Brazil Avenue was meant to symbolise progress – today it tells the story of a city at war with itself

When Renato Oliveira boarded a bus down Brazil Avenue one morning last October it should have been just another normal commute.

Traveling along Rio’s most important motorway, it usually took the 48-year-old meat packer just under an hour to reach his factory – enough time for a nap. “Don’t let me miss my stop,” Oliveira told a friend before nodding off against the window.