German Chancellor Merz blasts Belém, rattling Brazilians
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has sparked outrage with a derogatory comment about his visit to the COP30 climate summit in Brazil, saying that the delegation was happy to be back in Berlin from "this place".
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00:00Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Mertz has triggered a diplomatic row with Brazil after making disparaging remarks about the Amazonian city of Belem.
00:10Belem played host to the 30th edition of the UN's annual climate summit, COP, which Mertz, along with a slew of European and world leaders, visited in early November.
00:20Speaking at a trade conference following his return, the German leader said that neither he nor any of his delegation wanted to remain in the city following the summit, adding that they were all happy to return to Berlin.
00:35He hailed Germany as, quote, one of the most beautiful countries in the world, while referring to Belem as, quote, that place.
00:50The journalists, who were with me in Brazil, asked last week, who would you like to stay here?
00:57Nobody took the hand.
00:59They were all happy that we, especially from this place where we were, were back to Germany again in the night of Friday to Saturday.
01:06The comment drew widespread criticism across Brazil's political spectrum.
01:11President Lula da Silva slammed Mertz for having made the remarks without even exploring the city's cultural offerings before proceeding to make a diss of his own.
01:20President Lula da Silva's political spectrum.
01:50Belem Mayer, Igor Normando, also criticized Mertz for his comments, calling them unfortunate, arrogant, and prejudiced.
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