Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2026-08-28 Friday

Episode Date: August 28, 2026

Headlines for August 28, 2026; “Shut Down Dilley”: Rep. Joaquin Castro on “Abusive” ICE Family Jail, Targeting of Military Families; Glacier Collapse: 2K Dead or Missing in Nepal-Tibet Flood Is “Glaring Example of Climate Injustice”; “Don’t Be Squeamish About Squamous, Get a Checkup!” Amy Goodman’s Personal Health Update; “Who Paid, Who Gained”: Juan González on How Chicago Funded Real Estate Instead of Social Services; “The Lion King” in Quechua?: New Film “Runa Simi” Profiles Indigenous Artist Keeping Language Alive

This is democracy now. There can be dead bodies buried underneath the rubble. The floodwaters that flowed from above. There could be bodies buried. Nearly 2,000 people are dead or missing in Nepal after a mountaintop glacier collapsed causing catastrophic flooding. There could be more. We'll go to Kathmandu for the latest and speak with a climate expert.

But first, to take. Texas, where Congressman Joaquin Castro is calling for the Dilley family immigration jail to be shut down. Every single day that a child spends in Dilley, they are traumatized. And finally, to a new documentary about preserving language, culture, and dubbing Disney's the Lion King into Ketwa. There are so many great movies we've all enjoyed. So why the hell can't the country children enjoy them too? The documentary is called Rumi-Simi, and it's opening nationwide.

All that and more coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the Warren Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. And Nepal, more than 500 people have been confirmed dead after a massive wall of water, mud, and debris crashed through a Himalian River Valley on the border with Tibet. The AP reports more than 1,500 people are still missing. Nepali police issued a fresh alert Friday warning new floods could rush into already devastated areas. This comes as the desperate search for survivors continues. We'll go to Kathmandu Nepal later in the broadcast to speak with a climate expert.

Iranian officials say Tehran is preparing a list of conditions needed to reopening shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. A spokesperson for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Iran would only reopen the waterway if the U.S. lifted its blockade of Iranian ports while paying compensation and removing sanctions. Today marks the six-month anniversary of the joint U.S. or Israeli attacks on Iran. At the time, President Trump called the strikes a short-term excursion, promising they would end within weeks. Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports CIA Director, John N. Radcliffe's secret trip to Moscow earlier this week was preceded by fresh U.S. intelligence indicating the Kremlin sees the United States as weakened by the Iran war. This comes as the Associated Press reports the Pentagon faces a beyond critical shortage of

Patriot missile interceptors in Europe after exhausting most of its supply, defending U.S. bases and Israel from Iranian drones and missiles. Israel's carrying out renewed air strikes on southern Lebanon where health officials report a woman was killed just 48 hours after her wedding. The newlyweds home was also destroyed in the attack on the Nabatiyah district. Six people were wounded by Israeli strikes, including a child, a woman, and two elderly people. In the Gaza Strip, an Israeli drone attack killed three members of the same family north of Han Yunus earlier today. This follows Israeli strikes a day earlier that killed three Palestinians and wounded several others. On Thursday, Israeli defense minister Israel Katz renewed his threat to target any Palestinian seen

flying balloons or kites over Gaza, declaring, quote, any launch is a terrorist act. His threats have forced parents to enforce a ban on flying kites. They have been deprived of education, which is the most essential pillar for children and for human beings. Should they even be deprived of this simple toy? The simplest toy that we can provide for them at the lowest cost, the Israeli enemy has banned them from using. The Trump administration sent a second deportation flight to Haiti in the past week, as officials rapidly expand the removal of thousands of Haitians after the end of temporary protected status, TPS. The flight landed Thursday in the city of Capacien as the main international airport and Port-au-Prince has been deemed too dangerous due to gang violence.

More than 50 people were on board, including children as young as one year old and several children born in the U.S. in Brazil. As the Trump administration ramps up deportations to Haiti, federal immigration agents have flooded Springfield, Ohio, home to a large Haitian community and target of Trump's repeated. racist attacks. Haitian residents are living in fear as masked ice agents and non-marked cars, snatch community members off the streets. This is Springfield resident Jen Castro, addressing the city council during a public comment period on Tuesday. Springfield is afraid, not of crime, but of ice. Afraid of a car in the driveway that is not a neighbors. Afraid to drop kids at school. Afraid to go to work. Afraid to sit in a pee on Sunday. That fear is real. It is happening right now. And some of you have decided it doesn't concern you. That is not good enough anymore. If you have to talk yourself out of caring when a father is zip tied in front of his own children, the problem is not empathy. It is you.

