Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2026-03-31 Tuesday

Episode Date: March 31, 2026

Democracy Now! Tuesday, March 31, 2026

From New York, this is Democracy Now. We're suing the Trump administration over its efforts to end birthright citizenship. The vital principle that every child born in this country is a U.S. citizen, regardless of who their parents may be. This is more than a legal case. This is a fight for what it means to be American, and we are fighting to win. In one of the biggest cases of the year, the Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday on the constitutionality of President Trump's moved and birthright citizenship. We'll speak to the ACOU, which sued to block Trump's executive order.

Then to Cuba, in a surprise move, the Trump administration has allowed a Russian oil tanker to reach Cuba, despite a three-month-long U.S. blockade that plunge Cuba into a crisis. President Trump claims there's been no change in policy. He wants to send some oil into Cuba right now? I have no problem with it. It's not going to have an impact. Cuba's finished. They have a bad regime. They have very bad and corrupt leadership. We'll get a report from independent journalist Liz Oliva Hernandez in Havana and talk to Professor William Leogrand, co-author of Back Channel to Cuba, the hidden history of negotiations. between Washington and Havana.

And finally, as the U.S. and Israel war in Iran enters its 32nd day, we look at the rise of AI warfare. We'll speak to journalist Katrina Manson, author of the new book, Project Maven. All that and more coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the Warren Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. The U.S. dropped 2,000-pound bunker buster bombs, hitting a large ammunition depot in the Iranian city of Isfahan Monday. President Trump posted a video of the massive explosions on truth social.

It comes as Trump warned the U.S. would obliterate Iran's energy plants and oil wells if Iran does not reopen the strait of Hormuz. Trump also threatened to strike Iran's desalination plants, which is a war crime. Iran said it had received U.S. ceasefire proposals via intermediaries following talks Sunday between the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. The Iranian foreign ministry said the proposals were, quote, unrealistic, illogical, and excessive, unquote. Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund warned Monday the U.S. Israeli war in Iran is driving higher prices and slower growth worldwide. Here in the U.S. gas prices hit $4 again. gallon for the first time since 2022. White House Press Secretary Carolyn Levitt suggested President

Trump could soon ask Arab nations to pay for the conflict. Back during the Persian Gulf War, 1990, 1991, Arab countries paid for the vast majority of the cost of the war, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE. Who's paying for the cost of this war? Will those Arab countries step up to do just that? Well, I think it's something the president would be quite interested in calling them to do. I won't get ahead of him on that. But certainly, it's an idea that I know that he has and something that I think you'll hear more from him on.

Meanwhile, the New York Times reports. The U.S. military debuted a new weapon called the Precision Strike Missile when it struck a sports hall and a school in southern Iran, February 28th. The attack killed at least 21 people, including young girls playing volleyball, According to local officials, the precision strike missile is barely out of the prototype phase, and the U.S. Army has not yet created an official entry for it in the military supply system.

According to a consortium of human rights groups in Iran, nearly 1,500 Iranian civilians, at least 217 of them children, have been killed in U.S. and Israeli strikes. U.S. air strikes have hit 20 universities and dormitories across Iran, according to Iranian state media. Videos posted March 28th and 29th showed the aftermath of an attack on the Iran University of Science and Technology in Tehran, where an entire building was reduced to rubble. A few days before, Dr. Saeed Shamgadri, a professor at the university and two of his children were killed in a strike on their home in northern Tehran.

A strike on a research institute at Isfahan University of Technology, several buildings and injured four staff members, according to Iranian state media. Other universities hit include the Faculty of Pharmacy at Shiraz University and two campuses at U.MIA University in northeastern Iran, according to United Students, a group run by student activists. Iran has vowed to retaliate against U.S. university campuses in the region. NYU has closed its Abu Dhabi campus after Iranian leaders declared outposts of U.S. universities as, quote, legitimate targets, unquote. Iran struck a fully loaded crude oil tanker near Dubai Monday, setting the vessel on fire. Meanwhile, Turkey reported a ballistic missile launch from Iran entered Turkish airspace before being shot down by NATO air and missile defenses.

It comes as Human Rights Watch released a report Monday finding Iran-fired cluster munitions at Israel, calling the strikes unlawful. The cluster bombs killed at least four civilians, according to H.R.W. Israel's parliament, the Knesset on Monday, passed a law approving the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of murdering Israelis. The law makes death by hanging the default sentence for Palestinians. and the occupied West Bank convicted of killing Israelis. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to the Knesset to cast his vote for the bill in person. Far-right National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gavir, who spearheaded the legislation, celebrated its passage by toasting lawmakers.

