Brazil "totally confident" to ensure security at Rio Olympics

PanARMENIAN.Net - Brazil has "total confidence" that it can ensure security for more than half a million tourists and athletes attending the Rio Olympics this August, a senior official said Wednesday, June 30, according to AFP.

Andrei Rodrigues, secretary for major events at the justice ministry, said that a heavy police presence on the ground and international cooperation on intelligence gathering would overcome potential terror threats and the danger of violent crime.

"I have total confidence in our preparations for the security of the Games," Rodrigues told reporters a month ahead of the August 5-21 Olympics, which he described as "the biggest event on the planet."

Rodrigues said that 47,000 police officers and 38,000 soldiers, whose tasks will include securing transport corridors, will keep a lid on crime. This is double the number deployed in the 2012 London Olympics.

He also played down fears of a terrorist attack in Rio following a string of bloody, low-tech assaults in France, Belgium and this week Istanbul airport, where jihadists fired into crowds, then blew themselves up, killing 41 people and injuring 239, according to the latest count.

"Brazil today is adopting the best international practices for security at major events and in the specific case of countering terrorism we have adopted all possible practices," he said, according to AFP.

"We are not going to alter our plans. We will be ever more vigilant."