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CNN 10
An Escalation of Juan Guaido`s Efforts To Remove Nicolas Maduro From Venezuelan Power; China And The Philippines Come To Agreement After Dispute Earlier This Month, But Are Still Causing Concern
Aired May 01, 2019 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 HOST: Welcome to CNN 10, where people (ph) in Venezuela is the first story we`re explaining this Wednesday. I`m Carl Azuz at the
CNN Center. On April 30, conflicting reports were coming out about what was happening in the South American country.
During a protest in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, Juan Guaido, the opposition leader, who in January, declared himself the new president of
Venezuela. He said, quote, "Operation Freedom has begun. We`re going to stand here together, asking and demanding the military to join."
CNN reporters called this an escalation of Guaido`s efforts to remove Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, from power. What we don`t know is
whether this amounts to an attempted military coup, when the armed forces take action to change a nation`s government. Guaido`s ambassador in
Washington says it`s not a military coup.
He called it a constitutional process led by the Venezuelan people, and said there`d be more events in the hours and days to come. A Venezuelan
government official also said it wasn`t a military coup. But he told the Reuters news agency that it was another chapter in an attempted civilian
coup led by Venezuela`s opposition party and supported by the U.S.
So the question here is, have members of Venezuela`s military, which have largely supported President Maduro, now join forces with the opposition
protestors who want Maduro out of power. At the time we produced this show, we didn`t have a clear answer on that. We`ll keep you updated on
what happens in the troubled South American nation.
Next story. Earlier this month, the island nation of Philippines protested to China, because hundreds of Chinese boats were sailing near an island
administered by the Philippines. But this particular place is also in the Spratly`s Chain, a disputed area that includes manmade islands that China
has built up in recent years.
Despite the dispute, the president of the Philippines has strengthened his country`s relationship with China, and that country`s investments in the
Philippines have caused concerns for some people there and aboard.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was U.S. military power in the heart of the Philippines. For decades, Clark Air Base was the largest American base
outside the U.S. Veterans Anthony Grimm and John Gilbert remember it well.
ANTHONY GRIMM, U.S. VETERAN: It was a little American. It really was.
RIVERS: The town is still called Clark, still has a VFW post, but the base is a memory. The Americans left in 1991.
JOHN GILBERT, U.S. VIETNAM: Well, after Vietnam, we no longer needed those bases. They were not a critical asset.
RIVERS: So the old base sat idle for years, but not anymore.
VINCE DIZON, BASES CONVERSION AND DEVELOPMENT: So this is going to be a major hub, not just for the country but in the entire region.
RIVERS: It`ll cover more area than Manhattan - skyscrapers, a new airport, residential, billions of dollars of investment. And who`s helping build
it? You are seeing more of a Chinese influence here.
GILBERT: Oh, sure.
GRIMM: Oh, yes.
GILBERT: A lot of - a lot of projects.
RIVERS: Chinese money has poured into the Philippines recently, joining other firms already here. This company, owned by Chinese government, is
building a road. A half a mile away, the steel going up isn`t from Pittsburgh.
The fact that I`m surrounded by Chinese steel and that China is one of the biggest country investors in this new city is remarkable, given the state
of relations between the Philippines and China, just a few years ago.
China-Filipino (ph) relations hit rock-bottom in mid-2016, after Manila took Beijing to international court over artificial islands China has built
and militarized, not far form the Filipino coast. About that time though, came a new president, Rodrigo Duterte.
RODRIGO DUTERTE, PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES: I announce my separation from the United States.
(APPLAUSE)
RIVERS: Duterte said that in Beijing, and soon cozied up to China. China has since pledged tens of billions of dollars to projects in the
Philippines, whose supports call healthy, necessary loans.
DIZON: The sheer scale that China brings is something that not a lot of countries can bring to any economy.
RIVERS: But some see that spending as dangerous. Should anything go wrong with repayments, Manila could be beholden to Beijing.
ANTONIO TRILLANES, SENATOR OF THE PHILIPPINES: It`s the ultimate symbol of the eventual subjugation of the Philippines towards China.
RIVERS: China has doled out hundreds of billions in similar loans to developing countries across Asia and Africa, and the U.S. has warned of
debt-trap diplomacy. Beijing recently took a 99-year lease on a key port in Sri Lanka, after the government there defaulted on Chinese loans used to
build it.
The Duterte administration argues the Philippines is different and faces no such threat. Plus, the U.S. still has a defense treaty with Manila. But
in this zero-sum game for influence, when America gives room, China will try to fill that void.
Matt Rivers, CNN, Clark, the Philippines.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: Ten second trivia. Which of these African nations borders both Lake Victoria and the Indian Ocean? Somalia, Uganda, Ethiopia, or Kenya? The
only one of these countries that borders both of these bodies of water is Kenya.
According to the CIA world fact book, the back bone of Kenya`s economy is agriculture. It accounts for about a third of the nation`s gross domestic
product. But tourism also factors in. And when a married couple from the U.S. state of Nevada recently traveled to Kenya, they wanted something a
little bit off the beaten path of safaris and big game hunting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m Tracy Chidum (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I`m Mark Macintyre (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are from Las Vegas and we came to Kenya to celebrate my 50th birthday. This guy said I could go anywhere in the world
and I picked Kenya.
JOHN ELIAS, CHAIRMAN, OL LENTILLE TRUST & CEO, REGENESIS LIMITED: We`re within the Ol Lentille conservatory, which is about 40,000 acres of
community land and three times the size of Manhattan.
(CROSSTALK)
Most of our guests are thoughtful intelligent people. And thoughtful intelligent people just love to solve problems. So we show them problems
and there response to that is how can I help. We build schools, we employ teachers, we built a hospital.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nice to meet you. I wanted to make a donation to the kids for school supplies. I didn`t want to come to Kenya for safari. I
wanted to come to Kenya for the people. I wanted to learn about the culture because that`s not what people do. And I love going the opposite
direction.
EZEKIAL KAPARSIP, HEAD TEACHER, NKILORITI SCHOOL: The program we have with these students, they come from far.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How far are they traveling to get there? KAPARSIP: Some either go as far as 10 kilometers, 5 kilometers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So that`s you all are working for now. You want some place where -- so they don`t have to walk so far to go to school?
KAPARSIP: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I remember when I went to Tanzania (ph) I was constantly asked where was I from. And I would say, I`m sorry, what. What
part of Africa are you from. And that`s how this all got started because I couldn`t answer that question.
And so I did one of those DNA test, you know, so I could figure out which countries that I was from because apparently I had to be from somewhere.
When we got the results, I was from everywhere. So it`s important for me to come back because now when I get asked the question where are you from, I
can say I am from here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here with great pride.
TIMOTHY OLE MOSIANY, OPERATIONS MANAGER, SANCTUARY AT OL LENTILLE: There are only two different families in the village and normally they can leave
as one family and one village or friends together.
We try to encourage our guest to have fun while doing good. At the same time they end up enjoying the place and wanting to be part of the project
and be part of the community that they have come to visit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: Well this is unlikely, at Ohio`s Walnut Hills High School, 17 students recently got a perfect score on the ACT. A college admissions
test. And the school says 23 more seniors were only one point away from perfect score.
So what. Well according to the administrators of the test, our of the roughly 2 million students who take it every year, only 1/10 of 1 percent
of them get a perfect score. So to have 17 perfect scores at one high school is nothing short of ACTerrific. They became number one with a
number two pencil.
They set a new standardized. The teachers had a multiple choice of students to congratulate. Just don`t tell a competing exam they had a
scholastic aptitude for it. That might test some nerves. I`m picking C and A for Carl Azuz on CNN.
END
