Nor is his rival, Mir Hossein Mousavi, a redeemer in waiting.

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Obama sees himself as a redeemer.

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Either way, he would come as a radical redeemer, a figure appealing equally to religious and political prophets.

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He is credited with saving the shantytown - perched on a hilltop overlooking the sea, with the Christ the Redeemer statue visible in the distance - from being demolished.

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Maduro's campaign was mostly a near-religious homage to the man he called "the redeemer of the Americas, " who succumbed to cancer March 5.

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And, of course, Brazil and India have the same fears of China as global low cost manufacturer as the US. In India, each village has their own little gods of protection and people tend to have god idols in their homes the way a Brazilian might have a statue of Jesus with open arms, like the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio, decorating their book shelves.

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In recent years, there has been a huge increase in visitors to the city, adding a favela tour to the traditional must-sees such as Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf Mountain.

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His first game was against South Africa in Wembley, and if faith in the Redeemer was strong no-one gave the hitherto-hapless Welsh a chance.

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