Breaking Records to Highlight Human Trafficking
LU STOUT: How a human trafficking survivor says she smashed the world record for a series of triathlons to help empower others. Now her message to fellow survivors is clear: be relentless. Kyung Lah has more on her journey in this CNN Freedom Project report.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't know if -- what's going to make the final cuts here.</s>KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hollywood would have a tough time matching the drama of Norma Bastidas' life.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were trying to interweave the triathlon with what's happening in human trafficking.</s>LAH (voice-over): The first woman to run seven of the planet's most unforgiving ultra-marathon on all seven continents received plenty of recognition for the accomplishment. But the world record-holder didn't quite feel complete until she came forward about her own violent past.</s>NORMA BASTIDAS, WORLD RECORD-HOLDER: I remember being drugged and beat up and almost murdered when I was 24.</s>LAH: Bastidas was trafficked twice, once kidnapped and abused in Mexico City and several years later lured to Japan by a fake modeling agency.</s>BASTIDAS: What I didn't know is just that I was being sold to the highest bidder, and I get bought by a prominent person and I become his property. It was hell. It was hell.</s>LAH: The abuses suffered in her younger years might have broken most people, but it lit a fire inside Bastidas to do things others might think impossible.</s>BRAD RILEY, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, IEMPATHIZE: The next thing I know she's on the phone with me going, I want to do something big for human trafficking and to face this in my own life and to make it an anthem for other survivors.</s>LAH: In 2014, Bastidas set out to break the Guinness record for world's longest triathlon. Over the course of several months, she ran, biked, and swam more than 3,700 miles -- traveling from Cancun, Mexico, to Washington, D.C., following a known route of human trafficking victims.</s>RILEY: Norma is one of the fiercest women I've ever met.</s>LAH: Together with the anti-trafficking organization, iEmpathize, Norma's story is now the subject of a documentary called "Be Relentless".</s>RILEY: After all of this, from Cancun, Mexico City, to D.C., she did her final leg all through the night. 24 hours straight. Almost 100 miles. And I think what she was trying to tell everyone was sometimes you have to face new challenges, even when you've conquered old ones.</s>BASTIDAS: Human trafficking is what happened to you. It's not who you are. Every single time we doubt that a victim has potential, we are saying, because of what happened it's your fault. And that's so wrong. We can prove that we can overcome anything. We're here. We're standing.</s>LAH: And that might be the greatest ending of all. Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.</s>LU STOUT: An extraordinary woman and an amazing story there. Nearly five years in captivity, finally free. Now it is the first time Shahbaz Taseer, the son of a Pakistani politician, has spoken to any Western journalist. In this exclusive interview with CNN, never before heard details about Taseer, who was snatched off the streets by a brutal Islamist group in 2011. And here he describes his confinement and torture.</s>SHAHBAZ TASEER, HELD CAPTIVE FOR YEARS BY ISLAMIST GROUP: My living conditions were abysmal and I was tortured for about a year in these extravagant Hollywood-style movies that they would make for my family to put pressure on them, to put pressure on the government. It started off with them lashing me with rubber whips, for my family. I think the first day was 100. It went up to 200. They would carve my back open with blades and throw salt. They would -- they sewed my mouth shut and starved me for a week.</s>LU STOUT: Some grisly details there. Now, Taseer went on to say that the silent majority in Pakistan, they need to mobilize against extremist violence. Turning now to the U.S. election and polls are open in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It is one of two states holding contests in yet another round of presidential primaries. Kentucky already held its Republican caucus, so it is down to the Democrats this time. Oregon is holding primaries for both Democrats and Republicans. Likely Republican nominee Donald Trump may have fought off his rivals on the campaign trail, but now he is battling "The New York Times" over what he says is a false account of his past. A lawyer for Trump says he may sue "The Times" over an article portraying his treatment of many women as sexist. Now all this happening as some conservative Republicans question whether Trump really is the future of their party. They're now trying to draft their own third-party candidate. Phil Mattingly reports.</s>PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump changing his tone from bombastic --</s>DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I went to the Wharton School of Finance. I was a great student. I built a fortune.</s>MATTINGLY: -- to everyday American.</s>TRUMP: I view myself as a person that, like everybody else, is fighting for survival. That's all I view myself as, and I really view myself now as somewhat of a messenger.</s>MATTINGLY: As the anti-Trump movement is struggling to find a figurehead, unable to entice a candidate to join the fray with a third- party run.</s>GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A third-party candidacy would be viewed as -- as kind of a silly thing and I don't think it's appropriate.</s>MATTINGLY: John Kasich, the Ohio governor and former presidential candidate, telling CNN he won't take the plunge.</s>KASICH: I gave it my best where I am, and I just think running third-party doesn't feel right. I think it's not constructive.</s>MATTINGLY: Billionaire Mark Cuban also contacted about a possible run, also in the no column.</s>MARK CUBAN, OWNER, DALLAS MAVERICKS: It's impossible for it to work. There's not enough time to get on ballots. The hurdles are too great. It's a ridiculous effort, so I passed.</s>MATTINGLY: For conservatives like Erick Erickson and Bill Kristol, a very real effort with a very small window to get it off the ground. They need a candidate, donor commitments, and they need a legal pathway -- one that includes tens of thousands of signatures just to qualify for ballot access. All as deadlines loom -- or in the case of Texas, have already passed. Meanwhile, Trump is battling with "The New York Times" via Twitter over their front page article about his inappropriate behavior with women. Trump's attorney leaving the door open to filing suit.</s>JILL MARTIN, TRUMP ORGANIZATION ATTORNEY: I think that is a distinct possibility.</s>MATTINGLY: "The Times" standing by their story.</s>MICHAEL BARBARO, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Our goal was to pull back and say, how does he interact in the office with someone who he's dating or trying to date? And that was the purpose of our story.</s>LU STOUT: And that was Phil Mattingly reporting there. And as for the Democrats, Hillary Clinton is looking for a win against rival Bernie Sanders in Kentucky. Let's take a look how things are standing right now. Clinton needs an estimated 140 more delegates to shut out Sanders and thus secure the nomination, but he's been enjoying a string of big wins lately. Now, Clinton is hoping to dampen his momentum today. And do stay with CNN all day as Republicans and Democrats vote in Oregon, and Democrats make their choice for nominee in Kentucky. That's all day Tuesday, right here on CNN. Now, it's good-bye, China, and hello, India, for the CEO of Apple. Can Tim Cook work his charms and help the iPhone better compete in India's smartphone market? We'll have more on his trip. And while Apple woos consumers in India, start-ups in China are trying to get their foot in the door. We'll look at a growing tech industry there, next.