The Worst Predictions About Rio Haven’t Come True. That Tells Us a Few Things About Brazil and the Media.

Alex Cuadros – The New York Magazine, 08/11/2016

If you only saw the headlines in the lead-up to the Olympics, Rio de Janeiro sounded like the lawless city from a postapocalyptic movie: “Wave of deadly gunbattles hit Rio as the Olympics get closer”; “Body parts wash ashore next to Rio Olympic venue.” Glib listicles played up the threat of political unrest, terrorist attacks, Zika-carrying mosquitoes, and “super-bacteria” in the sewage-tainted bay. One writer used the term “disastrophe” to describe the situation and claimed that so-called “‘lightning kidnappings’ are nearly as popular in Brazil as feijoada” (a delicious bean stew). Another writer topped him with this analogy: “the global event equivalent of a fire tornado touching down on a killer bee sanctuary.”

It was like the Olympics of hyperbolic Olympics scaremongering. Now that the games are on, the hysteria is already looking misplaced. This would have been clear enough to anyone who simply took a walk around the city. The last time I went, at the end of June, Rio was functioning more or less in its usual way: slightly chaotic but manageably so, albeit with fresh construction for the Olympics marring what is perhaps the world’s most beautiful urban topography. Off of Copacabana Beach, I could see locals hopping waves — which suggested that concerns over the quality of the water might be somewhat inflated, too.

It was like the Olympics of hyperbolic Olympics scare-mongering.

I should disclose here that I myself have taken part in the Rio-bashing. I moved to Brazil in 2010, back when the country seemed on the verge of becoming a world power, and watched as the Olympics became an excuse to funnel public money to rich campaign donors for not always useful projects. Still, even I have to admit that Rio has made dramatic improvements in recent years. Perhaps the most dramatic is that the homicide rate, while still appallingly high, has fallen by two-thirds since the 1990s. Even after a spike in murders this year, it’s now less than half the rate in St. Louis, Missouri. And with 85,000 soldiers and police securing Rio for the Olympics, it’s probably one of the safest places in Latin America at the moment.

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Brazil’s Acting President OKs Transfer of $849 Million to Rio de Janeiro State

Paul Kiernan and Paulo Trevisani – The Wall Street Journal, 06/22/2016

RIO DE JANEIRO—Acting Brazilian President Michel Temer authorized on Tuesday the transfer of 2.9 billion reais ($849.0 million) from the federal government to Rio de Janeiro state, which is struggling with a fiscal crisis less than two months before the Olympic Games.

Rio declared a “public calamity” last week as a result of its deteriorating finances, which have forced deep cuts to crucial services such as education, health care and policing in recent months.

According to a presidential decree published late Tuesday, the transfer is to be used for public security during the Olympics and Paralympics, set to be held in August and September, respectively. But according to a communications official in Brazil’s presidential palace, it should free up funds within Rio’s state budget to pay for other obligations.

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Brazil’s development bank to target infrastructure and less on corporations

MercoPress, 10/21/2013

The National Treasury has a target of phasing out annual capital injections into BNDES “within a few years,” Finance Minister Guido Mantega said.

In addition, both the Treasury and BNDES will put the brakes on lending to states, which might have to tap private-sector and state-run commercial lenders other than BNDES for new financing, he said.

The decision comes after years of criticism of President Dilma Rousseff’s efforts to use BNDES to speed up growth in Latin America’s largest economy. The Treasury has funneled more than 300 billion Reais (138 billion dollars) of taxpayer money into BNDES, a situation that some analysts have said stoked a rapid increase in government debt.

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Brazil’s Odebrecht plans $8.1 billion landmark investment in Mexico

Reuters, 10/01/2013

Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht ODBES.UL plans to spend $8.1 billion in Mexico in the next five years in what appears to mark the biggest investment pledge yet from a Brazilian firm in Latin America’s No. 2 economy.

Odebrecht, one of Latin America’s biggest family-owned companies, will invest in petrochemicals, renewable energy, ethanol and sugar production and highway concessions, according to a statement put out by the office of Mexico’s president.

