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 persons and sparking shootouts that left at least subjects dead personnel noted Related Articles French senators say precaution at the Louvre is not in line with modern standards and demand action Gaza ceasefire tested as Israel and Hamas exchange fire and blame Prince William threatened to strip Andrew s daughters of titles US launches strikes on alleged drug-running boats in the eastern Pacific killing The present day in History October Statue of Liberty dedicated in New York 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 explained The police operation was one of the the greater part violent in Brazil s latest history with at least one human rights organization calling for an review into each death Rio s state Gov Claudio Castro declared in a video posted on social platform X that criminal persons 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 regime commented 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 citizens prosecutor s office must open its own investigations and clarify the circumstances of each death Mu oz noted in a message Footage on social media exhibited fire and smoke rising from the two favelas as gunfire rang out The city s Coaching Department disclosed schools across the two neighborhoods were closed and the nearby Federal University of Rio de Janeiro canceled night classes and reported people on campus to seek shelter Suspected gang members blocked roads in northern and southeastern Rio in response to the raid local media disclosed At least buses were commandeered to be used in the blockades causing critical damage the city s bus organization Rio Onibus declared The operation Tuesday followed a year of examination into the criminal group police reported 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 disclosed the federal leadership should be providing more assistance 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 latest 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 chosen 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 announced Luis Flavio Sapori a sociologist and constituents safety expert at Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais What s different about the present day s operation is the magnitude of the casualties These are war numbers he noted 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 citizens safety strategy Sapori explained A few 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 procedures It s a plan of extermination that makes the everyday life of Black and poor people a Russian roulette it reported in a report