This is Sarit Mikhaili of Betzelem and Israeli Human Rights Group. This law violates both the laws of occupation that place severe restrictions on the ability of of placing the death sentence on by the occupying power against the occupied population, but also is discriminatory because Israeli Jews who live in the occupied territories, Israeli settlers will not face any sort of death penalty in the rare occurrence that they might actually be convicted, tried or convicted of any sort of offenses and certainly not the killing of Palestinians. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel petitioned Israel's Supreme Court to strike down

the law minutes after it passed, calling it discriminatory by design, unquote. The foreign ministers of Australia, Britain, France, Germany, and Italy had urged Israel to abandon the measure. Israel's not executed anyone since Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in 1962. Hundreds of Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons due to torture and other inhumane conditions. While the United Nations condemn the killing of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers as extrajudicial executions. The Palestinian-American activist Nardine Kiswani spoke outside New York City Hall on Monday. After the NYPD foiled an assassination attempt against her, a New Jersey man, Alexander Heifler,

has been arrested in charge with plotting to firebomb Kiswani's home in Brooklyn. Investigators say Heifler was a member of the J.D.L. 613 Brotherhood, a New Jersey. based group founded in 2024 that described itself as a revival of the Jewish Defense League, a pro-Israel group designated by the FBI as a terrorist organization. Democracy Now is at the news conference yesterday with Kiswani and her lawyers. And today I am standing here, not just as an organizer, but as a mother, as a Palestinian, and as someone who was a target of a Zionist assassination plot that I have been warning has been inevitable for far too long. When I learned that someone was preparing to attack my home, building explosives, building

explosives with the intention of taking my life. To see our interview with Nardine Kiswani yesterday on Democracy Now, go to Democracy Now.org. Socialist activists and documentary filmmaker Avi Lewis has been elected to lead Canada's new Democratic Party, NDP, as Canada's main progressive party seeks to rebuild itself following a devastating defeat in last year's federal election. Lewis, who is Jewish and a vocal critic of Israel, campaigned on a platform of affordability and equity, promising higher wealth taxes. Last year, Canada's liberal party's sword in popularity as President Trump intensified his

threats to make Canada the 51st state and imposed tariffs. voters flock to elect the liberal parties Mark Carney as prime minister with the new Democratic Party winning under 10 seats in Parliament. The disastrous election outcome forced the departure of former NDP leader, Jh Miet Singh. In his victory speech, Avi Lewis condemned what he described as Israel's genocide in Gaza, saying, quote, we call it by its name and we do everything in our power to bring it to an end, unquote. Avi Lewis is married to renowned Canadian author, journalist and activist Naomi Klein. In Sudan, a new report by Doctors Without Borders warns rape and sexual violence remain, quote, part of everyday life across the Darfur region as the war between the rapid support forces and the Sudanese military nears three years.

Child rape is particularly rampant with both parties accused of war crimes. MSF's report outlines the testimonies of over-threat. 3,000 survivors of sexual violence who sought medical care at MSF-backed clinics between January 2024 and November 2025. MSF said its report only reflects a fraction of widespread sexual violence in Sudan, and quote, this war is being fought on the backs and bodies of women and girls, displacement, collapsing community support systems, lack of access to health care and deep-rooted gender inequalities are allowing these abuses to continue across Sudan, unquote.

This comes, as the UN reports, at least seven people were killed in an airstrike on a funeral gathering in West Kordofan. In South Sudan, at least 70 people were killed when gunmen attacked a gold mine in Central Equatorial State, where violent clashes have intensified over illegal mining, video footage shared online, showed dozens of bodies on the ground, covered in blankets. As many survivors were forced to hide in the bushes, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement Army blamed the attack on South Sudanese government forces. Mexico's president, Claudia Schenbaum, is demanding answers after a Mexican immigrant

died in ICE custody last week. Jose Guadalu Pramos was detained at the troubled Adelanta Ice Jail in California. He's at least the 14th person to die in ICE custody since U.S. January. This is President Shanebaum speaking from Mexico City. We're going to take several steps to protest the death of yet another Mexican national in the United States,

particularly in this detention center in Los Angeles, has had several deaths. A thematic hearing will be presented before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights regarding people who have died in ICE detention centers. In Haiti, at least 70 people have been reportedly killed as armed gangs descended on the western Artibonite region, setting homes on fire and displacing thousands of residents and attacks Sunday and Monday.

Video footage showed scores of bloody bodies scattered in the streets. UN officials have expressed alarm over the latest gang-related massacre. This comes as a UN-backed so-called gang suppression force is expected to deploy to Haiti in April, despite many Haitians denouncing the efforts as a new form of occupation. The Trump administration's vowed to continue its energy blockade on Cuba, even after U.S. officials allowed a Russian oil tanker to deliver fuel to the island. The U.S. blockade has caused frequent, widespread blackouts across Cuba with hospitals, universities, and other public services on the near brink of collapse. Before the arrival of Russia's oil tanker, Cuba had not received any fuel in more than three months. This is Savannah resident Ismail de la Cruz Caballero.

