Brazilian president refutes criticisms on World Cup organizing

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva refuted on Tuesday the criticisms made to the organization of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, which is to take place in the country.

According to the president, some think that Brazilians are ” idiots” and do not know how to make the necessary improvements for the tournament.

“The African Cup has just ended and they have already started asking ‘where are the Brazilian airports?’, where are the Brazilian bus lanes?,” the president said, not elaborating on who “they” are.

“As if we were a bunch of idiots who do not know how to make things, how to define our priorities.”

The pressure for Brazil to make the necessary projects to host the next World Cup has increased in the past month, due to the proximity of the tournament, the fact that many reforms necessary to the Cup have yet to start, and to the problems with airports seen in South Africa.

President Lula also commented on the Rio-Sao Paulo bullet train project. According to the president, the train will be ready by 2016 when Rio will host the Olympic Games. He stressed the importance of the project and the difficulties to make the bullet train possible.

“I think Brazil needs it (the train) and I think that Rio and Sao Paulo need it because they are the most important cities in Brazil,” he said

The public bidding process for the bullet train’s construction will take place in mid-December.

Source: Xinhua