WEBVTT - Ambush 0:00:03.680 --> 0:00:07.640 This is a production of Journalista Podcast LLC and iHeartRadio. 0:00:08.760 --> 0:00:12.039 And as for you, my fine mighty true, I can't 0:00:12.039 --> 0:00:14.240 attend you here and now as I'd like, but just 0:00:14.320 --> 0:00:15.360 try to stay up. 0:00:15.280 --> 0:00:15.840 In my way. 0:00:16.400 --> 0:00:17.320 Just try. 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:21.000 I don't get you mine pretty and your little dog too. 0:00:21.320 --> 0:00:27.880 That Welcome back to the Journalista Podcast. Okay, Cookie didn't 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:30.040 have a dog. And there is no yellow brick road 0:00:30.080 --> 0:00:33.239 in Nicaragua. But there is a wicked witch and it 0:00:33.280 --> 0:00:39.720 ain't karma, it's reality. Sometimes it bites, It eventually catches 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:42.080 up with you, no matter how fucking cool and badass 0:00:42.120 --> 0:00:45.160 you think you are, even if you're from New Orleans. 0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:51.720 So the Mexican crew is back here as usual. There's 0:00:51.760 --> 0:00:55.080 no particular story that we were in search of. We 0:00:55.200 --> 0:00:58.279 had to keep ourselves busy. We had to work our 0:00:58.400 --> 0:00:59.960 day's work to get our days past. 0:01:00.360 --> 0:01:01.880 So you just go out and look for stuff. 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:04.160 We go out look for stuff I'd invent, you know, 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:07.200 a trip here, a trip there. And the Mexicans were 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:09.360 always game, they were fearless. 0:01:09.480 --> 0:01:11.319 And even Larry. 0:01:11.000 --> 0:01:14.080 Doyle, that was his favorite crew to work with because 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:16.679 he knew he could count on these guys to do 0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:20.800 anything everything and go above and beyond because there were 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:25.520 some crews that didn't like to do extremely dangerous stuff 0:01:25.720 --> 0:01:26.160 they did. 0:01:26.520 --> 0:01:28.920 So we go out. It was a Tuesday, and. 0:01:28.920 --> 0:01:31.680 I knew it was Marti Gras in New Orleans because 0:01:31.720 --> 0:01:35.240 the night before had spoken to some family members. In 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:37.720 a war zone, and you're there for years, you kind 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:41.720 of lose track of what's going on in the real world. 0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:44.920 You know, you're only in the other real world, which 0:01:44.959 --> 0:01:45.440 is war. 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:49.160 So we're out and we met up with a platoon 0:01:49.480 --> 0:01:53.320 of Sandinistas. I think that we were in an area 0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:57.760 that Contras had been in but had since been pushed 0:01:57.800 --> 0:02:02.040 out or they had abandoned. The soldiers are talking and 0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:05.280 the Mexicans and myself we're walking ahead. 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:08.960 All of a sudden, I hear some screaming and some arm. 0:02:09.120 --> 0:02:12.720 Flailing from one of the soldiers, saying stop, stop, stop, 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:16.000 don't take another step, don't move. When somebody tells you 0:02:16.080 --> 0:02:18.919 that in a warzone, you stop. You don't ask questions, 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:20.400 you don't argue. 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:20.600 You stop. 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:24.240 You got to remember the crew is holding all this equipment. 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:27.799 I'm probably at that point holding a tripod, and these 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:31.359 things were not lightweight back then. This was heavy stuff. 0:02:31.720 --> 0:02:34.000 So we stop and we're like, why are we stopping? 0:02:34.080 --> 0:02:34.680 What's wrong? 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:37.720 And one of the soldiers says, I hate to say this, 0:02:37.880 --> 0:02:40.720 but you're in a possible minefield, and I mean, what 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:43.640 do you mean possible? And he says, well, sometimes the 0:02:43.680 --> 0:02:47.359 consciras leave these mines, which we found out later were 0:02:47.360 --> 0:02:50.160 Claymore mines and left over from the Vietnam War. 0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:53.480 According to the International Red Cross, during the Civil War 0:02:53.520 --> 0:02:56.280 in Nicaragua, the two sides laid over one hundred and 0:02:56.360 --> 0:02:59.560 seventy nine thousand land mines and an estimated eight hundred 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:03.240 and forty one minefields, leaving a legacy of senseless death 0:03:03.360 --> 0:03:04.280 and human misery. 