I see the arrival of the ship and the fact that they allowed it in it very positively. However, we need them to let more shipments through. After all, a single ship amounts to just over 75,000 barrels, and that lasts only 15 days. What happens after that? We'll be right back to the blackouts and the transportation crisis. Things are in a dire state on that front. Later in the broadcast, we'll speak with an independent journey. Journalists in Havana and Professor William Leogran co-author of Back Channel to Cuba,

the hidden history of negotiations between Washington and Havana. And the Trump administration's moved to allow risky or alternative investments such as private equity and cryptocurrencies to be included in 401K retirement accounts. Dennis Kelleher, chief executive of better markets and nonprofit advocacy groups, said, quote, the legal immunity created by the Safe Harbor will incentivize financial advisor. to pitch these toxic products, which will become ticking time bombs and tens of millions of retirement accounts, unquote. The Department of Labor will open a 60-day public comment period before deciding whether to finalize the rule. And those are some of the headlines.

This is Democracy Now. Democracy Now.org, the Warren Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman in New York, joined by Democracy Now's Juan Gonzalez in Chicago. Hi, Juan. Amy, and welcome to all of our listeners and viewers across the country and around the world. We begin today's show looking at one of the biggest Supreme Court cases of the year. On Wednesday, justices will hear arguments on the constitutionality of President Trump's move to end birthright citizenship. On his first day back in office, Trump signed an executive order declaring children born to parents without permanent legal status would no longer be granted citizen. automatically. Last July, a federal appeals court in California ruled Trump's executive order,

quote, contradicts the plain language of the 14th Amendment's grant of citizenship to all persons born in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, unquote. On Wednesday, ACU attorney, Cecilia Wang, will appear before the justices to argue against ending birthright citizenship. Wang has described herself as a birthright citizen, born in the United States to parents who emigrated from Taiwan. I'm a second generation American myself, so I understand the stakes for so many immigrants who are contributing to American communities and working hard to achieve U.S. citizenship and who've believed in the Constitution's solemn promise of birthright citizenship.

This is more than a legal case. This is a fight for what it means to be American, and we are fighting to win. In 1898, the Supreme Court affirmed children born on U.S. soil are citizens regardless of their parents' immigration status. That case was brought by a Chinese American man named Wang Kim Ark. He was born in the United States to parents who were Chinese citizens. Wang Kim Ark's great-grandson, Norman Wong, plans to speak outside the Supreme Court Wednesday. He recently spoke to Reuters from his home in California about his grandfather. When he came back in 1895, he was stopped from entering the United States and made a force to remain on the boat.

The collector of customs decided that the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act was enforced, and he didn't recognize Wongkin Art's birthright citizenship. Even though Wong Kim Ark, when he left, had testimony. testimonies that he was on American citizens. And, you know, you, you, you, you have, he always had his paperwork because by 1882, he knew the rules. We're joined now by Cody Wafsey, deputy director of the ACLU Immigrants Rights Project. He served as a lead attorney on the birthright citizenship case in lower courts. Welcome to Democracy Now, Cody.

Talk about the significance of this case, what the Trump administration. is done where this birthright citizenship amendment came from and what the ACOU will argue on Wednesday. Yeah, thanks so much for having me. Birthright citizenship is an absolutely foundational American value. And as you said, it is written into our constitution. It's actually a rule and an idea that goes all the way back to the beginning of the country and beyond back to England. But it is a rule that was severely attacked and undermined in the shameful Dred Scott decision, which before the Civil War concluded that black Americans, whether enslaved or free, could never be citizens of the United States.

That articulated an idea of citizenship based on division and exclusion. And it was a big part of what led to the Civil War itself. after the war, Congress sat down and knew it needed to fix that problem. And so what it came up with is the citizenship clause, which is very clear that all children born in this country are U.S. citizens, except for some unusual circumstances, like the children of ambassadors who are not subject to U.S. law. That has been the rule ever since it was recognized by the Supreme Court in 1890. and it remains the rule today. But the Trump administration has taken aim at that principle and is seeking to strip citizenship away from U.S. born children

that is deeply illegal, unconstitutional, and morally wrong. And that's exactly why we'll be fighting them over this in the Supreme Court. And, Cody, could you talk about the plaintiffs in this particular case, in this, the Trump versus Barbara? Sure, I'm happy to. So this case is actually a class action, meaning our clients are all of the children who are targeted by this executive order. We're talking about tens of thousands of babies being born every month to parents who are in

