'Olympics not for us': Brazilians face political, economic turmoil ahead of Games
With the Olympic Games less than one month away, many residents of Rio de Janeiro are unenthusiastic and resentful of the international sporting event as Brazil's political, economic and criminal problems mount.
Along with the Zika virus, construction delays, and government corruption crisis that have plagued the summer Olympics so far, police are now greeting visitors at Rio de Janeiro's airport with signs that read, "Welcome to hell."
While police warn that tourists may not be safe, allegations of police-perpetrated violence are also coming to the fore.
Renata Neder, a human rights adviser to Amnesty International, has been monitoring incidents of violence.
"Rio had both the opportunity and the burden of hosting three major sporting events in the past 10 years," says Neder.
"We can already identify a pattern of violations related to public security operations and law enforcement officers."
According to Neder, Amnesty International has been collecting information on alleged documented cases of killings by the police.
"What we found out was that although the police claimed that these killings happened in self defence, we actually saw a pattern that they have very strong evidence of being extrajudicial executions," says Neder.
In many situations people in Rio feel that the Olympics is not for us.- Mauricio Santoro, political science professor
Other than Brazil's growing crime and law enforcement issues, many Rio residents are preoccupied with the dire state of government and economic affairs that have only been exacerbated by preparations for the games.
Mauricio Santoro, a political science professor at the State University of Rio de Janeiro, says he's feeling the impact of the instability that's gripping Brazil. And like many others, that has had an influence on his perspective on the Summer Games.
"Nowadays the general feeling is indifference or even hostility to the games because people are very angry with the economic crisis [and] the political stagnation. And in many situations people in Rio feel that the Olympics is not for us."
Listen to the full conversation at the top of this web post.
This segment was produced by The Current's Sujata Berry and network producer Anne Penman.