0:03:05.120 --> 0:03:09.359 Claymore minds are detonated by remote control, so someone has 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:12.640 to be around there to set it off. But since 0:03:12.680 --> 0:03:16.240 the countures had already left, there's another way to activate 0:03:16.400 --> 0:03:21.080 these minds, and that's with tripwires. I'm not familiar with minds, 0:03:21.320 --> 0:03:26.080 whether it be detonating with a remote control or trip wires. 0:03:26.160 --> 0:03:27.920 All I know is a mine is a mine, and 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:31.640 a mine will blow up. We're told don't move. We 0:03:31.760 --> 0:03:35.640 think we have somebody that knows the schematics of what's here. 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:37.240 You know where you can. 0:03:37.160 --> 0:03:39.760 Step, but he's not here. Now and we have to 0:03:39.840 --> 0:03:43.320 find it so again. And it's you know, the middle 0:03:43.320 --> 0:03:46.400 of the day. The sun is beating down because it's 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:50.520 an open field, and I'm just looking and saying to myself, 0:03:50.760 --> 0:03:53.760 here you go again, your stupid bitch. You're in a 0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:58.360 situation you can't get out of by your charm. 0:03:58.120 --> 0:04:01.840 By bullshitting. I could be New Orleans right. 0:04:01.600 --> 0:04:05.240 Now at Marti Gras, but here I am yet in 0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:08.040 another fix, in another problem. 0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:09.400 What's your problem? 0:04:09.520 --> 0:04:11.920 My problem is I don't want a thousand steel balls 0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:12.880 to shread my genitals. 0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:15.960 Uh, Claymore mind full of steel balls that fly one 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:19.200 thousand meters or one click a second right. 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:22.200 At dick levels easy for peace or ass level, which 0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:25.120 in your case would also take off your head. That 0:04:25.279 --> 0:04:28.800 was a clip from the FX show Archer explaining exactly 0:04:28.839 --> 0:04:31.160 the kind of damage a Claymore Mind can do to 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:31.920 the human body. 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:34.119 It had a happy ending. 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:38.640 The guy came that was familiar with the area and 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:42.080 he taught us, screaming at us what to do to 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:45.719 look for the trip wire because it wasn't the fear 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:49.159 of a remote control because there were no contras there 0:04:49.400 --> 0:04:52.599 and the contiras had been using these Claymore minds. I 0:04:52.600 --> 0:04:55.480 think that even used it in the Capitol killed a 0:04:55.520 --> 0:05:00.000 busload of civilians, so we were able to disarm another 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:04.120 of them to walk out of that field and get away. 0:05:04.520 --> 0:05:06.400 So they were instructing you how to how to. 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:09.040 Find the trip wires because the trip wives aren't obvious, 0:05:09.160 --> 0:05:09.440 so you. 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:12.320 Had to find the trip wires, disarm the mind. 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:15.679 Well, cut the trip wire, and then disarming the mine 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:19.520 wasn't a big deal because that was only if it 0:05:19.560 --> 0:05:21.040 was going to be remote controls. 0:05:21.200 --> 0:05:22.400 Still is fucking scary. 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:25.200 It is scary, and I never looked at an open 0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:26.280 field the same way. 0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:26.640 Again. 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:28.800 I mean, how many times have you watched a movie 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:31.520 or a show where people are stuck in a minefield 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:34.440 and inevitably someone's going. 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:38.719 Up and you don't know if you've already set off 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:41.560 the wire. You know you'll hear a click or something. 