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General night view of the city of Rio de Janeiro. CHRISTOPHE SIMON / AFP

Rio is officially in a state of cessation of payments since Monday, December 16. The famous Brazilian city is going through a deep financial crisis, due to mismanagement. Civil servants are no longer paid - some even for several months.

With our correspondent in Rio de Janeiro, Martin Bernard

In city hospitals, patients are left to fend for themselves or their family members who can accompany them. In maternity wards, images from local television show mothers who have to take care of their babies in incubators.

Outside, demonstrators are holding up signs to denounce the collapse of the public service. Some of them have not received a salary for three months and have gone on strike.

Christmas without pay for municipal officials?

In a recent statement on social media, Mayor Marcelo Crivella assured that there was no crisis in Rio. But now, the accounts of the tourist capital of Brazil are blocked, and the town hall cannot make any payment. Professors and other city officials may therefore spend Christmas without pay and without the 13th month.

Public finance specialists denounce mismanagement. But this is not the first time that this has happened: after the 2016 Olympics , the State of Rio also suspended the payment of civil servants' salaries for several months.