Marcelo Odebrecht, the company’s chief executive, on Tuesday met Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, the statement said.

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Has Brazil blown it?

The Economist, 09/29/2013

FOUR years ago this newspaper put on its cover a picture of the statue of Christ the Redeemer ascending like a rocket from Rio de Janeiro’s Corcovado mountain, under the rubric “Brazil takes off”.

The economy, having stabilised under Fernando Henrique Cardoso in the mid-1990s, accelerated under Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the early 2000s. It barely stumbled after the Lehman collapse in 2008 and in 2010 grew by 7.5%, its strongest performance in a quarter-century.

To add to the magic, Brazil was awarded both next year’s football World Cup and the summer 2016 Olympics. On the strength of all that, Lula persuaded voters in the same year to choose as president his technocratic protégée, Dilma Rousseff.

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Brazil delays high-speed train bids for at least a year

Leonardo Goy – Reuters, 08/12/2013

Brazil’s government put off bidding for a high-speed train project for at least one year because there was only one confirmed consortium competing for the 38 billion reais ($16.7 billion) deal, Transport Minister César Borges announced on Monday.

Lack of competition led the government to postpone the tender for the bullet train linking Brazil’s two largest cities, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, after Spanish and German groups guaranteed that they will bid if given more time, Borges said at a news conference.

After massive protests against corruption and misuse of public money paralyzed Brazilian cities in June, the government preferred not to open itself to further criticism by awarding the bullet train contract to the one bidder, analysts said.

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Brazil to auction Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte airports concessions

MercoPress, 08/12/2013

Presidential chief of staff Gleisi Hoffmann announced the date for the auction to sell concessions to run. Rio’s Galeao airport and Belo Horizonte’s Confins at a Brasilia press conference.

Officials said bidders will have to make a minimum offer of 2.1 billion dollars for the Galeao concession and 450 million for Confins,

In February 2012, 20-year concessions were granted to manage three airports: two in Sao Paulo and one in Brasilia, breaking the monopoly of Infraero, the federal agency that runs more than 70 airports.

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Brazil admits need to improve on stadium delivery

Associated Press, 08/09/2013

Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo says Brazil needs to find a way to speed up the completion of the six stadiums still being built for the 2014 World Cup.

Mr Rebelo on Thursday said Brazil learned from the Confederations Cup that it has to do a better job to guarantee the stadiums are finished by the December deadline established by FIFA.

Only two of the six venues needed for the warm-up tournament played earlier this year were completed by the initial deadline set by football’s governing body.

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Brazil’s economic woes show limits of state meddling

James M. Roberts – The Washington Times, 07/31/2013

Brazilians are angry. President Dilma Rousseff’s government is spending billions on beautiful new stadiums — and it’s all about image.

And when billions of viewers tune in to the 2014 soccer World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, Ms. Rousseff wants them to see what appears to be a First World country. But that’s not what Brazil’s middle class sees when they look out their windows.

What greets the average Brazilian’s eyes is an urban landscape of inadequate and, at times, crumbling infrastructure. Aging and crowded, their roads, airports, bridges and ports often have a decidedly Third World cast. And what makes the sight so irksome is the knowledge that this degradation of facilities continues — despite the fact that they pay high taxes every day in many ways.

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Brazil president offers measure to try to untangle bus traffic

Reuters, 07/31/2013

Responding to huge protests last month over the country’s high cost of living and poor public services, President Dilma Rousseff announced Wednesday that the federal government would set aside $1.3 billion to improve bus service in São Paulo, the country’s largest city. Protests there in June over a fare increase set off an outburst of national discontent. The money will finance the creation of 61 miles of new express lanes to speed bus service in the city. “Brazilian cities cannot expect people to spend six hours of their life every day in a bus,” she said. In a related initiative, Ms. Rousseff said $3.6 billion would be spent to drain and clean up eight filthy creeks and to recover springs that feed two reservoirs that supply drinking water to São Paulo.

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