That was Jen Castro. In Minnesota, Hennepin County attorney, Mary Moriarty, is demanding the capture of ICE agent Christian Castro, who Texas released from custody three. Thursday and is in Texas after a judge blocked Minnesota's extradition bid. Caster is accused of firing his gun and wounding a Venezuelan man, Julio Cesar Sosa-Sales, in the leg. This is Moriarty. I am told that Governor Abbott claims to be tough on crime. How exactly is he tough on crime by manipulating an extradition process that is supposed to be administrative, to protect a man who shot into a house with children inside, lied about it,

and is under investigation by the federal government. President Trump signed an executive order Thursday, declaring Lake Ontario will be renamed Lake of America, effective immediately. Trump's order came days after the White House imposed tariffs of 50% on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods. Trump's order drew support from MAGA politicians and ridicule from Democrats. New York Governor Kathy Hokel wrote, quote, An acronym for the Great Lakes used to be homes, thanks to Donald Trump. It's now shame, she wrote. Shame would stand for Superior Huron, America, Michigan, and Erie.

In Michigan, Democratic U.S. Senate. candidate, Dr. Abdullah El-Sayed, published a map showing Lake Michigan renamed Lake Florida, a dig at his opponent, Mike Rogers, who splits time between Michigan and Florida. A publisher, editor, and reporter at the federally funded news organization, Stars and Stripes, are suing the Pentagon, claiming Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other top officials had them fired over their critical reporting. The firings came after Stars and Stripes broke news about poor conditions, low morale and mental health crises aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln during its unprecedented deployment to the Middle East.

President Trump called the report's fake news. In April, the White House fired Stars and Stripes Independent Ombudsman Jacqueline Smith without an official reason. The U.S. Navy is considering renaming an aircraft carrier after President Trump once its construction is complete. CNN first reported the plan which would see the war ship's name change from the USS Doris Miller, honoring an enlisted African-American sailor who helped defend U.S. forces during Japan's 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Meanwhile, Justice Department lawyers have suggested the Trump. Trump administration might demolish the John F. Kennedy Center for the performing arts unless the government is allowed to follow through with its plans for the site, which include adding the

words renovated and restored by President Donald J. Trump to the building's exterior. That's despite a federal judge's order to remove Donald Trump's name from the Kennedy Center, which has already happened. On Thursday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik defended Trump's plans. He spoke to reporters outside of federal court as a protester nearby chanted shame. If President Trump was the construction manager, if he agreed to do it, we could get this done. But if he didn't agree to do it, what would we do? The board would have to hire a construction manager, spend them tens of millions of dollars, and the building would, of course, run overtime and over budget. And newly published financial disclosure forms reveal President Trump made more than a thousand stock transactions in June with many of the trades involving the same energy companies that were reaping record windfall profits from the U.S. and Israeli war in Iran.

Trump also traded an artificial intelligence stocks like Nvidia and drug manufacturers, including Eli Lilly and Merck. And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now. Democracy Now.org. The War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman in New York with Juan Gonzalez and Chicago. Hi, Juan. Hi, Amy, and welcome to all of our listeners and viewers across the country and around the world. In a moment, we're going to be going to Nepal to talk about the massive devastation from a glacier that broke off.

Now, at least 2,000 people are dead or missing. But first, we go to Texas. Calls to shut down the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in South Texas continue to grow, following the detention and deportation of Victor Martinez-Nieto, along with his five-year-old son, Liam. The arrest happened just days before Liam was set to start kindergarten. They've both been deported to Mexico. According to the family's lawyer, Liam's dad begged officers to let his son go as they were arrested on their way to soccer practice in Austin last week. His father wanted Liam to be released to his mom, but ICE reportedly refused. We go now to San Antonio, Texas, where we're joined by Democratic Congressmember Joaquin Castro, who requested to visit Liam and his father in custody. But ICE denied the request. Last month, Congress member Castro led a group of more than 110 Democratic House members in a nationwide call to end the immigration.

jail in Dilley. He's joining us now from a car in San Antonio on his way to a meeting. Congress Member Castor, we thank you for taking these minutes to be with us. Talk about what you're demanding. Today you're headed to Dilley once again. Yeah, great to be with you all. This will be my ninth inspection of Dilley this year. And I join 110 other Democrats in calling for the United States government to shut down.

the Dilley Detention Center. It is, to me, it represents the commodification of child imprisonment. You have kids as young as two months old who have been in prison there, and every child that's put in there, every woman, every person, there are American investors who are making money off of their imprisonment, but most especially the children. So I got asked by some of ICE leadership to meet with them at Dilley, and I'm going to go do that this morning.

