[captioning made possible by kcet public television] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> good evening. first up tonight, a conversation with oliver stone, a three-time oscar winning film maker. this fall he releases the long time awaited sequel to "wall street." now he has a much talked about documentary about south america called "itself of the border." there is more on the way this month. also tonight, a preview of the next installment of teak -- tavis smiley reports. we will look at the plight of orleans. a unique look at the people of new orleans, shot on location in conjunction with an oscar winning film maker. we're glad that you have joined us. >> all that i know is that his

name is jane. -- james. >> i am james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference, you helpless all to make life better. >> nationwide insurance it supports tavis smiley. we are proud to join him in improving financial literacy and conomic empowerment. nationwide is on your side. >> and for contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> we are pleased to welcome oliver stone back to this program.

this year he is releasing his sequel to "on wall street." before that you can see his documentary, "south of the border." focusing on the political movements and culture of south of the border. >> they also mobilized support within military help, getting it from military -- getting it from the united states and spain. >> a businessman is chosen to be the new president. supposedly he flew to madrid to be measured for a presidential sash.

>> i am sure that we will have fun talking about this documentary. something that is curious to me, i am always fascinated by how people perceive their surroundings here on the set. being a director i should expect no different. where are the cameras? how many cameras do we have? is everything ok? >> i think you have three. [laughter] >> i love that question. he wants to know where the cameras are and how we are shooting this thing. and then you insisted that you turn the monitor around. >> it is distracting to see yourself. >> all right. i am curious, people the process

when they are directors -- this project, south of the border, i watched it last let myself. my sense is that you want to challenge -- my words, not yours -- challenge, correct, take on the mainstream media misperceptions of these countries and their leaders. >> that is me against a legion. you cannot win that battle. all the cuban do is show that what you see. -- all that you can do is show would you see. -- what you see. hugo chavez, more important than him is the story of these countries with natural resources, controlling them for the people. a big issue in our time.

>> but if you did not think that the mainstream media had missed received this story you would not have gone down there. >> no, i probably would not have shot this. >> what is it that you think we are not being told? >> the first is that this thing has been going on for 10 years. this is the first time that first of these -- six of these countries have gotten together with democratically elected presidents that came from the roots. many of them poor, one was a priest, one was an indian, one was a soldier. they really turned their economy around. throwing out the international monetary fund. in brazil you have a trade union leader. an amazing cast of characters.

they have all grown their economies. from the reagan years, the economies have not grown. in 2000 there are some parts from all of these countries. there has been a letdown because of the recession, cutting poverty 78 -- 60%. extreme criticism comes from the top, those that control the country before. people working for multinational corporations. taking the wealth out of the country and giving it to their own countries. that is where america stands guilty. >> is it the bush administration or the obama administration? everyone seems to have a beef or issue with hugo chavez.

why is that? >> bolivia, they took their natural gas back. >> why hugo chavez? >> he was the leader of the pack. from the 1970's it was run by corrupt technocrats. hugo chavez made sure that the profits from the oil went to the people. " there is a lot of corruption in venezuela. there still is. there is a system that comes from colonialism. it was a courtly run country. profits were taken -- it was a badly run country. profits were taken abroad. the rockefellers bone to the

land. this was a true oligarchy. as is most of south america. no different from cuba, honduras, guatemala. >> because this stuff is so easily found on the internet, on the regular there are statements made by hugo chavez hugo chavez is not shy. he has made all kinds of comments about all sorts of things. >> i was with him until not too long ago. he is under attack. but he is a free man that speaks -- he is a bear of a man, gruff, sometimes speaking off the cuff. a popular leader that serves the

people. he is not corrupt in any way. >> off the cuff and off the wall are two different things. >> the devil was here yesterday? that was a great comment. when bush was going to war in iraq. by the way, as someone pointed out, no chomsky -- no one chomsky said that he got the longest applause of anyone there. north america makes an issue of everything he says. but bush is the one that started the war. initiated by the venezuelan art -- oligarchy and supported by the u.s.. >> i recall that comment from bush. immediately after he gave that speech he came to a studio in new york at the embassy. my crew had him on this program.

we interviewed him shortly after that speech. it was a fascinating day to talk to him. >> in the film we have kirschner, his friend. he says that he likes to go chavez as a friend, but he needs to think about a successor. right now the system needs to be made sure it works. >> that does not bother you? that he is setting himself up to be like castro? >> there is always an norris scrooge -- enormous scrutiny on the election. not only do they have an electronic balances, but at the same time they have two groups. far better than florida in 2000. there was a 75% turnout. better than obama. >> whe is putting off

referendums. saying that he once had a third term. is hard going down there. i will not say that it is easy, but i will give you an example. he fires people that are his friends because of corruption. sometimes you get a post in the government position and you steal. the moment they get fired they go to the press and say they are a political prisoner. there is all of this bitching and complaining. so corrupt, like the oil situation in this country, i think that he might try to be president in 2012. the legislation is up for

election in the 12 -- on the 12th. working to get in there and destabilize it. he will probably take a bit of a hit. the economy has a certain-. >> never shy about what he expresses all the leaders. >> he is very friendly. he gives discounted oil to 150,000 american families for five years. >> leading to the park that we want to get to. do you think that part of the push back, the official government pushed back against hugo chavez, does it have anything to do with his relationship with castro? >> castro is a model. they certainly have a right to trade. he does not believe in the

