Wikimedia Commons: Rio 2016 Olympic Offices, Photo by Jorge in Brazil
Brazil struggles with a recession that has affected its ability to prepare for the Summer Olympics Games that begin on Aug. 5. They have cut the budget for the games by about $500 million.
Maracana Stadium, which is slated to host the event’s opening and closing ceremonies, announced it has laid off 75 percent of its staff this week due to the budget cuts.
To top it off, Rio Olympic stadium, that’s going to be used for Track and Field events, has no water or electricity. The stadium has cut off services because no one has paid the utility bills totaling $225,000. City officials blame a local soccer team, Botafogo, for not paying the bills. Botafogo says the city was supposed to pay the bills. The stadium has been without electricity for a week and without water for more than a month.
Now we can understand why they did away with Visa requirements. A country that can’t figure out how to have water and power working at the Olympic venues will not be able to deal with all those visa applications.
None of this is a surprise to anyone with a reason to pay attention to goings-on in Brazil. It’s business as usual, the only difference is people outside Brazil are now watching. The shock is not the potential risk to the games, but that the country was trusted with being up to the task. Not shame on Brazil…shame on the Olympic Committee. Brazil is just being Brazil.
And the weather might be an additional challenge, because it’s not going to be summer there for the summer games.