BRAZIL SHOCKED AS 119 KILLED IN RIO DE JANEIRO’S BLOODIEST POLICE RAID
Read Time:2 Minute, 19 Second
By Aishat Momoh. O.
Residents of the Complexo da Penha favela in Rio de Janeiro lined up dozens of bodies in the streets on Wednesday after a deadly police operation left at least 119 people dead, marking Brazil’s bloodiest anti-gang raid in history.
The large-scale operation, which authorities said targeted members of the powerful Comando Vermelho (Red Command) gang, has drawn national and international outrage — including condemnation from the United Nations — over alleged extrajudicial killings and excessive use of force.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was said to be “horrified” by the death toll, which came just days before Brazil is set to host the COP30 global climate summit in Belem.
According to Rio state officials, the fatalities included 115 suspected gang members and four police officers. However, the state’s Public Defender’s Office reported a higher toll of at least 132 deaths.
Eyewitnesses and AFP correspondents described chaotic scenes as residents retrieved bodies from a nearby forest, many bearing signs of torture. One man was reportedly decapitated, while others were shot in the back or the head.
“The state came to massacre, not to protect. They came to kill,” one distraught resident told AFP.
During the raid, hundreds of police officers, backed by armored vehicles, helicopters, and drones, clashed with heavily armed gang members. Authorities said the Red Command used drones to drop explosives on police and seized buses to barricade highways.
Rio State Governor Claudio Castro hailed the operation as a “success” against what he called “narcoterrorism,” insisting that only armed criminals and the slain officers were casualties.
Police officials claimed that most of the fighting occurred in the forest surrounding the favela to “protect the population,” while civil police secretary Felipe Curi alleged that the bodies displayed on the street were stripped by residents of military-style gear and weapons.
However, local activists accused the police of carrying out “executions.”
“There are people who were shot in the back of the head, others in the back. This cannot be called public safety,” said community activist Raull Santiago.
Lawyer Albino Pereira Neto, representing some bereaved families, alleged that several victims had been tied up and burned, describing the incident as “cold-blooded murder.”
Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski said the federal government was unaware of the operation, adding that President Lula was “shocked” by both the scale and secrecy of the raid.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed deep concern over the rising civilian death toll, while the UN Human Rights Office said it was “horrified” and demanded an independent investigation into the killings.
The raid has reignited debate over Rio’s long-standing “war on drugs,” a policy critics say has turned poor favelas into battlegrounds where innocent lives are often caught in the crossfire.
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