The Olympic Brazil and the not so Olympic records.

While everybody watches some of the best sport men and women in the world
break world and Olympic records, the host country is going through a political and
social turmoil that also imposes some amazingly bad political and social records.
Brazil is often praised as the most developed country in Latin America, sometimes
named among the 10 biggest economies in the world. Of course big doesnt mean
fair and the poverty and violence rates, growing lately at alarming speed are a clear
indication.

In Brazil one on each ten inhabitants of Baixada Fluminense, one of the poorest
neighbourhoods in the country, lives with less than $50 per month according to the
Brazilian Institute of Statistics and Geography. One on each 5 children of the same
area does not attend school. Being this just one of the many poor areas in Brazil, it
registered 856 violent homicides just between January and June of 2016, according
to the Public Safety Institute of Brazil. That is 9% more than in the same period last
year. The total of violent deaths for the country in 2015 was of 58,000! The Chinese
basketball team witnessed this kind of violence when its official bus was stopped
because of an ongoing shooting between police and drug dealers just outside of the
airport.

Amnesty International blames the Olympic Games directly for the raising violence.
According to the agency, in May alone, the police killed 135% more young people
that in the same month in 2015. The government has sent thousands of soldiers
and police members with heavy warfare to control the cities during the games.

If talking public health and access to health care, in December of 2015 the
healthcare system collapsed because of lack of basic resources such as gauze and
since the same month teachers and police officers in the country are receiving their
salary in small payments and not regular paydays. Those red numbers where not a
problem for Michel Temer, (interim president of Brazil after elected president Dilma
Rouseff was impeached) to spend $850 million dollars in security for the Rio de
Janeiro municipality during the Olympic Games. That is the equivalent of half of the
annual healthcare budget for the whole estate of Rio de Janeiro. Spending
healthcare money in Olympic security is not the only reason why president Temer is
disliked.

During the opening day of the games, the City of Rio was the stage of several
protests against Temer. The interim president is rejected by 85% of Brazilians
according to recent polls. During the whole day thousands of Brazilians yielded
Fora Temer (Temer Out). The cause of such anger is that elected President Dilma
Rousseff has been out of office since last May 12 due to a polemic
impeachment that is supposed to become definitive by the end of August. The
majority of Brazilians consider this process a modern and sophisticated version of a
coup dtat with a clear political agenda.
During his very short term in office Temer has led the dismantling of several social
programs and prepared the ground for privatization of services. As an example, the
ministry of Agrarian Development was eliminated, meaning that family agriculture
is not anymore included in international commerce policies. In practice it means the
elimination of $160 million dollars from the program of Food Purchase from Local
Farmers which use to buy the produce and deliver it to public schools, daycare
facilities, social assistance centres etc. 40 thousands famers are affected after this
program closed.
Another case is The ministry of Cities, that abandoned the elected government goal
of building 2 million affordable houses for the program Minha Casa, Minha Vida,
leaving 6,1 million people with no hopes of getting a house.
Four different educational assistance programs known in Brazil as: Pronatec, ProUni,
Fies y Science without Borders, were eliminated affecting more than 2 million
students. This happened after the government fired all members of the National
Council of Education, elected by the public.
But why is the interim government attacking social and educational programs and
the healthcare system? Because most of these programs in Brazil are funded by the
profit from the publicly owned oil company Petrobras. The spurious government is
preparing for changing gears, and letting Chevron, the North American oil company
jump in and take most of the profit. The new law is already being discussed at the
Chamber of Deputies, the main legislative body in the country.
Hearing about shootings, corruption cases, and violence during the Olympics is not
a surprise when the major sports event in the globe is being hosted by a country
that is going through a profound political and economic crisis, purposely
manipulated by a minority that will ultimately benefit from it. Such is the usual in
Latin America.