Violence in favelas renews allegations of police abuse and shakes up the election campaign in Brazil

A bloody raid on gang members in Rio de Janeiro’s largest favela complex, which resulted in at least 18 deaths, sparked new allegations of police abuse and sparked a debate on how to manage crime on the eve of state and presidential elections.

Rio authorities reported that 16 criminal suspects died in clashes with police at Complexo do Alemao, as well as a policeman and a woman. On Friday, another woman was shot dead in a new confrontation with the police.

The police action was the third deadliest in less than 14 months in Rio de Janeiro, where more than 70 people died during this type of operation.

The events took place in the Alemao complex, a depressed conglomerate of favelas in the north of Rio, where the authorities were looking for members of various gangs involved in the theft of cars and merchant vehicles and bank robbery.

in operation Nearly 400 agents participated, supported by four aircraft and 10 armored vehicles. Police said they were “attacked with bullets in several places”.

The videos that circulated on social networks showed it intense firefights between criminals and a police helicopter flying low over small brick houses.

Rio police used helicopters to shoot against targets, even in densely populated areas, and a video showed a plane shooting in the favela.

“A massacre”

The media then showed, at the site of the operation, residents carrying about 10 bodies, while some people shouted: “We want peace!”

“It’s a massacre in there, what the police call an operation,” said one woman Associated Press on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals by the authorities.

“They won’t let us help (victims),” he added, saying he saw a woman who tried to help get arrested.

Ronaldo Oliveira, a Rio police investigator, said the authorities would have preferred to simply arrest the suspects, “but unfortunately they have decided to open fire on our policemen.”

Entities such as the Rio Public Defender’s Office have cited complaints of “grave human rights violations”, including home invasions, physical assault, threats and lack of attention to the injuredfacts that according to some NGOs in Brazil should be investigated.

“The Public Ministry of the State of Rio de Janeiro and the Federal Public Ministry must immediately carry out a thorough and independent investigation to determine the culprits and circumstances of the deaths and injuries,” said Maria Laura Canineu, Brazilian director of Human Rights Watch. ., quoted in a note.

country speeches

President Jair Bolsonaro, meanwhile, mourned the death of a policeman during the clash with the suspects in the Alemao complex.

“Unfortunate event in Rio de Janeiro, the police corporal Bruno de Paula Costa died a victim of the clash with the bandits, he was saved, but he could not resist his injuries”, commented the president on Thursday evening, in his usual broadcast. live on social media.

Costa “was a colleague of mine, he was a paratrooper, he was 38, he leaves a widow and two children on the autism spectrum, our feelings go to the family”, concluded the far-right president, who seeks re-election in the elections of October, in which he will face former center-left president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Rio state governor Cláudio Castro, also a candidate for re-election in October, tweeted that he mourned the death of a police officer.

“I will continue to fight crime with all my strength. We will not take a step backwards in the mission of guaranteeing peace and security to the people of our state,” Castro added.

In another tweet, the governor said that his main rival in the elections, leftist Marcelo Freixo, defends criminals who attack the police, “such an important institution that it makes us proud”. Freixo replied that the governor “uses the police to do politics”.

Rio federal lawmaker Talíria Petrone also replied to the governor on Twitter: “STOP this genocidal policy, Governor!”, And added: “This failed public security policy leaves residents and policemen dead en masse. It is no longer possible to continue. to accumulate on the bodies of blacks and residents of the favela every day! “

Strategy and criticism

Many disagree with the government’s strategy to combat violence and organized crime, a plan that regularly led to deadly police operations. A raid on the Vila Cruzeiro favela in Rio resulted in more than 20 deaths in May.

Certainly security will be and how to deal with violence one of the key issues in the election campaign. Bolsonaro defends his tough approach against crime.

Robert Muggah, co-founder of the Igarapé Institute, a Rio de Janeiro-based think tank that studies security, said Thursday’s raid was “a symptom of failed leadership and an institutional culture that condones the excessive use of force “.

“The deaths resulting from large-scale police operations are a grim reminder that militarized police are not only ineffective, but counterproductive,” Muggah added in a text message.

These raids generate “extreme violence that predominantly affects low-income black populations and also erodes trust between residents and law enforcement,” he added.

Alemao is a complex of 13 favelas in the north of Rio, home to around 70,000 people. Nearly 75% of residents are Afro-Brazilian or mestizo, according to a study conducted in July 2020 by the Brazilian Institute for Social and Economic Analysis.

The Federal Supreme Court established this year a series of conditions for police operations in Rio’s favelas in order to reduce the number of deaths and human rights violations at the hands of the police.

The court ruled that lethal force can only be used in situations where all other means had been exhausted and when necessary to protect human life.

The sentence was in response to a 2021 operation in the Jacarezinho favela, where 28 people were killed. As of Thursday, a police officer died during that operation, leading some to speculate that this was the cause of summary executions and subsequent abuses.

Thursday’s operation started before dawn and ended around 4pm.police said. Nearly 400 officers participated, including the Rio police tactical unit backed by four helicopters and 10 armored vehicles, according to the police statement.

In a video posted by Voz da Comunidade, a community newsletter focusing on Rio’s favelas, residents can be seen asking for peace and waving white scarves from their windows and terraces.

Source: AP

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