By Craig Rucker, President, CFACT

November 16, 2025 - Some real fireworks kicked off yesterday evening when an irate crew of 50 to 100 Tupinambá warriors — some decked out in their striking traditional feathers and body paint — stormed the Blue Zone like it was the Alamo.

These aren't your Hollywood stereotypes of eco-warriors glued to trees. Rather, they're proud, resilient people who have stewarded the Amazon for generations. After I snapped a few photos with them around the COP Green Zone venue today, I found them as warm and welcoming as any tailgate party at a football game back home. It's clear they're not here for Al Gore's PowerPoint on carbon footprints.

Climate change? Barely a blip on these people’s radar. No, their gripe is far more grounded: why is a leftist government hosting a global gabfest that bulldozes their sacred lands for an eight-mile highway, displaces açaí farmers without a dime in compensation, and sidelines their voices in favor of radical agitators?

Their breach on Wednesday was chaotic: doors were kicked in, chants of "Our land is not for sale!" echoed off the walls, and batons and protesters shoved back at security. Joining the fray were cheerleaders from Brazil's far-left Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL) — the kind of outfit that dreams of Che Guevara statues in every village square. They piped up with the usual suspects: outrage over "illegal logging, mining, and industrialization" ravaging the wilderness.

Sounds noble, right? Except when you chat informally with the protesters themselves, that narrative crumbles faster than a Michael Mann climate forecast. Take my encounter in the Green Zone — that sprawling NGO bazaar where businesses hawk "sustainable" widgets and academics peddle guilt trips. I cornered an interpreter, a university type who clearly leaned sympathetic to the cause, and got the unvarnished truth through his translations. Sure, the Tupinambá are steamed about representation. Why hand the mic to Lula's cronies when the real stewards of the forest, their Indigenous groups, get token seats at best?

Dig deeper, and these native Brazilians are not driven by some Marxist manifesto. It's simpler, and more American: they want economic development. They want roads that connect their villages to markets; jobs that lift families out of poverty without chaining them to endless welfare handouts. They are for mining and industry. These folks see opportunity, not oppression — if it's done with respect for their culture and values.

That's the real scandal here at the climate summit. The Indigenous voices aren't the problem — it's how the radical left co-opts them like props in a bad diversity play. The PSOL radicals hijacked the protest to push their anti-capitalist fever dreams, ignoring that true prosperity comes from free enterprise, not UN fiat. Brazil’s President Lula cleared over 100,000 trees, with barely a peep of protest from the environmental community, for the convenience of elites attending this climate summit.

Talk about hypocritical deforestation! And amid the pomp on display here, the Indigenous community serves as nice props and ornamentation for delegates to gawk at while they sip imported champagne.

Wandering the Green Zone today was an eye-opener, even for a COP summit veteran like me. It's glitzier than normal — booths hawking carbon credits like snake oil, solar-powered gadgets nobody needs, and endless panels on "equity" that sound like rebranded socialism.

But beneath the sheen, you sense the frustration bubbling. These Indigenous protesters aren't anti-progress; rather, they're anti-exploitation. They deserve partners who prioritize property rights, fair deals, and growth over endless regulations that keep the Amazon in perpetual poverty. Here in Belém, verification day has arrived. And the natives? They're not just restless — they are righteously fed up.