At least 19 people died this Thursday in a police operation mounted in a favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The fact was captured by a person and the video shook everyone on social networks.
The civil and military police of Rio de Janeiro raided the Alemao complex to stop a criminal group suspected of being involved in cargo truck robberies and bank robberies, and which also planned to expand its influence in nearby sectors.
Through a statement, the Military Police indicated that around 400 officers were part of it, who had the support of four planes and 10 armored vehicles.
The high number of deaths generated complaints and concern regarding rights abuses.
“There are indications of serious human rights violations and the possibility that this is one of the operations with the highest number of deaths in Rio de Janeiro,” the State Public Defender’s Office said in a statement.
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#LAST MINUTE#Brazil: 20 dead in operation in the favela #ComplexoDoAlemão
of #RioDeJaneiroElite groups of the Military and Civil Police came to fight the robbery of vehicles and banks. Among the dead is a member of the PM hit by a .50 war rifle. pic.twitter.com/hCgWchzcwD
— ?????????? ?????????? (@Mario_Moray) July 21, 2022
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Bolsonaro congratulated the police following the massacre
The Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, congratulated this Friday the policemen who yesterday carried out an operation that left 19 dead in the Complexo do Alemão, a group of favelas in the north of Rio de Janeiro, which several witnesses described as a “massacre” in retaliation for the death of an agent.
In statements to the local press, Bolsonaro said that he called the sister of a police officer who died during the operation and refused to give details of why he contacted her and not other victim families.
“He is a parachutist corporal, he is my brother and full stop, congratulations to the Military Police,” he closed, according to the G1 portal and collected by the Sputnik news agency. When asked by a journalist regarding the other victims, the far-right president refused to condemn the deaths and challenged her to show solidarity “with those people.”
“Solidarize yourself with those people,” he sentenced.
But according to the version of the neighbors and local witnesses, the massacre might have been motivated as retaliation for the death of the policeman, which would have happened at the beginning of the operation.
The police reported that the operation ended yesterday, but today a 49-year-old woman was shot dead in the same neighborhood, although at the moment the origin of the shot is unknown.
The joint operation between the Military Police and the Civil Police intended to dismantle a group of vehicle thieves, but according to the authorities’ version, when they arrived at the favela, the suspected suspects, heavily armed, offered resistance.
The massacre is the fourth deadliest in Rio’s history and the first two also occurred under the current administration of Governor Cláudio Castro, an ally of Bolsonaro.
In the favela of Jacarezinho, in May of last year, 28 people died and in Vila Cruzeiro, in May of this year, 25 were murdered.