Body Bag Beach

Welcome to Brazil:

On Wednesday a mutilated body washed up on Rio de Janeiro’s famous Copacabana Beach. It was discovered by a street vendor just meters away from the Olympic beach volleyball stadium currently under construction.

Police say at this point it is not possible to say whether the victim is male or female. They also do not know what sorts of conditions may have caused the mutilation, and thus whether foul play is suspected. Given Rio’s recent and highly publicized surge in violent crime, one is inclined to assume the worst. But it’s also possible this death was the result of some sort of misadventure.

Whatever the cause, Wednesday’s discovery is certainly unnerving. In addition to rising crime, Rio is also reeling from a fiscal crisis that has left its citizens without sufficient emergency and medical services. On Monday, tourists arriving at the airport were greeted with a sign welcoming them to hell.

Oh. So you mean that Brazil is still the prototypical South American shithole, the population composed entirely of drug kingpins, slumlords, corrupt politicians, cretinous thugs and starving peasants...?