Dancing With the Devil in the City of God: Rio De Janeiro on the Brink
Page 32
What these protests show is that various segments of the population have heightened expectations of their country. It is as if they got a glimpse of what was possible during the economic upswing of the 2000s, when the Workers’ Party first came to power and Brazil hit on vast oil discoveries. The Brazil they glimpsed then—that’s the country they want. And anything that stands in the way of the vision—a crumbling economy, another corruption scandal, overspending on mega-events like the World Cup or the Olympics—could spark another wave of protests.
How did the short-term objectives of planning for the World Cup and the Olympic Games undercut the city’s larger goals?
The shortest answer has to do with allocation of public funds. Take the World Cup. After selling Brazilians on the idea that FIFA-standard stadiums would be constructed without a penny of public financing, Brazil spent $4 billion on what the NGO Play the Game has called some of the most expensive stadia ever built. Many of them were then handed over to the private sector. This is jarring in a country that still lacks adequate schools and health care. It was the same with the 2007 Pan-American Games, which were nearly ten times over budget and left a legacy of expensive-to-maintain venues (including an $8 million velodrome that was demolished by 2013; another one is being built for the Olympics). Many of the same people were in charge when Rio got the 2016 Olympic Games, so there is little reason to expect it will have different results.
Then there is the question of the particular projects put into place as part of the preparations for the games. Rio de Janeiro’s transportation network, for example, was in dire need of improvement, after years with no significant investment. But instead of projects that fit into long-term city planning goals, Rio authorities threw a pet project into the Matrix of Responsibilities it signed with FIFA: a rapid bus transit lane connecting the international airport to the wealthy suburb of Barra da Tijuca, which serves neither the areas of greatest need nor the World Cup visitors. To carry out this and other projects, it was also given an exemption to Brazil’s Law of Fiscal Responsibility (like other FIFA host cities), which allowed for deficit spending and emergency financing.
But the real pity here is the opportunity cost. By the time Rio has hosted the Olympics, it will have lived through over a decade of preparing for and hosting massive-scale, international sporting events. This process will have remade the face of the city, and residents will live with the consequences for decades to come. It is heartbreaking to consider what would have been possible to achieve if such monumental change had been implemented with long-term planning and real public consultation.
At the end of the book we see that the economic upswing has begun to swing back the other way. Where do things stand today?
The effervescent party atmosphere I found in 2010 has soured into a national hangover of continental proportions. Nearly all the positive developments that had led to such optimism have crumbled. Prices for Brazil’s commodities—iron ore, soy—have tumbled. Inflation has spiked, the unemployment rate is the highest in years, and the economy is expected to shrink in 2015 after four years of near stagnation. The state-run oil company behind the oil discovery hailed as Brazil’s “passport to the future” is embroiled in a corruption scandal that has involves the highest echelons of the Workers’ Party and the nation’s biggest construction companies. Brazil’s currency, the Real, has fallen by about 50 percent since 2011. Even Eike Batista, the Brazilian and Rio resident who was once the world’s eighth-wealthiest man, is now over $1 billion in debt.
The magnitude of the crisis has been recognized by investors: Brazil’s credit rating has been backsliding, along with that of its state-controlled oil company, Petrobras. Now both are perched on the brink of junk. And it is also causing unrest in the streets. President Dilma Rousseff’s approval rating fell to the lowest ever, 13 percent, after renewed protests in early 2015. So far, she has largely preserved the income redistribution programs that helped sustain the social gains of the previous decade: falling poverty rates, narrowing inequality, and increasing income among the poorest. But with a 2015 budget deficit that turned out to be, at $18.6 billion, twice as big as forecasted, it is unclear how long these programs can be maintained.
What do you think the legacy of the Olympic Games will be in Rio de Janeiro?
I feel I’ve already answered this question in other questions above, no?
ENHANCE YOUR READING GROUP
1. Set the tone for your reading group by playing some Brazilian music. Try the official song of Rio de Janeiro, Cidade Maravilhosa; or the classic “The Girl from Ipanema.”
2. Bring Rio alive off the page by watching films set there. Try City of God or the documentary Waste Land.
3. Visit the website for the Olympic Games at http://www.olympic.org/rio-2016-summer-olympics to see photos and renderings of the construction and venues you have read about.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
© NADIA SUSSMAN
Juliana Barbassa reported for the Associated Press for ten years, serving as its Rio de Janeiro correspondent from 2010 through 2013. Her experience in Brazil and Latin America predates her years with the AP; she was born in Rio and spent years there as a teenager between periods in the Middle East, the United States, and Europe. Later she reported from Mexico, Brazil, and Cuba. She lives with her partner between Brazil and Switzerland.
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INDEX
A note about the index: The pages referenced in this index refer to the page numbers in the print edition. Clicking on a page number will take you to the ebook location that corresponds to the beginning of that page in the print edition. For a comprehensive list of locations of any word or phrase, use your reading system’s search function.
Abortion, 180
Abraão, 15
Acioli, Patricia, 261
Açú, 241–42
Aecom, 221
Aglika (restaurant owner), 92, 93, 94
AIDS, 184, 187–89
Aipim com carne seca, 73
Air pollution, 125–26
Albert, King of Belgium, 172
Alcione (samba star), 193
Aldeia Maracanã, 210–14
Alemão, 32, 44, 45, 46, 57, 262–63
conditions in, 262
gondola system in, 216n2, 262
as heart of the Red Command, 58
history of, 21–22
life expectancy in, 24
police raids on, 34–36, 37, 58–70, 112, 260
population of, 58
UPP promised for, 69–70
Alencar, Marcello, 27
Alligators. See Jacarés
Almeida, Cleide de, 175–76
Alston, Philip, 36
Alves, Adauto Belarmino, 188, 189
Andrade Silva, Larissa de, 35
Anfitriões do Cosme Velho, 136, 139
Angra dos Reis, 106
Apartments, 71–74, 82–86
lease-signing ordeal, 87–89
rents for, 72
Aqueduct of Rio Carioca, 131–32, 141
Arago, Jacques, 169
Arcos da Lapa, 131–32
Argentina, 280
Arpoador, 4, 142
Arrego, 26
Associated Press (AP), xxiii, 31, 49, 82, 87
Association of Transgender Sex Professionals, 196
Aterro do Flamengo, 127
Austerity measures, 74
Avenida Brasil, 8, 22, 31, 47, 106, 246n2
Azevedo, Pricilla, 38, 40
Baile funk, 29, 57, 62
Bala perdida, 9
Banda de Ipanema, 164
Banda podre, 26, 261
Bank robberies, 19–20
Banks, 74, 80
Batista Borges, Karen Cristina, 35
Barbosa, Adoniran, 207, 208n1
Barracas, 4
Barra da Tijuca, 144, 146, 147–50, 159, 201, 217
construction in, 158