While he was defending Rio de Janeiro’s candidacy to host the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, Brazilian Sports Minister Agnelo Queiroz criticized Rio’s Mayor Cesar Maia for saying that the candidacies of New York and London could be “threatened by terrorism”.
The minister said, “we must not enter a polemic with the other candidacies because our target is simply to show that we are in conditions to organize the Olympic Games”. He admitted that “today there is a bigger threat against those countries because of their international policies. We are peaceful and do not invade countries”.
Queiroz emphasized that because Brazil had a peaceful international policy it was outside the realm of possible terror attacks. He added that Rio’s problems with local violence were small and limited when compared to other threats of violence.
As for France, one of Rio’s competitors for the 2012 Games, the minister said the French capital had already hosted the Games in 1900 and 1924, while no South American city had had that privilege. He said it was South America’s and Brazil’s time now.