different circumstances. Some of them are here on long-term work visas or student visas, maybe like a Ph.D. candidate. Others are here in long-term statuses like DACA recipients or temporary protected status. Some of those folks have been here since they were children. Others are long-term residents who may not have any current immigration status, but have spent years, decades, building lives here contributing to their communities. Others are seeking protection in this country, asylum, and other forms of protection from harms around the world. So it's a wide range of contexts. There are three families who are what we call named plaintiffs. They are, you know,

brave families that are standing up to sort of be representatives of that entire class of folks. And they fall into some of those categories. They have different immigration statuses. But what brings them all together is the Trump administration is targeting them and their babies at this particularly vulnerable and stressful moment, you have either pregnant women or, you know, young babies that you're taking care of and you have to be worried about, is the administration going to strip my child's constitutionally guaranteed citizenship away? And how many people are we talking about now that would be affected since Trump issued his executive order?

Yeah. So the estimates are somewhere in the range of, you know, 150 to 250,000 a year. And projecting out the estimates have been that this would impact roughly 5 million U.S. born children in the next 20 years. Cheryl Lynn Eiffel, the director of the 14th Amendment Center at Howard University, wrote last year, quote, today we're facing the greatest hostility to the 14th Amendment since the post-reconstruction period. Indeed, we're now in a period of full-blown hostility to the project of multiracial democracy. She went on to say, everyone should be on full alert.

The 14th Amendment protects the citizenship and equality of every American. Nothing says cancellation quite like threats to your citizenship. status at the whim of the president simply because he doesn't want you here. Can you elaborate on that, Cody? Yeah, absolutely. So there's two things, I think, to pull out from that, you know, important observation. The first is historical, which is that that's exactly right. There has been resistance to the 14th Amendment, to the ideas of equality and equal citizenship

enshrined in the Constitution after the Civil War as part of atoning for the sin of slavery. Ever since then, in particular, in the years after the 14th Amendment was ratified, there were those who adamantly opposed it, including former Confederates. And interestingly, a number of those former Confederates are opponents, their views were offered up to the Supreme Court in Wong Kim Ark. And they were rejected in Wonkimark. What we see today is the Trump administration, shockingly, recycling those same writers, those same sources that were grounded in opposition to the 14th Amendment and essentially

opposition to the idea of an equal society without caste, without division. I think that the second thing about this is that it is important to kind of understand where this policy fits in the broader landscape of the Trump administration's agenda. This is a rule about citizenship and stealing the citizenship from U.S. citizen children, but it is part of a broader effort to attack immigrant communities, mixed status families, and try and reshape the down. demographics of this country. Stephen Miller and others in the administration are adamant that they want to turn the clock back to a time when this country was less free, was less equal, and more than anything else was more white. And that's what this case is ultimately about, and that is simply not the rule that's enshrined in the Constitution. And Cody, you've argued this case in the lower courts. Why did every lower court

reject the administration's theory that the children of non-citizens aren't, quote, subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S.? Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of reasons. I'll give you three. So one is it's completely contrary to the history, as I said, the rule that the children of immigrants, regardless of status, are U.S. citizens in this country, goes all the way back to the beginning of the country and then gets enshrined specifically into the Constitution in 1868. Secondly, that's exactly what the Supreme Court said in 1898. So we have on-point Supreme Court precedent interpreting the citizenship clause exactly along the lines of that history and exactly as we say it is meant to be understood.

And third, there's actually an independent problem with the government's position and executive order in this case, which is that there was a statute inactive. in 1940 that enshrined the same widespread near universal understanding of birthright citizenship that prevailed then and prevails today into federal statutory law. That provides an alternative basis to strike down the executive order. And, you know, once again, is a reason why the government's arguments are flat wrong. Last week, the ACLU launched a national ad campaign of what it means to be in America. and featuring Bruce Springsteen's hit song, Born in the USA.

The Supreme Court will hear a case challenging birthright citizenship. The 14th Amendment guarantees birthright citizen. When Bruce Springsteen performed a Democracy Now's 30th anniversary celebration last week, I asked him about partnering with the ACLU. Now you just made news again this morning. The ACLU launching. a national ad campaign featuring your born in the USA, highlighting the landmark birthright citizenship Supreme Court case that they're going to be arguing on April 1st.

