Brazilian police say demise toll in enormous police raid on drug gang in Rio rises to 119

[ad_1] RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — An enormous police raid on a drug gang embedded in low-income neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro that left a minimum of 119 folks lifeless drew protests for extreme drive Wednesday and requires the Rio’s governor to resign.

Dozens of favelas residents gathered in entrance of the state’s authorities headquarters shouting “assassins!” and waving Brazilian flags stained with pink paint, a day after Rio’s deadliest raid and hours after households and residents laid dozens of lifeless our bodies on a avenue in one of many focused communities to indicate the magnitude of the operation.

Questions shortly arose in regards to the demise depend and the state of the our bodies, with studies of disfigurement and knife wounds. Brazil’s Supreme Courtroom, prosecutors and lawmakers requested Rio state Gov. Claudio Castro to offer detailed details about the operation.

“This was a bloodbath,” stated Barbara Barbosa, a home employee from the Penha complicated of favelas, one of many two enormous communities focused within the police operation. She stated her son was killed in a previous operation in Penha.

“Do we've a demise sentence? Cease killing us,” stated activist Rute Gross sales, 56. Many residents got here Penha in Rio’s poor, northern zone to the imposing Guanabara Palace on motorbikes.

The toll of 115 suspects and 4 policemen killed was a rise over what authorities initially stated had been 60 suspects lifeless in Tuesday’s raid by about 2,500 police and troopers within the favelas of Penha and Complexo de Alemao.

Felipe Curi, Rio state police secretary, instructed a information convention that our bodies of further suspects had been present in a wooded space the place he stated that they had worn camouflage whereas battling with safety forces. He stated native residents had eliminated clothes and gear from the our bodies, in what could be investigated as proof tampering.

“These people had been within the woods, outfitted with camouflage clothes, vests and weapons. Now a lot of them appeared sporting underwear or shorts, with no gear, as if that they had come by a portal and adjusted garments,” Curi stated.

Earlier Wednesday, within the neighborhood of Penha, residents had surrounded most of the our bodies — collected in vans and displayed in a primary sq. — and shouted “bloodbath” and “justice” earlier than forensic authorities arrived to retrieve the stays.

“They'll take them to jail, why kill them like this? A lot of them had been alive and calling for assist,” resident Elisangela Silva Santos, 50, stated throughout the gathering in Penha. “Sure they’re traffickers, however they’re human.”

The tally of suspects arrested stood at 113 — up from 81 cited beforehand, Curi stated. The state authorities stated some 90 rifles and greater than a ton of medicine had been seized.

The our bodies of individuals killed the day earlier than throughout a police raid focusing on the Comando Vermelho gang lie within the Complexo da Penha favela of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. (AP Photograph/Silvia Izquierdo)

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Police and troopers had launched the raid in helicopters, armored automobiles and on foot, focusing on the Pink Command gang. They drew gunfire and different retaliation from gang members, sparking scenes of chaos throughout town on Tuesday. Colleges within the affected areas shuttered, an area college canceled courses, and roads had been blocked with buses used as barricades.

Many outlets remained closed Wednesday morning in Penha, the place native activist Raull Santiago stated he was a part of a crew that discovered about 15 our bodies earlier than daybreak.

“We noticed executed folks: shot within the again, pictures to the top, stab wounds, folks tied up. This degree of brutality, the hatred that's unfold - there’s no different solution to describe it besides as a bloodbath,” Santiago stated.

Supreme Courtroom Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered Castro to offer details about the police operation and scheduled a listening to with the state governor and the heads of the navy and civil police subsequent Monday in Rio.

The Senate’s fee for human rights stated it was asking for clarifications from the Rio state authorities. In the meantime, Rio prosecutors requested that Castro present detailed details about the operation and proof that there was no much less dangerous technique of attaining its goals.

And the federal public prosecutor’s workplace requested the Forensic Medical Institute to make sure that post-mortem studies include full descriptions and photographic and radiographic documentation of all accidents.

Castro stated on Tuesday that Rio was at conflict in opposition to “narco-terrorism,” a time period that echoed the Trump administration in its campaign against drug smuggling in Latin America.

On Wednesday, Castro referred to as the operation a “success,” aside from the deaths of the 4 law enforcement officials.

Rio’s state authorities stated that the suspects who had been killed had resisted police.

Rio has been the scene of deadly police raids for many years. In March 2005, some 29 folks had been killed in Rio’s Baixada Fluminense area, whereas in Could 2021, 28 had been killed within the Jacarezinho favela.

Residents encompass the our bodies of individuals killed the day earlier than throughout a police raid focusing on the Comando Vermelho gang within the Complexo da Penha favela of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. (AP Photograph/Silvia Izquierdo)

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Relations mourn over the our bodies of individuals killed the day earlier than throughout a police raid focusing on the Comando Vermelho gang within the Complexo da Penha favela of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. (AP Photograph/Silvia Izquierdo)

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However the scale and lethality of Tuesday’s operation are unprecedented. Non-governmental organizations and the U.N. human rights physique shortly raised issues over the excessive variety of reported fatalities and referred to as for investigations.

“We absolutely perceive the challenges of getting to take care of violent and well-organized teams similar to Pink Command,” stated U.N. Human Rights Spokesperson Marta Hurtado stated.

However Brazil should “break this cycle of maximum brutality and make sure that legislation enforcement operations adjust to worldwide requirements concerning the usage of drive,” she stated, including that the physique was calling for full-fledged policing reform.

Late on Wednesday, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva stated on X that he had instructed the justice minister and director-general of Federal Police to satisfy Castro for a gathering in Rio.

Brazil can not settle for that organized crime “continues to destroy households, oppress residents, and unfold medication and violence throughout cities,” he stated.

The operation’s acknowledged goals had been capturing leaders and limiting the territorial enlargement of the Pink Command gang, which has elevated its management over favelas in recent times.

Gang members allegedly focused police with a minimum of one drone. Rio de Janeiro’s state authorities shared a video on X of what appeared to indicate a drone firing a projectile from the sky.

Gov. Castro, from the conservative opposition Liberal Occasion, stated Tuesday that Rio was “alone on this conflict.” He stated the federal authorities ought to be offering extra assist to fight crime — in a swipe on the administration of Lula’s leftist administration.

His feedback had been challenged by the Justice Ministry, which stated it had responded to requests from Rio’s state authorities to deploy nationwide forces within the state, renewing their presence 11 occasions.

A lady mourns over the our bodies of individuals killed the day earlier than throughout a police raid focusing on the Comando Vermelho gang within the Complexo da Penha favela of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. (AP Photograph/Silvia Izquierdo)

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Gleisi Hoffmann, the Lula administration’s liaison with the parliament, agreed that extra coordinated motion was wanted however pointed to a current crackdown on money laundering for example of the federal authorities’s motion on organized crime.

Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski stated it was clearly a particularly bloody and violent operation.

“We must always mirror on whether or not this type of motion is appropriate with the Democratic Rule of Regulation that governs us all,” he instructed journalists on Wednesday.

Legal gangs have expanded their presence throughout Brazil in recent times, including in the Amazon rainforest .

Roberto Uchôa, from the Brazilian Discussion board on Public Security think-tank, stated that felony gangs have strengthened regardless of these sorts of operations, suggesting that they're inefficient.

“Killing greater than 100 folks like this received’t assist lower the Pink Command’s enlargement. The lifeless will quickly get replaced,” Uchôa stated.

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