RIO DE JANEIRO, BRASIL - I feel really embarrassed to admit this, but I was robbed again here while leaving dinner the other night in the Santa Tereza neighborhood in Largo Do Gomes, a place that I thought was safe and had been going for more than 20 years since I was in college back in 2006.
The experience scared me and reminds me why I need another reporter, Fernando Cavalcanti, to be with me and look out for me in the next few days of the election. He won’t just film for us; he can also look out for me and keep me safe.
He’s a veteran Brazilian reporter with more than 30 years of experience, who has taken me safely through some dangerous situations in drug gang-controlled favelas. He knows every trick in the book and can keep me safe.
As much as I want to think I know how to stay safe in Brasil after twenty years of living here on and off, I stick out like a sore thumb.
I am a big, huge white gringo and stick out like a sore thumb, making myself a target. Because I also live in Pittsburgh, I sometimes forget to stay on guard in Rio the way I should. The other night I felt embarrassed about the way I got robbed, and it was a reminder of why I need some extra cash so that Fernando can be with me for most of the next week.
I was out in Lago do Gomes, listening to samba at a chill spot with maybe 20 people in a sleepy neighborhood of Santa Teresa, where I had never had an issue in 20 years. The street was vacant and far from the main drag. I felt safe, but I didn’t know the scammers’ and thieves’ tricks well enough.
After a few hours, I called an Uber home, but it seemed to stall around the corner from the bar. I went outside to look for the Uber, my iPhone in my hand.
Suddenly, two teenagers on a motorcycle swung around the corner from 10 yards away, and the kid in the back snatched my iPhone from my hand. At no point was a gun pulled on me; the kid literally just snatched my iPhone, out of my hands. It was surreal, and the most troubling part was that the Uber driver then canceled the ride and never showed up.
Later, when I was talking with Brazilian friends, I learned that a popular scam in Brasil is that Uber drivers would stall nearby while picking up a passenger. Then the Uber drivers would let nearby motorcycle thieves know where the passenger was waiting. The unknowing passenger would come out with their iPhone in their hand looking for the stalled Uber driver, and bam, the motorcycle thieves would swoop in and steal their cellphone.
I felt dumb. I never take out my phone on the street, but in this quiet, sleepy neighborhood, I felt safe, especially since I was just looking for my Uber driver, except a 40-year-old gringo is no match for teenage motorcycle thieves. Fortunately, I was smart enough to plan ahead and brought a very old IPhone SE that readers had donated to Payday in case I got robbed.
This robbery is part of why, for the next 4-5 days, I need Fernando Cavalcanti with me at all times. Fernando and I have worked together for more than five years. We went through some rough stuff, including working in drug-controlled favelas while filming a documentary on the assassination of Marielle Franco.
There have been many reports of election violence, and things could get tough. Its important that I have a more experienced Brazilian reporter with me at all times over the next days.
I want to be out on the streets covering this election, but I need security backup. So, please donate today to help us out.
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