya, the Arab Spring Fallout for Egypt.
So that's been fascinating and phenomenal interviews throughout the years in 25 to 30 years, as you're suggesting phenomenal stories. The fall of the
Berlin Wall, the Gulf War, I had a chance to cover the LA riots, the World Trade Center bombings. It is a long history, but a fascinating one and what
better place to do it right? I think you'd agree on that. It's been a fantastic time.
ANDERSON: Yes.
DEFTERIOS: I actually interned at CNN in 83 and 84. So that was a lot of fun and circled back and started working there eight years later, so I
think it was meant to happen.
ANDERSON: That's right yes, absolutely. Well, we'll miss you a lot. UAE will miss you. I'm sure it will that see you around, though. But from your
family here in the Abu Dhabi Bureau we wish you the absolute best and you've been a joy, John thank you John Defterios in the house folks.
DEFTERIOS: Thanks very much.
ANDERSON: Well, Canadian Oil Company is on a mission to find what could be the last giant onshore oil field on Earth? Recon Africa has secured the
rights for oil exploration in Namibia and neighboring Botswana in Southwestern Africa. That's where the company located a massive basin that
could contain 12 billion barrels of oil.
But in 2021, for more oil is triggering a fierce climate change debate as you can imagine. Those in support of drilling in Namibia say it would boost
the economy, while opponents say it would hurt regional ecosystems. My colleague David McKenzie visits farmers who are afraid oil exploration will
damage their water supply and kill their animals. This is his report.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Andreas Milanos' (ph) family can't sleep at night can't rest through the wailing sirens and the
flood lights at night. They say they're looking for oil here he says and worrying about the land. The land he says an oil firm took from them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it's my place.
MCKENZIE (on camera): Yes, that's your place?
MCKENZIE (voice over): Andreas and his son Samwel even scared to take us closer to the rig through their own cornfields.
[11:40:00]
SAMWEL MAWANO, FARMER: They've told us to go away.
MCKENZIE (on camera): How do you feel about that?
MAWANO: I feel very angry about it very, very angry. It even hurts me. It's not right because this land belonged to me and someone who came somewhere,
just to grab it from me.
MCKENZIE (voice over): A staggering swath of land more than 13,000 square miles or some 30,000 square kilometers is what the Canadian Oil Company
Recon Africa has secured in an exclusive exploration deal.
MCKENZIE (on camera): This is the rig that they exploring to find if there's oil in this region, but to actually find oil this will be just one
of many, many rigs like this. Every basin of this depth in the world produces commercial levels of hydrocarbons just makes sense.
MCKENZIE (on camera): So you are feeling pretty confident?
CRAIG STEINKE, RECON AFRICA CO-FOUNDER: I'm confident, yes.
MCKENZIE (voice over): Confident because Recon Africa's Founder Craig Steinke scoured the globe for the next and maybe last giant on shale oil
play. Striking oil here could be worth billions of dollars, but it is one of the world's climate change hotspots.
MCKENZIE (on camera): As the world gets warmer, this zone will get warmer than anywhere else in Africa. Do you see the irony of exploring oil in this
very spot?
STEINKE: I think you know the oil is where you find it.
MCKENZIE (voice over): Not far from the rig a sensitive water system flows into the Kavango River and into one of the world's last wild spaces the
Okavango Delta. Environmentalists and scientists told us Namibia should focus on renewables and not risk a polluting industry. They say his dying.
Steinke says they have complied with full environmental laws.
STEINKE: You can see this is about a half inch high grade steel, like this is pretty - this is pretty serious stuff. There's just no way that the
water can have any contact with production. I mean, I say to these people who are critics who've likely never been to Namibia, nor let alone the
Kavango region, come to the Kavango, and let's just have a look at the environment. And then you tell me that these people don't deserve a better
lifestyle, especially if they're sitting on standing on major source of energy.
MCKENZIE (voice over): We asked the King of Namibia the first people what they thought? Yes, so they've been here for months exploring and not a
single person from Recon Africa has visited this sound community.
I'm worried if they come here, they will say that it is a good thing that they are doing here says - but they won't say the bad things. Here he says
they survive on the mega pensions of their elders until the money runs out each month. They need work and they wonder if oil can provide it. Nature is
important to me, he says, but if you get up and go into nature, there's nothing left.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They just leave me behind because I'm no more important like I owe this lint.
MCKENZIE (on camera): Do you feel they are disrespecting you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very much.
MCKENZIE (voice over): After months without answers - says a Recon Africa executive finally visited him. The week CNN arrived. That is the first time
that they spoke to you I asked him. Yes, he says she brought her card. She warned me not to speak to outsiders like you.
MCKENZIE (on camera): One of your colleagues went to - and said he shouldn't speak to outsiders like us. That doesn't sound like a transparent
attitude.
STEINKE: Yes, I have no knowledge of that I have no knowledge about.
MCKENZIE (voice over): Recon Africa says it has the right permits to drill here claims the land hadn't been allocated to the family by traditional
authorities. But Steinke admits they can do better with community outreach. And at the end of our interview just days after we met the company brings
Andreas and Samwel over surrounded by Recon executives and a company lawyer. They say they are co operator David McKenzie, CNN East Kavango,
Namibia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Still ahead tonight, critical advice unheeded. I'm going to talk to the Chair of a committee that urged India's government to act fast on
what is this second COVID-19 wave. They told them that back at the start of April.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:45:00]
ANDERSON: Critics of India's government say it could have done much more to blunt the brutal second wave of COVID-19 now tearing through large swathes
of the country. A government Commissioned COVID Modeling Committee told the Central Government back in early April, it had to act fast.
