In an incident that does nothing at all for the image of Rio de Janeiro, a woman doing an TV interview about high crime rates in the city was robbed as the camera rolled.
The attack, captured by GloboTV, is the current internet sensation in Brazil. It comes just 60 days before Rio is set to play host to key games in the FIFA World Cup, feeding a widespread feeling in the city that it is hopelessly unprepared to welcome tens of thousands of visitors.
Globo reporter Eduardo Tchao was speaking with a middle-aged Rio resident about her views on crime on Wednesday – and asked her, as the camera rolled, if she wasn't nervous to be wearing jewellery in the centre of the city. (She had a thin gold chain around her neck.) She touched it and laughed ruefully and said, "It's a lure for thieves, isn't it?"
"Aren't you scared?" Mr. Tchau was asking – and then a young man dashed into the frame, tried to yank the chain off her neck, and ran out into traffic, briefly and fruitlessly pursued by Mr. Tchao.
He didn't, in fact, get the necklace off and his victim was not hurt.
It's so preposterous that the first speculation was that the tape was faked, but Globo assured viewers the incident was very real, and even the presence of the camera was not enough to deter the brazen muggers.
Police say most of the muggings in that area are carried out by minors, who are protected in Brazil's criminal justice system, but also promised 50 extra police officers will be deployed in the area, from today.
Mr. Tchau was doing the interview outside the Central do Brasil train station, the critical transportation hub in downtown Rio, immortalized in the film Central Station. (It features a robbery.)
The station is home to the offices of the state security services, which have been unable to do anything about the persistence of crime in its surrounds.
That said, crime rates in Rio have fallen dramatically over the last decade – particularly lethal violence – in part because of a major focus on "pacification" of the favelas, low-income neighbourhoods crammed on the city's hilltops and traditionally controlled by drug dealers, begun in 2008.
But there is a public perception – born out by early data – that property crime in particular is once again on the rise. The Institute for Public Security, a city body, reported a 50 per cent increase in the manslaughter last year, 15 per cent more murders, and a 20 per cent hike in robberies on buses.
It is not yet clear why this is happening, but popular theories include the impact of Brazil's economic slowdown (with a lack of opportunities pushing crime up) and disillusionment with the pacification program, in which police occupation of vulnerable areas has not been followed up with promised social programs. That in turn means the population is not supporting the police, and criminals are feeling emboldened.
The police themselves, meanwhile, are threatening to strike during the World Cup – a crafty way of taking the city government hostage much as garbage collectors did during the huge Carnaval celebration in March. As the city drowned in a tide of rubbish, City Hall gave and gave the garbage collectors a huge wage increase.