Government in Brazil pretty tough right now, so I would not expect great ROI during this reign and seems anti-capitalist and anti-foreigner. 

The risks:Earthquakes (insurance does not cover that risk)Political risk (Russia); my opinion, yes, it is a moderate risk, but even lets say Russia should invade Georgia (which I do not consider a likely scenario), would not necessarily mean that your apartments will be taken from you.I personally consider the political risk of western left wing socialism governments dictating you prices and super friendly tenant laws and increasing property taxes and taxing the "bad rich capitalist people" much higher than this risk!

What I can’t understand is schizophrenic capitalist purists who can’t decide if they want capitalism or quasi-capitalism when it suits big business.

Not all landlords are wealthy capitalist.  

If you are planning to rent , think twice, most Canadian provinces are very biased toward tenant, you will be surprised how socialist are some rental laws are in country considered to be capitalist.