Eight Ways to Not Enjoy Rio During the Olympics
An amazing city, Rio de Janeiro can also be exasperating if you’re not prepared. The 500,000 foreigners visiting this month for the Summer Olympics will soon discover the challenges of life in the self-proclaimed cidade maravilhosa, from its world famous congestion to its quirky social norms. Here are eight ways for visitors to not enjoy … Read more
Hey World, Let’s Cut Brazil Just a Little Slack
After being kidnapped by uniformed police in Rio on the eve of the Olympic Games, a young New Zealander proclaimed on Facebook that Brazil “is well and truly f***ed in every sense of the word imaginable.” Many others agreed, from the Australian athletes who arrived in their dorms to find overflowing toilets (and a fire, … Read more
What Brazil Can Learn From the Terrorist Threat to the Rio Olympics
Brazil may be the world’s seventh-largest economy and highly visible on a global scale, but it is, in many ways, remarkably isolated from the rest of the world and from global threats like terrorism. At least most thought it was. The arrests in recent days of 12 Brazilians suspected of plotting to carry out attacks during the … Read more
AQ Top 5 Latin American Academics: Artur Avila
See the rest of the AQ Top 5 “I can’t talk right now” Brazilian mathematician Artur Avila murmured into the phone. “I’m in Brasília to carry the Olympic torch.” When AQ contacted him the next day, he warned the conversation would have to be short because he was running late for the screening of a … Read more
This Week in Latin America: Brazil’s New Speaker
Sign up here to get This Week in Latin America delivered to your inbox every Monday. Brazil’s New Speaker: Brazil’s lower house will elect a new speaker on Wednesday, following the tearful resignation of Eduardo Cunha on July 7 amid an ethics investigation. Accused of taking up to $40 million in bribes and lying about an offshore bank account linked to the vast … Read more
Podcast: The Threats to Brazil’s “Car Wash” Corruption Probe
Also available for download for Apple iOS and Android. There are several threats facing the probe into corruption at Brazil’s state-run oil company Petrobras, according to José Ugaz, global chairman of Transparency International. Ugaz, who is based in Peru but visited Brazil last week, said some Brazilian politicians are trying to obstruct the investigation – although they likely … Read more
Help Brazil Preserve the Amazon
In the new issue of Americas Quarterly, we asked people, “What would you tell the next U.S. president about Latin America?” To see other authors’ responses, click here. Dear Mister / Madam President, Last June, Presidents Barack Obama and Dilma Rousseff, meeting in Washington, jointly declared that addressing climate change requires “continued, robust financial support.” … Read more
Podcast: Brazil’s Economy Under Temer
Also available for download for Apple iOS and Android. Interim President Michel Temer’s economic team has the unique challenge of attempting to fix Brazil’s worst economic crisis in decades – while also trying to ensure they survive a critical vote in August. Much needed reforms are unlikely to be passed until the conclusion of Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment trial, … Read more
Why Brazil Shouldn’t Turn Its Back on the BRICS
Almost a decade ago, in 2007, Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was one of the star speakers at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Investor money was pouring into one of the world’s most exciting emerging markets, and Foreign Minister Celso Amorim – who would go on to be called the “world’s best foreign … Read more
How to Get Brazil (And Latin America) Completely Wrong
It’s been yet another rough week for Brazil’s international image, with an Olympic mascot shot dead in an absurd accident and another national political figure dragged into scandal. But the biggest blow of all came from Declan Ryan, co-founder of the Irish budget airline Ryanair, who told an Argentine newspaper that he was considering expansion … Read more
Brazil’s Big Bet
This piece was updated on June 22 In 1946, the last year casinos were legal in Brazil, the ritzy Copacabana Palace in Rio de Janeiro was pulling in nearly $100 million a year from roulette and other table games. A frequent gambler was Benjamin Vargas, brother to a former president, who was notorious for chasing … Read more
Podcast: What’s Next for Michel Temer and Brazil?
Also available for download for Apple iOS and Android. Allegations for the first time linking Brazil’s interim President Michel Temer to the Lava Jato corruption investigations are far from a smoking gun. But that may not be enough to protect Temer’s political future. With a slew of new plea bargain testimony expected in the weeks ahead, AQ’s editor-in-chief … Read more
Michel Temer and the ‘Nobody Survives’ Scenario in Brasília
I had dinner recently with a Fortune 500 executive who was absolutely furious over Brazil. At great pains, he had finally convinced his board to take a fresh look at investing there under interim President Michel Temer’s government. But the latest wave of corruption-related resignations and arrests had scared them away once again, for fear … Read more
Rio’s Forgotten Health Crisis
Editor’s Note: A version of this piece first appeared in Portuguese in Agência Pública, and can be seen here. The English translation has been lightly edited for clarity, context and length. As Rio de Janeiro prepares to receive hundreds of thousands of tourists and athletes from over 200 countries for the Olympic Games, health authorities … Read more
In Occupying Schools, Rio’s Students Get a Political Education
Usually the challenge is to keep students in school. But 18-year-old Douglas Santana is one of thousands of teenagers from more than 70 high schools across the state of Rio de Janeiro who for months refused to go home until the government promised more investment in education. A senior at Colégio Estadual Visconde de Cairu … Read more
