The Rio de Janeiro mayor’s barb has come after the German leader spoke disparagingly of another Brazilian city that hosted a climate summit

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is a “Nazi,” the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, has charged. The now-deleted X post came in response to Merz’s disparaging comment about another Brazilian city, Belem, which has hosted the UN Climate Summit.

The German chancellor spent a single day at the international event earlier this month, and on his return to Berlin, he shared his impressions of the town in northern Brazil with the attendees of a trade conference in the German capital last Thursday.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we live in one of the most beautiful countries in the world,” Merz proclaimed, adding that “last week, I asked some journalists who were with me in Brazil: ‘Who among you would like to stay here?’ Not one hand raised. They were all glad that we had returned to Germany, especially from this place we had just been to.”

Hey Chancellor @_FriedrichMerz, far be it from me to spread gossip, but the mayor of Rio de Janeiro called you a son of Hitler, a bum, and a Nazi.

Harsh, right? pic.twitter.com/fpneMtnE9g

— TeAtualizei