In the early hours of October 28, 2025, Rio de Janeiro was rocked by the deadliest police operation in Brazil’s history, as a massive raid targeting the notorious Red Command gang left at least 132 people dead in the city’s impoverished Penha Complex and Alemao Complex favelas. The operation, involving 2,500 police officers and soldiers, has since ignited a fierce national debate over law enforcement tactics, human rights, and the deep-seated challenges of organized crime in Brazil’s largest cities.
According to Reuters, authorities initially reported a death toll of 58, including four police officers, but the public defender’s office later confirmed that the true number was 132. The discrepancy fueled public outrage and prompted immediate protests. On October 29, dozens of favela residents gathered in front of the state government’s Guanabara Palace, chanting “assassins!” and laying out bodies in the streets to underscore what they described as a “slaughter.” BBC News verified videos showing rows of bodies in Rio’s northern Penha district, with many families and activists accusing police of carrying out executions rather than arrests.
The raid was months in the making, with state police planning to ambush the Red Command by driving suspects into a wooded hillside where special operations units lay in wait. The criminal group, which originated in Rio’s prisons in the 1970s, has become one of Brazil’s most powerful, commanding territory across the country and engaging in drug and arms trafficking, as well as protection racketeering. The operation’s stated goal was to capture gang leaders and limit the gang’s territorial expansion, which has accelerated in recent years, according to crime journalist Rafael Soares, as quoted by BBC News Brasil.
Police and soldiers launched the raid on foot, in armored vehicles, and from helicopters, immediately drawing heavy gunfire and even drone attacks from gang members. The ensuing chaos paralyzed the city: schools and a local university closed, shops shuttered, and major roads were barricaded with buses. The state government reported seizing 118 weapons—about 90 of them rifles—and more than a ton of drugs.
But the aftermath quickly turned from a story of tactical victory to one of alleged brutality and human rights violations. Residents and families of the dead recounted harrowing scenes. AFP journalists witnessed dozens of bodies recovered from a forest on the edge of the Penha favela, including at least one that had been decapitated. "They slit my son's throat, cut his neck, and hung the head from a tree like a trophy," said Raquel Tomas, whose 19-year-old son was among the dead. "They executed my son without giving him a chance to defend himself. He was murdered." Other residents, such as Elisangela Silva Santos, described hearing cries for help from wounded suspects who were then allegedly finished off by police. "Yes they're traffickers, but they're human," she insisted.
Lawyer Albino Pereira Neto, representing several families, told AFP that some bodies bore burn marks, and many had been tied up. "Some were murdered in cold blood," he said. Local activist Raull Santiago said he and his team found about 15 bodies before dawn. "We saw executed people: shot in the back, shots to the head, stab wounds, people tied up. This level of brutality, the hatred that is spread—there's no other way to describe it except as a massacre," Santiago told BBC News.
State officials, meanwhile, maintained the operation was justified and necessary. Governor Claudio Castro, a conservative and ally of former President Jair Bolsonaro, described the day as "historic" in the fight against crime and called the raid a "success." In a video posted to social media, Castro insisted that Rio was "at war against narco-terrorism" and lamented what he characterized as a lack of federal support. "Rio is alone in this war," he said, echoing language reminiscent of hardline anti-drug campaigns elsewhere in Latin America.
Castro’s statements drew swift criticism from both national and international observers. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who was reportedly "astonished" that the federal government had not been informed or involved in the operation, condemned the scale of the violence. Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski called the raid "very bloody" and questioned whether such actions were compatible with Brazil’s democratic rule of law. On social media, Lula declared, "Organized crime continues to destroy families, oppress residents, and spread drugs and violence across cities." He instructed federal officials to meet with Castro to discuss the fallout.
The operation’s fallout also drew the attention of Brazil’s Supreme Court. Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered Governor Castro to provide detailed information about the raid and scheduled a hearing with the governor and the heads of the military and civil police for November 3, 2025. Prosecutors and lawmakers demanded evidence that less harmful means could not have achieved the operation’s objectives, and the federal public prosecutor’s office requested comprehensive autopsy documentation for all victims.
International human rights organizations were quick to weigh in. Marta Hurtado, spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, acknowledged the challenges of confronting violent and well-organized gangs but urged Brazil to "break this cycle of extreme brutality and ensure that law enforcement operations comply with international standards regarding the use of force." Cesar Munoz, director of Human Rights Watch in Brazil, described the deaths as a "tragedy" and argued that "the succession of lethal operations that do not result in greater safety for the population but that in fact cause insecurity reveals the failure of the policies of Rio de Janeiro."
Such deadly raids are not unprecedented in Brazil, but the scale of this week’s operation is. Previous deadly police actions in Rio include the 2021 Jacarezinho raid, which left 29 dead, and a 2022 operation in the Alemao Complex that killed 19. The infamous 1992 Carandiru Penitentiary massacre in São Paulo, where 111 prisoners were killed, remains a grim touchstone in Brazil’s history of law enforcement violence. Still, operations resulting in more than 20 deaths are considered "very rare," according to Soares, and usually occur in Rio.
As the dust settles, the city and the country face difficult questions. The Red Command’s grip on Rio and its expansion into other regions, including the Amazon, have only intensified, despite—or perhaps because of—such heavy-handed tactics. Critics like Roberto Uchôa from the Brazilian Forum on Public Safety argue that "killing more than 100 people like this won't help decrease the Red Command's expansion. The dead will soon be replaced." The debate over whether force or reform will bring lasting security to Brazil’s favelas shows no sign of abating.
The events in Rio this week have left scars—on families, on communities, and on the nation’s conscience. As investigations proceed and political tensions simmer, Brazilians are left to ponder whether the cycle of violence can ever truly be broken, and at what cost.
