When the State is the Killer

The war on drugs continues to be a war on the poor

- Vijay Prashad

SEVERAL years ago, I visited Complexo da Penha in Rio de Janeiro while doing a story on the favelas (slums) and crime. I was struck by the labyrinthine alleyways along which perched makeshift homes on steep slopes, a favela geography that made bare life difficult. Beside one of these homes, I found a mango tree and focused on it to give me a sense of hope and possibility amidst what seemed to be utter desolation. The mango tree was brought to Brazil from Asia by the Portuguese not long after they began to colonise this vast and beautiful land. When I pointed out the tree to my friends who accompanied me to Penha, they introduced me to a fantastic Brazilian expression, O cão chupando manga. The expression literally means 'the dog or devil sucking on the mango', but, in fact, it refers to someone or something that is ugly, or it refers to a person who had great skill or who is doing something very difficult. When I read about the police assault on Penha in October 2025, I thought about that mango tree and remembered the expression.

On October 28, about 2,500 police officers entered two favelas in Rio de Janeiro—Complexo do Alemão and Complexo da Penha—and began to arrest and execute people whom the State had accused of being involved in the drug trade. The entire raid went by the name of Operation Containment (Operação Contenção), and it was to target the Red Commando (Comando Vermelho) criminal organisation. These favelas, in Rio’s North Zone, are densely populated, scarred by poverty and scarce public services. The police officers extinguished 121 lives, not numbers for their families but worlds. Of note, the leader of Comando Vermelho—Edgar Alves de Andrade (known as Doca)—was not arrested or killed. One mid-level member of the gang surrendered without a gun being fired.