After it was announced in late March that Brazil’s cash-strapped government was slashing about $500 million from its security budget, the news left many people wondering if Rio de Janeiro would be able to guarantee the safety of athletes and visitors in August. The cut represents 35 percent of the state’s security budget.
Earlier this week, the Associated Press interviewed state security secretary, Jose Mariano Beltrame. During the interview, Beltrame told the AP: “If I said the cuts won’t impact anything, I wouldn’t be accurate. I wish I could have more policemen. I wish they could work twice as much on the streets.”
Beltrame said they would be deploying 20,000 soldiers and 65,000 policemen to guard the games, the largest security detail in the country’s history. But security is just one of a long list of worries for the organizers of South America’s first Olympic Games, reports the Washington Post.
Rio’s long list of worries
Looking again at the top item, security at the Olympic Games and the crime statistics in Rio de Janeiro speak for themselves. Crime is rampant in the city with 1,200 homicides recorded in 2015. But besides the local crime scene, there is the growing concern over attacks such as the terrorist attacks that have been ongoing in Europe.
Vice cited the attack in February on Laura Pâmela Viana, an Argentine tourist, who was stabbed to death near the Copacabana Hotel, an expensive and tourist-friendly location. But Beltrame repeatedly says there is nothing to worry about. Beltrame told the Brazilian magazine Istoé in an interview in January, “Bring on the Olympics! The security part is ready. I think it’s our first medal.”
The world already is well-aware of the rest of the problems facing Brazil and Rio de Janeiro. There is the ongoing Zika virus outbreak, the impeachment of Brazil’s president, the filth-filled waters where athletes will have to swim and sail around floating excrement to compete, and the venues, some still under construction or with only intermittent electrical power.
But the worst threat may be the rising degree of social unrest as the public tries to come to terms with the country’s economic and political problems. Just a few weeks ago, over one million people took to the streets to protest Dilma Rousseff’s government and the perceived corruption that has a number of lawmakers under investigation.
In general, the protests have been mostly peaceful, but clashes among protest groups on both sides have erupted. How long these protests will remain peaceful is unknown, but as internal problems continue to escalate, the anger people have been keeping in check may just erupt into violence, and that is something that has to be taken very seriously.
