Writer criticizes Temer's "wonderland"

By Leneide Duarte-Plon, from Paris*, in Major Card - "Brazil is perfectly ready."

Who could make that claim about the Olympic Games by reading the so-called "mainstream" press or alternative independent journalism blogs?

He, the interim president Michel Temer, published a boastful article in "Le Monde" with the title above. He denies the health and safety risks in the city that will receive thousands of athletes and tourists during the month of August.

But despite being far from reality, it's still understandable that he wants to reassure the public.

What is shocking is when he appropriates the achievements of the Workers' Party governments after praising "consolidated democracy." According to him, the games will reveal a country that "is a benchmark in terms of reducing inequalities." Rhetoric aimed at French readers who might be led to believe that it was thanks to his efforts and those of his party that Brazil reduced inequalities.

His text, overflowing with enthusiasm, highlights "the success of the World Cup, the World Military Games, the World Youth Days, and the Confederations Cup." And the excitement continues:

"The Games will reveal to the world a nation whose democracy is consolidated and which is one of the world's leading economies. A country with strong business potential and a benchmark in reducing inequalities."

"Consolidated democracy," in the interim president's view, was the result not of the people's votes, but of the sacred union of the most corrupt legislature on the planet with the judiciary, which allied itself with the elite to place in the executive branch a legitimate representative of the interests of the oligarchy that has been in power forever.

Games will leave a legacy.

He assures the reader of "Le Monde" that the resources invested in the Olympic Games "will leave a legacy for the entire country." He forgot to add that the resources invested in the games will leave as a legacy fewer hospitals, fewer doctors, fewer schools, and lower salaries for teachers.

Not a word about the bankruptcy of the State of Rio. In the ideal world of the vice-president-elect, in Rio de Janeiro "the games played an important role in the implementation of public policies. The fact that this event is organized allowed the city to accelerate and expand or enable the execution of certain infrastructure and urban mobility projects. These actions directly and positively impact the quality of life of the inhabitants."

How can the people of Rio, whether blind or acting in bad faith, not see this?

After discussing the negative news circulating around the world regarding epidemics and tropical diseases that could threaten tourists and athletes, the interim president is categorical: "We can guarantee, as the World Health Organization has already done, that the risk of Zika cases appearing during the Olympic Games is practically nonexistent."

Fortunately, those responsible for "Le Monde" still practice journalism. On the same page, the historian Laurent Vidal writes an exemplary article that ends by saying:

"What is happening in Brazil is the resurgence of a classic form of coup d'état. And it can be said, with Corneille, that in this breathless political system 'never has a coup d'état been so well executed' (The Death of Pompeii)."

Leneide Duarte-Plon is the author of "Torture as a Weapon of War - From Algeria to Brazil: How the French Military Exported Death Squads and State Terrorism" (Civilização Brasileira Publishing House).