RIO DE JANEIRO — Former Brazil soccer great Rivaldo is telling tourists to stay away from the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro because “you’ll be putting your life at risk.”
Rivaldo posted the warning on his Instagram account and alluded to the case of a 17-year-old woman killed Saturday in a shootout.
Rivaldo added: “This without speaking about the state of public hospitals and the Brazilian political mess.”
Violence is endemic in Rio, which hosts the Olympics in August.
In a recent statement, Amnesty International said at least 11 people had been killed in police shootings in Rio’s impoverished favelas in April. It said at least 307 people were killed by police last year, accounting for 20 percent of the homicides in the city.
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