And Congressman, the Texas Tribune reported earlier this month that immigrant children are held in Dilley five times longer than a court order allows. Can you talk about that situation, especially the case of Liam Tadeo, the five-year-old boy and his father, Victor Martinez-Nieto? Yeah, I tried to visit with Liam and his father last Friday and got his mother's permission to meet with him and still ice for. refused to let me meet with him. I then told them that I wanted to visit with Liam and his father today during my inspection, and they, of course, deported him in the last few days. And so this is an agency that has become very abusive, that has absolutely gone rogue, and that should be disbanded. And Congressman, could you comment also about how a judge has blocked Minnesota's bid to extradite Christian Castro and an ICE agent accused of firing his gun and wounding a

Venezuelan man in the leg? Yeah, absolutely. To finish up on your last question, there's something known as the Florida settlement agreement that says that children should only be held in these detention centers for up to 20 days. And ICE right now is going well over that limit. I've met with kids who have been there three months, seven months, ten months. And so this is really abusive and it's traumatizing a lot of kids. With respect to Christian Gostro, who's in the Rio Grande Valley, he was up in Minnesota, was one of the ICE agents from Texas up in Minnesota. And just so we understand what he did, he shot into a closed door of a house where there were six people, including children, and ended up shooting a man.

And then on top of that, he lied about it and got caught. And so the Texas Rangers, when he came back to Texas, arrested him, and he was in jail awaiting extradition at the request of Minnesota. Governor Greg Abbott, who's one of the most corrupt governors in the country, refused to do that based purely on politics. And so unfortunately, that agent was released. yesterday from jail and is presumably in Texas but is also a flight risk. Congressman Castro, we also want to ask about yet another case. Earlier this year,

you nominated David Garcia to the U.S. Naval Academy. His mother, Maria, is now jailed at Dilley. ICE took her into custody during her green card review. You're demanding her immediate release. What can you tell us about her? Yeah, I mean, you know, the Trump administration, it's clear, is also targeting military families. We've seen this kind of story come up now several times. David Garcia is an outstanding young man from San Antonio in my congressional district, and I nominated him to the U.S. Naval Academy, and he's there right now. Unfortunately, his mom had been granted parole in place and showed up for her green card interview,

and when she did, ICE took her. And now she's sitting in that daily trailer prison as her son is at the U.S. Naval Academy as we speak. And so I've been in contact with ICE. I'm working on his mom Maria's case. And, you know, I'm hoping to see her today, but we were still working out, getting all of the privacy and permission forms that we need.

But, you know, that's the thing. You've got this young man who is serving his country who are absolutely representing, the best of us, his bomb that was doing everything right, as they say, and still Donald Trump and his administration with the help of governors like Greg Abbott are targeting them. And then also let me ask you about this story that has gotten some attention. The father of the U.S. Navy sailor, now in his ninth month of deployment aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, the father was detained by ICE recently. He's since been released.

but the apprehension of Luis Manuel Aviles in Key West Florida is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to end immigration protections for the families and relatives of U.S. service members. Your response to his son, Joshua Villes, remember, I mean, what they have been through on the USS Abraham Lincoln has been unbelievable. And here he's gone through that. Then his father's detained. social media. This is heartbreaking for me. I don't know how I can mentally continue working 12 plus hours, days, knowing my dad is somewhere, possibly being treated like a criminal. My dad's only crime was coming to this country to give my siblings and me a better life.

There was public outcry. His father was released. And then you have the story of another active duty U.S. soldier whose wife was deported to her. Honduras. Christy Mariari via Franca Trejo, the wife of Army Sergeant Hedar Leannell, Tosius Juarez, and mother of their six-year-old daughter was deported Monday. She'd left 10 years ago from Honduras due to violent crime in the country. At least the seventh spouse or parent of an active duty military member to be removed from the United States with more than 50 cases of immediate family of U.S. service members placed in federal immigration detention. according to the Associated Press. What are you calling for, Congress Member Castro?

