Fallout from lethal police raids in Rio de Janeiro and mounting regional fears about US military intervention in Venezuela are threatening to overshadow the major United Nations climate summit set to begin in Brazil.
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The Cop30 gathering in the northern city of Belem was supposed to provide President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva a chance to showcase the environmental challenges facing the Amazon rainforest while spurring an aggressive response to climate change.
Instead, the pair of crises sparked by attacks on alleged drug traffickers operating in Latin America have pushed climate to the backburner, even diverting Lula’s attention from one of his signature global issues.
The Brazilian leader has spent the days ahead of the event focused on the repercussions of the deadliest single-day police operation in his nation’s modern history, calling Tuesday for an independent investigation into raids targeting a notorious criminal organisation that left at least 121 people dead last week.
His government also said he would take a break from Cop30 this weekend to travel to Colombia for discussions about Donald Trump’s intensifying military threats against Venezuela.
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