All right, right. Well, it's our pleasure to be working with the ACLU, and they finally put born in USA to some good and righteous use, so I'm glad to... They finally put born in the USA to some good and righteous use. Cody Woffsey. Your colleague, Cecilia Wong, is going to be arguing this before the Supreme Court, herself a birthright citizen, the significance of this. Yeah, I think that just the fact that we have a Chinese-American legal director of the ACLU standing up to defend the principle that Wong Kim Ark bravely stood up to establish 128 years ago just goes to show how much that decision and the 14th Amendment

have shaped and made the America that we all live in today. Birthright citizenship is a cornerstone of who we are and of what America is all about. And that's exactly why I have every confidence that we are going to prevail in this case. Cody Wafsey, Deputy Director of the ACOU and Mengrin Rights Project and leading attorney on the birthright citizenship case, having argued it in the lower courts, it will be argued before the Supreme Court on, no joke, April 1st. Up next to Cuba, where Russian tankers just delivered 700,000 barrels of crude oil. And yet the U.S. says the policy of blockade against Cuba hasn't changed. Stay with us. Overcome. He shall overcome.

Overcome, performed by the Twin Cities' Gay Men's Chorus at Saturdays No Kings Rally in St. Paul, Minnesota. Bruce Springsteen also performed there. This is Democracy Now. Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. A Russian oil tanker has arrived in the port of Matanzas, Cuba, breaking the U.S. U.S. blockade imposed by the U.S. three months ago. The tankers carrying around 700,000 barrels of crude oil. Fuel shortages in Cuba have caused days-long blackouts have brought all sectors of Cuba to

the brink of collapse. This is Savannah resident. Ismail de la Luz Caballero. I see the arrival of the ship and the fact that they allowed it in it very positively. However, we need them to let more shipments through. After all, a single ship amounts to just over 75,000 barrels, and that lasts only 15 days. What happens after that? We'll be right back to the blackouts and the transportation crisis.

Things are in a dire state on that front. The Americans need to let us live a little, to let us breathe, because we've reached a point where we can barely breathe anymore. The White House is claiming the arrival of the Russian tanker, unimpeded by the United States, does not signal a formal change and sanction policy and said decisions on shipments going forward would be made on a case-by-case basis. President Trump spoke to reporters aboard Air Force one Sunday. If he wants to do that and if other countries want to do it, it doesn't bother me much. It's not going to have an impact. Cuba's finished.

They have a bad regime. They have very bad and corrupt leadership. And whether or not they get a boat of oil, it's not going to matter. I'd prefer letting it in, whether it's Russia or anybody else, because the people need heat and cooling and all of the other things that you need good. For more, we're joined by two guests. In Havana, Cuba, we're joined by the award-winning journalist Liz Oliva Fernandez of the belly of the beach. She's been reporting on the impacts of U.S. sanctions for years. In Washington, D.C., we're joined by William Leo Grant.

He's a professor of government and American university specialist in U.S. Latin American relations. and co-author of Back Channel to Cuba, the Hidden History of Negotiations between Washington and Havana. We'll talk about how hard Cuba's been hit by the U.S. sanctions. I mean, President Trump has been threatening countries around the world against delivering aid to Cuba and oil. Professor William Leo Grant, can you explain what's happening, whether or not Trump says it's not a change in policy?

That will surprise countries around the world. that he has demanded they not help Cuba. What is going on here? Well, I think possibly what's going on is that the administration has begun to worry that their effort to strangle the Cuban economy could push the economy over the edge and generate a mass migration crisis. That obviously is something that would be very contrary to the president's overall policy of not allowing anybody into the United States if he can help it.

They're playing a dangerous game, I think, in the White House. They're tightening sanctions on Cuba in the hope that somehow this is going to force the Cuban government to surrender to their terms at the negotiating table. But if the Cuban government doesn't surrender, then there is this risk of bringing the economy really to the edge and over the edge of collapse and generating social chaos on the island, a mass migration, and then pressure from the Cuban American community. for direct military intervention. But Professor Leogrand, isn't this also a sign that the Trump administration realizes it cannot risk a confrontation with Russia in the Caribbean while at the same time having to have so many troops and so much military hardware deployed in the Persian Gulf and in Iran and that they'd rather just let the Russian tanker go through because obviously they're

still putting a lot of pressure on weaker or smaller countries to maintain the embargo against or the blockade against supplies to Cuba. Well, you know, the tanker was not accompanied by any Russian naval forces. So the administration could have seized it with no real resistance. But this administration very rarely does. anything that is confrontational with Russia. And I think this is just sort of par for the course with the Trump administration of wanting to, for whatever reason, stay on good terms with Russia come what may. And we've heard a lot of talk from both Marco Secretary of State Marco Rubio

and Trump about the contours of some kind of a deal with Cuba. And Rubio has been saying that the current president of Cuba has to go? What's your sense of this issue? Are there backdoor talks between the two countries? Well, it seems there certainly has been sort of preliminary conversations between the two countries. Both governments have confirmed that over the last few days. There was at least one face-to-face meeting between Secretary Rubio's advisors and Cuban representatives on the island of St. Kitts during the Karakom meeting. But what the United States really wants is still very much unclear. Initially, it sounded like what the United States was most interested in was some kind of