Well, most of all, I'm calling on the Trump administration to stop targeting military families and the relatives of service members to stop targeting them. These are folks who are honorably serving our country. And at a minimum, and their families, again, are people who have not committed any crimes, have not done anything wrong. They should be granted those protections. And, you know, and so it's absolutely shameful and disgusting that Stephen Miller and Donald Trump and these folks are going after their family members. And finally, Congressman, I wanted to ask you also, it's been two months since the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado, Araujo, in Houston, the 52-year-old Mexican father of three U.S. citizen sons who was killed by ICE agents as he was commuting to work. Has there been any update in that? We understand that a possible new witness has come forward?

Yeah, my understanding is the Harris County DA, you know, has compiled a lot of evidence and a lot of the facts surrounding the case. And from what I understand, they may be close to, you know, I think they're bringing witnesses into a grand jury and hopefully close to an indictment. You know, I said early on that when ICE, when law enforcement, when they have the facts, on their side, when it's clear from the video evidence that somebody pulled out a gun and was trying to harm them, when they saved somebody from a flooding car successfully, you know, when the evidence supports their case, they tend to put that evidence out, the video evidence out, video evidence out right away. Here, ICE did not put out a single second of video evidence. And to me, that was a strong suggestion that they understand that their ICE agents did wrong.

And so I hope that those folks will be held accountable. Congress member Alkin Castro, thank you so much for being with us. You can get out of your car and go to your meeting now. Democratic congressman from Texas representing San Antonio, calling for the Dilley immigration jail to be shut down. Coming up, we go to Nepal. where a devastating flood from a collapsed glacier has led to hundreds of dead and well over a thousand people missing. We'll speak with a climate expert. Stay with us. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org.

I'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez. We turn now to Nepal where at least 547 people are confirmed dead. Over 1,300 people are still missing after a glacial collapse sent a wall of ice. mud and rock into a Himalayan river, which triggered catastrophic flooding and the Nepal-Tibet border regions, sweeping away entire communities. Water levels along the river at one point rose by as much as 27 feet over half an hour. As the desperate search for survivors continues, heavy rain and risk of secondary flooding of complicated rescue operations, Chinese authorities warned Friday a lake formed by the landslide could breach its banks and cause another flood.

downstream in Nepal. This is David Fisher, who leads the Red Cross in Nepal. And so we are operating on still very, very estimated figures, but we believe that at least 93,000 people have been affected and are in great need. We're, of course, very, very concerned about the secondary flood. Nepali authorities say they've rescued over 3,700 people so far. The bodies of the dead swept away by the floods are being found far downstream. Meanwhile, local morgues are running out of space to store the bodies until they're identified. Among the missing are hundreds of foreign tourists, many of whom were on their way to a popular pilgrimage site sacred to Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains. There are up to a hundred tourists from

the United States missing. This is an evacuated Indian tourist describing her escape from the flood. We saw the gush of water all the way, dirty mud, rising all the way four-story high. We ran for our life. We ran 500 steps all the way up the mountain to be safe. Did you hear something before you saw the mud slide? What was it? Please explain. Like water, it felt like a boulder falling down. Like when a boulder hits water, what happens? That's what it was. A big, big rock. When it hits water, what happens? It comes a hole in. So we were thinking it's earthquake. but we still don't know because I was also told that, you know, this is more like a glacier burst.

That's what I think the Army folks told us. So we have to go with what they say, so I don't know. Geologists say the flash floods were set off by landslide and glacial avalanche so powerful it set off its own seismic signal. Climate scientists warned the region is warming much faster than the global average, leading to the rapid retreat of glaciers. For the latest on how this catastrophic flooding relates to climate change, we go now to Kathmandu, Nepal, where we're joined by climate expert, Sunil Acharya, the just transition lead at the nonprofit recourse. Thank you so much, Sunil, for joining us. I know you're outside a hospital if you can describe the scene there and also talk about how all of this relates to climate change. At this point, we have numbers up to 2,000 between the dead.

and the missing. So I'm standing right in front of government hospital here in Kashmandu where they are bringing hoarse of people who have died or who are severely injured. This is an unprecedented situation in here. The devastation caused by the flood that happened on Wednesday is unimaginable in the sense that the scale of devastation it has done is huge. exact cause of this flooding as scientists have now started to tell was because a huge ice mass fell up and that triggered the flooding because it carried the huge amount of

water the rocks and debris along the way washing away hundreds of villages huge number of bridges and road infrastructure and also hydropower stations though it seems like it's unimaginable when we see the footage is coming in. However, scientists and civil society have been warning about the very fact that these kind of events might happen in the Himalayas is no news. The scientists and civil society have been telling to the global community that these kind of events can happen because of the climate crisis. and this is the result of the delayed global action to deal with climate change. And Nepal has lost nearly a third of its total ice volume over the last three decades. Do you explain?

