Brazil Facing Host of Issues as Olympics Nears
CURNOW: Welcome to the INTERNATIONAL DESK. I'm Robyn Curnow. Here's a check of the headlines.</s>CURNOW: Rio's issues seem to be growing daily, as the Olympic Games are set to begin in one month. Juliana Barbassa is a journalist and author of "Dancing with the Devil in the City of God." She joins us now by Skype. Hi, there. Thanks so much for talking to us about Rio. And the big question is so much has already disappointed some people, has the city already failed to deliver?</s>JULIANA BARBASSA, JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR: Well, from the point of view of residents here, it certainly has. The biggest promises to improve transportation significantly, to clean up pollution in the bay that's at the core of metropolitan Rio, to improve safety, all of those have failed to happen and failed to live up to the promises that were made in 2009, when Rio won the bid.</s>CURNOW: Promises made; Olympics always sort of shoot very high in terms of promises and expectations. Is this just a case of over-expectation?</s>BARBASSA: Well, it is. But why were those promises made and inscribed into the Olympic bid in the first place if they were too high to meet? Perhaps, if that's the case, then we should reconsider how these bids are made, what the IOC looks for in host cities. And Rio, certainly, it missed the mark significantly.</s>CURNOW: You've written a book about Rio and, specifically, the experience of hosting the World Cup. Why is this proving harder to get together for Rio? Is it, when the World Cup seemed to be pulled off relatively successfully?</s>BARBASSA: It's actually a very similar situation. I believe that when the Olympics happens, it will actually flow pretty seamlessly. The venues, I think, will be ready -- at the very last minute but they will be ready. Rio is a beautiful city. It will look fantastic on TV. The sports are going to be as fascinating as they usually are. The problem is, as in the case of the World Cup, a lot of the infrastructure developments that were supposed to go along with it are failing. A lot of the cost overruns are tremendous. I mean, venues are costing -- in the case of the World Cup, much more than double what they were expected to cost. And so a lot of the promises that are -- failures that we're seeing are the ones that would most benefit the population. And the cost is much greater than expected. The event itself, I think, will look OK on television.</s>CURNOW: What, for you, is the biggest threat?</s>CURNOW: Your book is called "Dancing with the Devil." Who's the devil here?</s>BARBASSA: Well, the way I saw these bids to host both the World Cup and the Olympics, I saw it as a Faustian bargain on the part of Rio officials, city officials, state officials and even federal officials. You know, the president of Brazil bid for this. The idea was that you're going to attract this tremendous international attention to Rio de Janeiro and to Brazil and that the city and the country were going to shine and prove to the world that they can do a fantastic job. Well, Rio is very different now and Brazil is very different than it was in 2009, when the bid was accepted by the IOC. And that's what I mean. It was a Faustian bargain. You invited something that then you couldn't control and the Rio and the Brazil that are going to be on screens very, very soon are far from ideal, far from what was expected.</s>CURNOW: So, from your perspective, is there one overriding concern? Is it the ongoing drug wars?</s>CURNOW: Is it the heavy-handed policing, the pollution? What is it that you feel has been the greatest failure here?</s>BARBASSA: Well, it depends on your perspective. On a short-term perspective, if I were an Olympic athlete coming into Rio, for example, I would care tremendously about the quality of the water in the bay. You're going to have to compete and come in contact with that water. The fecal coliform counts are 10 times higher than is considered safe. If I were an Olympic visitor, I would worry about safety in the streets. I would worry about the fact that transportation infrastructure that's supposed to get me to and from the main Olympic cluster is still not inaugurated. But from the perspective of the population of Rio, I feel like we've got longer-term concerns. Tremendous money: you know, the state and the city have gone into debt to finance a lot of its projects. And this is going to have to be paid off at a moment when Brazil is deep in a recession and the state of Rio is broke. The governor declared a state of public calamity. And so not only do we have failing infrastructure and missed promises but we have a lot of debt to pay off in years to come. That's the biggest concern locally.</s>CURNOW: I'm just seeing some wires crossing from Rio. And as you were talking, the Rio mayor is giving a press conference. And he says the city is far from being perfect. But this does not eliminate the pride as the city prepares itself to host the Olympics. When all is said and done, do you think that sense of pride will trump everything else?</s>BARBASSA: Well, we can have that if we have nothing else, right? We can always throw a great party. We can show people a good time. Rio does that very well. Every year, there are tremendous Carnival celebrations here. New Year's in Copacabana draws millions of people. Pride costs nothing. It doesn't take any preparation, any planning. Yes, we'll have pride. And I think the Olympics are going to be beautiful and I think people will have a good time. But, again, the question for me is, at what cost has all this happened? At what impact to the local population?</s>CURNOW: Great having your perspective there from Rio, Julianna Barbassa, thank you.</s>BARBASSA: Thank you.</s>CURNOW: Well, could you go 40 days without buying anything plastic? Ahead, we'll meet one woman who did and find out what could happen if more people don't follow her lead.