Brazilian troops have begun patrolling Olympic venues in an attempt to reassure athletes and visitors about a public security situation that even the Rio de Janeiro mayor has described as “horrible, terrible”.

With one month until the opening ceremony, rising crime and falling police budgets have pushed their way to the front of a long list of concerns, which also include water pollution, the Zika epidemic, recession and political turmoil.



The dangers have been highlighted by a recent swarm of negative headlines about body parts washing up near the start of the triathlon on Copacabana beach, hospital shootouts, athletes being mugged, new data revealing street robberies have risen to an 11-year high, and striking police officers holding up a banner at the international airport that read: “Welcome to Hell: police and firefighters don’t get paid, whoever comes to Rio de Janeiro will not be safe.”



The central government insists otherwise and has deployed soldiers, helicopters and naval vessels to bolster a security operation that will involved 85,000 personnel.



Interim president Michel Temer claimed Brazil has put together “a solid security programme” that will ”ensure that the sporting events take place in an atmosphere of absolute peace and tranquillity”.

But the Rio state authorities have been embarrassed by budget cuts that have meant salary delays for policemen and a scaling back of ambitions to “pacify” favela communities.



To cover the shortfall until the end of the Olympics, it has taken an emergency loan of $895m from the federal government, which is due to come on stream on Wednesday.



There are clear signs of division the city, state and federal governments. City mayor Eduardo Paes has described the Rio state’s handling of security as “very bad” but said the situation could be brought back under control now that the national guard and armed forces are involved.



Rising crime is only part of the problem. Authorities are also concerned about terrorism, particularly following recent deadly attacks in Paris and Brussels and warnings from an alleged Islamic State militant that Rio could be the next target.



Brazilian intelligence agencies say they are cooperating closely with their foreign counterparts to identify potential threats.

