Will Brazil’s infrastructure be ready to host two global events over the next four years?

If Mitt Romney, America’s Republican presidential candidate, doubted London’s preparedness for the 2012 Olympics, what must he think about Brazil’s? The 2016 Olympics and 2014 football World Cup will happen in a country where only 14% of roads are paved. The World Economic Forum ranks Brazil’s quality of infrastructure 104th out of 142 countries surveyed, behind China (69th), India (86th) and Russia (100th). On a recent visit to Santos, Brazil’s largest port, your correspondent watched men clean up the remains of a ship that had exploded carrying chemicals—in the 1970s.