OT: Lochte robbed in Rio. Gun pressed to his head allegedly.

Submitted by NFG on
Breaking news from Rio is that Ryan Lochte was held at gun point and robbed. Not sure these Olympics could have gone much worse for Rio's image.
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LSAClassOf2000

August 14th, 2016 at 2:16 PM ^

The USOC definitely confirmed it and Lochte went on NBC talking about this, or so I heard, so I have to imagine the IOC wouldn't just throw a statement out there directly contradicting it unless there is some confusion on their end (otherwise, how stupid does it get? The IOC can't have their head up there ALL the time, right?), but I could be wrong - a lot of people in the news seem to be saying that they did in fact try to deny it. So far, they say reports of trouble have been isolated, but then coverage of things not related to the Olympics in Rio has been pretty isolated

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Tater

August 14th, 2016 at 1:50 PM ^

"Their taxi was stopped by individuals posing as armed police officers..." 

I would be willing to bet it was real police officers. It sorta goes with the territory.

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DonAZ

August 14th, 2016 at 3:16 PM ^

I've been to Rio (once) and Sao Paulo (several times) and I have no desire to ever go back.

I was warned -- "Never get in a taxi unless arranged by the hotel," and "Never walk off the main streets, and never walk after dark."  This advice came from Brazillian work colleagues.

They have good coffee, though ... I will give them that.

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GoBlueInIowa

August 14th, 2016 at 3:32 PM ^

Same experience when I have been in São Paulo for business, only company or hotel arranged transportation with it mostly using cars rather than cabs. Never having computer bags, etc. in the back seat with you. Never walk around after dark. It really is a shame as the people, food, culture, etc. are absolutely wonderful and would love to go there with the family, but the crime makes it a no go.



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DonAZ

August 14th, 2016 at 3:36 PM ^

Perhaps the further one gets from the major cities, the better it gets ...

Agree on the people -- those that I met were truly open and generous souls.

And the women are spectacular.  I literally walked in to a wall in Rio while trying to keep an eye on a young lady walking the other way.

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wolpherine2000

August 14th, 2016 at 5:19 PM ^

...less robbery related violence and kidnapping in the South, but a whole lot of smuggling and organized crime fills the gap and results in the sort of stuff you only think about happening in Chicago during prohibition.

When I was there, there was an armored car robbery right in front of our office during daylight hours, a guy was executed in his hospital bed a couple blocks away in some sort of white collar crime score settling, and someone stole an armored personal carrier from the local national guard armory. It's an amazing place, but every major office building and apartment has a dude in body armor with a tactical shotgun standing in front of it, and one gets the impression that you could find yourself in a scenario out of Grand Theft Auto without trying very hard.

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wolpherine2000

August 14th, 2016 at 4:00 PM ^

In Portuguese, professor... which happens to be the official language of Brasil. Guess you have some experience that exceeds mine in Porto Alegre.

 

[Edit: To clarify, I'm not making any statement about the efficacy of gun regulation, just correcting a point of fact. Individuals may obtain a license for a semi-automatic handgun of up to .38 without too much difficulty. It is incorrect to suggest that handguns are banned (no private individual may have one).]

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LKLIII

August 14th, 2016 at 2:25 PM ^

It could easily be real cops going rogue. If the government is broke and can't pay them at all or pays them a paltry salary, corruption among police officers tends to skyrocket. This happens in a lot of places where there are failed or quasi failed states. Either already organized gangs put the cops in the payroll as informants or extra muscle or the cops start to proactively form their own gangs/enforcement rackets to help keep food on the table. Happened in the post soviet breakup in Russia too.



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jmblue

August 14th, 2016 at 3:00 PM ^

On another Olympic topic, this definitely isn't a vintage "Dream Team" in basketball.  Another pretty tight game, against a France team that rested its best player.

While I still expect to win gold, a loss in the knockouts wouldn't shock me at this point. 

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Mr. Yost

August 14th, 2016 at 3:15 PM ^

Pretty sure this doesn't change anything about Rio's image...people are going to believe what they want to believe and the vast majority have never set foot in the city.

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Mr. Yost

August 14th, 2016 at 7:26 PM ^

You missed the point. I never said it was safe...I said your mind is already made up about Rio. I said this doesn't hurt Rio's image. Do you think Rio is more dangerous now? If this didn't happen would you think Rio is less dangerous? Learn to comprehend before you want to bring the MGoSnark. No one said anything about media fabricating anything. What an idiotic response.

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Mr. Yost

August 14th, 2016 at 7:33 PM ^

"Not sure these Olympics could have gone much worse for Rio's image" This has changed nothing about Rio's image in my mind. It's still the same beautiful, dangerous, corrupt, urban city it was before the Olympics. It'll be the same after the Olympics. Gosh it's frustrating that I always feel a need to respond to comments that are so dumb. I need to learn to do better. I need to work on that. But the urge to bitch slap people on a blog can sometimes be intoxicating.

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late night BTB

August 15th, 2016 at 3:24 PM ^

Great responses.

Spent 8 months all over Brazil and dated several Brazlian girls, both in their homeland and abroad.  I speak Portuguese.

I've had to bite my tongue much of these Olympics.  Yes, people who've never been to Brazil, never met any Brazilians, and never left their suburban neighborhood, tell me how Brazil is.  Their mind is made up of what Brazil is and it won't be changed.

Like Mr. Yost said, Brazil is wonderfully beautiful, joyful, corrupt, dangerous, uplifting, and depressing often all in the same city.  Most of the Americas are.

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