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Weekly Report - 23 June 2016 (WR-16-24)

BRAZIL: Rio declares public state of calamity

Little is going right for the organisers of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. In the latest of a series of PR disasters, on 21 June a rare jaguar used in part of the Olympic torch ceremony was shot dead as it threatened a soldier. Added to this are the consistent, and increasingly pressing, worries about whether the transport links will be ready in time for the Games. If all goes according to plan, the key metro line extension linking Ipanema to Barra da Tijuca should open on 1 August, four days before the opening ceremony. But all is not going according to plan; a key bus lane is running behind schedule; a cycle path has fallen into the sea, killing two; a new road extension has revealed potholes days after opening; and now the acting governor of Rio de Janeiro state, Fernando Dornelles, has declared a state of “public calamity” warning of the “total collapse” of public security, health, transport and education services without significant federal assistance.

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