Yeah, that's true. The Nepal Himalai are, you know, warming at the rate that is higher than the global air rays. The ice caps in the mountains and the glacier in there are melting. in a rapid scale that's leading to a number of flood disasters every year. For example, this particular flooding event is the third in the row in the same catchment area. There are several other garassia lakes which are in the verge of explosion or melting. That means we are living in a situation wherein we can say that this time bomb, it to Nepal wherein the communities who didn't cause anything to cause climate crisis are bearing

the bond of this crisis wherein the number of people being killed, the number of properties being damaged has been, you know, way beyond we can adapt to. This also shows that the climate crisis has reached our stage wherein there is a very hard limit to adaptation and the loss damage is resulting. But again, the global community or the developed countries, which have historically contributed to the climate crisis, are complacent in this, causing the situation like this. They are still, you know, trying to not act upon and deal with the crisis in acting to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions urgently. And given how quickly this unfolded, in the past,

How has an early flood warning system that relies on a network of river gauges? How well did that work? So see, the suddenness of this event was so quick that the ice mass fell off. Usually the early warning system that Nepal has are used to monitor the slow source of water flow. But this was an explosion that happened in a very quick succession. and then the river shores that happened was so fast that even the monitoring stations were swept away before they were able to send the early warning situation.

That also means that the only running system that has been installed despite the fact that Nepal also lacks sufficient resources to put in place the audio wiring system, put in place the monitoring system. There's one fact. But again, another fact is what we witnessed, is that these monitoring systems which were supposed to work at the usual time no longer work because of the climate change, the hazard profile had changed, the behavior of the hazard had changed.

That's why it is very difficult for the existing Oliwaning system to work. Our last question to you, Sunil, the U.S. is historically the largest greenhouse gas emitter. China currently the largest greenhouse gas emitter. Nepal, to say the least, contributes almost not at all to greenhouse gases, which lead to the warming of the planet. If you can comment on this and where we go from here as you face possibly another flood in Nepal. As you say, it's a glaring example of climate injustice. Nepal contributes less than 0.1% to the global greenhouse gas emissions. However, the number and magnitude of disasters we are facing is rising day by day,

and also the fact that the country which is already having to force to shift the very scarce situations it has from health and education to deal with disasters that come year after year is very, very, bling. But also the fact that there's already a warning up there, the water level has already reason and there might be another, you know, flooding event that can happen right away as we speak. But as the crisis is unfolding, we can see that there will be the number of such events that will happen. That also means that people and communities will be left in a situation where there is no way to deal with this crisis. And this also reflects the fact that there is loss in damage that is happening and it is reality.

And it also shows to the fact that the historically responsible countries such as the U.S. need to urgently compensate for the damage that has created because of this crisis. Sunil Acharya, our deepest condolences and what has happened to your country on the border with Nepal and Tibet. And, of course, will continue to follow this issue. Climate and public policy specialists speaking to us from Kathmandu. He's the just transition lead at the nonprofit recourse. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez.

Before we move on with the show, I wanted to say a few words about my absence from the show this week. I took time off following a minor but important medical procedure known as Mo's surgery, that's M-O-H-S, microscopic surgery, to remove some skin cells on my nose that tested positive for squamous cell cancer. The procedure was painless using only minimal local anesthesia. And it went well. I got the stitches out yesterday and now have stair strips across the bridge of my nose, a kind of post-surgical band-aid. But I decided to come back on because I think it's important that we are not, you know, we don't have to be picture perfect on TV or video. We are not plastic. We are people. And people get by in all sorts of ways around the world. And I think it's important not to hide.

The good news is, in my case, we caught the problem in time. The medical team that treated me are confident. They removed all the cancerous cells. And in medical terms, it means the edges are clear. And I'm really grateful to everyone here at Democracy Now for covering me this week, especially my New York-based co-host, Nermaine Sheikh, and Anjali Comet, our editorial director, Mike Burke, who managed everything. Oh, Cherina Nodura, Tamaria, Studio.

