30 Jun 2016

Mutilated body found on Copacabana Beach

11:53 am on 30 June 2016

Brazilian police have confirmed a mutilated body has washed up on the shore of Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, just metres from where beach volleyball athletes will compete in the Olympic Games.

Copacabana Beach, Rio.

Copacabana Beach, Rio. Photo: PHOTOSPORT

The discovery comes at the worst possible time for the beleaguered nation, as its Olympic dream slowly dissolves into a nightmare.

With just over two months until the Games start on August 5, Brazil is battling catastrophe on multiple fronts, with crumbling infrastructure, a financial state of emergency declared, and rising crime.

Disgraced President Dilma Rousseff will be tried by the Brazilian senate under charges of budget fraud, with the trial beginning in the second week of the Games.

The country is also sweating on the approval of nearly a billion dollars in emergency funding to maintain its state services, with a crippling recession preventing public service workers from being paid.

This perfect storm of political and economic turbulence has cast a dark shadow over the Games - South America's first - which were meant to showcase Brazil's formerly-booming economy.

Rio's acting governor, Francisco Dornelles, earlier this month publicly said the Olympics could be "a big failure" if financing does not come through to deliver much-needed infrastructure. The government has promised the funding will come through.

-Reuters

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