- Title: A year after Olympics, Brazil's army called to quell violence in Rio
- Date: 4th August 2017
- Summary: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (RECENT) (REUTERS) BUS IN RIO DE JANEIRO RIO'S METRO TRAIN CROSSING A BRIDGE RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (AUGUST 4, 2017) (REUTERS) DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS FOR RIO'S 2016 OLYMPICS, MARIO ANDRADE, SPEAKING ON PHONE DETAIL OF OLYMPIC POSTER (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS FOR RIO'S 2016 OLYMPICS, MARIO ANDRADE, SAYING: "The evaluation that we have - after a very important time in Brazilian life with an economic crisis, with a political crisis - (is that) the games in Rio were spectacular." AERIAL SHOT OF CHRIST THE REDEEMER STATUE AERIAL VIEW OF RIO WITH CHRIST THE REDEEMER
- Embargoed: 18th August 2017 20:13
- Keywords: legacy of the Rio Olympics Rio de Janeiro wasteful spending corruption pollution violence
- Location: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL AND INTERNET
- City: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL AND INTERNET
- Country: Brazil
- Topics: Olympics,Sport
- Reuters ID: LVA0076SQRZ2F
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:It's been one year since Rio de Janeiro celebrated the Olympics Games of 2016, but for some the date serves more of a reminder of the broken promises of benefits for the city that the games were supposed to bring. Escalating violence, fueled by a deep economic crisis and a shrinking state budget, shows how far Rio has fallen since international athletes flocked to its stadiums, many now vacant, in August 2016.
The deployment of 8,500 soldiers to Rio de Janeiro last week and the funeral on Monday for an unborn baby killed in one of numerous shootouts there were not part of Brazil's plan for marking the one-year anniversary of the Olympic Games.
The city has also become a symbol of the graft that helped cause the country's worst recession in more than a century after revelations that builders inflated contracts to bilk Rio-based state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA out of billions of dollars. Prosecutors say the scheme extended directly to the Olympics, whose price tag rose to 43.3 billion reais ($13.88 billion) from 28.8 billion budgeted. Police arrested former Rio head of infrastructure Alexandre Pinto this week on suspicion that he and other officials took 35.5 million reais in bribes from companies involved in Olympic projects.
Meanwhile, the head of the International Olympic Committee said on Friday (August 4) that Brazil should be given more time to deliver infrastructure promised as its Rio Olympics legacy. Thomas Bach said Brazil's economic crisis was one factor weighing on progress and avoided criticizing the situation in Rio where many venues sit idle and a new metro line does not extend to the main Olympic Park. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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