The Olympic torch loses its light on Rio favelas

Residents of Rio de Janeiro demonstrate against interim president Michel Temer, political upheaval, corruption and the cost of the Rio 2016 Olympics Games, in front of the Copacabana Palace Hotel on August 5, 2016. Thousands of Brazilians angry at political upheaval, corruption and the cost of the Rio Olympics blocked traffic in protests hours before the gala opening ceremony. Most people came to vent anger at center-right interim president Michel Temer who took power in May on the suspension of the elected leftist president, Dilma Rousseff, for an impeachment trial that her supporters claim amounts to a coup. / AFP PHOTO / TASSO MARCELO

THE Olympics may be the mother of all Games, but most Brazilians are oblivious to it.

There is hardly a palpitating fever for the Games, unless you are bitten by the mosquitoes carrying Zika virus. The Cariocas (the residents of Rio de Janeiro) simply don’t give a hoot about it.