Thank you so much, Dina Guzder, the whole team. And Juan, of course, always thank you. It was a real treat watching the show from home with my dog Zazu by my side. Oh, I want to emphasize that the problem was caught in time, but too often people don't realize that a spot, a bump on their skin, a mole or a blemish anywhere, or just a rough spot, something scaly, might be cancerous. We don't have to be squeamish about squamous cell carcinoma or basal cell carcinoma unless it's not caught in time. Do your dermatology checks every year. And now with climate change,

with the earth heating, with the increased exposure to the sun, there's an increase in skin cancer. And Juan, as you so prophetically warmed after the 9-11 attacks here in New York, The level of toxins downtown were devastating, and skin cancers like squamous cell cancer went way up, especially downtown. Back then, Democracy Now was the closest national broadcast to Ground Zero broadcasting from the firehouse studios of DCTV. Well, enough of this story. So thanks again to everyone. It's great to be back covering the important stories of the day. Now, on with the show, Juan.

And if you can tell us about your fabulous new report on Chicago. Yes, Amy. Well, first, it's great to have you back. And, yes, I spent the past year working with a team of researchers at the University of Illinois, Chicago's Great Cities Institute, tracking how the city of Chicago spent more than $16 billion. That's billion. in property tax revenues over the past 40 years. Ostensibly, the money was supposed to revitalize the city's physical infrastructure

through an economic development tool most people have never heard of. It's a financing tool known as tax increment financing. That is supposedly a self-financing tool that's been used by hundreds of local governments across the United States. but Chicago is far and away the biggest user of it among all major cities. The program allows a municipality to fight urban blight by designating an area within its boundary within the city as a TIF district and then using all future increased property taxes in that area to pay for infrastructure like roads, parks, sewer systems, provide incentives

for private development. Well, we found that Chicago's TIF program became a runaway project with more than 180 different TIF districts created throughout the city. But in fact, the program was diverting an extraordinary share of taxes that would normally go to basic services and public schools and instead went into TIF projects. And it drove up property taxes for all property owners in Chicago by an average of 13.7% over the 10-year period that we studied. We found also 90% of this increased taxes would have occurred anyway without the TIF program. And meanwhile, the TIF districts took in almost as much in property taxes last year as Chicago's corporate fund did to fund police, fire, health, housing, with the average homeowner paying

hundreds of dollars a year and thousands over the 10-year period in extra taxes. We also found that the past four mayoral administrations, TIF funding has actually exacerbated economic inequities throughout the city. Poring more than half of the billions of dollars that it collected into downtown neighborhoods while the 70 other community areas around the city were left to share the other half. And there was very little accountability to the public and clear reporting on how the money was spent. So now we face the situation where the school system is constant every year, doesn't have enough money to fund itself.

The city itself has funding gaps. But yet the TIF districts are sitting on $3 billion in cash in their accounts. And they're flush with cash. So this is going to become a big issue because Chicago is about to enter into another mayoral race early next year. We found that Mayor Brandon Johnson has made some positive reforms to the TIF program, but not enough. And the issue of all this TIF money is going to certainly be a subject of debate as we enter the mayoral season in Chicago next year. Well, Juan, we're going to link to your report, the Great Cities Institute at Chicago. at DemocracyNow.org, Chicago's runaway development tool.

Coming up, a new documentary about preserving language, culture, and dubbing the Lion King into Quechua. It's called Runesimi. Stay with us. Stars of Fire by Adrienne Vianova. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Mimi Goodman. Half of the world's 7,000 spoken languages could be lost by the end of the century.

experts estimate a language is lost every two weeks. Ketua is the most widely spoken indigenous language in the Americas with approximately 7 to 10 million speakers primarily in Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador. But as with so many indigenous languages, Ketua is still vulnerable due to broader cultural pressures and discrimination. We turn now to the documentary film, Runasimi. The film follows Fernando Valencia, a Peruvian voice actor, indigenous activist, radio host, and single dad, who's dubbed many online clips of animated movies into Quechua from his home in Kusco, Peru. The film follows as Fernando pursues his most ambitious goal yet to fully dub Disney's animated classic, The Lion

King, and To Ketua with the help of his eight-year-old son Dylan. This is the trailer for the film. Thank you for calling the Walt Disney Company. How may I assist you? Hi, my name is Fernando Valencia, and I'm calling from Kusko, Peru in South America, and I have a project that consists of dubbing at Disney film to a language that has never had a dubbed version. The language I am referring to is Quechua, which is the second official language here in Peru. I know this is a random request, but I was wondering if you can please contact me with the right person. or maybe it's the legal department that I could approach first. I'll be happy to assist you and I'll be glad I connect you to our legal department.

