Olympic torch set to arrive in Brazil and locals just don't care

Dignitaries and tourists arriving in this capitol city Monday were greeted by bold posters lined up along the highway from the airport to the hotel district. The signs did not promote the Olympic torch relay, set to begin here early on Tuesday, but rather the deep discontent with Brazil president Dilma Rousseff.

"Tchau Querida!" blared one sign after the next. Translation: "Bye, Dear!"

A sizable portion of the population in Brasilia and around the nation want the president impeached, and it may happen in the next few weeks as the torch winds its way through this fractured country.

"When you think of where Brazil was in 2009 in that magic moment when it got the Olympics, and then you think of where the country is now, it's been turned inside out," says Juliana Barbassa, author of Dancing with the Devil in the City of God.

An emerging market nation that won the right to host the World Cup in 2014 and then the Summer Olympics in 2016 seemed to be taking flight in a way that mirrored the bird-like layout of this city. Instead, Brazil is crashing, and the Olympic torch relay is almost an afterthought. One couple, having lunch Monday near the torch route, didn't even know it was happening this week.

There are other problems beside politics. The Zika virus has created an international health scare, and there are posters around the city warning citizens of potential birth complications for pregnant women who have contracted the disease. Fluctuations in the Brazilian currency, the real, have spurned worries about the return to the days of high inflation and financial instability. Petrobras, the state oil company that provides a lot of the engine for the Brazil economy, dropped from a stock price of $21 in the days after the World Cup to less than $3 earlier this year.

"It's very, very extreme," Barbassa says. "People are worried about making ends meet. The Olympics, the Games themselves, have not really attracted that much attention."

Some of the attention it has generated has provided more fuel for the resentment of Rousseff. Even though the winning bid was greeted by widespread ebullience here, the large sum of money spent on the Games now seems wasteful. Rousseff is being blamed for that and a long list of the nation's ills. Ex-diplomat Miguel da Souza even mentioned the national soccer team's 7-1 World Cup loss to Germany on a list of troubles the country has faced under her watch. He later said he was joking by referencing the historic defeat, but he was clearly serious about his grievances.

Someone transcribed the word dumb into Dilma Rousseff's name on a wall in Brasilia. (Yahoo Sports)

"She is unprepared, arrogant, she believes she knows everything. She's stubborn, and we also believe she's what we call 'Pe Frio,' da Souza said, referring to the Portuguese equivalent of "cold feet."

But it's clear the nation's problems go well beyond the president. The price of oil has plummeted, corruption is widespread, and trust in the government is shallow at best. There is no certainty that the next president will do any better, should Rousseff be impeached, and there is concern that things will deteriorate further when the eyes of the world shift away from Rio after the Games have ended.

"We don't know who the president is going to be in a matter of months," says Barbassa. "Planning and saving for the near future – all those things are thrown up in the air. You go to the supermarket and buy less than you did just two weeks ago. It creates a feeling of deep uncertainty. There's anger, a sense of broken promises. Chaos is the appropriate word."

There are some who are excited about the Olympics, and proud to show Brazil to the world once again. But when the history of the nation is written, Rio 2016 will likely be less of a victory than everyone here once hoped.

There are simply too many more important things going on.