Rio de Janeiro: Where the Global South Lives Out Loud and Capital Pretends Not to Look
Rio de Janeiro—population 6.2 million, GDP roughly the size of Slovakia, and the only city on Earth where a sunrise over Guanabara Bay competes for attention with a sunrise over a favela’s rooftop militia—has long served as global shorthand for “paradise with caveats.” The caveats, of course, are what keep foreign correspondents in gainful employment:…