Rio Mayor: Brazilian Financial Crisis Not Fault of Olympics

(ATR) Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes says the city’s finances are healthy, and the Olympics have not created an unnecessary burden.

Paes spoke to a room full of journalists, days after Rio de Janeiro State Governor Francisco Dornelles declared a "public state of calamity in financial management" to receive federal funds to help smoothly run the Olympics. In his press conference, Paes spoke about how the city of Rio de Janeiro and private money are funding the majority of the $11.46 billion spent on the Olympics and Olympic legacy projects.

"Do not let us use the Olympics to justify crises and problems," Paes said. "The crisis did not come because of the Olympics, I guarantee, it reached this situation for a number of other reasons."

Of the total $11.46 billion cost, $7.24 billion are for the Olympic legacy projects. Of the remaining $4.22 billion, just over half is the budget for the Rio 2016 Organizing Committee, while the rest is the venues and other projects built for the Games.

Paes said that the $2.08 billion budget has been financed almost fully by the city and federal governments, and the city’s contribution has been financed mostly by private money. A total of $215.5 million in public money was used for Olympic venues by the city for the Games.

"Is Rio broke? That is not true," Paes repeated multiple times during the briefing. "If someone was to be broken because of the Olympics, it would be the municipality, which was the one who contributed the most resources for the event.

"The state of crisis is not because of the Olympics. I think that the federal government, which does not come with all this money, can help."

In addition to financial safety, Mayor Paes guaranteed that security measures would be in place and functioning well during the Olympic Games. Paes’ comments come days after an Australian Paralympic sailor Liesl Tesch was robbed in the Flamengo neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro.

"It is unacceptable that this happens not only with her but with every citizen," Paes said. "We know the challenges that Rio has with security, and I can only apologize to this athlete in the name of the city."

Tesch and a teammate were robbed at gunpoint and had their bikes stolen when training down in Rio ahead of the Paralympic Games. Australian Sailing said in a statement that they were working with the Rio tourist police and the Australian Paralympic Team to discuss additional security measures for athletes during the Games.

"We know there will be a hugely elevated level of security in place during the Paralympic Games, but for athletes and teams traveling there before the Games, there is a heightened need to be security conscious," Kate McLoughlin, chef de mission of the Australian Paralympic team told news agency AFP. "That advice is particularly important before the Paralympic Games period."

Written by Aaron Bauer in Rio de Janeiro

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