The police operation launched this Tuesday in Rio de Janeiro, the deadliest in the history of the Brazilian city, left 132 dead, including four officers, the regional Public Defender's Office confirmed to the EFE news agency on Wednesday.
This institution, which is responsible for providing free legal assistance, released the new death toll after residents of the affected neighborhoods began searching for their missing relatives and started gathering dozens of bodies in a square.
Officials from the agency have been accompanying the searches in the Penha favela, one of the focus of the operation, since early Wednesday morning, and are present at the forensic institutes responsible for the identification of the bodies, according to a statement.
Likewise, the Public Defender's Office stated that it collected testimonies from residents and relatives of the deceased to"contribute to the necessary institutional response to the unprecedented state violence."
On the other hand, the governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Cláudio Castro, said this Wednesday during a press conference that, for now, he is aware of 58 deaths, although he acknowledged that the number “will surely change.”
The bodies found by relatives, all of them men, lay side by side on the ground in a square in Penha, in full view of the neighbors.
The regional government stated in a press release that the suspects were killed after"reacting" to the actions of the officers.
The police operation sought to execute 100 arrest warrants against members of the Comando Vermelho, one of the two most powerful criminal factions in Brazil, in two favela complexes, Penha and Alemão.
During the operations carried out with the support of 2,500 officers and dozens of armored vehicles, 81 suspects were arrested and 93 rifles and half a ton of drugs were seized, according to the latest statement from the regional government.
The gang members responded to the operation with blockades on several roads in the northern zone of Rio, leading to disruptions in traffic on a hundred bus lines and the closure of dozens of schools and health centers.
This Wednesday, the city awoke without new lockdowns after the day of chaos, although most shops and schools in the affected neighborhoods remain closed.
Civilians moved more than 60 bodies to a square
Early Wednesday morning, residents of the Complexo da Penha, in the northern part of Rio de Janeiro, moved more than 60 bodies to the community's São Lucas square. Civil Defense arrived at the scene early in the morning to remove the remains.
The bodies were found in the wooded area between the Alemão and Penha complexes, where the police operation took place.
The lawyer Flávia Fróes, who was present during the removal of the bodies, stated that several of them showed “ marks from gunshot wounds to the back of the neck, stab wounds in the back and wounds on the legs ”.
Human rights organizations and defenders requested the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to send international observers and experts to Rio.
Fróes described the police intervention as “the biggest massacre in the history of Rio de Janeiro ”.
The bodies were removed from the back of a vehicle with the help of homeless people. Among those who helped with the removal were minors. A boy of approximately nine years old assisted in the task, reported the newspaper Folha de São Paulo.
One of the bodies was headless. The head was carried in a bag. Amid the commotion, one of the bystanders shouted to the relatives, “It’s the one with red hair.” The corpse’s hands were clenched, gripping grass.
The bodies, lined up in the square, were surrounded by residents of the neighborhood trying to identify their relatives and acquaintances. A woman shouted,"Murderous police, where is my son?" The mother of one of the victims, a 20-year-old, said she had found her son with his wrist tied in the wooded area.
Beside the bodies, women wept and embraced each other after identifying the dead. One of them said,"My son."
Activist Raull Santiago reported that the display of the bodies was requested by the families in order to show the condition in which they were found. “A scene that will go down in Brazil’s horror history,” he said.
The streets of Rio de Janeiro were deserted
The tension lingered into the night. A woman walking her dog in Praça Varnhagen, in Tijuca, told O Globo: “It feels like Covid. Very strange.” Anyone who had visited Rio during the first weeks of the pandemic and returned in the early hours after the operation would find a similar atmosphere. The area, nicknamed “Buxixo,” usually teeming with activity, bars, and samba, remained deserted.
The bars and restaurants in the area were closed, and the usual streets of nightlife looked deserted.
On Boulevard 28 de Setembro in Vila Isabel, only two street sweepers, two recyclers, and a small bar remained. This avenue, famous for its bars linked to composers like Noel Rosa and Martinho da Vila, presented an unusual sight. Rua Teodoro da Silva, which connects several neighborhoods, was also deserted. In Largo Verdun, in Grajaú, a 24-hour pharmacy closed, reflecting the lack of movement also recorded in Maracanã and Avenida Rei Pelé.
The Grajaú-Jacarepaguá highway, an important link between the North and Southwest Zones, also remained closed, which drew particular attention. This road, which runs through communities under the control of the Comando Vermelho, was a target of the operation.
At approximately 3:30 a.m., the Rio Operations and Resilience Center (Cor-Rio) announced that all roads were cleared, the last being the aforementioned Grajaú-Jacarepaguá.
In the South Zone, the early morning hours were marked by a tense atmosphere and empty areas, a consequence of restricted mobility and the early return of residents. In Praça São Salvador, in the Laranjeiras neighborhood, the usual activity was absent.
“I’m just passing through because I needed to buy something urgently at the market, but I’m in a hurry. On any other night, I’d be watching a game at a table, but tonight I’m staying home,” a neighbor explained to the local news outlet G1.