economic deal. And even Secretary Rubio was sort of underscoring that in his public statements. Then the Cuban government said that pretty much anything was open to discussion except their internal affairs and particularly the shape of their government or who their political leaders would be. So the Cubans really drew a red line around that issue of political leadership. After that, Secretary Rubio came out and in a couple of public statements was pretty clear that he thinks that the Cuban leadership, in fact, has to change. So it's an open question now, whether there is enough common ground between the two countries to reach some kind of agreement

around economic issues, which of course is what President Trump was interested in primarily in Venezuela, or whether or not we're going to have a deadlock in these negotiations, because the United States insists on infringing, and in fact, on Cuban sovereignty by telling them who their leaders can be. Secretary of State Marco Ruby have denied there's a naval blockade on Cuba. A naval blockade surrounding Cuba. The reason why Cuba doesn't have oil and fuel is because they want it for free. And people don't give away oil and fuel for free on a regular basis, unless it was the Soviet Union subsidizing them or Maduro subsidizing them.

They just don't do it. They may get a shipment here or there now and then someone, but not enough to sustain their country. Ultimately, the reason why people are disaster is because the economic system doesn't work. It's a nonsensical system. And the people of who are suffering because of the decisions, because of the unwillingness of the people who govern that country, to make the changes that need to be made so they can join the 21st century. It is sad that the only place, Cubans can only be successful as they leave the country. That's a very sad thing.

You see Cubans go all over the world and find success in Cuba. That's Cuban-American U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, Liz Oliva Fernandez. You're a Cuban journalist in Havana right now. If you can respond to what he's saying, saying that there is not a naval blockade. And also talk about, while he allows an irasian oil tax, banker. For example, when it comes to Mexico, hasn't Mexico said that they would be threatened with tariffs by Trump if they sent this kind of oil to Cuba? I don't need to respond to that because the President Trump already did. Like, it's funny,

like, as many times these people are, like, fighting, like, each other. They say, the things that they say don't have any sense. They say there is no. an oil blockade, but then they are threatening people trading in countries with tariff if they like just like try to get oil to Cuba. And then the president says, well, we are going to allow this. And then the secretary of office in the White House, the press conference, they say, well, we need to see case by case. Like, what is the point if there is not an oil blockade? And I think like the things is not like they talk about this. I think like the bother me, the mosque is like when the people are phrasing it, they allow it.

Like, this is illegal? So what is this United States doing? Who said that United States can allow how many oil or who is sending oil to Cuba? Who is the United States? Who give you the authorization to say how many oil going into Cuba or not? Like, this is illegal. They can't do that and say that they allow it. We are like a legitimized an action that is illegal itself.

And also for me, this is, it's complicated to understand. Like, I don't get it. Like, I know that they are lying, but I don't get it how they can just stand and say that this is not affecting the people. How many countries around the war can just survive without oil? Like, oil is a fundamental part of everything. And Liz Oliva Fernandez, it's not clearly. just oil for... Liz Oliva,

it's not just about oil as well, as we know, for decades now, the United States has been blockading and mounting a solo embargo against Cuba, condemned by virtually every country in the United Nations General Assembly. What's been the impact of these decades of economic isolation that the United States, United States has sought to put Cuba in on the people of your country?

First, I need to say that no, like, we haven't, they haven't maintained it for more than 60 years now. But not all the eras, not all the times, or not all the periods are the same. There are times like they shrink as much as I can as it happened since the first strong administration and this one. For example, to put you in context. When we are looking at infant mortality in Cuba, in 2018, that was four-parent-one-kids. And now, after all dissentions of the United States and total administrative, first, then, Biden, just maintained the things like it is, and then trauma again, like the mortality, infant mortality in Cuba has raised until 10. that's crazy. That's how much impact the US

sanctions has in Cuba and not just infant mortality. Let's talk about expectancy of life. Cuba has one of the expectancy of life that could be compared with other Western Hemisphere Western countries, sorry. And then that have been like

getting in the impact of the sanctions are cruel because it's not just like they are putting sanctions and this is like a war between the United States and Cuba, this is an isolation. They are trying to asphyxiate the Cuban people in order than that we want to overthrow our own government.

When they say, oh, we don't know, we're not sure what they want, they want regime change. Not because I say it, because they write it down in the 60s. They have been wanting regime change since always. And I think like this is the first time in my life and an experience like people are tired in Cuba. We don't want to go through this anymore. So people want us to something happen.

