Huge Brazilian raid on Rio gang leaves at least 60 people dead and 81 under arrest

By EL ONORE HUGHES and DIARLEI RODRIGUES RIO DE JANEIRO AP About Brazilian police and soldiers launched a massive raid on a drug-trafficking gang in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday arresting individuals and sparking shootouts that left at least persons dead bureaucrats noted Related Articles North Korea says it test-fired cruise missiles ahead of Trump s visit to South Korea Brigitte Macron s daughter testifies about alleged cyberbullying of France s first lady French senators say safeguard at the Louvre is not in line with modern standards and demand action US and China seek to strike a deal over rare earths tariffs soybeans How Mike Waltz is leading the Trump administration s a la carte approach to UN funding The operation included officers in helicopters and armored vehicles and targeted the notorious Red Command in the sprawling low-income favelas of Complexo de Alemao and Penha police stated The police operation was one of the majority of violent in Brazil s up-to-date history with at least one human rights organization calling for an assessment into each death Rio s state Gov Claudio Castro noted in a video posted on social platform X that criminal individuals were neutralized arrested and rifles seized during the massive one-day raid that he called the biggest such operation in the city s history A large amount of drugs also was seized the state administration disclosed An Associated Press journalist also saw the bodies of at least two police officers among bodies brought to the Getulio Vargas hospital in Penha Police did not promptly confirm the deaths of officers An unknown number of people also were wounded C sar Mu oz director of Human Rights Watch in Brazil called Tuesday s events a huge tragedy and a accident The populace prosecutor s office must open its own investigations and clarify the circumstances of each death Mu oz reported in a report Footage on social media proved fire and smoke rising from the two favelas as gunfire rang out The city s Learning Department explained schools across the two neighborhoods were closed and the nearby Federal University of Rio de Janeiro canceled night classes and advised people on campus to seek shelter Suspected gang members blocked roads in northern and southeastern Rio in response to the raid local media shared At least buses were commandeered to be used in the blockades causing substantial damage the city s bus organization Rio Onibus mentioned The operation Tuesday followed a year of scrutiny into the criminal group police explained EDS NOTE GRAPHIC CONTENT A police officer stands over bloodied people lying in the back of a police truck brought to the Getulio Vargas Hospital during a police operation against alleged drug traffickers in the Complexo do Alemao favela where the criminal organization Comando Vermelho operates in Rio de Janeiro Tuesday Oct AP Photo Silvia Izquierdo EDS NOTE GRAPHIC CONTENT Getulio Vargas Hospital workers remove an injured person from a police truck after he was injured during a police operation against alleged drug traffickers in the Complexo do Alemao favela where the criminal organization Comando Vermelho operates in Rio de Janeiro Tuesday Oct AP Photo Silvia Izquierdo Police gather outside the Getulio Vargas Hospital where a colleague was brought after getting injured in an operation against alleged drug traffickers in the Complexo do Alemao favela where the criminal organization Comando Vermelho operates in Rio de Janeiro Tuesday Oct AP Photo Silvia Izquierdo Police gather outside the Getulio Vargas Hospital where a colleague was brought after getting injured in an operation against alleged drug traffickers in the Complexo do Alemao favela where the criminal organization Comando Vermelho operates in Rio de Janeiro Tuesday Oct AP Photo Silvia Izquierdo Show Caption of EDS NOTE GRAPHIC CONTENT A police officer stands over bloodied people lying in the back of a police truck brought to the Getulio Vargas Hospital during a police operation against alleged drug traffickers in the Complexo do Alemao favela where the criminal organization Comando Vermelho operates in Rio de Janeiro Tuesday Oct AP Photo Silvia Izquierdo Expand Gov Castro from the conservative opposition Liberal Party commented the federal establishment should be providing more encouragement to combat crime a swipe at the administration of leftist President Luiz In cio Lula da Silva Gleisi Hoffmann the Lula administration s liaison with the parliament agreed that coordinated action was needed but pointed to a new crackdown on money laundering as an example of the federal administration s action on organized crime Emerging from Rio s prisons the Red Command criminal gang has expanded its control in favelas in modern years Rio has been the scene of lethal police raids for decades In March particular people were killed in Rio s Baixada Fluminense region while in May were killed in the Jacarezinho favela While the Tuesday s police operation was similar to previous ones its scale was unprecedented mentioned Luis Flavio Sapori a sociologist and populace safety expert at Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais What s different about currently s operation is the magnitude of the casualties These are war numbers he revealed He argued that these kinds of operations are inefficient because they do not tend to catch the masterminds but rather target underlings who can later be replaced It s not enough to go in exchange gunfire and leave There s a lack of strategy in Rio de Janeiro s inhabitants protection guidelines Sapori announced Various lower-ranking members of these factions are killed but those individuals are expeditiously replaced by others The Marielle Franco Institute a nonprofit founded by the slain councilwoman s family to continue her legacy of fighting for the rights of people living in favelas also criticized the operation This is not a society safety initiative It s a framework of extermination that makes the everyday life of Black and poor people a Russian roulette it declared in a comment