For decades, they have scrounged for food on streets across the country — undesired, abandoned and overlooked.
But today, the caramel-colored mutts of Brazil are having a major moment. The “vira-lata caramelo” (literally: caramel trashcan-tipper) is being exalted in memes, videos, petitions, an upcoming Netflix film, a Carnival parade and draft legislation to honor it as part of Brazilian culture. Caramelos' newfound cachet speaks to the value of resilience in Brazil — a melting pot of 213 million people known for weathering hard knocks with a smile — and inverts its supposed “mongrel complex.”
