On the morning of October 28, Rio de Janeiro saw the largest police operation in the city’s history—a raid on favelas controlled by the “Red Command.” In clashes involving more than 2,500 security personnel, at least 60 people were killed, including four police officers. Authorities describe the events as a “war on narco-terrorism,” while human rights groups call it a “state massacre,” arguing that such raids fail to solve the problem and only fuel violence in the city’s poorest neighborhoods.
At least 60 people were killed in what became the deadliest police operation in Rio de Janeiro’s history. More than 2,500 police and special forces officers stormed favela areas near the international airport that are considered strongholds of one of Brazil’s most powerful criminal organizations.
The fighting began at dawn in the Alemão and Penha districts, home to around 300,000 people. When security forces advanced around 4 a.m., gunmen from the “Red Command” gang opened fire, set vehicles ablaze, and erected barricades. According to local media, for the first time in history they used explosive-laden drones to attack special forces units.
Gunmen from the “Red Command” criminal organization opened fire and set up barricades and burned vehicles.
The wounded were taken to hospitals throughout the morning, and by midday the death toll had reached at least 60 people, including four police officers. Another eight officers and four local residents were injured. Shocking images of young men killed in the clashes circulated widely on social media.
Staff at Getúlio Vargas Hospital carry an injured man following the police raids.
The state’s right-wing governor, Cláudio Castro, declared that the city “is at war,” calling the operation the largest since a similar raid in 2010. “This is no longer ordinary crime—this is narco-terrorism,” he said in a video posted on social media showing armored vehicles taking part in the operation.
According to official data, more than 80 people were arrested and over 40 automatic rifles were seized—a sign of the powerful arsenal Rio’s drug cartels have amassed since the late 1980s. Victor Santos, head of the Department of Public Security, said Operation “Containment” was aimed at capturing leaders of the “Red Command,” which controls a large part of Rio and is expanding its influence in other regions of the country, including the Amazon.
Journalist and activist Rene Silva, who lives in Alemão and runs the local outlet Voz das Comunidades, said he woke up around five in the morning to the sound of gunfire. He expressed frustration that authorities are once again resorting to military-style operations that, in his words, do not solve the problem. “This is not a fight against crime—it’s a fight against poverty,” he said. “We don’t have marijuana or cocaine plantations. We don’t have weapons factories. The problems of Rio must be solved elsewhere, not in the favelas.”
Human rights advocates and opposition politicians condemned the authorities’ actions. “What is happening in Alemão and Penha is not an operation—it’s a state massacre,” wrote state legislator Lúcia Marina dos Santos of the Workers’ Party on social media, accusing the government of turning Rio’s favelas into “war zones” under a failed war on drugs.
By Tuesday evening, gunfights and police raids were still underway, and officials did not rule out that the death toll could rise. Until now, the deadliest episode had been the raid in the Jacarezinho favela in May 2021, when 28 people were killed.
Over the past forty years, Rio’s favelas have fallen increasingly under the control of armed groups—most notably the “Red Command,” the “Pure Third Command,” and numerous paramilitary gangs that often include current or former members of the security forces. In recent months, the “Red Command” has launched a large-scale offensive aimed at driving out militias that control the city’s western districts.
Governor Castro said that police forces across the state had been placed on high alert amid fears of retaliatory attacks by drug cartels. By Tuesday evening, criminals were attempting to block key highways and roads in Rio.