0:05:41.640 --> 0:05:42.320 I didn't know. 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:44.960 That, but that was the day I got my education 0:05:45.160 --> 0:05:45.680 in mind. 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:49.280 I'm sure at that moment, Bourbon Street looked pretty good. 0:05:49.440 --> 0:05:50.080 It sure did. 0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:53.080 And I remember getting back to the hotel and calling 0:05:53.160 --> 0:05:56.240 some family and friends and saying, you'll never believe what 0:05:56.240 --> 0:06:01.280 my Mardi Gras was like, and they never I have 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:05.719 these stories and they just sound so unbelievable, but they're 0:06:05.760 --> 0:06:06.320 all true. 0:06:06.480 --> 0:06:08.320 But you're in a war zone. This is what happens. 0:06:08.520 --> 0:06:10.280 This is not unusual in a war zone. 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:11.400 No it's not. 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:14.080 But when it happens to you for the first time, 0:06:14.200 --> 0:06:18.200 it's like, damn shit, what have I gotten myself into? 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:19.240 Yet again? 0:06:19.560 --> 0:06:21.839 Yeah, of course you could have got shot on Bourbon 0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:27.839 Street too. Absolutely, we often talk about how you often 0:06:27.920 --> 0:06:28.839 became the story. 0:06:29.279 --> 0:06:31.520 That was one of the tips Mike gave me early on. 0:06:32.160 --> 0:06:35.799 Never be the story. Just cover the story. It didn't 0:06:35.839 --> 0:06:38.599 happen just that one time. It happened several times. 0:06:39.360 --> 0:06:42.280 There was one event where you absolutely were the story. 0:06:43.160 --> 0:06:46.440 There was this attack on the airport in Monagua, and 0:06:46.480 --> 0:06:48.640 you were all up in the middle of that. Shit, 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:50.160 why were you there? 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:53.440 I had this thing, and you know by now from 0:06:53.440 --> 0:06:57.000 several episodes that I always liked taking care of my boys, 0:06:57.279 --> 0:07:00.400 and one of the things I loved doing was going 0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:03.640 personally to the airport to pick up Cruise and their 0:07:03.680 --> 0:07:06.919 equipment or anyone that was coming in to do a story. 0:07:07.160 --> 0:07:09.119 And I also liked dropping them off. 0:07:09.400 --> 0:07:13.240 Even though drop off time and departure times in Nicaragua 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:14.840 were before the crack of dawn. 0:07:15.320 --> 0:07:19.080 I was doing something that no one does. Now everyone does. 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:21.600 I used to go out in my pajamas, whether it 0:07:21.640 --> 0:07:26.120 be regular pajamas or Victoria's secret nightgowns, and my mother 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:28.360 always told me that's going to get you in trouble 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:28.920 one day. 0:07:29.400 --> 0:07:30.560 So this one. 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:35.080 Particular morning, I'm taking the Mexican crew, Roberto Pineda and 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:39.880 Jime Robliz. They've done their six week stint in Nicaragua. 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:43.440 Up until that point, Cruise would check in their gear 0:07:43.800 --> 0:07:46.520 like luggage I had always been done, because there was 0:07:46.560 --> 0:07:49.760 always so much of it, and of course the networks 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:53.040 didn't particularly like to have to pay for an extra 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:56.480 seat to put the camera and the recorder on a flight. 0:07:56.840 --> 0:07:59.960 So we get there, I'm wearing my Victoria's secret Nike, 0:08:00.560 --> 0:08:03.880 thinking it's going to be business as usual. Dropping off 0:08:03.960 --> 0:08:07.760 the crew. We were inside the terminal somehow or another. 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:11.080 I would always be allowed to go all the way in, 0:08:11.400 --> 0:08:13.960 you know, to check in the crew and their gear, 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:16.920 even though there'd always be a Sandinista soldier telling me 0:08:17.240 --> 0:08:19.320 you can't go in, and of course I would go 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:23.720 in this particular time, I think the sun was just 0:08:23.840 --> 0:08:25.280 starting to rise. 0:08:25.640 --> 0:08:28.200 The crew's checked in. The gears checked in. 