A year after Olympics, Brazil's army called to quell violence in Rio

Record ID: 905341

  • 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) ARMORED PERSONNEL CARRIERS OF BRAZILIAN MILITARY PATROLLING THE STREETS OF RIO BRAZILIAN MILITARY IN COMBAT GEAR IN RIO BRAZILIAN SOCIOLOGIST IGNACIO CANO SITTING IN HIS OFFICE READING A BOOK CLOSE UP OF CANO'S HAND AND BOOK (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) BRAZILIAN SOCIOLOGIST IGNACIO CANO SAYING: "We have a political and economic situation of deep crisis. The impossibility of investing in new policies, of contracting police officers in their spare time, of replacing police forces, the sum of all of this and the increase in criminality derives from the deterioration of the economic situation." AERIAL VIEW OF THE OLYMPIC PARK AERIAL VIEW OF THE "ARENA OF THE FUTURE" WHERE FOUR SCHOOLS WERE TO BE BUILT, BUT NONE HAVE BEEN SO FAR GENERAL VIEW OF THE INTERIOR OF THE CARIOCA ARENA (WHICH WAS ALSO INTENDED TO EVENTUALLY BECOME A SCHOOL) BRAZILIAN SUB-SECRETARY OF SPORTS, PATRICIA AMORIM, SPEAKING TO A JOURNALIST (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) BRAZILIAN SUB-SECRETARY OF SPORTS, PATRICIA AMORIM, SAYING: "Those plans exist, that's the legacy project that we want to follow through with. But, we don't have the financial conditions yet." AERIAL VIEW OF THE OLYMPIC PARK WHERE NOTHING IS CURRENTLY BEING USED AERIAL VIEW OF EMPTY WATER PARK AERIAL VIEW OF EMPTY RACE TRACK AERIAL VIEW OF OLYMPIC VILLAGE WITH OLYMPIC PARK IN BACKGROUND AERIAL VIEW OF SITE OF FORMER WORKING CLASS NEIGHBORHOOD OF VILA AUTODROMO THAT WAS DEMOLISHED FOR THE OLYMPICS AERIAL VIEW OF THE FEW REMAINING HOMES IN VILA AUTODROMO ROAD SIGN READING "HOTEL COURTYARD, HOTEL RESIDENCE INN, OLYMPIC PARK, VILA AUTODROMO" RESIDENT OF VILA AUTODROMO, SANDRA DAMIAO, ENTERING HER GATE DAMIAO PREPARING COFFEE CUPS DAMIAO POURING COFFEE DAMIAO WIPING HER EYES WHILE SPEAKING DAMIAO WALKING THROUGH HER HOUSE (SOUNDBITE) (PORTUGUESE) RESIDENT OF VILA AUTODROMO, SANDRA DAMIAO, SAYING: "Our community was a model community because there was no traffic, there weren't militias, there wasn't anything." AERIAL VIEW OF THE OLYMPIC ATHLETES' VILLAGE CLOSE UP OF LOCK ON GATE TO THE ATHLETE'S VILLAGE TRASH IN RIO'S POLLUTED GUANABARA BAY TRASH ON THE BEACH OF GUANABARA BAY AERIAL VIEW OF THE GLORIA MARINA WITH SUGARLOAF MOUNTAIN IN THE BACKGROUND SHOT OF STUDENTS TAKING A SKIFF OUT AS PART OF AN EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM TO TEACH THEM HOW TO SAIL STUDENTS SAILING IN GUANABARA BAY CLOSE UP OF ENVIRONMENTALIST AND HEAD OF THE PROJECT THAT TEACHES NEEDY CHILDREN TO SAIL, AXEL GRAEL GRAEL LOOKING OUT AT BAY (SOUNDBITE) (PORTUGUESE) ENVIRONMENTALIST AND HEAD OF PROJECT THAT TEACHES NEEDY CHILDREN TO SAIL, AXEL GRAEL, SAYING: "We have an aggravation now after this post-Olympics period which is the economic, political, economic, ethical crisis, everything that the country is going through."
  • 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: LVA0056SQRZ2F
  • 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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