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Maracanã Closure Pushes Street Vendors to Improvise a Tourist Spot Close to the Stadium

01/18/2017 - 13h01

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SÉRGIO RANGEL
FROM RIO

The statue of soccer player Bellini located close to the main entrance to the Maracanã stadium has turned into an improvised tourist spot for frustrated visitors.

Unknowing visitors who are blocked from entering into the stadium due to a legal impasse between the stadium's administrators and the government are having to make due with taking a photo in front of the monument instead.

Ever since February of last year, one month before Maracanã was transferred back to the Rio-2016 Organizing Committee, visits to the stadium have been closed off.

The improvised tourist spot at the monument to the former captain of the Brazilian national team holding the symbol of the 1958 World Cup already had been an attraction for street vendors.

They offer a replica of the cup held aloft by Germany in the stadium after their victory in the 2014 World Cup filled with water. The foam-filled trophy is rented out for R$ 5 (US$ 1,50).

Argentinian Carlos Molina, 56, was one of those who "set up" a business there at the end of 2016. "I am saddened by the situation. The only good thing is that I can make some money", says the photographer, who arrived in Rio before the World Cup in 2014 and ended up deciding to stay.
There is even a "soccer ball acrobat" who puts on an impromptu show.

"This [closed Maracanã stadium] is a real shame. I'm desolate", says French tourist Tracy Ricero, 25, after posing for a photo with the FIFA cup replica.

ARBITRATION

Last December, the Olympic Game organizers turned Maracanã back over to the government. Ever since then, the stadium has remained practically abandoned.

Odebrecht, the principal shareholder of the concession that had been managing Maracanã, had previously announced that it no longer wanted to administer the stadium.

Back in October, the company had submitted a request for arbitration to FGV (the Getúlio Vargas Foundation) in order to return the space to the government, which was itself undergoing a financial crisis.

Without an administrator, the stadium was broken into and robbed several times last week and is in a general state of disrepair. Last Friday (the 13th), Rio's judiciary ordered Odebrecht to resume managerial responsibilities at the stadium until the conclusion of the arbitration process.

Translated by LLOYD HARDER

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