C M Y K Yxxx,2018-09-09,A,001,Bs-4C,E1

VOL. CLXVII . . . . No. 58,080 © 2018 The New York Times Company SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2018

MARMET, W.Va. — There werethe beauty queens, ages 6 to 60,riding in style in the Labor DayParade, including Teen Miss WestVirginia Coal. There was the mandriving a pickup truck memorialto 29 workers killed in a 2010 minedisaster, each victim’s portrait air-brushed on metal.

And there was Senator JoeManchin, in a sky-blue shirt withthe state’s craggy outline on itscrest, walking the route and greet-ing voters who brought up his fa-vorite issue themselves.

“Save our health care!” Bar-bara Miller shouted.

Mr. Manchin stopped to giveher a hug. After he passed, shesaid she feared that Republicansin Washington will continue to tryto repeal President Barack Oba-ma’s health care law. “If they can’toverturn that, then they hope they

can at least favor their big-insur-ance buddies by allowing them toblock pre-existing conditions,”said Ms. Miller, a nurse educator.“I have a pre-existing condition.”

“We all do,” chimed in four otherwomen seated with her on aporch.

In a state where approval ofPresident Trump is near the coun-try’s highest, Mr. Manchin, a Dem-ocrat, was once thought to bedeeply endangered in his re-elec-tion this year. But the 71-year-oldincumbent, who likes to say“Washington sucks,” has a 7-to-10-point polling edge over his Repub-lican opponent, Patrick Morrisey.A lot can happen before ElectionDay, but for now, he is the envy ofother red-state Democrats as theparties wrestle over control of theSenate.

Where ‘Obamacare’ Is Epithet,Yet Voters Cling to Key Element

By TRIP GABRIEL

Continued on Page 18

The Trump administration heldsecret meetings with rebelliousmilitary officers from Venezuelaover the last year to discuss theirplans to overthrow PresidentNicolás Maduro, according toAmerican officials and a formerVenezuelan military commanderwho participated in the talks.

Establishing a clandestinechannel with coup plotters in Ven-ezuela was a big gamble for Wash-ington, given its long history ofcovert intervention across LatinAmerica. Many in the region stilldeeply resent the United Statesfor backing previous rebellions,coups and plots in countries likeCuba, Nicaragua, Brazil and Chile,and for turning a blind eye to theabuses military regimes commit-ted during the Cold War.

The White House, which de-clined to answer detailed ques-tions about the talks, said in astatement that it was important toengage in “dialogue with all Vene-zuelans who demonstrate a desirefor democracy” in order to “bringpositive change to a country thathas suffered so much under Ma-duro.”

But one of the Venezuelan mili-tary commanders involved in thesecret talks was hardly an idealfigure to help restore democracy:He is on the American govern-ment’s own sanctions list of cor-rupt officials in Venezuela.

He and other members of theVenezuelan security apparatushave been accused by Washingtonof a wide range of serious crimes,including torturing critics, jailinghundreds of political prisoners,wounding thousands of civilians,trafficking drugs and collaborat-ing with the Revolutionary ArmedForces of Colombia, or FARC,which is considered a terrorist or-ganization by the United States.

American officials eventuallydecided not to help the plotters,and the coup plans stalled. But theTrump administration’s willing-ness to meet several times with

U.S. MET REBELSFROM VENEZUELA ABOUT COUP PLOT

RISK BY TRUMP OFFICIALS

Dissidents’ Secret Plansto Overthrow Maduro

Eventually Stalled

By ERNESTO LONDOÑOand NICHOLAS CASEY

Continued on Page 11

WASHINGTON — All Su-preme Court confirmation hear-ings are, in a way, empty exer-cises, but most have a redeemingfeature or two. For a few mo-ments, at least, the nominee cancome into focus.

Recall the folksiness of JusticeNeil M. Gorsuch, the sly wit ofChief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.and Justice Elena Kagan, or theinspiring up-from-the-projectslife story of Justice Sonia So-tomayor.

Last week’s confirmationhearings for Judge Brett M.Kavanaugh, President Trump’sSupreme Court nominee, lackedthose clarifying glimpses. JudgeKavanaugh’s demeanor wasbland and unruffled, and henavigated two marathon days ofquestioning without revealinganything not already on his longrésumé, one reflecting a slashingpartisan background and adeeply conservative judicialrecord.

Judge Kavanaugh must havestudied earlier confirmationhearings carefully, as he hadabsorbed all of their key lessons:Say nothing, say it at greatlength, and then say it again.

A Simple Script:Saying Nothing,Over and Over

By ADAM LIPTAK

WASHINGTON MEMO

Continued on Page 19

One of the world’s top breastcancer doctors failed to disclosemillions of dollars in paymentsfrom drug and health care compa-nies in recent years, omitting hisfinancial ties from dozens of re-search articles in prestigious pub-lications like The New EnglandJournal of Medicine and TheLancet.

The researcher, Dr. José Ba-selga, a towering figure in the can-cer world, is the chief medical offi-cer at Memorial Sloan KetteringCancer Center in New York. Hehas held board memberships oradvisory roles with Roche andBristol-Myers Squibb, amongother corporations, has had astake in start-ups testing cancertherapies, and played a key role inthe development of breakthroughdrugs that have revolutionizedtreatments for breast cancer.

According to an analysis by TheNew York Times and ProPublica,Dr. Baselga did not follow finan-cial disclosure rules set by theAmerican Association for CancerResearch when he was presidentof the group. He also left out pay-ments he received from compa-nies connected to cancer researchin his articles published in thegroup’s journal, Cancer Discov-ery. At the same time, he has beenone of the journal’s two editors inchief.

At a conference this year andbefore analysts in 2017, he put apositive spin on the results of twoRoche-sponsored clinical trialsthat many others considered dis-appointments, without disclosinghis relationship to the company.Since 2014, he has received morethan $3 million from Roche in con-sulting fees and for his stake in a

Cancer DoctorDidn’t DiscloseCorporate Ties

Paid Millions by FirmsLinked to Research

By CHARLES ORNSTEINand KATIE THOMAS

Continued on Page 21

HOTAN, China — On the edge of adesert in far western China, an imposingbuilding sits behind a fence topped withbarbed wire. Large red characters on thefacade urge people to learn Chinese,study law and acquire job skills. Guardsmake clear that visitors are not welcome.

Inside, hundreds of ethnic Uighur Mus-lims spend their days in a high-pressureindoctrination program, where they areforced to listen to lectures, sing hymnspraising the Chinese Communist Partyand write “self-criticism” essays, accord-ing to detainees who have been released.

The goal is to rid them of devotion to Is-lam.

Abdusalam Muhemet, 41, said the po-lice detained him for reciting a verse ofthe Quran at a funeral. After two monthsin a nearby camp, he and more than 30others were ordered to renounce theirpast lives. Mr. Muhemet said he wentalong but quietly seethed.

“That was not a place for getting rid ofextremism,” he recalled. “That was aplace that will breed vengeful feelings anderase Uighur identity.”

This camp outside Hotan, an ancientoasis town in the Taklamakan Desert, isone of hundreds that China has built in thepast few years. It is part of a campaign ofbreathtaking scale and ferocity that hasswept up hundreds of thousands of Chi-nese Muslims for weeks or months ofwhat critics describe as brainwashing,usually without criminal charges.

Though limited to China’s western re-gion of Xinjiang, it is the country’s most

sweeping internment program since theMao era — and the focus of a growingchorus of international criticism.

China has sought for decades to restrictthe practice of Islam and maintain an irongrip in Xinjiang, a region almost as big asAlaska where more than half the popula-tion of 24 million belongs to Muslim ethnicminority groups. Most are Uighurs,whose religion, language and culture,along with a history of independencemovements and resistance to Chineserule, have long unnerved Beijing.

After a succession of violent antigov-ernment attacks reached a peak in 2014,the Communist Party chief, Xi Jinping,sharply escalated the crackdown, orches-trating an unforgiving drive to turn ethnicUighurs and other Muslim minorities intoloyal citizens and supporters of the party.

“Xinjiang is in an active period of ter-rorist activities, intense struggle againstseparatism and painful intervention totreat this,” Mr. Xi told officials, accordingto reports in the state news media lastyear.

In addition to the mass detentions, theauthorities have intensified the use of in-

An indoctrination camp in Hotan, China. Below, Abdusalam Muhemet, 41, was detained for two months in one such camp.

Anti-Islam Detention Camps in ChinaMinority Swept Up in Biggest Internment Program Since Mao Era

Continued on Page 10

By CHRIS BUCKLEY

ERIN TRIEB FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

A 5-year-old tigress that seems to havedeveloped a taste for human flesh hasbeen blamed for killing at least 13 peo-ple in India. PAGE 6

INTERNATIONAL 4-14

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SUNDAY REVIEW

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NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT

Seventeen years after the twin towers crushed the Cortlandt Street subway station, it was set to re-open on Saturday. Work on the station, which cost $181.8 million, began in 2015. Page 23.

A Final Piece of Rebuilding After 9/11

Printed in Chicago $6.00

Mostly cloudy. Some morning rainsoutheast. Breezy. Highs in the mid-dle 60s to the lower 70s. Mostlycloudy east tonight. Mostly clearwest. Weather map is on Page 22.

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