
Just yards away from the stadium that has had more than $500 million spent on it in the past two years, some of the poorest people in Brazil are living in absolute poverty.

In the Mangueira 'favelas' no more than 750m away from the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro, which will host the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, young families are living in makeshift houses with no sanitation.

The stadium will stage both the opening and closing ceremonies for the Olympics in August, and as global superstars such as Usain Bolt, Mo Farah, Jessica Ennis-Hill and Justin Gatlin take to the track, the favela residents will be dealing with raw sewage running through their homes.

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Just yards away from the Maracana stadium, pictrued, that has had more than $500 million spent on it in the past two years, some of the poorest people in Brazil are living in absolute poverty

People gather in the mostly demolished Metro-Mangueira 'favela' community in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Raw sewage drains from an occupied building in the Mangueira favela community as plans to urbanize the area continues to stutter

The Maracana stadium will stage both the opening and closing ceremonies for the Olympics in August, and as global superstars such as Usain Bolt, Mo Farah, Jessica Ennis-Hill and Justin Gatlin take to the track, the 'favela' residents will be dealing with raw sewage running through their homes

The stadium was used for the 2014 World Cup final, and has received massive financial backing and investment leading up to both the football tournament and the Olympics.

It is one of football's most famed arenas, and has had three renovations since 2000, costing more than half a billion dollars.

A major reconstruction project was launched in 2010 in preparation for the two biggest sporting events in the world.

The original two-tier arena was demolished to make way for a new one-tier seating bowl.

The Maracana's old concrete roof was also ripped down and replaced with a lighter fibreglass material.

As a result, the new roof covers 95 percent of the seats inside the stadium, unlike the former design, where protection was only afforded to some seats in the upper ring and the bleachers above the gate access of each sector.

The old gray tone which dominated the stadium is now a thing of the past, with the yellow, blue and white seats combined with the green grass making up the colours of the Brazilian flag.

The Morar Carioca plan to urbanize Rio's slums, or unplanned settlements, by 2020, was one key social legacy project heralded ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

The plan has mostly failed to materialize.

Around 1.4 million residents, or approximately 22 percent of Rio's population, reside in favelas which often lack proper sanitation, health care, education and security due to gang and police violence.

Despite the well documented crime rates fueled by poverty, Brazilian ministers have insisted all is well.

As well as drug feuds sparking violent clashes, Rio has become synonymous with pick-pocketing and muggings.

More than 48,700 took place in the city last year, which is nearly three times the New York figure despite having 30 percent more residents.

And right as a top Brazilian official was confidently guaranteeing safety at next month's Olympics, Rio cops were about to head to their latest nerve-jangling assignment - body parts discovered on Copacabana beach.

Officially, Rio de Janeiro is all ready to provide security for the some half million people expected to flock to the biggest sporting event on the planet from August 5 to August 21.

Addressing journalists with a month to go before the opening ceremony, Andrei Rodrigues, secretary for major events at the justice ministry, declared his 'total confidence.'

'I am completely calm,' he said.

That's a claim that has since been repeated by everyone from the Rio mayor to the minister of defense.

But as demonstrated by the discovery that same day of an unidentified, dismembered body next to the Olympic beach volleyball site on Copacabana, not all is well in Brazil's 'Marvelous City.'

And Rio police - who've seen more than 50 of their colleagues killed just this year and have been protesting against late salary payments - appear far from calm.

Around 1.4 million residents, or approximately 22 percent of Rio's population, reside in 'favelas' which often lack proper sanitation, health care, education and security due to gang and police violence

The Morar Carioca plan to urbanize Rio's 'favelas', or unplanned settlements, by 2020, was one key social legacy project heralded ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games as rubbish lay strewn across an occupied building in Mangueira

A man enters his makeshift apartment in the mostly demolished Metro-Mangueira slum

Living in dark, dank conditions - a stark contrast to the scenes just yards away - a young resident stands outside his Mangueira home

Residents wait to receive meals donated by the Mangueira samba school outside an occupied building in the Mangueira

Students walk home from school, with Maracana stadium in the background. It will host the Rio 2016 Olympic Games

There have been 2,083 murders in Rio state in the first five months of this year, up 14 percent on the same period last year.

