RIO de Janeiro police swept criminals out of favelas and cornered them in the forest in a huge anti-gang operation that killed more than 130 people.
Police said they strategically surrounded the gangsters before shooting them in what has been described as the deadliest police action “in the history of the State.”
The raid, supposedly planned for more than a year, was aimed at crushing the territorial expansion of the Red Command.
The gang, Brazil’s oldest criminal faction, emerged from Rio’s prisons during the military dictatorship and now runs major drug trafficking and extortion networks across South America.
At a news conference Wednesday, police chief Marcelo de Menezes explained that driving the gangsters into the woods was a key part of their strategy.
From there, the objective was to climb to the highest point in the area, the Serra da Misericordia.
According to Menezes, the forces did this by establishing what is called a “BOPE wall” (a human barricade around the gangsters) and trapped them inside.
He explained: “We deployed the troops throughout the terrain.
“The difference, compared to the images that show heavily armed criminals seeking refuge in the wooded area, was the incursion of BOPE agents into the highest part of the mountain that separates the two communities.
“This action created what we call the ‘BOPE wall’: a containment line formed by police officers who pushed the criminals to the top of the mountain,” detailed the prime minister’s secretary.
The primary objective, he added, was “to protect the population and guarantee the safety of the neighbors.”
Four civilians and four police officers died during the operation, which he described as “very minor collateral damage.”
Chilling images taken from the Penha favela complex show up to 55 corpses lying under blankets and plastic sheets.
Locals living in the area, one of two attacked by police on Tuesday, were heard clapping as they stood up. next to the row of bodies.
Others burst into tears and clung to the lifeless hands of the brutally executed gang members, witnesses said.
Authorities are still investigating the bodies to determine if they were killed Tuesday during the police crackdown.
Slum residents said they found dozens of bodies covered in gunshot and stab wounds in bushes and forests between the Alemão and Penha favelas.
Police chiefs said the bodies lying in Sao Lucas Square in the Penha favela were not part of the official death toll.
It is said that the bodies were placed in the square so that relatives could identify their loved ones.
A woman was photographed crouching and crying over one of the bodies under a blanket as onlookers looked on with pain etched on their faces.
Glória Alves, 65, who lives in the Palmeiras area of Alemão, said: “There was a barrage of shots, a lot of shots. It was horrible.”
Governor Castro’s administration has taken an increasingly tough line against organizations crimeBut critics say such raids fail to dismantle drug trafficking networks.
“The difference with today’s operation is the magnitude of the victims. These are war figures,” said public security expert Luis Flávio Sapori.
Activists accused the government of turning Rio’s poor neighborhoods into war zones.
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“This is not a public security policy. It is a policy of extermination,” stated the Marielle Franco Institute.
The clashes came just days before Rio hosts the C40 World Mayors Summit and Prince William’s Earthshot Prize, global events linked to the upcoming COP30 climate summit in Brazil.
