The Brazilian government has since responded to the letter publicly, claiming it either has conclusively addressed all the problems listed or is in the process of doing so.
COP30, short for the 30th “Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)”, is a gathering of environmentalists, fossil fuel lobbyists, and world leaders intended to discuss the future of energy and how to reverse the alleged climate crisis. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a hardline socialist whose three tenures have corresponded to mass increases in wildfires in the Amazon Rainforest, chose the Amazonian city of Belém to host the summit. Belém, multiple reports warned before the summit began, was woefully unequipped to host a gathering of tens of thousands traveling from across the world. Among other issues, the city’s rainforest location makes it difficult to inhabit, it did not boast sufficient lodging for the expected number of visitors, and allows easy access to the summit for violent indigenous protesters.
Those protesters alarmed summit organizers by breaking through security barriers on Tuesday, barreling down doors and assaulting police. The letter from Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, accused the Lula government of ordering Brazilian police not to intervene to protect summit attendees.
Stiell’s letter, Bloomberg reported, was shared with Brazilian officials on Wednesday, following the attack by indigenous protesters the night before. It described the event as a “serious breach of the established security framework” and expressed alarm not just about the break-in, but about the orders Brazilian police appeared to receive not to act to protect COP30 attendees.
“The security forces and command structure required to execute the security plan were all present on the ground during the incident but failed to act,” Stiell reportedly wrote.
The Brazilian newspaper O Globo, also quoting the letter, shared that Stiell wrote of the incident, “Despite these rules, the protesters entered into that secured area without any impediment, to the Blue Zone, while being watched by Brazilian authorities, who failed to adhere to or execute the security plan.”
Chaotic video from the site shows individuals wearing feather headdresses and shaking maracas while destroying doors leading in the COP30 “blue zone,” the area designated for diplomats and other high-ranking officials at the event. Authorities appeared to rapidly attempt to vacate an injured person on a wheelchair while the mob shouted and hurled projectiles at police and COP30 participants.
The United Nations later issued a statement euphemistically describing the indigenous mob as a group that “was not part of the official organization or coordination of the event” and “participated independently” by destroying the site.
The mob attack was one of several concerns Stiell raised in his letter. Among other problems with the COP30 event, his letter detailed, were several problems with the condition of the conference site. Insufficient air conditioning and broken air conditioners, he reportedly protested, were a health risk for attendees in business wear that required “immediate intervention.” The situation, according to Bloomberg, had already resulted in “heat-related” medical emergencies. The building where conference events are ongoing has also endured several ceiling leaks, the result of being located in the world’s largest rainforest and sustaining, as a result, heavy rains.
Bloomberg also reported that the letter listed problems such as “frequent water shortages in bathrooms, stifling temperatures, unfinished pavilions and long lines for food as well as a payment system that requires topping up a pre-paid card, with refunds only permitted to those showing proof of identification.”
The president’s office, the Casa Civil, reportedly responded to the letter by assuring that Brasilia was taking the complaints seriously. Officials claimed that they had already taken steps to expand the security perimeter around the event and install larger barriers to prevent mobs from taking them down. It also claimed that officials were in the process of installing new air conditioners.
Protests will likely remain ongoing, as COP30 is scheduled to continue through November 21, but many of the most hardline leftist groups are in Belém participating in a separate event – the “People’s Summit,” a rival gathering allegedly open to “traditional African-based peoples, black people, indigenous,” activists, environmentalists, students, and “LGBTQIAPN+” people. Leftists have for years complained that COP30 has become too corporate and complacent about the alleged impending climate doom, calling for more funding for leftist organizations.
The “People’s Summit” manifesto declares that the objective of the gathering “is to strengthen grassroots organizing and bring together agendas for unity: socio-environmental, anti-patriarchal, anti-capitalist, anti-colonialist, anti-racist, and rights-based, respecting their diversity and specificities, united for a future of good living.”
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