Risky Diplomacy

Obama to Visit 'City of God' in Brazil

Rio de Janeiro shantytown inspired 2002 film.

They better beef up security for this one: On Sunday, President Obama is planning to stop by the infamously crime-ridden slum of Cidade de Deus, or City of God, in Rio de Janeiro. The Brazilian shantytown, which provided the setting for filmmaker Fernando Meirelles’ acclaimed 2002 crime drama City of God, will reportedly be part of Obama’s five-day bridge-building tour of Latin America, intended to bolster U.S. influence in the region. Obama will ostensibly try to mend fences between Brazil and the U.S.—a friendship that soured due to ties between Brazil’s former president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and Iranian Mresident Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Brazil’s new president, Dilma Rousseff, appears open to reconciliation. The next stops on Obama’s Latin America tour will be Chile and El Salvador.