My brother and his girlfriend spent the last week with me here in Rio. Saturday night, I dropped them off at the airport and went back to my apartment. Sunday morning, I got a call from my Dad. “Did you know your brother and Lauren are still in Rio?”
“What do you mean they’re still in Rio?!”
“Their flight was canceled. All they were told was that the flight crew was in no condition to fly. Apparently something happened at the hotel where the crew was staying.”
The “something” that happened was a mass evacuation after gang members got into a firefight with police and then invaded the lobby of the Hotel Intercontinental and took 30 hostages to the hotel kitchen. The flight crew was staying at the Hotel Intercontinental. Thus, my brother and his girlfriend got an extra night in Rio courtesy of US Airways and the Amigos dos Amigos gang.
Officials at every level have been made frantic by the invasion. Rio’s mayor and governor could not get to a microphone fast enough to reassure the world that Rio will be safe for the World Cup and the Olympics.
For me, Saturday’s hostage taking only highlights how very fragile Rio’s stability is. Everything in the city is at or exceeding capacity, the airport, the roads, the public hospitals. The government is notoriously corrupt. The city is among mountains making access points between neighborhoods limited and an event that blocks a single road has the potential to tie up traffic throughout the city. The situation at the Hotel Intercontinental is a good example.
Saturday’s invasion occurred just in front of a tunnel connecting the city’s social center to its huge suburbs. Residents were basically cut off from the city for the morning. Thank God the gangs and police manage to avoid each other during rush hour. The event also showed the trickle down effects of one outbreak of violence. A hotel is invaded and the airport, located on the other side of the city, is having to cancel flights.
I have my doubts about Rio’s ability to host the Olympics. I agree with the need to diversify host cities and have the games in South America. I just feel so much in this city is already at the breaking point, that a major event is going to break it.
This month, Smithsonian magazine has a cover article on Rio and the challenges it is facing in preparation for the World Cup and Olympics. It’s an honest assessment by an author who clearly loves Rio.
Of course, the Olympics could be the stimulus for real change and improvement in infrastructure but Rio’s past problems with corruption and inefficiency make me skeptical. In the four years I have been here, I’ve seen the very slow pace at which things get done. I know Cariocas pride themselves on a laid back attitude but the city is going to have to pick up the pace because there is a lot of work to be done.
