Pope to Visit Prison at U.S.-Mexico Border
CURNOW: Hi, there. Welcome back to INTERNATIONAL DESK. I'm Robyn Curnow, here's a check of the headlines.</s>CURNOW: The normally cool Pope Francis lost his temper and his balance in the middle of a crowd. One onlooker pulled the pontiff so hard he fell onto someone in a wheelchair. It happened while music was blaring at a stadium Tuesday. Take a look.</s>CURNOW (voice-over): Well, as you can see aides and security stepped in to prevent Francis from falling. But the 79-year old scolded the person in the crowd for being, quote, "selfish."</s>CURNOW: The pope is on his way to another region in Mexico. The highly political U.S.-Mexico border. Let's bring in Polo Sandoval from Ciudad Juarez, where the mass will be held in the next few hours. Hi, there, Polo. This is a day of deep symbolism for the pope and the people of Mexico.</s>POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. In fact, we watched this morning as that smile, that familiar smile was back on Pope Francis' face as he left Mexico City, expected to touch down here in Juarez in the next hour and a half or so. He will celebrate mass in what used to be old, dusty fairground. It was converted when the last month or so into now this massive outdoor sanctuary; at least 200,000 people will fill the area behind me. Right now they are praying the rosary as they anxiously await the pontiff. His first stop once he arrives here in Juarez will be the El Cereso state prison, at one point one of the most dangerous. He will be living up to that expectation of being the people's pope and that includes people with a troubled past.</s>SANDOVAL (voice-over): El Cereso state prison in Juarez has long been considered Mexico's most dangerous and the men confined behind the walls and barbed wire a microcosm of the violence that once dominated the city outside. At the height of cartel violence in Juarez in 2010, the inmates literally ran the prison. Six years later, it prepares to welcome a pope. The man who runs El Cereso today walked us through part the prison that would have been too dangerous to enter a few years ago. That's when the prison yard served as a bloody battleground for rival street gangs. (through translator): The inmates governed the prison. Let's be honest. Inmates held the keys to their cells and were armed.</s>SANDOVAL (voice-over): Jorge Biseka Lasta (ph) tells us a state of lawlessness and disorder once prevailed in El Cereso; over-population bred violence and repeated riots. Inmates decided who lived and who died. (through translator): We discovered kidnapping and extortion groups operating out of the prison.</s>SANDOVAL (voice-over): Since then Chihuahua State officials have regained control and, like in Juarez, a delicate truce between rival gangs is in place. Many inmates have been busy preparing the prison for the papal visit. Among them, Joel Reyes (ph), who is currently serving a 30-year sentence for murder. Reyes tells me the pope's visit reinforces his faith in the Catholic Church, his fellow man and, most importantly, he says, his chance for rehabilitation. Pope Francis will meet with correctional officials in this small prison chapel previously used by inmates to store weapons then pray with 700 prisoners in the courtyard, among them cartel enforcers who kidnapped and killed.</s>SANDOVAL: And not long after Pope Francis is driven back out of those prison gates, he will have a couple of meetings here in Juarez before he --</s>SANDOVAL: -- eventually heads here to the heart of the city to celebrate mass. And finally, Robyn, I do want to leave you with this image, where you can see over my shoulder just past the crowds that are slowly building, you see a white structure. That is actually an elementary school in El Paso, Texas. So that gives you a bit more perspective on how close Pope Francis will be to the United States when he actually breaks away from the ceremony, heads to a temporary migrant shelter that's been set up on the banks of the Rio Grande, which serves as a boundary between the U.S. and Mexico. He prays for migrants, obviously a very politically potent event. Whatever the pontiff does, whatever the pontiff says during that moment will clearly be heard around the world -- Robyn.</s>CURNOW: Yes, indeed, and throughout this trip, the pontiff has been very specific, very symbolic about where he travels to, a message in all of these locations. Polo Sandoval, thank you so much. It's only been about six weeks since the recapture of brutal drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. He's back behind bars at the same prison where he staged a brazen escape last year and now he wants the world to know it's not a charmed life. Rafael Romo joins me. Well, that's no surprise. But he's been complaining, hasn't he?</s>RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SR. LATIN AFFAIRS EDITOR: He says that he has been the victim of physical and mental torture. That from a man who escaped spectacularly twice from maximum security prisons in Mexico and who staged another escape just last year. But this time he says that the conditions are just not what he would have expected. And this is not coming directly from El Chapo himself. This is coming from his attorney, who spoke to a Mexican radio station yesterday, listen to what he said and Chapo telling his attorney. He said, "He told me, literally, every two hours at night, they wake me up to take roll. They are turning me into a zombie. They do not let me sleep. All I want is just for them to let me sleep." Now this is nothing new. Mexican authorities, Robyn, had already said that there were going to be constant checks on El Chapo's welfare and making sure that he was still in his cell at unannounced times, every two hours, every six hours, every 10 hours, at random at all times of the day.</s>CURNOW: Well, they don't want to be embarrassed again. And I mean, El Chapo complaining about being turned into a zombie, I mean, clearly these drug cartels have wreaked havoc on more people within Mexico than having your sleep disturbed. But that in mind, though, that's just one aspect of a number of security checks that have been implemented in the prison.</s>ROMO: Yes, it's a very good point because originally, when he was caught, there were 400 security cameras installed at the prison. That number is going to increase by an additional 600 by April. So he's going to have absolutely no privacy. The other element of security that has been implemented there is the addition of tracking dogs that can detect El Chapo's scent. And this is one of his complaints as well. He told his attorney that there's a dog constantly standing guard outside his cell and that that creates an element of fear from El Chapo. And one comment that he made that caught my attention, he said, "It is brutal torture. This is what was done by Stalin in the '40s and '50s in Russia."</s>CURNOW: Wow. He clearly is using his previous prison experiences, where I think he bribed a number of the officers. It's very different this time around. Let's talk about what happens next for him. Any news on the extradition?</s>ROMO: His attorney was asked that specifically. He says that he had so little time to talk to El Chapo and he didn't discuss anything about extradition. But Mexican authorities stand by what they said last month. The whole process is going to take anywhere from a year to five years. So, from the government's perspective, he's not going to be extradited anytime soon -- Robyn.</s>CURNOW: OK. Rafael Romo, thank you so much. OK. 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