Activists who witnessed the removal of at least 70 bodies from a wooded area in Rio’s Complexo do Penha favela one day after Operation Contenção (“Containment”) – the largest police raid ever carried out in Rio de Janeiro – have described the event as a “bloodbath” and a “massacre” perpetrated by security forces. 
Entrepreneur Raull Santiago, born in the favela, was one of the first to report the discovery of the bodies. He used live broadcasts on his social media.
“This is the face of the marvelous city, which is often seen as the capital of tourism in Latin America. I love my city, my state, my favela, but there are moments when inequality screams so loud – when those in power direct their hatred and deliver their message to those who live in favelas like ours in the most brutal way possible,” he said.
Death toll
“Unfortunately, given my reality, I’m already used to seeing bodies riddled with bullets and torn apart. But this… I’ll never get used to this,” said Santiago about the mothers crying over the bodies of their children.
On Tuesday (Oct. 28), when the raid took place, the authorities had confirmed 64 deaths, including those of four police officers. However, at least 70 other bodies were removed by residents from nearby wooded areas and gathered in a public square in the favela.
If there are no duplicate figures and if all the bodies found were victims of the operation, the death toll could exceed 130.
“Both these executions and the deaths of the police officers are historical milestones that expose the inefficiency of Rio de Janeiro’s public security policy – or, worse than that, its efficiency, the way it’s designed, structured, conceived, and applied to deal with certain lives,” said Santiago.
Accountability
Antônio Carlos Costa, head of the NGO Rio de Paz, was also there when the bodies were taken away this morning and called on state Governor Cláudio Castro to take responsibility for the tragedy. He pointed out, though, that this episode is just like many others that have happened in the state.
“What is new about this massacre? Its scale, maybe, the death toll… What’s not new is this public security policy, the destruction of the lives of community residents. When we hear the responses to the operation, we hear words from 40, 50 years ago,” he declared.
“The causes of this extremely serious social problem have already been clarified, but why are so very obvious measures not being implemented? Because there’s no political will. Because it’s the favela residents who are dying, and because the men with the slogan ‘a good criminal is a dead criminal’ manage to get elected and reach the highest positions,” he added.
Governor Claudio Castro has stood up for the operation. The crackdown, he reported, had been planned over six months following over a year of probes, had the approval of the Judiciary, and was monitored by state prosecutors.
Experts interviewed by Agência Brasil criticized the raid, which had a major impact on the state capital but failed to achieve its goal of curbing organized crime. Jacqueline Muniz, a professor in the Department of Public Security at the Fluminense Federal University (UFF), described the operation as amateurish and a “political and operational mess.”
Favela movements also condemned the raids and stated that “security cannot be achieved with blood.”
