RIO DE JANEIRO – A massive police raid targeting a powerful drug-trafficking gang in Rio de Janeiro erupted into a day-long urban battle on Tuesday, leaving at least 60 suspects and four officers dead in one of the most violent police operations in Brazil’s recent history. The scale of the violence has prompted immediate condemnation from human rights organizations and calls for independent investigations.
The operation, which involved hundreds of officers supported by helicopters and armored vehicles, targeted the strongholds of the notorious Red Command gang in the sprawling, low-income favelas of Complexo do Alemão and Penha. The state government reported that 81 suspects were arrested, and a significant cache of 93 rifles and over half a ton of drugs was seized.
Authorities stated that those killed had “resisted police action.” Rio’s governor, Claudio Castro, described the 60 suspects as having been “neutralised” and called the raid the largest of its kind in the city’s history.
A Day of Urban Warfare
The operation plunged the affected neighborhoods into chaos. Footage on social media showed plumes of smoke rising from the favelas as the sound of intense gunfire echoed through the streets. In response to the raid, suspected gang members blockaded roads across the city, commandeering at least 70 buses and causing significant disruption, according to the city’s bus organization.
The violence forced the closure of 46 schools and led the nearby Federal University of Rio de Janeiro to cancel night classes, advising those on campus to shelter in place.
Conflicting Narratives and Human Rights Concerns
While police framed the operation as a necessary blow against a powerful criminal organization, human rights groups voiced horror at the staggering death toll.
The United Nations’ human rights body said it was “horrified” by the events and reminded Brazilian authorities of their obligations under international law. César Muñoz, a senior Brazil researcher at Human Rights Watch, called the raid “a huge tragedy” and a “disaster.”
“The public prosecutor’s office must open its own investigations and clarify the circumstances of each death,” Muñoz urged, highlighting long-standing concerns over police brutality and extrajudicial killings in Rio.
Experts also questioned the strategic efficiency of such large-scale raids. Luis Flavio Sapori, a sociologist and public safety expert, noted that while the operation was similar to previous actions, its casualty count was unprecedented.
“What’s different about today’s operation is the magnitude of the victims. These are war numbers,” Sapori said. He added that these operations often fail to capture gang leaders, instead targeting lower-level members who are easily replaced.
A Recurring Pattern of Violence
Tuesday’s raid is the latest in a decades-long history of lethal police incursions into Rio’s favelas. It echoes a similar operation in the Jacarezinho favela in May 2021, which left 28 people dead. The persistent cycle of violence underscores the challenges of combating well-armed drug gangs while protecting the residents of the communities where they operate.
As families gathered outside hospitals searching for wounded relatives, the raid left a city grappling with the immediate aftermath of the violence and the deeper, unresolved issues of public security and police conduct that it represents.