The number of muggings has exploded and carjackings are also on the rise.

In an embarrassing incident, a truck crammed with more than $400,000 worth of television equipment imported by German broadcasters covering the Olympics was hijacked. It was later recovered.

The real mayhem is isolated in the north and in the huge 'favela' slums, rather than in the coastal areas of Barra, Copacabana and Ipanema where tourists congregate.

But with an ambitious eight-year-old community policing project in those favelas facing growing troubles, drug lords are expanding control.

Last month, a gang of about 20 armed men shot their way into a central Rio hospital to rescue a detained boss nicknamed Fat Family.

Police have reportedly killed as many as nine people in the brutal ensuing manhunt, but the fugitive remains at large.

People gather as a shopkeeper looks on in the streets of the slum, where crime rates are high and health provision is low

Residents clean and burn trash uncollected by the government that has failed to deliver on promises to improve the area

The stadium was used for the 2014 World Cup final, and has received massive financial backing and investment leading up to both the football tournament and the Olympics

In the 'favelas' no more than 750m away from the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro, which will host the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, young families are living in makeshift houses with no sanitation

Children play in the street while a baby is pushed along in front of a litter-laced occupied building as a dog searches for scraps

The Morar Carioca plan to urbanize Rio's 'favelas', or unplanned settlements, by 2020, was one key social legacy project heralded ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, but it has not yet materialised

Another concern has been the country's vulnerability to terrorist attacks.

Brazil's lack of involvement in any wars and sheer distance from jihadist strongholds like Syria could be the best defense against any repeat of the kind of mass attacks claimed by or blamed on the Islamic State group in Bangladesh, Belgium, Iraq, Turkey and the United States this year.

But hosting the globe's most watched event automatically puts a bullseye on Brazil, warns Robert Muggah, a security specialist at the Igarape think tank based in Rio.

'If a terrorist group wants to a make a major statement at a global event, Rio would be a good place to start,' he said.

Rio will be welcoming hundreds of thousands of foreigners from more than 200 countries, raising the possibility of infiltrators.

The border with Paraguay is also notoriously porous, while procuring the powerful weapons wielded in the favelas would be relatively easy.

In June, Brazil's intelligence service said it had detected Portuguese-language messages linked to the Islamic State group on an online forum. An even more explicit warning came after bloody Islamist attacks in Paris last November, when a French jihadist tweeted that Brazil was the 'next target.'

Rio's other big concern will be preventing a major cyber attack at a Games that will be heavily reliant on cloud computing, Muggah said.

There have been 2,083 murders in Rio state in the first five months of this year, up 14 percent on the same period last year

Despite the well documented crime rates fueled by poverty, Brazilian ministers have insisted all is well, as clothes are hung out in an abandoned yard

A mother (second left) stands in her bare, dank and dark apartment with very little basic facilities after the children return from school

With little or no running water, residents use a hose for water to wash in the mostly demolished Metro-Mangueira 'favela'

A woman walks past an occupied building in the Mangueira 'favela' community on July 12, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The building along with one next door houses hundreds of residents who must collect water from hoses

Inside one of the basic favela homes - crumbling floors, dirty and stained walls and broken furniture as a boy plays football and another youngster raids the bare fridge

Residents gather around a small fire on a cold evening in the mostly demolished Metro-Mangueira

Last month, a gang of about 20 armed men shot their way into a central Rio hospital to rescue a detained boss nicknamed Fat Family, as two youngsters play around jugs of water collected by families



Officials say a huge police presence will secure the streets.

Between police drafted in from other areas and thousands of soldiers, there will be 85,000 security personnel deployed in Rio and the five cities hosting football competitions - double the number used in the 2012 London Games.

A police coordination center with officers from 55 countries is to be the biggest such operation of its kind, Rodrigues said. And a separate anti-terror unit will have officers from seven key countries, including the United States and neighboring Argentina and Paraguay.

Background checks have already been made on nearly 394,000 visitors, with the number due to rise to 600,000.

Defense Minister Raul Jungmann said last week that he could guarantee 'peace, with the happiness and calmness that we expect.'

