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 is the recipient of numerous national awards, including two George Polk Awards for his reporting on poverty in America and deforestation in the Amazon. 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.
Latest from Terrence McCoy

American school shooters inspire teen killers abroad

Brazil, which has suffered 11 attacks in the past eight months, worries that the carnage is only beginning.

April 12, 2023

Bolsonaro arrives home in Brazil — and faces an uncertain future

The former president faces a laundry list of investigations related to his controversial term in office.

March 30, 2023

Bolsonaro’s return poses risks for the former president — and Brazil

The deeply divided country braces for the homecoming of its most polarizing figure.

March 25, 2023

How Bolsonaro’s rhetoric — then his silence — stoked Brazil assault

Brazil's right-wing former president has hinted at, warned of and threatened such an attack for years.

January 8, 2023

As the Amazon rainforest goes dry, a desperate wait for water

Dusty wells. Streams ebbing away. Pristine reserves aflame. Some scientists think the tipping point is already here.

November 18, 2022

My friend was killed deep in the Amazon forest. I went to investigate.

Journalist Dom Phillips was following Indigenous rights activist Bruno Pereira when both men disappeared along a remote river.

October 12, 2022

Takeaways from The Post’s investigation of deforestation in the Amazon

The ongoing and lawless destruction of the Amazon rainforest, a unique resource seen as vital to averting catastrophic global warming, is an environmental emergency.

October 12, 2022

Some wanted to believe Bolsonaro was a fluke. Voters showed he wasn’t.

Whether or not Brazil's president wins a second term, Bolsonarismo is here to stay.

October 3, 2022

Bolsonaro and Lula are heading to second round in Brazil election

Voters, analysts and the candidates themselves have framed the election as an existential choice, less about policy than about the very character of the nation.

October 2, 2022

Deforesters are plundering the Amazon. Brazil is letting them get away with it.

Inspection agencies have been gutted. The courts are lenient. Appeals can grind on forever. Deforesters keep deforesting, because they know they can.

August 30, 2022