embargo. cuba has a huge medical corps going into venezuela. many of these people have never seen a doctor. >> castro is like a godfather to chavez, as you know. does that scare people in our government? >> by the way, ecuador is there with castro, praising the example of independence. not because of how the rule the country, but because of the sanctions in the pressure. the difference, he will tell you clearly, when he lost the referendum he respected the results. there is nothing that would make me believe that he would go against the will of the people. and if his time runs out, which it might, i just hope that he

can continue the system. >> do you buy the argument that what he is engaged in is this revolution? >> that is the way that he sees it. he calls a socialism. basically what he has done is a private business that has grown. but also overlooked. that cold war mentality, he has nationalized, meaning compensation. nationalizing businesses that were badly run. i am all for breaking up corrupt monopolies. we have them in our country as well. the oil countries -- companies, we should hit them all with a profit tax. they have made a fortune of oil. they have not really reinvested

in society. they should help us find another resource. clean technology. that is what they could do. a tax fund would do the job to get the new economy going. what is happening in the gulf is an example of corporate irresponsibility. citgo, who has a good environmental record. >> what is the danger of writing off what is happening in south america? you can say that he will chavez is crazy, call him names, but something is happening in south america. what is the long-term danger? >> we are actively working to get them out. we are against them in brazil. there is a big election coming up that is important.

he represents the central bankers. any form of control, be of the war on drugs -- which is a big thing down there. columbia, they are the big ally in south america. unified under this arrangement, why do we need seven bases? a war on drugs? what is the war on drugs? >> what has disturbed you between a lack of difference in bush and obama in the region? >> is bush-light. obama made a big deal about the gesture, but he did not follow up. like his speech in cairo, it was beautiful, but the biggest thing

was the colombian expansion. the crew in honduras, it was a big deal for them. but was it a crucial mandate? he did not do anything to get these thugs out. seven journalists have disappeared under this system. this is real human rights violations going on. there is no pattern of repression. we support the bad guys. hillary clinton was down there a few weeks ago, trying to separate echoed their -- ecuador from venezuela. we keep over reaching. we want to control anyone that steps out of line that is a regional power. recently when turkey went into the iranian sanction, remember their head was cut off? fighting with turkey. brazil was criticized.

500 billion barrels of oil reserves. we are making enemies out of them. they are not the enemies the us. you know what it is? the attacks of the new century, when bush and donald rumsfeld called wolfowitz, they wrote the pack about the american unilateral control of the world. they would not allow for the emergence of military or economic rivals. whenever obama says, this is what he is pursuing. there has been no real change in policy. the empire, we are the world's police. it is a soft power. >> i was watching a documentary last night. reading what some people had to

say about, some people that think you were too soft. >> the fair and balanced approach. that is the fox news. frankly there is criticism in the film. it is not up-to-date. i am not a journalist. but there is a lot of criticism of him in the film. the truth is that they would not be happy unless the film came out against you go chavez. i do not understand that. in the long run of history, this man has done wonders for his country. not to everyone's liking, but all of the other presidents have as well. the u.s. has knocked off so many reformers. except for castro, they all went down. guatemala, panama, chile.

this is the first time we have not been able to do anything. hopefully it will stay stable. right now we are actively fighting. >> you like to shake things up, do you not? >> no. >> ,. >> if i did i would be more political, over. >> this is not a political war over? >> i love it future movies, as you know. the documentary's are fresh. they keep me humble. if i can contribute light of the world wide cause, i think that would be doing some good. you are out in the field, basically rushing and under and comfortable conditions. they are not generally lucrative.

>> how are you focusing on this? >> what about wall street? >> is a good movie, but somewhat a fiction. characters based on those in real life. it is entertainment. different. a different goal, in a sense. the documentary deals with the crisis of 2008, pointing the finger at the big banks. the big banks are tied into south america. that is where the bombs did very well. considering all the criticism, barnes made money for a lot of people. that is wall street. runs the world. >> we agree on that. the documentary is called "south of the border." of course, we are all awaiting

the sequel of "wall st." oliver stone, good that you on the program. we should do this more often. next, a preview of our next installment of tavis smiley reports. stay with us. i hope that you are joining us in prime time on wednesday cut -- wednesday, july 21. this one focuses on new orleans as we approach the fifth anniversary of hurricane katrina. we travel to the crescent city as residents continue the difficult road to content -- road to recovery.

there are trying to get back the memories as august, 2005, remains vivid and painful. >> these are the back steps. >> all that is left? >> yes. we put them here because we wanted to show what we had in where we are now. it is important to keep weekend as mementos. my mother made sure the show that when we moved out here, she majored show that we needed lessons. she raised us in such a way that she put us through college. this is all that we have left of the old house. >> when the floodwaters came, what happened to the house? >> basically five minutes later you got onto the roof. once we got onto the roof, the house on the left side hit the

house, the house on the right side hit our house, pushing it into the street. the current took our house away. where we are standing right now was basically under water. 25 feet of water up to the flagpole. >> talk about being woken up by the trucks. woken up by the workers. what it means is that families that are coming back, that is the progress. >> there is the noise. >> i like that. the noise of progress. the noise of hope. the noise of prayers being answered. >> lenny kravitz, quentin marsalis, and from the acclaimed hbo drama, john goodman and linda pearce. trapped -- tavis smiley reports, right here on many pbs stations, wednesday, july 21. that is our show for tonight.

until next time, thank you for joining us and keep the faith. >> for more information oncombas in the u.s.. next time. we will see you then. >> all that i know is that his name is james and he needs extra help with his reading. blacks in james. >> yes. >> to everyone misses -- making a difference, we help you live better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley in working to improve financial literacy and removing obstacles to economic empowerment. nationwide is on your side. >> and from contributions to

your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> pbs. >> be more, pbs. >> pbs. >> be more, pbs.

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