All right, I'm connecting you now. You have a magical day. There are 10 million Kachu speakers that I've never seen a blockbuster movie in their own language. My dream is to show the movie in different communities. And this will all be mine? That's good. But you sound like a teenage symbol. There are so many great movies we've all enjoyed. So why the hell can't the country enjoy them too?

Just don't do it like this. Let me show you. This would be mine, like that. I will never let this language die. It's more than the language, as a worldview. He is my motivation. He pushes me to do this. I think that if it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't be here, and none of this would have happened.

Noka means I. It comes from the heart. I've been playing around with my voice since I was a kid, and now I want to use it for this. Exactly. That's the trailer for the documentary film Runisimi, which will be playing in New York this weekend at the Firehouse Cinema downtown. I had the chance to sit down with the film's director, Augusto Zagada, and the film's subjects Fernando Valencia and his son, Dillon Valencia, in New York this year.

I began by asking Augusto about the making of the film, specifically about the meaning of the title, Runasimi. Runasimi means language of the people in Quechua. So that's how Quechua people would refer to their language themselves. And yeah, it's been an amazing journey to work on this film next to Fernando and Dylan and our whole team for the last eight years. I have almost nine years in the making of this film. And I won't like it took us a little bit longer than we expected, but I wouldn't change anything of how we've done this. And on the question of why this film is important, this is a film about Quechua.

Ketra is a language spoken by 10 million people, is the most spoken indigenous language in all of South American and a region. Four of them live in Peru. And a lot of people don't know about this language. So to me, it was important to shine a light in Fernando's project because I feel like through his project, we use that anecdote to explore bigger themes, such as language discrimination,

and we also see the story of Fernando passing his cultural heritage to his son. I think this is an urgent story because people right now in Peru, indigenous people, they are not, I think, treated fairly in general in Peru. You yourself are Peruvian, Peruvian-American. I am Peruvian. I am Peruvian. My mother is from Kuzub, but I am from Lima. I am not Ketuan.

I am not indigenous. But I've had the honor, you know, to be able to tell Fernando's story. Fernando himself is Ketua. And I think this story is important and urgent because indigenous people in Peru are fighting for basic rights to, you know, like having water, electricity, health care, education in their own language. And so somebody could think that this is not important, but they also have the right to access of entertainment in their own language. So to me it was important to shine a light in Fernando's story and just be able to emphasize the power of film as a medium for

oral language and to try to maintain it alive. If you, Fernando, can talk about why it's so important to translate what you do, these films from Western culture, and not always, because you're doing things translating from Spanish into Quechua as well in Peru, talk about where you grew up and why you do what you do. Thank you so much. First of all, I want to say, Al-Illian Chupanai, I'm in Alian-Kashi-anki, no-kai-i-kush-York.

It's like New York, but in Quechua, Mosok-York, and Yachtapi, Hinaspam, Wilya-Saiiki. I am going to tell you my story. I was born in the Kusko City, but I passed my first years with my mother in the countryside. She was a teacher. She is retired. And so that's where I learned the Quechua because in the 90s, most kids in the countryside just speak in Quechua.

So now they speak Spanish as well, and that's how I learned to speak Quechua. And then when I was around 25, I guess, I saw kids watching movies in the countryside because most of them they don't have TV, they don't have internet. Actually, they just have the TV, the device, and the DVD reproducer. And then they go to the city, sell some stuff, food, potatoes, or whatever they harvest. And then the parents bring them, they can afford toys or things like that for their entertainment. and they just buy discs of movies

and this is the entertainment but what I saw they saw the movies in Spanish in Spain Davids movies and then they even don't understand what was going on in the movie

So they just watch they just watch and laugh with some physical jokes you know but they didn't understand and then I asked him Hey, what's what's going on in the movie? And they said, I don't know, right? And that's why I decided to, hey, why if I try, do the same voices

and create the dubbing process for this in a short clip? And the response of this kids was really, really amazing because they finally understood, but just a short clip. That's why we decided to, hey, why if, we dub a full movie, right? And here is why. Because most of the indigenous language hasn't written, they don't have

the way to write. And in case is the same. And then most of the communication is oral. And then how I can figure out to preserve the language without writing? It's, we have this device, the phones, the audiovisual, the media now. And I say, okay, this is the way how I can preserve the language because it's losing.

I want to go to clip number two. It's you describing why speaking in Quechua preserving this language is so important. Our language, Quechua, to me, it's like life itself. In Spanish, I can say many things, but in Quechua, I can say what I really feel. What truly comes from my heart. There's the bull. Quechua speakers have always been treated like second class. citizens. In the past, people will have to speak it in secret.

