The events occurred this Wednesday, August 2, in a police operation, in the popular neighborhood of Vila Cruzeiro, in the north of Rio de Janeiro. According to the authorities, it was an anti-narcotics operation that tried to capture several leaders of the so-called Comando Vermelho, one of the largest criminal gangs in Brazil. However, the intervention ended in a violent confrontation after, according to the Police, his men were attacked by armed individuals. Operations of this type have claimed the lives of at least 44 people in the last six days.
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Blood continues to spill in the favelas of Brazil. A new operation left at least nine dead and three injured this Wednesday, August 2, in Rio de Janeiro.
The operation took place in the early hours of the morning, in the Vila Cruzeiro neighborhood, a popular area that belongs to the Penha Complex, a group of favelas under the control of drug trafficking groups, located in the north of the Brazilian metropolis.
The operation sought to capture leaders of the Comando Vermelho or Red Command, one of the most important criminal gangs in Brazil. Intelligence information had indicated that members of the criminal organization were preparing to meet in that neighborhood to plan actions in other areas of the city, controlled by rival gangs.
In the confrontation, at least tthree people were injured. Among them, according to sources at the Getulio Vargas Hospital, where they were sent, is a police officer who was shot in the abdomen.
The Secretary of Public Security of Rio de Janeiro assured that nine of the deceased were members of the Comando Vermelho. One of them was identified as Carlos Alberto Marques Toledo, one of the leaders of the gang, involved in drug trafficking activities in other areas of the city.
The intense shooting lasted until early in the morning and several entities of the Brazilian security forces dedicated to this type of operations participated, such as the Special Operations Battalion (BOPE), the elite group of the Rio de Janeiro Military Police and the Coordination of Special Resources of the Civil Police. The uniformed men arrived at the scene in armored vehicles and with the support of helicopters.
Police reprisals?
Videos recorded by neighbors and posted on social media showed the violence of the shooting. The residents of the neighborhood indicated that they took shelter in their homes, in an attempt to avoid the bullets that, according to their testimony, were sometimes fired indiscriminately by police officers.
The deaths in the midst of police raids have multiplied in Brazil in recent days. On Tuesday, August 1, another operation against criminal gangs left 14 dead in the city of Guaruja, located on the coast, some 60 kilometers from the city of São Paulo.
Another 19 people have lost their lives since Friday, July 28, in the state of Bahia, in the north of the country, after police operations of the same type, according to the local Military Police.
“We are not happy that there is a confrontation, but we will not submit to crime,” said the governor of the state of São Paulo.
The recent wave of violence began last Thursday, July 27, when police officer Patrick Bastos Reis, 30, died. The uniformed man was shot in the chest while he was patrolling in a favela in the city of Guaruja.
After his death, the state authorities launched a broad police operation against the drug trafficking groups, called ‘Operation Shield’, which mobilized around 600 agents of the public forces.
44 killed in police operations in the last six days
In total, police operations have left 43 dead in the last six days. “We are not happy that there is a confrontation” but “we will not submit to crime,” declared the governor of the state of São Paulo, Tarcisio de Freitas.
But several voices denounce what they consider abuses by the Police. The government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva criticized the operation, led by the local administration of Freitas, who served as the infrastructure minister of the far-right ex-president. Jair Bolsonaro, between 2019 and 2022.
The human rights organization Amnesty International also raised its voice against these actions. “The action had clear signs of revenge (…) How long are the rulers going to legitimize violence, police violence?”, published the NGO on platform X, known until recently as Twitter.
Tarcisio de Freitas responded to the accusations of police violence, indicating that “if there were excesses, they will be investigated.” Human Rights Watch also called for an investigation into the events of this Wednesday, August 2.
Police operations usually leave a significant number of victims in Brazil. In 2022, 6,429 people died at the hands of the Police, according to data from the NGO Brazilian Public Safety Forum. A figure equivalent to 17 deaths per day.
With Reuters and AFP
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