EDITORIAL: Make sure Olympics are safe

Staff Reports

October 24, 2009 11:43 pm

— Is the International Olympic Committee sure it wants to hold the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro? A few weekends ago, 21 people died in drug gang violence in a Rio slum just five miles from where some of the Olympic events will be held.
During a battle between rival gangs in a shantytown, bullets brought down a police helicopter, killing three officers and injuring three others.
Evidently Rio was open about its violent crime when the city made a bid for the Olympics.
“We never hid our problems during the bid process — we always told people we had problems and we are facing the problems,” Mayor Eduard Paes said. “We still have a lot to do, we have a long way to go and what happened this weekend showed that.”
The mayor assured the world the city was working to make the city safer.
“We worry about security for our citizens, for our everyday lives, for the visitors that come on a regular basis,” he said. “The violence we face in Rio will be much, much better by 2016.”
Let’s hope so. The other bidders — Chicago, Madrid and Tokyo — did not point to crime as an issue of concern. Rio did — and pledged to handle it.
Certainly safety and security are high priorities.
— The Watertown Daily Times