The 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil gets broadcasted across the world from August 5-21. These are the first games to be held in South America, and the first games held in a Portuguese-speaking country. A total of 206 countries send their best athletes and reporters to join the spectacle and bring home the gold.
While many of us in the states can sit at home and enjoy the games, Brazilians cannot say the same. The truth is, half the population of Rio de Janeiro does not support this year’s Olympics. Brazil’s economy is in shambles and common people lack a voice. Even the President, Dilma Rousseff, is currently out of power.
On the Wednesday prior to the opening ceremony on Friday, August 5, stun grenades and tear gas were used by police in a poor area of Rio. People blocked the path of the Olympic torch and threw rocks in protest. The torch was on a 12,400-mile journey through Brazil’s beautiful country.
When I was in Rio in the beginning of May, I experienced the worst traffic I ever have, and I can only imagine what it is like now. The first thing I noticed about Rio is the stench of the Guanabara Bay, which is terribly polluted, but still being used for some of the Olympic events. The Guanabara watershed, which all feeds into the bay, was not cleaned a fraction of what was promised; it is not a priority for the government.
Brazil is not a safe place for out-of-towners who do not know where they are going. They are targeted and some are even abducted. Most visiting for the Olympics will not have to worry about this due to the high amounts of security there for the games. The federal government lent $880 million to cover Olympic security spending by the state of Rio. It was only enough for paying debts, delayed salaries and planning for the Olympics.
Wealth is distributed very unequally in Brazil. The ones who have money are the ones with power, and ignore those who don’t. In snubbed and impoverished communities, drug lords run things. Many people do not feel as though the government thinks they matter.
This year’s Olympics represents a regression in matters of societal importance in Brazil. Instead of the population, the priority was something completely unnecessary, but to represent their country in a good light across the world. Public universities are in need of renovations. Hospital cleaners are striking against delay in salary payments. People of Brazil feel uncared for. They live in difficult times, each person carrying different weights of stress. Some hope to benefit from the Olympics, with the creation of jobs and tourists spending hefty amounts of cash. There is fear of things being much worse after the Olympics.
If you plan to watch the Olympics, take a moment to consider the corruption that went into it. Millions of Brazilians are living in poverty while the richest get to enjoy the riches. Brazil is not cut out for the Olympics, and I fear of what state it will be in afterwards.
