More Than 130 Killed in Police Operation in Rio de Janeiro
HAVANA TIMES – At least 130 people were killed in a single operation carried out by police in two favelas (poor neighborhoods) of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s second-largest city, targeting the criminal organization Comando Vermelho, according to reports from the public prosecutor’s office.
The crossfire— which included drones carrying explosives— between entrenched criminals and police forces in the streets of the favelas paralyzed life in parts of the city on October 28th, and disrupted workplaces, schools, health services, and public transport, which began returning to normal on Wednesday, the 29th.
Authorities initially reported on Tuesday night that 64 people had died, including 60 civilians—most of them allegedly criminals—and four police officers. But residents of the favelas discovered and lined up another 70 bodies in the streets on Wednesday, most of them killed by gunfire in the wooded areas nearby.
With this grim increase, the Rio de Janeiro police operation has become the deadliest in Brazil’s history.
There were dozens of wounded, and the official toll also includes 81 people arrested and 90 rifles seized.
After that information was released on Tuesday evening, gunfire continued, and police apparently pursued individuals through the narrow alleys and wooded zones of the favelas overnight.
Comando Vermelho, Brazil’s second-largest criminal organization—after the Primeiro Comando da Capital based in São Paulo—is a long-standing group that, when founded in 1979, included some imprisoned leftists. It is mainly engaged in drug trafficking, extortion, robbery, kidnapping, and contract killings.
The police operation was launched by Rio de Janeiro’s governor, Claudio Castro, a political ally of far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro (2019–2022), to combat the expansion of Comando Vermelho.
“This operation began with the execution of court orders and an investigation that lasted more than a year and was planned for over 60 days against the narco-terrorists,” Castro said on Tuesday while reporting on the operation.
Castro criticized what he considers a lack of federal government support in confronting organized crime.
Leftist president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, recently returned from an official trip to Asia, met with his team in Brasília to analyze the crisis.
In Geneva, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), led by Volker Türk, said it was “horrified” by the large-scale police operation.
“We remind the authorities of their obligations under international law and urge that investigations be carried out promptly and effectively,” the office stated on its account on social media.
It added that “this deadly operation exacerbates the trend of extremely violent consequences resulting from police actions in Brazil’s marginalized communities.”
Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch, wrote on the same platform that “the prosecutor’s office must investigate the circumstances of each death and the decisions that led to this tragedy.”
The police massacre occurred just days before Brazil is set to host the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) next week in the Amazonian city of Belem, an event expected to draw thousands of participants.
First posted in Spanish by IPS and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.