While the impeachment of Brazil’s president Dilma Rousseff came as no surprise, the vote is still the latest blow to a country already weighted down by everything from a bad economy to a teratogenic virus.
What isn’t quite certain is how that – and the dismissal of 21 members of Rousseff’s cabinet – will affect the Olympics. With the torch already making its way across the country and less than three months until go-time, Brazil’s Vice president Michel Temer must take charge, and may well be the one declaring the Games officially open.
In an Associated Press article carried in Yahoo! News, IOC President Thomas Bach was quoted as saying, "There is strong support for the Olympic Games in Brazil and we look forward to working with the new government to deliver successful Games in Rio this summer.”
Bach further downplayed the potential effect of the impeachment, noting that preparations for the Aug. 5-21 games “have now entered into a very operational phase and issues such as these have much less influence than at other stages of organizing the Olympic Games. We have seen the great progress being made in Rio de Janeiro and we remain confident about the success of the Olympic Games in August.”
However, the fact that Brazil's new president is not favored by a population already feeling deep unrest could mean further problems when the eyes of the world turn to that country in August.
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