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:32.080 I think and Roberto each had a camera, a still 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:34.280 camera which they always carried around. 0:08:34.640 --> 0:08:36.600 We're waiting because I'd. 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:38.800 Always wait until they would get on the flight and 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:43.000 take off. All of a sudden, we heard a bombing. 0:08:48.840 --> 0:08:52.839 We thought it was inside of the airport. We're thinking bombs. 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:57.240 The soldiers in the airport are not letting anyone. 0:08:56.800 --> 0:08:58.400 In or out. 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:02.079 We know this is a because this is an attack 0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:06.080 in the city, in the capitol, which was very, very unusual, 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:09.880 and it's the airport. What we did not know was 0:09:10.000 --> 0:09:16.720 that a Contra pilot in his small Cessna airplane was 0:09:16.760 --> 0:09:20.560 going to fly in and bomb the airport. The Sandinistas 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:25.600 had anti aircraft soldiers in their trenches, but since nothing 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:29.920 had ever happened before in the city, they were sleeping. 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:35.040 We think we're under attack. We obviously want to get out. 0:09:35.320 --> 0:09:37.840 We want to film. We can't get our gear at 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:40.280 this point, but if we can get out of the terminal, 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:44.200 we can get local gear from the local TV station. 0:09:44.800 --> 0:09:48.760 At this point, journalists, everyone that was based in Monagua, 0:09:48.840 --> 0:09:51.720 they're already at the airport outside, but they're not being 0:09:51.760 --> 0:09:55.839 allowed in either. Everyone thinks the airport's under attack, it's 0:09:55.920 --> 0:09:59.280 under siege. We're going to be killed, and like idiots, 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:01.040 the soldier aren't letting us out. 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:02.480 Everyone stays in. 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:07.520 We were stuck in there, I would say two maybe 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:12.000 three hours before we started to gather some information. I 0:10:12.040 --> 0:10:14.160 would talk it to some of the soldiers that I 0:10:14.240 --> 0:10:17.960 already knew what happened were we bombed, and I was 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:22.800 told what they thought had happened. I have now managed 0:10:22.840 --> 0:10:26.560 to get the crew and myself not outside of the airport, 0:10:26.679 --> 0:10:30.880 but outside on the armat, which is where the destruction was. 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:34.680 And at first you really couldn't tell were they shot down. 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:36.480 Was this guy shut down. 0:10:36.640 --> 0:10:40.920 Or as the cameraman Roberto Pineda said, this guy got 0:10:40.920 --> 0:10:44.760 caught in a wire. This pilot, who was from Nicaragua 0:10:44.880 --> 0:10:49.000 and knew the layout of the airport somehow lost control 0:10:49.280 --> 0:10:52.440 of the plane. The plane got caught up in a wire, 0:10:52.800 --> 0:10:57.200 whether it was you know, electrical wire, but wire, which 0:10:57.320 --> 0:10:58.920 was the first. 0:10:58.440 --> 0:10:59.560 Boom that we've heard. 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:05.360 Then the wire projected him against the airport building itself. 0:11:08.360 --> 0:11:11.040 All of this is outside, it's not inside, but we 0:11:11.120 --> 0:11:13.360 don't know that. We don't know what's going on. 0:11:13.760 --> 0:11:14.640 But what did. 0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:19.000 Happen is when that plane hit the terminal on the outside, 0:11:19.320 --> 0:11:23.079 it blew up pieces of body all over. Well, at 0:11:23.080 --> 0:11:25.960 this point, we don't have gear, we don't have cameras, 0:11:26.240 --> 0:11:29.080 but we got the still cameras, so we start taking 0:11:29.160 --> 0:11:32.240 turns using one camera, only. 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:33.760 Still camera to take pictures. 0:11:34.440 --> 0:11:39.480 Remember I've said this before, airplane crashes, helicopter crashes, horrible 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:43.760 stories to cover Krispy critters. You're burned to death, pieces 0:11:43.760 --> 0:11:47.440 of bodies strewn about. And I remembered when it was 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:49.680 my turn to start taking the pictures and we're the 0:11:49.720 --> 0:11:53.280 only ones in there taking these pictures. Roberto told me, 0:11:53.440 --> 0:11:56.200 just take the picture. Don't look at what you're taking 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:58.240 the picture of before you take the picture. 