In Rio, Gunshots From 'Here, There, Everywhere'

A sweeping police operation in Rio de Janeiro has left more than 130 people dead, marking what is widely reported to be the highest single death toll in the city's long history of clashes between law enforcement and drug gangs. The raid, which unfolded before dawn Tuesday in the Vila Cruzeiro favela, involved approximately 2,500 officers and targeted members of the Red Command, a powerful criminal organization, per the Guardian. Helicopters hovered over the neighborhood while gang members set vehicles ablaze and reportedly dropped explosives from drones. One resident said he awoke to the sounds of "gunshots from here, from there, from everywhere," per the New York Times. Others reported the violence raged all day and well into the evening.

Residents sheltered in their homes, schools and clinics closed, and the sound of gunfire echoed for hours. Volunteers, braving the chaos, ultimately retrieved dozens of corpses from nearby woods. Afterwards, bodies were lined up in a public square, many stripped to help families identify them. Police initially claimed to have killed about 60 criminals. But by Wednesday, the state's public defender's office reported at least 132 fatalities, including four police officers. Authorities also acknowledged they failed to capture the mission's main target, a top Red Command leader. Still, officials touted the arrests of over 100 suspects and the seizure of weapons and drugs as evidence of success.

That hasn't stopped critics from crying out. Journal do Brazil called it a "carnage," describing witness reports of execution and torture, per AFP. One body had been decapitated and another appeared to have been stabbed, per the Guardian. Locals questioned why police had seemingly executed gang members instead of arresting them, pointing out that no crime is punishable by death in Brazil. The violence has sparked renewed debate over policing strategies in the country as it prepares to host the UN climate change conference. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's administration has promised a thorough investigation, while the city's governor defended the operation as necessary to combat what he called "narco-terrorism."