29 October, 2025
A woman breaks down after finding her husband among the deceased, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The 17-hour operation claimed 122 lives, surpassing the 1992 Carandiru prison massacre as Brazil’s deadliest police action.
In October 2025, a massive police operation targeting the Comando Vermelho criminal syndicate unfolded in Rio de Janeiro’s Complexo do Alemão and Penha favelas. Deploying a record 2,500 local and military officers, the raid was the deadliest police operation in Brazilian history. Of the 122 who were killed, the vast majority were Afro-Brazilians. In the aftermath, authorities failed to deploy forensic teams, forcing the community to bear the physical and emotional weight of carrying their own dead.
