Rio Declares Financial Emergency, Requests Immediate Funds For Olympics

In case you haven’t been paying attention for the past few months, the 2016 Summer Olympics are shaping up to be a disaster of epic proportions. On Friday another log was thrown on that fire as the governor of Rio de Janeiro declared a state of financial emergency and requested federal funds so the state could fulfill its obligations during the Olympics.

This is just the latest in a long line of ominous signs for this summer’s games. Neither Rio nor Brazil are ready to host the event or the 500,000 spectators expected to flood the area. With massive political unrest, an out of control crime rate, the worst economic crisis in decades, alarming public health concerns and the Zika virus all ravaging the area, I’ve called for the games to be canceled for months now.

The fact that Rio is out of money and may not be able to provide basic public services for athletes and spectators shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. In fact, it’s probably the least concerning aspect of the games.

Interim president Michel Temer visited Rio this week and has said the federal government will ensure that all obligations are met. Forgive me if I’m not optimistic about that.

The Olympics are set to kick off on August 5, and with no end to Brazil’s myriad troubles in sight things could get ugly. At this point Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, increasingly looks like Wallace Hartley, dutifully leading his band as disaster envelops it.

After all the warning signs have been pushed aside, it is now almost certainly too late to cancel, postpone or move the Rio Olympics. We’ll all just have to ride it out and pray that somehow it avoids becoming a calamity.