When Belém Shines and Berlin Stumbles - a Sentence That Shames a Government

Belém - Friedrich Merz apparently wanted to share only a brief impression after his return from Belém. What followed was nationwide criticism in Brazil, accusations of arrogance, xenophobia and a President Lula who did not hesitate for a second to publicly reprimand the German chancellor. A single sentence was enough to shift the mood in a country that Germany actually needs as a partner. Merz had said in Berlin that none of the journalists who had traveled with him would have wanted to stay in Belém, and that everyone had been glad to leave that place. In Germany, it was a casual remark. In Brazil, it was understood as a disparagement of a city that, despite heat, overload and difficult logistics, was made the centerpiece of COP30 - deliberately, as a political signal, as a gateway to the Amazon.

The fact that Merz spoke about that place at the wrong moment came precisely as Belém was presenting itself anew to the world. The attention was not only on the climate conference, but also on the visible changes in the city. Nowhere is this clearer than in the Ver-o-Peso market, the historic heart of Belém, a place where goods from the Amazon have arrived, been sold, dried, prepared and bargained for over more than a century.

For COP30, the market was renovated: the old wooden stalls, swollen for years from humidity, were replaced with sturdy building elements. New tarps protect against the sun, the ground was renewed, wiring was installed, pests and flooding are supposed to be a thing of the past. Many vendors are celebrating this step. It is cleaner, safer, better attended. Others mourn the old structure. Too smooth, too touristy, too little space, too little air - and above all too little of the original market that locals had known for generations.

While vendors like Roberto Pontes marvel at the shiny condition of the new market and welcome the new flow of visitors, others like Ricardo Rodrigues de Sousa stand by skeptically. “They cleaned up - and drove away the regulars,” he said. Tourists take photos, look around, move on. As a result, business has become more difficult. This is a reality that concerns many in Belém: how much modernization helps - and when it begins to push aside real life. In the açaí section, vendors now call out in English to draw delegations from around the world. Some sit at the new granite counters, try fried pirarucu and fresh açaí, marvel at the color and taste. Others move on to magnets, bracelets and painted seeds - the souvenir stands are fuller than the fish stalls these days. And yet the market remains a place that shapes the city: loud, intense, full of contrasts.

Not everyone benefits from the modernization. New stalls are taller and harder to reach, older vendors say. The new roofs prevent air circulation. There are many complaints. “They did not ask us,” said Miraci Alexandre, 60. “They built it the way they wanted. It looks better, but for us it is not more practical.” For many, this reflects exactly what Lula said to Merz: that you cannot understand a city if you only look at it from a distance.

In Pará, the political reaction to Merz did not fail to appear. Governor Helder Barbalho called the sentence “prejudiced” and reminded everyone that those who heated up the planet should hardly be surprised by the climate in the Amazon. The mayor of Belém spoke of arrogance and said that the people of his city were more open than the chancellor’s remarks implied. On social media, comparisons to the 7-1 match of 2014 circulated again - this time with the note that the words of the chancellor hurt more than that sporting blow.

The German reactions came only after the damage was already visible. A spokesman for the chancellor said that Merz regretted that the tight schedule had not allowed him to experience the Amazon region more intensively. He also praised the achievement of hosting COP30 in Belém. It was a cautious formulation, more an attempt to soften the situation than an honest explanation - and hardly convincing in tone. It fits the image of a Merz government that lives more on earlier achievements than on setting its own.

At the same time, Environment Minister Carsten Schneider tried to calm the situation. He praised the “wonderful people of Brazil” and their hospitality. The contrast to Merz’s tone was obvious. Here too, the question remains whether it was conviction or damage control. What is clear is that the lines within the German government looked anything but unified that day. The political dimension of this misstep reaches far beyond an ill-considered sentence. Germany is a central donor to the Amazon Fund. Merz had pledged in early November to support the new “Tropical Forests Forever” fund, a project aimed at helping more than 70 countries with forest protection. Brazil expects not only money in these partnerships - but respect. And this is exactly where the chancellor created an unnecessary weak point.

While Merz “was glad to get away”, Belém is showing the world why this city, despite all its problems, has its own value. Vendors, delegates, visitors and politicians meet there daily, eat, negotiate, argue, discover. It is a place between tradition and new beginnings. And it is exactly this place that showed the German chancellor what external impact means - and how quickly a single sentence is enough to place a government in a light it never intended.