Rio will be welcoming hundreds of thousands of foreigners from more than 200 countries for the Olympics which start in August

Mother Rina Antoniettta Silveira Sampaio prepares to cook in her apartment as her daughter Ana Beatriz (lower left) looks on

A man enters his home, with graffiti in Portuguese - the spoken language in Brazil - reading 'We Are Human Beings'

Between police drafted in from other areas and thousands of soldiers, there will be 85,000 security personnel deployed in Rio and the five cities hosting football competitions - double the number used in the 2012 London Games

The Maracana stadium (pictured in background) is one of football's most famed arenas, and has had three renovations since 2000, costing more than half a billion dollars

As the terror threat looms, Brazil's intelligence service said it had detected Portuguese-language messages linked to the Islamic State group on an online forum in June

But local issues could be Brazil's Achilles' Heel.

A vote on whether to remove suspended president Dilma Rousseff from office is scheduled for just after the Games, promising political tension and possible demonstrations.

And amid an ugly national recession, nearly bankrupt Rio de Janeiro state has required a 2.9 billion reai ($870 million) federal bailout to avoid what interim governor Francisco Dornelles warns could be 'a big failure.'

The money is being used in part to pay for late police salaries, months of unpaid overtime and what protesting officers call a lack of even basic supplies such as car fuel and toilet paper.

Angry cops certainly don't share the government's rosy vision.

'Welcome to hell,' read a banner they unfurled in the arrival hall at Rio's international airport earlier this month. 'Whoever comes to Rio de Janeiro will not be safe.'

Young residents wait to receive meals donated by the Mangueira samba school

Hairdressing student Darlen Silva (left) poses while waiting for her bus after classes in the slum area while another student walks home swinging his backpack





Amid an ugly national recession, nearly bankrupt Rio de Janeiro state has required a 2.9 billion reai ($870 million) federal bailout to avoid what interim governor Francisco Dornelles warns could be 'a big failure.'

Much of the Mangueira 'favela' community sits about a kilometer away from Maracana stadium, which will be the site of the opening and closing ceremonies for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games

Well-paid work is scarce in the slums, and on the edge of the community, a man plies his trade by repairing a tire

Another fear for Olympic chiefs is the Zika virus outbreak.

Athletes - particularly golfers - have shunned the world's biggest sport event citing fears of contracting the illness and many others have voiced their concerns.

With gold returning to the Olympics for the first time in 112 years, it will do so without its top players.

Jason Day, Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson - the world's top four players - have all withdrawn from the competition along with Vijay Singh.

Elsewhere, U.S. cylcist Tejay van Gardenen will not appear in the velodrome because of the Zika threat while NBA's double-reigning MVP Stephen Curry will not travel to Brazil, although he stated 'other factors' played a role in his decision making.

British gold medal long jumper Greg Rutherford decided to make the trip, but not before freezing his sperm as a precaution of contracting the mosquito-borne disease.

Heptathlete Jessica Ennis-Hill and U.S goalkeeper Hope Solo have both voiced their Zika concerns.

Despite the well documented crime rates fueled by poverty, Brazilian ministers have insisted all is well

Jiselly (right) and Julia Sousa da Silva gather while posing in Rio where more than 48,700 took place last year, which is nearly three times the New York figure despite having 30 percent more residents

Rio police have seen more than 50 of their colleagues killed just this year and have been protesting against late salary payments, but football, as ever in Brazil, provides some respite

Shop owner Ejilda Sousa poses in her storefront in the slums ahead of an influx of hundreds of thousands of people for the Olympics

With food sources at a premium in the Mangueira slums, teenagers scale trees to pick coconuts from its branches

Officially, Rio de Janeiro is all ready to provide security for the some half million people expected to flock to the biggest sporting event on the planet from August 5 to August 21

Addressing journalists with a month to go before the opening ceremony, Andrei Rodrigues, secretary for major events at the justice ministry, declared his 'total confidence' in delivering a safe games

But right as a top Brazilian official was confidently guaranteeing safety at next month's Olympics, Rio cops were about to head to their latest nerve-jangling assignment - body parts discovered on Copacabana beach

Mother Vanilda poses with her two-year-old daughter Sophia in the 'favela'. They will be hoping the government backs up its promises