‘A heavy burden’: Belém residents evicted in rush for profits from Cop30 rentals

As the Brazilian city prepares to host 50,000 delegates, local people are being pushed from their homes

The two-bedroom apartment in Belem became Suelen Freitas's home in 2020, when she moved her family to the same building as her elderly mother. On the edge of the Amazon rainforest, it was where her story played out for five years, from enduring the Covid pandemic, to watching her two children get into the university.

But in March everything changed. An eviction notice gave them and their neighbours 30 days to vacate their apartments. One by one, all 12 families were forced out. It was very painful," Freitas said.