Three years ago I pointed out that chronic shortages of consumer goods are a trademark of socialist and communist regimes. Now the police stations in Rio are relying on their neighbors to supply them with toilet paper.
Found at Drudge:
RIO GOVERNOR WARNS OLYMPICS COULD BE ‘BIG FAILURE’…
The one I find most worrisome is the second one:
Officers said that in addition to pay problems, their work conditions — often in dangerous neighborhoods where they face heavily armed drug traffickers — have become dire.
“At the stations we don’t have paper or ink for the printers, there’s no one to come in to clean and some stations don’t have a water supply anymore so the toilets are not functioning,” said Andre, a 39-year-old officer in an elite unit that is key to providing security for the Olympics.
“Members of the public bring toilet paper to us,” he said.
A lack of fuel restricts use of cars, officers at the protest said.
Police also say that lack of a functioning helicopter added to their inability to prevent the daring rescue by traffickers a week ago of a notorious drug lord from a hospital, where he was under armed guard during treatment for bullet wounds.
Rio de Janeiro state’s acting governor warned on Monday in a newspaper interview that budget shortfalls threaten turning the Olympics into a “big failure.”
In terms of security, the state only has funding “until the end of this week,” he was quoted as saying by O Globo.
The state is waiting for a promised federal bailout.
