SÃO PAULO – A Brazilian tourist died while visiting the Christ the Redeemer monument in Rio de Janeiro, on Mar. 16, allegedly due to the lack of medical attention in the area. This is led the local consumer’s defense service to shut Brazil’s major tourism destination for visitors on the following day.

The park where the giant statue is located was only reopened on Mar. 18 after the rectory of the Sanctuary hired an ambulance and kept it in the complex in order to offer medical support to tourists – despite the fact that it’s not up to the Church to provide any service in the area. Now, the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro hopes the monument’s management could be transferred to it or that the whole surrounding area of reservation can be under responsibility of the municipality, so tragedies like that won’t occur anymore.

Fifty-four-year-old Alex Duarte, a tourist from Rio Grande do Sul state, was going up the stairs that lead to the base of the statue on Sunday morning when he suddenly felt ill. CCTV footage shows how different people tried to help the man and performed cardiac massage, including his niece and a priest of the Sanctuary.

It was 7:39 AM when he fainted, and an ambulance only arrived at 8:13 AM, when nothing more could be done. The paramedics confirmed his death 9 minutes after they arrived. He was sent to a hospital in the city, which said he had a heart attack.

Duarte’s death sparked outrage in Brazil. His niece complained on social media about the fact that the monument doesn’t have an ambulance or adequate medical services. In fact, the park’s medical facility was closed at the time of the emergency. The companies in charge of providing services in the monument claimed that the doctor’s office only opens at 8 AM.

The Sanctuary of the Christ the Redeemer issued a statement on the day saying that the park “doesn’t have an ambulance, universal accessibility, drinking fountains, volunteer fire brigade, restrooms with adequate accessibility, escalators and elevators in full service, internet and cellphone signal.”

Institute Chico Mendes of Biodiversity Conservation (known in Brazil as ICMBio), the federal government’s agency in charge of taking care of national parks and reservations, replied to the archdiocese that it is up to the companies that have the concession to offer services in the area to provide medical support to tourists.

The Sanctuary and the monument are located inside the National Tijuca Park, a federal forest reservation supervised by the ICMBio. According to Father Omar Raposo, the Sanctuary’s rector, the agency doesn’t receive enough money from the federal government and is unable to adequately take care of the park.

“That’s the most important tourism symbol in Brazil. Unfortunately, the infrastructure of the monument is insufficient to handle the large number of tourists that visit it every day,” Raposo told Crux.

Run-ins between the ICMBio and the Sanctuary over the management of the Christ the Redeemer are not new. In 2021, Raposo claimed that he and other priests were impeded from getting into the Sanctuary on a number of occasions by ICMBio employees.

“But this time, the problem is one thousand times worse, because a person died here. It’s a shame,” he said.

After the State government’s consumer’s defense service shut down the monument on Mar. 17, Raposo decided to pay for an ambulance himself, so the park would be reopened. The ICMBio also hired an ambulance on the same day. Coincidentally, a Danish tourist also felt ill as he was climbing up the path to the monument on Mar. 18. He received medical attention in one of the ambulances and was taken to a hospital, being released a few hours later.

“Another tragedy could have happened. Thank God we decided to bring that ambulance here,” Raposo said.

Since last year, the Sanctuary has been pressuring different authorities to change things. A bill was introduced by a congressman, for instance, with the goal of transferring the area of the monument to the archdiocese, which would be allowed to take care of it the way it wants.

“Another bill is being introduced in the Chamber of Deputies in order to transfer the management of the Tijuca Park to the city of Rio de Janeiro,” Raposo said.

He said that the city government is much more prepared to deal with the challenges involved in managing the park, which has been partially occupied by favelas, and with the tourism dimension.

“We have been working side by side with the city government on a number of initiatives. I think that bringing the park’s administration to the city would be a very positive solution. I’m hopeful about it,” Raposo said.