To this day, when you speak Quechua, people will look at you like you are worthless. That's why people won't speak it. That's why we are losing it. That's another clip from Runisimi. Translated into English from Ketchua means the language of the people. And we're speaking to Augusto Zagara, who is the director, but also the voice you just heard, Fernando Valencia, who this film is about. And now we're also joined by his son, Dylan. He was very young at the time.

He's a few years older. It's hard to recognize him at 14. But Fernando, before I ask Dylan a question, that is so beautiful the way you describe your indigenous language being your heart, expressing your soul. Talk about how it's threatened. Yes. So each language in the world, especially the indigenous language, are very attached to the human relationships and also the relationship with the nature. And in Quechua, the most important thing, it's think in the other before think about yourself. It's why when you say hello, let's say hello or good morning, right, you say Aliyanchu, which means it's everything all right, because I am aware, I am care of you, right?

And then, yeah, that's why the language comes from the heart. And it's a beautiful thing. And most people ask me, why should I learn Quechua, Runazimi? And I say, because you will discover yourself. That's why I made. I learned Spanish to communicate in my country because each document is in Spanish. I learned English to communicate with the world because English is split it around the world. And I fortunately learned Quechua to talk with myself, with my most basic feelings.

Dylan, you're 14 years old now. Yeah. Did you learn Quechua in school? I didn't. I didn't learn Quechua. But they teach it in a very basic way. There's like one hour, a week of Quechua. So it is very hard to actually learn it.

and not just memorize some, a couple of words. So you learn it from your father? Yeah. I learned some words, some readings. Yeah. But I have a very good way to pronounce the catcher, I think. Because of this training with Adobe. Because of your dad training you?

Yeah, like noca. I can say it a little bit better. Yeah, this was like when I was maybe seven or six. Well, it's now preserved for all time. Are you concerned about cultural imperialism bringing it to the Quechua people? The idea of bringing this movie as opposed to bringing out the voices of the Quechua people to the world. Yeah. Most people ask me the same question.

Why are bringing imperialism into Quechua, a peaceful country, a peaceful culture? And I said, but I'm not bringing them here. I am bringing the Quechua outside. I'm doing the opposite thing, and they don't even are noticing about this. What I'm doing is in the peaceful way to share the worldwide culture into a small culture. And when I translate it, I am sharing our culture to the worldwide culture,

taking something very iconic as the Lion King into a native language, which is not a small thing. It's 10 million people speaking Ketra, and I say, why not? I want to go to the final clip we have of Runisimi. We see Fernando teaching Dylan, a young, young Dylan, he's already 14, to jump into a haystack. But really, it's so much more. Yeah. Okay, Dylan, you have to fly the hike.

You have to fly. I don't know if I want to do this anymore. Come on, you can do this. Ready? You can jump this hike on three. One, two, ready. Come on, come on, come on, come on. Fly!

That was intense. That's a clip from Runisini. Augusta Sagada, you're the director. You filmed him for so many years. Why did you choose this clip? To me, that clip was always really magical and really special, you know, and that scene means more, it's more about Fernando teaching Dylan to overcome a fear just through a game. It's like something that Fernando used to do when he was a kid, and he's pushing Dylan,

and he's pushing him, and he's pushing him, and finally he does it. So I think it has a lot to do with what Fernando is trying to teach Dylan in general throughout the film. As we begin to wrap up Fernando, That scene, the radio audience can't see it, but you can imagine it, reminds me of the scene where you show the full Lion King to the community in the mountains. Describe where you chose your open-air theater. It was an incredible experience to see the final result and the people, because nothing of this could have sense

if the Quechuan people don't enjoy the final movie dubbed into their own language. And it was particularly touching to see you with your parents. Describe that experience. Oh, my parents, yeah. I think about the kids for the dubbing. But in the way I discovered the old people liked more because most of them just saw the cartoons as something very far from them. But when they realized my father came to me and told me to my ear, hey, this movie moves your heart and makes you cry. That was Fernando Valencia and his son Dylan and Augusta Zagara, the director of the new documentary, Runisimi,

in New York this weekend at the Firehouse Cinema at DCTV. I'll be moderating the Q&A on Monday at 3.30 there. Tonight I'll be in Middlebury, Vermont, first screening of the documentary, steal the story, please, at the Dana Theater at 715 with T. Lessen and Carl Deal, the directors. It's great to be back. I'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez.