Headlines October 11, 2022 from Democracy Now!

In Venezuela, at least 36 people were killed by devastating floods over the weekend in the north-central state of Aragua. Fifty-six people remain missing. Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez said the equivalent of one month of rain fell in just eight hours. In Central America, Tropical Storm Julia brought intense rainfall to regions already saturated by weeks of heavy rains, triggering flooding and mudslides that killed at least 28 people in Guatemala and El Salvador.

A new joint report from the United Nations and the Red Cross warns that current rates of greenhouse gas emissions are set to drive more intense heat waves that will cause large-scale suffering and loss of life across huge swaths of Africa and Asia, where human life could become unsustainable by mid-century. The report warns heat waves will add to mass migration and further entrenched inequality — impacts that are already emerging today.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has made an urgent appeal for funding, warning of “severe cuts” unless his agency raises another $700 million by the end of this year. Filippo Grandi said Monday that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had pushed the number of people forcibly displaced from their homes worldwide to more than 100 million. He said that’s led the U.N. refugee agency’s annual budget to balloon to over $10 billion.

Filippo Grandi: “And while the Ukraine response has been and must continue to be well funded, this has to be the target for all operations. Funding for new emergencies, like Ukraine, needs to be in addition to, not instead of, the others.”

In Haiti, several people were shot Monday — at least one of them fatally — after police fired tear gas on thousands of protesters who took to the streets of the capital Port-au-Prince. Protesters demanded the resignation of the U.S.-backed Prime Minister Ariel Henry and called on the government to reverse its decision to seek foreign military assistance.

Jean Levelt: “Unemployment, the high cost of living, insecurity — it is all for these reasons that I am in the street. I take to the streets to say no to the occupation.”

The United Nations is urging the activation of a “rapid action force” to Haiti to combat armed gangs that have blockaded the main terminal in Port-au-Prince, blocking imports of food, fuel and other necessities. This comes amid warnings of a looming public health disaster after a new outbreak of cholera emerged this month. In 2010, U.N. peacekeepers inadvertently sparked a cholera outbreak that killed 10,000 people, and U.N. forces in Haiti have been accused of sexual violence.