0:11:58.520 --> 0:12:00.760 Take the picture. And I'd do it. 0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:03.600 I would feel like I was getting physically ill. We 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:08.640 took several pictures that later made it into Newsweek magazine. 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:12.520 Later on, the San Denistis changed the story. They said 0:12:12.520 --> 0:12:18.200 that that third explosion was the anti aircraft soldiers shooting 0:12:18.280 --> 0:12:21.880 down the plane. The funny thing is, at that point, 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:27.640 every network, international, local, everyone wanted to interview me, and 0:12:27.679 --> 0:12:31.320 I'm wearing my pajamas. Someone handed me a blazer to 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:34.160 put over it, and I proceeded to be interviewed that 0:12:34.280 --> 0:12:38.400 day by at least twenty to twenty five different news agencies, 0:12:38.679 --> 0:12:42.520 and the point of contention was how many explosions did 0:12:42.559 --> 0:12:46.240 you hear? Which conflicted with the amount of explosions the 0:12:46.280 --> 0:12:50.880 Sandinista government set happened. Obviously, the US embassy was happy 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:55.360 with my version. The Sandinista government wanted their version to 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:57.200 be the official version. 0:12:57.960 --> 0:13:00.320 The New York Times wrote this about the airport attack. 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:01.760 The next day, A. 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:06.480 Light plane piloted by anti Sandinista exiles bombed Monagua's main 0:13:06.600 --> 0:13:10.240 air base and international Airport today, causing heavy damage to 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:13.880 the control tower and other airport buildings. Responsibility for the 0:13:13.920 --> 0:13:17.240 attack was claimed in neighboring Costa Rica by the Revolutionary 0:13:17.280 --> 0:13:21.400 Democratic Alliance under the leadership of Eden Pastora, the former 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:25.600 Sandinista deputy Defense Minister. The Nicaraguan government said the plane, 0:13:25.760 --> 0:13:28.959 described as a twin engine propeller driven Cesna, was hit 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:32.720 by anti aircraft fire and crashed into the airport control tower. 0:13:32.960 --> 0:13:36.240 According to the Foreign Ministry, the attack, aircraft and bombs 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:39.200 were handed over to the counter revolutionaries as part of 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:42.800 assistance given by the US government via the Central Intelligence 0:13:42.800 --> 0:13:44.360 Agency to these forces. 0:13:44.800 --> 0:13:46.880 Never happened, Never happened. 0:13:47.120 --> 0:13:49.880 I love the fact that spin is always a part 0:13:49.920 --> 0:13:50.600 of these stories. 0:13:50.880 --> 0:13:51.080 Yeah. 0:13:51.679 --> 0:13:56.080 Remember the propaganda machine was twenty four seven full force. 0:13:56.320 --> 0:13:59.080 The Sandinistas couldn't afford to look bad. 0:13:59.240 --> 0:14:02.600 Well, they could ford to look like, yeah, we have 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:05.920 any aircraft soldiers, but they were sleeping. Why the fuck 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:09.719 do you have any aircraft soldiers if they're sleeping. If 0:14:09.760 --> 0:14:12.520 they had been away, that play would have never made 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:14.360 it as close to the airport as it did. 0:14:14.520 --> 0:14:17.440 Yeah. I think also in terms of being in a war, 0:14:17.720 --> 0:14:19.520 you don't want your enemy to think you can just 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:21.480 show up and blow up your airport. 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:24.520 Correct, you know, to know a weakness that you have. 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:27.640 I think that they even went so far as to 0:14:28.400 --> 0:14:32.440 honor these sleeping any aircraft soldiers because they are the 0:14:32.480 --> 0:14:34.120 ones that shot down the plane. 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:35.560 Oh, they got medals for Spra. 0:14:35.520 --> 0:14:36.360 They got medals. 0:14:36.440 --> 0:14:40.880 They were paraded about as having saved the airport in 0:14:41.240 --> 0:14:45.720 Managua and saved lives, because no one was killed that day, 0:14:46.040 --> 0:14:48.280 miraculously except that pilot. 