Author Barbassa on Book About Rio's Challenge With the Olympics

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Janeiro home of the Summer Olympics. It is also the city in which the headquarters of Petro Brassays, well as many other petrochemical companies and service industry companies are located. And here to tell us more about the city is Julianna Barbassa, author of the book Dancing with the Devil in the City of God, Rio de Janeiro and the Olympic Dream. Julianna, thank you very much for being with us.

Thanks for having me. Now. When the Olympic Games, when the Summer Games were awarded to Rio in two thousand nine, Brazil and the brazil An economy looked very different. Tell us a little bit about the changing fortunes of the country and also of the city of Rio de Janeiro. Well, indeed, it looks very different from from what it looks like now. It's as if the state of Rio, the city of Rio, and the country had been turned inside out from that

moment back in two thousand and nine. I mean, back then, the economy was booming, Brazil was seen as sort of the next big thing internationally. Uh. Foreign direct investment was at record highs. I mean almost every indicator that you looked at, Brazil was doing really, really well, and the installation was low. Politically it was stable. Uh. And then there was a huge oil discovery off of Rio de Janeiro's coast, which was expected to continue to bring in

money into the future. Uh, to remedy things like the deficits and education and health that we're so important to to Brazilian. So um, you go from that moment to this one where you know, state of Rio camp you know, paid police officers are, the hospitals are shuttered, you know, for a lack of fund. Again, almost every indicator is looking at negative. President is facing impeachment. It's an entirely

different country, an entirely different city. And of course your book Dancing with the Devil in the City of God has great anecdotes, and you really you give us. It's like I'm reading a novel. You describe describe drug used to describe coming back to Rio, coming back to Brazil you're from there, what that was like and over the years.

But what is the mood now in Rio? What are people in the streets saying that they have some pride that they're on the global stage and I mean there have been some staff foods, but it looks pretty darn good. Or are they angry that so much money was spent? I think it's it's a strange balance of both. There's some tension in the air, for sure. I mean, some of these big protests that we saw before the World Cup, you know back in two thousand two fourteen, the questions

that fuel goes are still there. You know, is this the right way to spend our money? Are these the right priorities for our our government? But at the same time, you know, once the game started here in Rio, much again has happened during the World Cup, which I was here for. You know, once the ball starts rolling and the medals start coming in, you know, those beautiful stories of the athletes. Um, you know, people Brazilian seeing Rio on international TV and knowing that it looks good. Uh,

there is an enthusiasm that that that percolates up. You know, there there is a sense of local pride. But I don't think that people forget for a minute that this is a very expensive party and that we're going to have to pay for it once it's all over. Does anyone believe that the total bill for the Rio Olympics will be about four billion dollars or is that just an estimate? I don't think so. I mean, that's the official estimate just for the sporting venues for point six

billion um. The official estimate that I've heard for for total infrastructure plus sporting venues is about twelve billion. But there are experts who study the Olympics and the cost of the mega events that has put the total at nearly twenty billion, which, as you can imagine, for for Brazil and for Rio right now, is astronomical. The title dancing with the Devil in the City of God, where does that come from? It was the sense that Brazil in the IOC, really, if you think about it, we're

engaging in sort of a Fosterian bargain. Both of them were taking a little bit of a leap, uh, you know, since taking a dance with the devil in a way selling your soul to see if you can grasp at something bigg or something better. Um, you know, from from Rio's perspective, grasping this idea that it's now a world capital and it can host the biggest sporting event on

the planet. And from the IOC's perspective, they were you know, they have been selling this idea that the Olympics are not just a warding event, they're also, uh, this catalyst for tremendous urban transformation and Rio was supposed to be a shining example of that. When Rio bid for the Games, It's bid was by far the most expensive, and it was competing with far well fair places like Tokyo, Chicago, Madrid. And part of what made it so expensive is that

it promised so much uh infrastructural urban change. And I'll see one of the sort of attached brand to that, you know, a remade Rio, and as you can see, things that can work out for either one of them so well. So it was a dance with the devil that platility pay off now because of Rio's extensive port facilities, a lot of their products, whether it's Crewe petroleum, semi finished iron products, or steel products, it's all commodity driven.

Will Rio's fortune continue to be tied to commodity prices. I think so, and I think this is one of the unfortunate aspect of these last few years, not just

for real but for Brazil. A lot of expectations. We were tied to that moment of economic success that Brazil experience, you know, two thousand seven, two thousand eight, two thousand nine, the lead up into these games, and uh, unfortunately Brazil didn't use that time to really take the difficult reforms that it needed to and and it's tax code and other sort of unsexy aspects of the Joiana Barbosa. We're going to leave it there. Thank you so very much

for joining us today. She's the author of Dancing with the Devil in the City of god Rio de Janeiro and the Olympic Dream. Thank you for joining us. This is Loomberg coming up. Bloomberg Law is brought to by Jaguar Manhattan. Visit Jaguar Manhattan today, where New York goes for luxury, Conveniently located at eleven aven You were online at Jaguar Manhattan dot com and Jaguar Manhattan is at your service.