Brazil: Image Consultant Wanted
When I decided to retire in Brazil in 2003, my friends and colleagues envied me. Now in June 2020, they all beg me to get out. Over the years, Brazil’s benevolent external reputation gradually eroded to reach its current pariah status. The Coronavirus pandemic has exposed to the world a country in a downward spiral and the moral decay of its political leadership. Back in the early 2000s, Brazil was regarded as a paragon of democratic values, a progressive Latin American country on the verge of becoming an influential world player. I still remember the November 12, 2009 cover of the Economist magazine of London roaring that Brazil was taking off. I was so proud to live in Rio at the time. I had chosen to retire in this tropical city because I liked its charms, culture and relaxed atmosphere and I had friends and an apartment. Despite Rio’s endemic violence, I felt very much at home among the Cariocas, Rio’s residents. ...