Rio favelas mourn as deadliest police raid exposes deep divisions

Last week's operation, which left at least 121 people dead, has led to calls for the governor to go, but also demands for a tougher approach from President Lula

- writes Carolina Unzelte

Tauã Brito found her 20-year-old son, Wellington, among a line of about 70 bodies laid out in the main square of the Penha Complex, a cluster of favelas which are home to some 60,000 people in Rio de Janeiro. When her son stopped answering his phone the night before, Brito, a 36-year-old Black woman who sells homemade desserts, joined neighbours searching the nearby woods. Community and church leaders helped carry the dead to the square. When they reached Wellington's body, his hands were tied and he had stab wounds.

Wellington was one of at least 121 people killed in the deadliest police raid in Brazil's history, launched at dawn last Tuesday. The aim of "Operação Contenção" ("Operation Containment"), according to the state government which controls the police, was to curb the advance of the Comando Vermelho (Red Command), the second-largest gang in the country. Authorities say most of the dead were "suspected" CV members, but only 43 had arrest warrants.

"I may not have supported all the choices my son made in life, but as a mother, I could never turn my back on him," Brito said. She had to wait another three days before the authorities handed over his body for a funeral. "The coffin had to stay closed because his body was already too decomposed."

Police operations in favelas are not uncommon, and between 5,000 and 6,000 people are killed during police actions each year in Brazil. But last week's raid far surpassed the most lethal intervention so far, which left 29 people dead in the Jacarezinho favela in 2021. The United Nations called for "comprehensive police reform" and urged "swift, independent and effective investigations" into the raid.