The Brazillionaire families at the heart of the Olympic construction bribes scandal
The Olympics were supposed to be Brazil’s chance to show off its progress toward developed-nation status. Instead, they reveal a country still haunted by violence, mismanagement, economic crisis and corruption.
In the host city of Rio de Janeiro, investigators have recently uncovered millions of dollars in bribes skimmed from Olympic projects. This adds to the cost of an already wasteful event, but the backstory also reveals how Brazil’s elites hold on to power.
Some of Brazil’s richest families are at the heart of the Olympic scandals. I dug into their lives while working as a 'Billionaires Reporter’ for Bloomberg News in São Paulo, where I covered the ultra-rich as a full-time job. This gave me a rare window on one of the world’s most unequal countries, where money and influence have long been concentrated in few hands.
Describing his country in the 1970s, a Brazilian economist coined the term Belíndia - islands of Belgium inside a sea of India - and in many places, it still rings true.
Tourists arriving for the Olympics will see this inequality embedded in the city around them. On steep hills rising from the neighbourhoods of Ipanema and Copacabana, where beachfront penthouses sell for more than $10 million, whole families live in crowded shacks of cinderblock and aluminum. After the games, the billion-dollar Olympic village constructed for athletes in the wealthy suburb of Barra da Tijuca, will be converted into luxury apartments to be sold on the open market – none are slated for affordable housing, as London did after 2012.
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário