Early morning yesterday, 28th of october, a massive operation involving 2500 police officers, started by right-wing governor Cláudio Castro happened in the city of Rio de janeiro. It’s goal was capturing major members of “CV”, a criminal organization mostly residing on “Complexo da Penha”, the city’s northern region.
As of writing, 119 people(police, criminals and innocents) died, the biggest number in any special operation since 1992. There are ongoing investigations on whether or not there’s been abuse by the police. 113 people, 118 weapons(91 rifles) and a massive number of drugs have been detained.
Said weapons have been used by criminals against the police, but not just that: They also made use of drones to drop bombs and cars/buses on fire as barricades.
This is not Brazil’s first mega operation this year: In september, the federal government made a far more organized one against “PCC”, another criminal organization, with much fewer deaths.
Why Rio?
Despite being the most well known city in Brazil, Rio is also one of the worst. The city’s crime rate is sky high since last century, specially in its many favelas, as poorer people can’t afford to live in areas with better conditions.
Political corruption and militias are common in the city, ensuring things never get better. And sadly, the only “effort” put in by mayors throughout its history have been operations like yesterday’s: Aggressive, full of guns, forcing police settlements and invasion of houses to search for criminals, sadly causing innocents to suffer.
There has been some effort throughout the years to improve things, including installing small police units in favelas, social programs, public campaigns and improvements to education but, at the end, due to incompetence, corruption and a bad history, Rio de Janeiro remains one of the worst cities in Brazil.
Federal government may use GLO
Entities from the federal government are going to Rio today to evaluate whether or not they should use GLO, or “Garantia da Lei e da Ordem“(Guarantee of Law and Order). This is a mechanism in the constitution definited as follows:
“The operation of the Armed Forces, in guaranteeing law and order, at the initiative of any of the constitutional powers, will occur in accordance with the guidelines established in an act of the President of the Republic, after exhausting the instruments intended for the preservation of public order and the safety of people and property, listed in article 144 of the Federal Constitution.”
As of writing, it has not been confirmed.
Why now?
The operation occurs days before major international events in Rio (e.g., the mayor’s summit C40, Earthshot Prize) and ahead of COP 30 — though officials say it’s not directly because of the events. On top of that, the CV is alleged to be expanding territory, which the state says threatens public security and acts of “narcoterrorism”.
This also comes a month after the federal government’s PCC operation, so it could have been a way for the right wing, which recently lost a lot of popular support, to try and “earn” some of it back. This, however, is likely to backfire as while the federal one, orchestrated by left wing politicians, didn’t result in nowhere near as many casualties.
All of this is purely speculation, however.
