A massive police operation against criminal organization Comando Vermelho in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, left at least 64 dead on Tuesday. According to official information, four of them were security officers and 60 were suspects. However, the count could rise to above 130, as residents are reporting to have found 70 additional bodies in a nearby forest area.
According to Rio’s Ombudsman Office, 132 people have been killed in total, including the four officers. Over 100 people have been arrested.
The operation is the largest in 15 years. According to Brazil’s public news agency Agencia Brasil, the official body count makes the massacre the deadliest in the state of Rio de Janeiro.
If the death toll of at least 132 is confirmed, however, it would become the deadliest in Brazilian history. That record currently belongs to what is known as the Carandiru Massacre, when 111 inmates were killed during a police crackdown on a riot in Brazil’s largest prison, in Sao Paulo.
The police operation The operation was carried out by 2,500 military and civil police officers under orders of the state government in the informal settlements — often referred to as favelas — of Penha and Alemão. The goal was to capture members of the Comando Vermelho (Red Command) organization.
Comando Vermelho is a criminal organization found mainly in Rio, but also in other Brazilian cities and neighboring countries. It primarily engages in drug and arms trafficking.
On Wednesday morning, Rio de Janeiro Governor Claudio Castro said that the operation was “a success and that the only victims were the police officers” who died. Before giving a press conference, he shared a video-call with other right-wing governors.
“I see it as the beginning of a new era in which we will be able to free not only the people of Rio, but also Brazilians in general, from crime,” Castro said. “We will not shy away from doing our part; we have dealt a heavy blow to crime.”
Photo: Tomaz Silva/Agência Brasil A row of dead bodies According to reports from local papers O Globo and Folha de Sao Paulo, residents of the northern area of Rio retrieved 70 bodies from a nearby forest area. The bodies were taken to a square, where residents aligned them and asked press to photograph and record them before covering them with sheets.
Initial reports stated 20 bodies had been found in the forest, but the number kept rising on Wednesday morning.
Lawyer Flávia Fróes, who is representing the families of the deceased, said that some of the bodies had gunshot marks in their heads, as well as stabbing and signs of torture. Folha reported that other witnesses said that one of the bodies was headless, while the corpse’s fists were closed clutching grass. Family members gathered around the rows of bodies to attempt to identify them.
The United Nations Human Rights Office said they were “horrified by the ongoing police operation” in Rio. “This deadly operation furthers the trend of extreme lethal consequences of police operations in Brazil’s marginalized communities,” they wrote on X, urging authorities to comply with their obligations under international human rights law, as well as “prompt and effective investigations” of the deaths.
Socialist state lawmaker Dani Monteiro released a statement saying that “no security policy can be sustained on this bloodbath.”
“We are facing a lethal operation never seen before. The state cannot continue to act as if there were a death penalty, nor that favelas are enemy territory or a stage for spectacle.”
The northern area of Rio was in chaos on Tuesday as residents created make-shift barricades — even using buses to block entrances — lit fires, and blocked roads. Transport services were affected and school was suspended. According to media reports, the operation was over by Wednesday morning and all city services were functioning normally.
Cover photo credit: Tomaz Silva/Agência Brasil
