Polluted waters and a promise by Olympic officials that the problem would be resolved by the time the Olympics began has not been kept, and added to that is the Zika virus outbreak in Brazil. So what else could go wrong?
From being a rising star in South America with a strong economy to go along with it, Brazil has fallen on hard economic times. The country is going through its worst recession in 25 years, and now has an unemployment rate of over 8.2 percent, the highest since 2009.
Added to its economic problems, Brazil is not doing well politically, either. There is an attempt being made to impeach President Dilma Rousseff on allegations she manipulated budgetary accounts to boost her re-election campaign in 2014, according to Reuters. To make matters worse, the speaker of the lower house, Eduardo Cunha, the one who accepted the request to impeach Rousseff, is himself under investigation for corruption charges for accepting millions of dollars illegally.
Just a few days ago, $35 million in payments to a consortium were suspended by a federal court. The consortium has been working on the Deodoro complex where a number of sporting events are to be held in August, There are allegations of fraud being investigated involving earth-moving work at the site, reports the Los Angeles Times.
The same companies have also been linked to a much larger scandal involving the state-run Petrobras Oil Company. Much of the Deodoro complex is finished, with only the equestrian and shooting venues in need of completion, even though Olympic officials are insistent that everything will be ready for the opening day of the games.
Now there is the problem of ticket sales, or rather, the lack of ticket buyers, according to Fox News. Over half the available tickets have yet to be sold. Richardo Leyser, Brazil’s new minister of sports, told reporters he is looking into ways to increase sales. He said the Brazilian government is thinking about buying up tickets and distributing them to public schools.
He added that public officials are looking into ways to boost world confidence in the country’s ability to host the games and to keep the public safe. Leyser also cited the political turmoil and health threat from Zika, as well as the $500 million cut in the Olympics budget. There is also the continued threat of terrorism and violence to be considered.
