The latest massive police raid in Rio de Janeiro’s Alemão favela, which claimed at least 64 lives, is not an isolated incident but a brutal continuation of state-sanctioned violence that has plagued the city’s marginalized communities for decades, intensifying calls for accountability and reform.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is once again reeling from a devastating police operation, this time in the sprawling Alemão favela. The raid, which occurred on October 28, 2025, has left at least 64 people dead, including four police officers, making it the deadliest in Rio’s history. This event underscores a deeply entrenched cycle of violence, impunity, and systemic racism that disproportionately impacts the city’s marginalized, predominantly Black, communities.
The Latest Escalation: The Alemão Raid
According to security officials speaking to CNN Brasil, the massive operation targeted the Comando Vermelho (Red Command) criminal group, Brazil’s oldest active criminal organization. Rio de Janeiro State Governor Cláudio Castro described it as “the biggest operation in the history of Rio de Janeiro,” with more than 2,500 military and civilian police personnel involved. Authorities claimed to have confiscated a large quantity of drugs and at least 42 rifles, as stated in a post on X by the state government.
Eyewitness accounts and visual evidence depict a scene of intense conflict. Videos published by Reuters showed huge columns of black smoke emanating from Alemão, later revealed to be from burned cars used as barricades. Police also alleged that gang members used drones to attack officers, sharing video evidence of a drone firing a projectile. Governor Castro invoked the term “narco-terrorism” to describe the challenge, signaling a tough-on-crime stance that has characterized past administrations.
Echoes of Jacarezinho: A Pattern of Violence
The Alemão raid tragically echoes a similar, albeit smaller, event from May 2021 in the Jacarezinho favela, which resulted in 27 or 28 deaths. That operation, initially described by police as shootouts with drug traffickers, quickly came under scrutiny. A leaked autopsy report, published by O Globo and detailed by Vice World News, provided new evidence supporting charges of extrajudicial killings.
Key findings from the autopsy report and witness accounts included:
- Five victims were shot in the back.
- One victim had a close-range gunshot wound.
- Another victim was shot six times.
- Witnesses asserted that Richard Gabriel da Silva Ferreira, 23, and his friend Isaac Pinheiro de Oliveira, 22, were summarily executed, with no traces of a gun battle found in the house where they died.
- Multiple bullet wounds, as noted by criminal and penal law professor Bruno Fernandes, suggest an intent to kill rather than self-defense.
In the aftermath of the Jacarezinho raid, concerns also arose about evidence tampering. Local media reported that the civil police removed 25 of the 27 bodies from the crime scene. Autopsies indicated that three men had scrapes consistent with being dragged, and some detainees accused police of forcing them to carry corpses.
A Systemic Crisis: Police Impunity and Racial Disparity
These deadly raids are symptoms of a deeper, systemic crisis in Rio de Janeiro. Police violence in Brazil is stark, with 6,416 people killed nationwide by police in one year, and 1,245 in Rio de Janeiro alone. Black Brazilians are disproportionately affected, being almost three times more likely to be killed by police than white Brazilians. Data from Fogo Cruzado (Crossfire) Institute indicates that nearly 80 percent of Brazilians killed by Rio’s police are Black and brown.
A significant contributing factor is the prevailing culture of impunity. Historically, investigations into police killings are often conducted by the police themselves, with little oversight. In 2016, an official inquiry revealed that 98 percent of investigations in previous years were closed without bringing charges. This lack of accountability fosters an environment where officers operate with minimal fear of repercussions, particularly in poor communities where the rule often becomes “shoot first and ask questions later.”
Flouting Supreme Court Rulings and Political Incentives
Both the Alemão and Jacarezinho operations occurred despite a 2020 Supreme Court ruling that prohibited police raids in Rio de Janeiro’s low-income neighborhoods during the COVID-19 pandemic, except in “absolutely exceptional” cases. Critics argue that neither operation met this high bar, with the Jacarezinho raid’s stated objective of arresting low-level gang members hardly qualifying as exceptional.
Furthermore, experts like Pablo Nunes of Rio’s Center for Studies in Public Security and Citizenship describe operations like Jacarezinho as apparent “revenge operations” following the death of an officer. This behavior, Nunes suggests, has been accepted and even incentivized by a political climate, particularly since the election of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, which has promoted a “culture of impunity” for police violence.
The Struggle for Accountability
The call for reform and accountability is not new. The United Nations has urged countries to take steps toward eradicating systemic racism against people of African descent and holding officers accountable for abuses. For Brazil, this means prosecutors, not the police, should investigate police killings and ensure these investigations meet international standards, supported by independent forensic experts.
Past attempts at reform, such as the Pacifying Police Units (UPPs) program introduced in 2008, showed initial promise, leading to an 86 percent drop in police killings in targeted communities and improved quality of life. However, these initiatives ultimately faltered due to government neglect, difficult working conditions for officers, and a persistent erosion of trust caused by corruption and unlawful killings.
The infamous case of Amarildo de Souza, a Black construction worker tortured to death by police in the Rocinha favela in 2013, highlights this enduring problem. Despite convictions, one of the orchestrators was later reinstated as a police officer, sending a clear message about the limits of justice.
The Path Forward: Demanding Transparency and Justice
Responding to public pressure, Federal Supreme Court Judge Edson Fachin ordered the police in May 2021 to enforce existing laws requiring GPS devices on uniforms and in vehicles, as well as the use of body cams and recording equipment during operations. However, these laws, introduced in 2009, have rarely been obeyed, and powerful figures like Rio de Janeiro Governor Claudio Castro have actively opposed video camera use.
Critics argue that the police’s decree of a five-year secrecy period for documents related to the Jacarezinho raid, including the identity of officers involved, further demonstrates a lack of transparency. Such moves, experts contend, overstep legal boundaries, as the Access to Information Law (LAI) prohibits secrecy decrees on documents related to human rights violations by state agents.
Until there is sustained reform, including independent investigations, better training on the use of force, psychological services for officers, and strict adherence to human rights law, the cycle of violence and impunity will continue to define the relationship between the state and Rio’s favelas. The horrific death tolls from operations in Jacarezinho and Alemão serve as tragic reminders of the urgent need for a fundamental shift in policing practices.
