Before the Games, Mario Andrada, the spokesman for the Rio Olympics organizing committee, had boasted that Rio would be “the safest city in the world” at this time. In one episode on Wednesday, soldiers from the federal security force deployed in Rio for the Olympics came under fire in the Vila do João favela. “God in heaven was looking out for me.”For the families caught in the crossfire, all the talk about Olympic legacies in Rio seems insulting. The gang built on longstanding ties with Colombian cocaine suppliers to exert considerable sway across Alemão and other areas of Rio de Janeiro. The gun battles halted the iconic tramway in Alemão yet again this week, stranding people on their way to work.

Source: New York Times August 11, 2016 09:01 UTC