Terrence McCoy

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Rio de Janeiro Bureau Chief

Education: University of Iowa, BA, political science and journalism; Columbia University, MA, international politics and journalism

Terrence McCoy is The Washington Post's Rio de Janeiro Bureau Chief. He has twice won the George Polk Award and was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2023. He served in the Peace Corps in Cambodia. He joined The Washington Post in 2014, and has been a staff writer on the local, national and foreign desks.
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Latest from Terrence McCoy

How soccer-mad Brazil fell for the NFL — and the Green Bay Packers

How the NFL, ESPN and Gisele Bündchen made Brazil the league’s largest market outside North America.

September 5, 2024
Members of the Rio Football Academy team work out in the Barra da Tijuca neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro.

No X in Brazil? No problem, Brazilians say.

The platform formerly known as Twitter once dominated Brazilian social media, fueling nationwide protests in 2013 and propelling Jair Bolsonaro to the presidency. Less so, now.

September 3, 2024
A man holds up his phone during a fireworks display on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro on Jan. 1.

Brazilian judge orders suspension of X in dispute with Elon Musk

X owner Elon Musk has refused to reestablish an office in the country to respond to government requests to take down accounts that spread fake news.

August 31, 2024
X owner Elon Musk, left, and Brazilian supreme court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.

Chasing the perfect abs, men flock to plastic surgery

Men are turning to ultra-high-definition liposuction, a plastic surgery procedure pioneered in Brazil, to sculpt six-packs and perfect abs.

August 31, 2024
Bathers show their chiseled abdominal muscles on Ipanema Beach in Rio de Janeiro.

Left and right have denounced Venezuela’s Maduro. Not the authoritarians.

After the strongman claimed reelection Sunday, even leftist allies distanced themselves. Russia, China, Iran and Cuba continue to stand by their man.

August 3, 2024
Supporters of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro hold up Venezuelan flags during a march to defend the election results in Caracas, Venezuela, on Tuesday.

Simone Biles urged Rebeca Andrade to endure. Now she’s Biles’s top challenger.

The reigning world champion all-rounder and her Brazilian runner-up have formed a mutual admiration society.

July 29, 2024
Andrade poses after the training session.

How ‘carbon cowboys’ are cashing in on protected Amazon forest

A six-month investigation reveals that many carbon credit ventures reap profits from public lands they have no right to and fail to share revenue with those protecting the forest.

July 24, 2024
A castanheira, or Brazil nut tree, one of the largest types of trees in the Amazon rainforest.

The climate refugee crisis is here

Catastrophic flooding in southern Brazil has forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes. Many say they won’t go back.

May 28, 2024

Historic floods kill 83, leaving Brazil and its president shaken, angry

The flooding in Rio Grande do Sul, one of Brazil’s most prosperous states, has deeply alarmed this nation of 215 million.

May 6, 2024

Having remade Twitter, Elon Musk takes his speech fight global

The X owner’s dispute over disinformation with a Brazilian judge could influence social media use everywhere.

April 18, 2024
Elon Musk, owner of the social media platform X, attends a symposium on online antisemitism during the European Jewish Association conference in Krakow, Poland, on Jan. 22.