My wife and I were in Rio when the Gulf War was raging in Iraq and Kuwait, but the death rate in Rio was far higher than anything inflicted by those two countries put together. The first people we met had been robbed four times and they'd only been there three days. Everyone else we met for the next two and a half weeks had been robbed on their first day. I was very careful but I must also have been lucky.
I was with someone who got robbed as we walked down the sea-front and on three separate occasions, a youth came to me demanding that I give them dollars - I looked them straight in the eye and replied as aggressively as possible that I had no dollars and that they should go away. Those were not my exact words you understand, but it worked.
We were warned by courriers not to carry cameras or large amounts of cash, not to wear watches, jewelry or anything else that could be considered valuable by the destitute locals. This advice came at the welcome meeting, which everyone knows is on the second day, and so was too late for most people. The death rate in Rio (just the one city) due to murder averaged 17 per day all year round at that time, and could be even higher now.
Backpackers and hippies seemed to go unhindered and so when we went out we dressed down and tried to look anything but wealthy.
When the plane took off for London, virtually everyone on the plane cheered with joy and vowed never to return to Brazil. I would never return without an armed guard, and then only if it was essential.
If you do go and want to see the sights then I would recommend that you use guided tours.
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