A massive police operation against drug traffickers in a Brazilian favela on Thursday left 25 people dead, turning the impoverished Rio de Janeiro neighborhood into a battlefield and drawing condemnation from rights groups.
A policeman was among those killed in the early morning raid on Jacarezinho, on Rio’s north side, where residents awoke to explosions, heavy gunfire and helicopters overhead.
Police confirmed the toll — and investigators said it was the deadliest police operation in the history of Rio de Janeiro state.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Police identified the other 24 dead as “suspects” and said that all protocols had been followed before officers opened fire, but rights groups and academics cried foul.
“Who are the dead? Young black men. That’s why the police talk about ‘24 suspects.’ Being a young, black favela resident automatically makes you a suspect to the police. They just keep piling up bodies and saying: ‘They’re all criminals,’” said Silvia Ramos, head of the Security Observatory at Candido Mendes University.
“Is this the public security policy we want? Shoot-outs, killings and police massacres?” she said.
Large groups of heavily armed police could be seen streaming into the favela as frightened residents tentatively went about their business once the gunfire died down, Agence France-Presse journalists said.
Residents reported seeing corpses lying on the pavement in pools of blood, and numerous bodies being taken out in an armored police vehicle, a local community leader said, asking that their name not be published for safety reasons.
At least two people were wounded when a subway car they were riding in was apparently caught in the crossfire during the operation, news site G1 reported.
TV network GloboNews showed aerial images of armed suspects fleeing from one residence to another in the densely packed neighborhood during the raid, passing what looked like high-powered rifles from hand to hand.
“Unfortunately, there were many clashes in the area. There is nothing to celebrate with this toll,” one police official told a news conference, adding that the officer killed was shot in the head.
Rights groups and residents later inspected the houses targeted — some had blood stains and damage from the shoot-out.
Police said the operation targeted a gang suspected of recruiting children and teenagers for drug trafficking, robberies, assaults and murders.
The group “had set up a war-style structure with hundreds of ‘soldiers’ equipped with rifles, pistols, grenades, bulletproof vests, camouflage fatigues and other military accessories,” they said.
The neighborhood is considered a base for the Comando Vermelho, or Red Command, the iconic beach city’s biggest drug gang.
Rights activists questioned why recruiting minors — a common practice among Brazilian gangs — would lead to such a deadly operation.
There were also questions about the timing: The operation came despite a Supreme Court ruling barring police from carrying out raids in Brazil’s impoverished favelas during the COVID-19 pandemic except in “absolutely exceptional circumstances.”
A beauty queen who pulled out of the Miss South Africa competition when her nationality was questioned has said she wants to relocate to Nigeria, after coming second in the Miss Universe pageant while representing the West African country. Chidimma Adetshina, whose father is Nigerian, was crowned Miss Universe Africa and Oceania and was runner-up to Denmark’s Victoria Kjar Theilvig in Mexico on Saturday night. The 23-year-old law student withdrew from the Miss South Africa competition in August, saying that she needed to protect herself and her family after the government alleged that her mother had stolen the identity of a South
BELT-TIGHTENING: Chinese investments in Cambodia are projected to drop to US$35 million in 2026 from more than US$420 million in 2021 At a ceremony in August, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet knelt to receive blessings from saffron-robed monks as fireworks and balloons heralded the breaking of ground for a canal he hoped would transform his country’s economic fortunes. Addressing hundreds of people waving the Cambodian flag, Hun Manet said China would contribute 49 percent to the funding of the Funan Techo Canal that would link the Mekong River to the Gulf of Thailand and reduce Cambodia’s shipping reliance on Vietnam. Cambodia’s government estimates the strategic, if contentious, infrastructure project would cost US$1.7 billion, nearly 4 percent of the nation’s annual GDP. However, months later,
Texas’ education board on Friday voted to allow Bible-infused teachings in elementary schools, joining other Republican-led US states that pushed this year to give religion a larger presence in public classrooms. The curriculum adopted by the Texas State Board of Education, which is controlled by elected Republicans, is optional for schools to adopt, but they would receive additional funding if they do so. The materials could appear in classrooms as early as next school year. Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott has voiced support for the lesson plans, which were provided by the state’s education agency that oversees the more than
Ireland, the UK and France faced travel chaos on Saturday and one person died as a winter storm battered northwest Europe with strong winds, heavy rain, snow and ice. Hampshire Police in southern England said a man died after a tree fell onto a car on a major road near Winchester early in the day. Police in West Yorkshire said they were probing whether a second death from a traffic incident was linked to the storm. It is understood the road was not icy at the time of the incident. Storm Bert left at least 60,000 properties in Ireland without power, and closed
RSS