Well, the Chair of that Committee M. Vidyasagar joins me now excuse me via Skype. And back in early April, you along with other scientists predicted
cases could reach over 100,000. Just expand on how you reached those numbers, sir?
M. VIDYASAGAR, CHAIR, COVID-19 MODELING COMMITTEE: Yes, certainly. So what happened was that during the first wave, which lasted from approximately
April, and peaked in September, and then came down in January, we had perfected one model, which we call "Sutra".
And then when we started observing that the cases were rising, once again in the month of February, we re-computed the model using the latest data.
And we found that the cases were going to peak somewhere around the early part of May. And we felt that the peak numbers would be of the order of
120,000.
Now as it turned out, we got the timing right but we did not get the peak number of cases right. But it was still a useful contribution because if I
may just explain that the first wave of the pandemic was very gentle. So some people in the government were anticipating that the second way would
also be very gently rising.
And our task was to say that actually the rise will be very steep. Therefore the government has to take steps that would come on scene very,
very fast, within a few weeks or not a few months. And that was the gist of the advice.
ANDERSON: You reached out to the government. How did they respond?
M. VIDYASAGAR: Well, they pretty much did what we suggested that they do because their shell with some of these very grandiose plans that would have
come on screen three months later, and refocus their attempts on very, very short term solutions like setting up military hospitals, trying to set up
on site oxygen plants and importing even oxygen plants tankers were necessary.
Unfortunately, as we know, it was not enough because the ferocity of the second wave caught everybody by surprise, including us the model.
[11:50:00]
ANDERSON: I understand that and I understand that you underestimated the numbers but the point is that you clearly provided a model that showed that
things were going to get dramatically worse. Now, of course, those numbers are now over 300,000 cases a day.
And those are just the numbers that are being reported. Two questions so firstly, what was the reason do you believe for this huge surge in cases?
M. VIDYASAGAR: It's a combination of several factors. First, is the fact that I think people became extremely complacent and stopped following the
COVID guidelines. And second, the emergence of certain more contagious variants on the Indian subcontinent. Those are the two contributing
factors, I would say.
And third, some amount of what shall I say? Public events where there was too much crowding like weddings, pubs, bars, these kinds of things so all
three contributed, definitely.
ANDERSON: Engineering, of course, as well. Sir, I have to ask you, is the government at fault here, the response really has been completely woeful.
And our reporting, day in day out shows just how bad things are? Should the government take responsibility for the catastrophe that is unfolding as we
speak?
M. VIDYASAGAR: Well, you're asking a question that's well above my pay grade. As a scientist, what we can do is to provide models, and as I
mentioned, we underestimated the number of cases at the start of April, but subsequent revisions that were made to the model are right on target.
I've shared with your staff, our latest projections, which are to the effect that the pandemic is at the peak right now. And we should expect to
see a downturn in the number of cases within a matter of a week or two, possibly even within days.
So in terms of the government being at fault, I think that is a judgment for society at large to make, possibly, in the heat of the moment, it's not
the best time to make that judgment. The suggestions we gave were that, let us first get through this, because we have only four to six weeks to get
our act together and put some plans in place.
The good news, if you want to call it that is that if you look at other countries that have had second wave like the United States, like the UK,
while the second wave has risen very sharply, it has also declined very sharply. So we are hoping that similar thing would happen in India. And
that is indeed what our model also shows. And I think--
ANDERSON: And that is no consolation, of course, to the tens of thousands of people who have lost their lives and the hundreds of thousands of people
who are ill with these symptoms of COVID and cannot get enough oxygen and do not find hospitals that have anything like the staffs that's needed to
deal with it.
I must ask you again, we've seen images of political rallies, religious festivals, and huge crowds with no social distancing. We know the Prime
Minister has encouraged those crowds, and he's encouraged people to come out and vote.
You must concede that at least in the way that government has conducted itself and in its messaging, that it was at fault, given that your models
had suggested over 100,000 cases a day, which was a significant spike. And we have seen numbers, which are three times that. So I just give you an
opportunity to respond.
M. VIDYASAGAR: No, I think you're right. I think the message from the - messaging from the government. The messaging from the government was not
adequate at all. And I think the sight of people going around with not wearing masks and congregating contributed to the laxity of the public at
large that I was mentioning.
And one more messaging shortfall in my opinion was to not encourage people to get vaccinated whenever the eligibility became due. If we had actually
vaccinated all the people who were eligible to be vaccinated, the second way would not have been quite as ferocious as it has turned out to be so
yes, in that sense that government would definitely have done.
ANDERSON: Sir, continue the good work, please do. And let's hope that your modeling is correct. And let's hope that we will see the back end of what
has been this horrific and catastrophic surge in cases and sadly in deaths across India, thank you.
[11:55:00]
ANDERSON: You're watching "Connect the World" with me Becky Anderson. We are going to take a very short break. Do stay with us we'll be back after
this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Have a look at this. I know it is not Iron Man. This is real. That is a British Royal Marine testing out a jet suit made by gravity
industries. Now they are hoping they can use it to board boats more quickly and easily instead of dropping a rope from a helicopter.
The company says the Royal Marines aren't the only ones who might be using the jet suit. It's also being tested by paramedics to quickly access people
in distress in England's remote Lake District as well. It could also be a nifty way to get to work or get home.
Speaking of which, that is a wrap from us. Thank you for joining us wherever you are watching in the world. I hope you are safe and well. From
the team here in Abu Dhabi, it is a very good evening.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
