Weekend of 'terror' in Rio de Janeiro

Weekend of 'terror' in Rio de Janeiro

Friday marked exactly two weeks since Rio de Janeiro was granted the 2016 Olympic Games. And it only took two weeks for the city and the world to be awoken to one of the main vulnerabilities the city must tackle: Urban violence. (Or, an urban 'war zone' as many Brazilians like to say).

When a police helicopter gets shot down by drug traffickers in the middle of a traffickers-vs-traffickers shootout, it's bound to make news anywhere. But when it happens in Rio two weeks after the city is granted the Olympic Games, it really makes news. Here's a summary of the bloody weekend from the AP.

The violent scenes were shown in all corners of the globe. Get used to it, Rio. This is what it's going to be like the next 7 years. Anytime anything happens in Rio, it might very well make news in newspapers and on news bulletins far outside of Brazil. Rio is now a city in a petri dish with a powerful global microscope aimed on it 24/7 - examining any blemishes that might pop up.

But while a lot of the attention the past 72 hours has been on how to secure the city during the Olympics, cariocas (as people from Rio are called) have been dealing with this violence for years. Even by their standards though, this past weekend was one of the worst in recent memories, and it struck a nerve on many levels. 

An article about the violence on the web site of Rio's main newspaper, O Globo, had over 3,000 comments on Saturday. I didn't read them all, but the ones I did all said some variation of these themes:

 "I am a Brazilian living abroad, and the shootings in Rio made news all over the world. This does not set a good image to the outside world."

Or comments sort of like this:

Now the government is going to crack down on this violence, but only because they need to keep a good image for the Olympics and World Cup (which Brazil will host in 2014)."

I have thought from all along, and I still believe, that Rio's crime actually will not be a major issue for either the World Cup or the Olympics when the events actually arrive. Rio hosted the Pan American Games in 2007 and violence was minimal during that event: Why? The city was flooded with cops. On every corner, they stood guard. Or so it seemed anyway.

I also suspect the traffickers knew to keep their heads down and play it cool, as any rash of violence during a high profile event would lead to serious consequences from the cops and be bad for business.  (Side note: I think funding infrastructure projects will be a bigger challenge for Rio and Brazil than crime. But I will blog more about this at a later date).

Violence is sort of a way of life in Rio, in so many ways. With the city hosting World Cup Games in 2014, and Olympics in 2016, I suspect the crime and violence issue will take on a new, fresh dynamic - and begin to be examined from new angles. Are city officials going to crack down on violence only because they need to try to keep a good image to the outside world? Or will they dramatically re-evaluate security for the betterment of Brazilians? Or is there not much the city can even do about crime in the long term - other than try to contain it? We have 7 years to find out the answers.