0:14:49.200 --> 0:14:53.160 Sandinista Defense Minister Humberto Ortega said the use of a 0:14:53.200 --> 0:14:56.840 plane from Costa Rica shows the disrespect the CIA has 0:14:56.880 --> 0:15:00.000 for that country, which surely has been carrying out operator 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:02.760 behind the backs of that country's authorities. 0:15:03.760 --> 0:15:06.560 It didn't make me stop wearing my pajamas to go 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:11.000 out after that, But it was a scary day. I 0:15:11.080 --> 0:15:13.440 thought that day we were going to be blown to 0:15:13.520 --> 0:15:17.120 bits because we didn't know how many planes would flown in, 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:19.800 We didn't know how many bombs were going to be dropped. 0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:21.680 It was a scary, scary morning. 0:15:22.680 --> 0:15:26.440 It's funny, it just sounds like another Third world fucked 0:15:26.520 --> 0:15:33.880 up attack. Yeah, so Cookie survived aerial bombing, mortars, minefields, 0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:38.680 helicopter crashes, even been shot at on several occasions. She's 0:15:38.720 --> 0:15:45.480 clearly indestructible. Coming up, Cookie finds her kryptonite. We'll be 0:15:45.560 --> 0:15:53.320 right back. Welcome back our rat fampin and it's dragged. 0:15:55.320 --> 0:15:57.320 Have you ever been at a punk concert and thought 0:15:58.160 --> 0:16:05.960 that mash pit looks like fund after all the shit 0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:09.440 Cookies been through. It might just be an excited crowd 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:12.840 that kills her. So tell me the scariest thing that 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:15.080 ever happened to you as a journalist. 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:18.480 It's funny because most people would think, you know, getting 0:16:18.480 --> 0:16:22.800 shot down in a helicopter, running through mine fields, mortars, 0:16:23.360 --> 0:16:26.880 It wasn't any of those things. It was one July 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:30.920 nineteenth and a versary of the revolution. Everyone was given 0:16:31.240 --> 0:16:35.440 off work. People were given a stipend to be busted 0:16:35.440 --> 0:16:40.240 in to the main plaza in downtown Monagua that had 0:16:40.240 --> 0:16:43.800 been destroyed by the earthquake in seventy two. They would 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:46.400 set up, you know, a huge stage. There would be 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:50.800 dignitaries that would come in, different dignitaries at different times, 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:52.520 you know, Castro would come in. 0:16:52.600 --> 0:16:53.360 Different people. 0:16:54.080 --> 0:16:56.640 This is actually the same day Cookie had a religious 0:16:56.640 --> 0:16:58.080 experience with Mother Teresa. 0:16:58.960 --> 0:17:03.240 The populace is being bust in. They had seating on 0:17:03.360 --> 0:17:08.119 the stage behind the speaker's podium, dignitaries in front of 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:12.120 the stage there were lesser dignitaries. Then there was press. 0:17:12.320 --> 0:17:15.560 There were no press boxes or press booths. It's all 0:17:15.720 --> 0:17:20.280 very third world. And then obviously all the people being 0:17:20.400 --> 0:17:23.600 busted in, so we were set up somewhere in the 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:27.560 middle of the whole thing. Other speakers come to the podium, 0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:31.640 they're giving their speeches, people are clapping, cheering. 0:17:31.920 --> 0:17:33.879 How many people were there, I would. 0:17:33.600 --> 0:17:37.120 Say maybe one hundred thousand. I'm not good with figures, 0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:39.720 but the plaza was full. And this was a big 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:44.439 plaza when Ortega finally takes the podium. He starts to 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:47.480 give his speech, and the crowd starts to get very 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:53.359 riled up. Here's their fearless leader, El Presidente. Somehow or another, 0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:58.880 the crowd started moving towards the stage to the area. 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:00.720 Where ortegas give the speech. 0:18:01.040 --> 0:18:05.000 The crowd starts moving a little more aggressively, a little harder. 0:18:05.440 --> 0:18:08.800 The next thing I know, I'm separated from the camera crew. 0:18:09.080 --> 0:18:12.919 I'm by myself and I fall, and when I fall, 0:18:13.359 --> 0:18:16.760 I have nobody to reach out for because the camera 0:18:16.800 --> 0:18:19.840 crew had their equipment, and of course they're trying to 0:18:19.880 --> 0:18:22.399 save their equipment as well, and I'm starting to be 0:18:22.600 --> 0:18:23.520 trampled upon. 