Christmas cheer missing in crisis-hit Rio

RIO DE JANEIRO: The Grinch – in the form of devastating recession, giant corruption and unpaid salaries – has stolen Rio de Janeiro’s Christmas.

Things are so tight in Brazil’s party city that the traditional giant Christmas tree on the lagoon has been cancelled. There aren’t even municipal holiday lights in the streets.

And in shops, would-be Santas are feeling more ho-hum than ho-ho.

“It’s a really flat Christmas. People are not energized,” said Daniela Santiago, 41, searching for children’s presents in a store that sells cheap Chinese-made toys and decorations. “Most of my friends and family are feeling down.”

Unemployed since she lost her human resources job, Santiago lives with her mother, a school teacher who hasn’t received a full salary since September.

It can be hard to remember that just four months ago Rio de Janeiro was hosting the Olympic Games.

Today in the ‘Marvelous City’ the main subjects of conversation are crime and what everyone simply calls ‘a crise’ – the crisis.

‘A crise’ is shorthand for Brazil’s crippling recession, the near bankruptcy of Rio’s state government, investor flight, nearly 12 per cent unemployment, and a corruption scandal tainting politicians all the way up to President Michel Temer.

Customers at a hairdressers in Copacabana “talk about the crisis all the time,” said barber Jorge Almeida, 41, who said his sister-in-law, a doctor, is another of those state employees who haven’t been paid for two months.

Estimating that business was down 20 to 30 per cent compared to the last weeks of 2015, Almeida said: “Haircuts are taking second place to what’s really necessary – like food.”

Rio’s New Year bash – a party that sees about two million people pile onto Copacabana beach for the midnight countdown – is also feeling the blues.

The city said Monday that the gigantic fireworks display, one of the most famous around the world, will be pared back by 25 per cent: down to 12 minutes from the normal 16.

At one of the beach chair rental huts, manager Elaine Maria Silva, 29, said the usual pre-New Year’s buzz is missing. — AFP