Lizzie Liva Fernandez, I want to thank you for being with us, Cuban journalists with Belly of the Beast speaking to us from Havana. She's not just reporting on the sanctions and blockade. She is living it. William Leo Grande professor at American University, co-author with Peter Cornblue of Back Channel to Cuba, the Hidden History of Negotiation, between Washington and Havana. Coming up, the dramatic story of the secretive decade-long Pentagon campaign

to deliver America into the age of AI warfare. We'll speak to the author of a new book called Project Maven, a Marine Colonel, his team, and the dawn of AI warfare. Stay with us. One more song. and make it a song for peace Though we all may carry on May we do so decently

I'm just shaking But I'm just sweating Thinking about the state of the world But when we're riding all together It's a different kind of world One more song or write a song and know that it's for you. Different kind of world performed by Maggie Rogers at No King's Rally in the Twin Cities.

She also performed with Joan Baez at that rally, and you can see that at DemocracyNow.org. This is Democracy Now. I'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez. As the U.S. and Israeli war in Iran enters its 32nd day, we turn now to look at how artificial intelligence is reshaping how wars are fought. The Trump administration says the U.S. has struck 11,000 targets in Iran since the war began. The military is largely relied on an AI system known as Project Maven to speed up the process of identifying targets. But critics have questioned the accuracy of the AI system.

The Pentagon's now investigating of Project Maven played a role in the U.S. strike. on the Iranian Girls School that killed over 170 people, mainly children. The Pentagon Launch Project Maven in 2017. Google was an initial partner, but the company pulled out after over 3,000 Google workers signed a letter opposing the work, saying, quote, we believe that Google should not be in the business of war. The big data firm, Palantir, then took over the project and has, has run it ever since. This is Palantir's chief technology officer, Shiam Sankar, speaking on Bloomberg earlier this month.

Current operations aren't going, but I think people will reflect back and say this is the first large-scale combat operation that was really driven, enhanced, made substantially more productive with technology, with AI. If you think about Gulf War I think, or Gulf War II, sorry, Gulf War II, we did about a thousand targets. It was six months of planes. for roughly 50 to 100 people. And in this conflict, you're looking at that equivalent of work for twice as many targets was done by one person in two weeks. So how do we give our service members that Iron Man suit?

We're making them 50 times more productive than the atmosphere. Iron Man suits. Yeah, the conceptual Iron Man suit, right? Like, how do I make them superhuman? Officer Shyam Sankar. We're joined now by Katrina Manson, award-winning journalist at Bloomberg, author of the new book Project Maven, a Marine Colonel, his team. and the dawn of AI warfare.

So why don't you lay it out? What is Project Maven the companies involved, the revolts like the thousands of Google workers who said no? Project Maven started in 2017. At a time the Pentagon was increasingly concerned about the technological capabilities that China's military was developing. Not only China was spending more on defense

at a time that the U.S., of course, maintained the biggest budget on defense of any country in the world, but was also aware that China had been studying America's military weak points. The people who backed Project Maven believed that AI could be a route towards autonomy and to help the US speed up the scale and speed of warfare, and also for its backers, they hoped that AI could deliver accuracy, protect civilians and protect US troops and allied troops. Of course, there was a huge backlash from campaigners who thought it would do the opposite,

that AI could harm civilians, that there could be atrocities in such a future era of warfare. What's so difficult about those arguments is they happen largely at the philosophical level. And so I've spent several years now trying to find concrete examples of the way USAI has actually been used on the battlefield of moments where algorithms haven't been able to successfully identify objects on the battlefield, but also where with tweaks they have. And so I've tried to come to this picture of what exactly this tool is. Cut to today. The US has said it is using a variety of AI tools in its operations against Iran. I've reported that includes Maven Smart System. That's the platform, if you imagine Google Earth for war, a map of war with white dots infused with information like elevation, a coordinate, what is precisely there, whether it's friendly or foe.

That is the system that the US is using now in a widespread way as a common operating platform or even some people call it AI mission control. And in just the first 24 hours of U.S. operations against Iran, the U.S. publicly announced they'd struck a thousand targets. Now, that's not exclusively down to AI, but AI is helping rifle through data, offer ways of identifying and selecting targets, and then pairing it with what the U.S. considers the most appropriate weapon. You raised the question of the companies that have supported this. outset, there was Google. The Pentagon was facing this problem. They're used to, of course, making weapons of war, relying on big companies like Lockheed Martin and others. This was a moment where those companies were not at the cutting edge of AI. And the Pentagon felt that people had phones. They were using AI in their daily lives, but they weren't using it at the Pentagon. And so

they reached out to several startups. There was a New York startup that got involved that was very successful at identifying objects. It used to do a wedding blog. It would identify concentric circles of a cake. It switched to doing weapons of war. So there was this big effort. What company was it? Clarify. And they did encounter problems for their own workforce. Several people decided they were not comfortable working on this project. The leaders of Clarify told me they were convinced by a US colonel who led Project Mavener's chief, who made the argument, that precision, accuracy that he believed AI could bring by helping humans do a better job of war would deliver a better battlefield result.