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:25.240 People are screaming. 0:18:25.520 --> 0:18:28.440 They don't realize I'm on the ground, and if they did, 0:18:28.480 --> 0:18:32.840 they didn't care because they are also falling and being trampled. 0:18:35.680 --> 0:18:38.680 The one main thing that had saved me throughout all 0:18:38.760 --> 0:18:41.600 these war years was my loud voice. 0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:44.359 It was a plus for several reasons. 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:46.280 One of them, if we would be in a big 0:18:46.320 --> 0:18:50.919 stadium or a big convention center, questions needed to be 0:18:51.000 --> 0:18:53.919 thrown out. Even some of the other journalists would say, cookie, 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:56.080 can you ask such and such a question? Can you 0:18:56.119 --> 0:19:00.000 ask these questions. Because I was loud, I could always 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:03.880 be heard. So I realized at this point, I am 0:19:03.960 --> 0:19:07.080 going to die. I am going to die, and no 0:19:07.119 --> 0:19:09.320 one's even going to know it. 0:19:09.320 --> 0:19:10.800 It's now or nothing. 0:19:11.280 --> 0:19:15.920 I have to start screaming now. Remember I can't hardly breathe. 0:19:16.400 --> 0:19:19.439 I mustered up all the strength that I had and 0:19:19.560 --> 0:19:24.720 started to scream out to Ortega. And I'm screaming, President Ortega, 0:19:24.800 --> 0:19:27.240 Presidente Ortega, it's Cookie. 0:19:27.400 --> 0:19:29.240 I'm dying. I'm dying. 0:19:29.920 --> 0:19:33.879 And then all of a sudden, I could hear Ortega 0:19:33.920 --> 0:19:38.439 over the loudspeaker saying to please settle down, to the crowd, 0:19:38.600 --> 0:19:42.320 be quiet. I hear something. He knew my voice already. 0:19:42.560 --> 0:19:46.199 I kept screaming, help me, help me. He told the 0:19:46.240 --> 0:19:50.720 crowd stop moving, be quiet. Someone is in trouble. One 0:19:50.760 --> 0:19:53.520 of the journalists is in trouble. Cookie is in trouble. 0:19:54.080 --> 0:19:56.800 I could hear him say to State Security and to 0:19:57.440 --> 0:20:00.000 Nicaraguan journalists, try to find Cookie. 0:20:00.200 --> 0:20:03.320 Try to find Cookie. She's on the ground somewhere. 0:20:03.440 --> 0:20:05.119 So he is interrupting his speech. 0:20:05.280 --> 0:20:06.520 The speech is interrupted. 0:20:06.680 --> 0:20:07.640 Is the crowd quieting? 0:20:07.800 --> 0:20:09.200 The crowd is quieting. 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:12.960 The crowd has stopped surging because here's the fearless leader 0:20:13.040 --> 0:20:17.200 telling them what to do. He saved my life. Someone 0:20:17.280 --> 0:20:20.040 found me, they lifted me up. I got picked up, 0:20:20.160 --> 0:20:23.480 brought together back with my crew, and then just continued 0:20:23.560 --> 0:20:26.320 business as usual. He picked up on his speech where 0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:29.119 he had left off after making sure that I was okay. 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:31.440 Did you ever speak to him after that about it? 0:20:31.680 --> 0:20:31.840 No? 0:20:32.240 --> 0:20:32.720 Never did. 0:20:33.520 --> 0:20:34.360 It's so crazy. 0:20:34.520 --> 0:20:35.040 Never did. 0:20:35.359 --> 0:20:37.320 Was it like one of those moments when you're at 0:20:37.359 --> 0:20:40.040 a rock concert and the band comes out, everybody starts 0:20:40.080 --> 0:20:41.159 pushing toward the front. 0:20:41.520 --> 0:20:43.920 It was like that, but the end result was more 0:20:44.000 --> 0:20:47.639 like the soccer matches Melas when the crowd is just 0:20:47.760 --> 0:20:50.240 out of control and there's no stopping them. 0:20:50.320 --> 0:20:53.560 There's no one yelling that would have the control. 0:20:53.119 --> 0:20:55.600 Over the crowd to tell and people get trampled and 0:20:55.680 --> 0:20:56.320 people die. 0:20:56.880 --> 0:20:58.680 Yeah, but no one died that day. 0:21:00.200 --> 0:21:03.160 Cookie avoids death by trampling because of her loud mouth. 0:21:04.200 --> 0:21:07.760 But now she faces her biggest rival, the United States 0:21:07.800 --> 0:21:11.000 of America, and they are coming for her. 0:21:12.480 --> 0:21:16.240 Rumor had it that there was a list in Washington 0:21:16.960 --> 0:21:22.840 of journalists that the administration deemed, you know, not friendly 0:21:23.080 --> 0:21:25.840 to what was going on. I was told I was 0:21:25.920 --> 0:21:30.560 on that list, was to try to blackball or discredit 0:21:30.760 --> 0:21:35.360 some journalists that were deemed problematic for our government at 0:21:35.359 --> 0:21:38.639 the time. They did not like the coverage that CBS 0:21:39.359 --> 0:21:39.840 was giving. 0:21:40.119 --> 0:21:41.360