And he also introduced me to other people, one of whom explained that the US regularly makes mistakes at war. And so many carried disburden and wanted to achieve a better result for those aims. some of the other companies that ended up working on the project once Google pulled out, or they decided not to renew the contract, was Pallantir, which starts making this interface, Maven Smart System, which is being used today, and which I reported that is going to become a program of record by the end of September, which means it will have a consistent funding stream from Congress and be even more widely used than it is today.

They have more than 25,000 accounts in use across. the US military in every single combatant command or regional theatre. But the actual AI is made by companies that people will be familiar with, Microsoft, Amazon, web services and others. And they have, over the years, struggled to correctly identify what is actually in front of them. In one early case, and of course I should be clear that an early case is not representative of where these algorithms are today. But I think it shows the struggle.

In one early case, Microsoft decided that it was too hard to identify subclasses. And actually, drone screeners who look at video footage and can identify by eye are very, very practiced in this. They can identify the difference between a weapon on someone's shoulder and, let's say, a grocery basket because they've been doing it so long. These algorithms were not able to do that. Sometimes it can be down to as little as three pixels on an image. And so Microsoft decided, let's just do two classes, people and vehicles. The problem with that is this claim made for accuracy. The aim was to be able to identify between men, women and children, and an algorithm that just

said person clearly wasn't getting the US military closer to being able to do that critical function under the laws of war, which is distinguish who actually might be being targeted. Now, those algorithms improved, and one of the main moments where they start to improve is in U.S. support to Ukraine. So in 2022, when Russia invades Ukraine, there's a huge effort to try and find Russian objects, military objects, for the Ukrainians to target. And the U.S. starts sharing what they call points of interest. This is everything short of a target because the U.S. didn't want to be identified as a – as a participant, direct participant in the war, but the enormous effort to share intelligence was able to,

I'm told in a story I relate in the book, identify Russian mobile missile launchers far better than the Ukrainians could. And in one case, the US identifies what it says is a mobile missile launcher, tells the Ukrainians, and 18 minutes later, the Ukrainians are able to hit it. Katrina, Matt, I wanted to ask you this whole issue of the worshipping of technology in warfare, in the first Gulf War and in the second Gulf War, we were shown all of these smart bomb hits that the United States basically disseminated across the world to show the superiority of its weapons. What is the accuracy from what you can tell of how Project Maven

identifies and hits targets that are actually military targets. The U.S. has this extraordinary arsenal. It can bring to bear firepower as no one else in the world can. Where it has struggled for years, decades, is knowing exactly where to put that firepower. That decision is down to, in the aims of the colonel who led Project Maven as chief of the project, there was a fundamental lack of intelligence on the battlefield. So although there was this great ability to hit targets, it would only ever be as good as the information feeding that.

And regularly, the US has struggled to do that. In Afghanistan, soon after 9-11, the Marine Colonel, whose story I tell in the book is deployed to Afghanistan, and he tells a story about carrying a computer a huge computer with him on the seat beside him on the helicopter. And that really was the only tool he had to help the team understand what threats they thought they would be encountering. And of course, as you know, the US very quickly started experiencing improvised explosive devices.

And there's a record of civilian harm in that war as well. And so his effort has always been to bring better information to the people who are risking their necks in, in the name of US national security and to try and reduce civilian harm. That process of bringing intelligence into battlefield operations is one that continues to be complex. As the US investigates what happened with the strike against the girls' school in Iran, campaigners and others inside the military will be really looking for accountability there, for an accounting of what went wrong if it is a US strike.

That hasn't been publicly confirmed yet. And what data the U.S. military was drawing on? We just have 20 seconds, but Marine Colonel Coocher's wife didn't really agree with him. She wanted war to be fair. She was really against war as a person. She wanted to know her husband had tried to do the right thing, and she struggled with that. As did he, and even he in his parting shot to me in the book, acknowledges there are dark parts to this AI technology, and he wants the U.S. to be a responsible

custodian of it. We want to thank you for being with us. Katrina Manson, author of Project Maven, a Marine colonel, his team, and the dawn of AI warfare. She's an award-winning journalist at Bloomberg. A very happy birthday to Mike Burke to see our 30th anniversary celebration with Angela Davis and Bruce Springsteen with Patty Smith and Michael Steipp and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Musab Abu Toha, the playwright V and others, go to Democracy Now.org and check out our travel in the coming days. As steal the story, please, the documentary about Democracy Now travels the country starting April 9th here in New York. I'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez.