Residents of Complexo da Penha, in Rio de Janeiro’s North Zone, experienced a tragic scene on Wednesday (29) as they removed dozens of bodies from a wooded area. The death toll in the region, following the police operation considered the most violent in the state’s history, reached 136 people. The information comes from Agenda do Poder.
According to information released by the OAB-RJ Human Rights Commission, at least 72 bodies were found this morning in a wooded area in Serra da Misericórdia, a site that concentrated intense clashes the previous night. The bodies were taken to Praça São Lucas, on Estrada João Lucas, one of the main thoroughfares in Complexo da Penha. Witnesses report that there are still unrecovered victims in areas of the region known as Vacaria, where shootings also occurred.
Activist Raull Santiago, who participated in rescuing some of the victims, has been using social media to report the situation. “More tarps were stretched to accommodate the bodies being found,” he wrote in one of the posts, accompanied by a photo showing the horrific scene.
Among the fatalities are four police officers, and another nine agents were injured during the operation, which targeted members of Comando Vermelho, considered the main criminal faction operating in Rio. The action, aimed at serving 100 arrest warrants, sought to capture drug traffickers, including Edgar Alves de Andrade, known as Doca, identified as one of the group’s leaders.
The repercussion was immediate and provoked reactions from various spheres of public authority. The Public Defender’s Office denounced possible abuses and human rights violations, while the federal government announced the dispatch of a delegation to Rio de Janeiro to assess the public security crisis. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called an emergency meeting with the area’s top leadership, and the Chamber of Deputies advanced the review of the Security PEC.
Governor Cláudio Castro requested the transfer of ten organized crime leaders to maximum-security prisons, a request already fulfilled by Brasília. On the international scene, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights demanded a swift and transparent investigation. “We are horrified by the ongoing police operation in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas,” the entity stated on social media.
Human Rights Watch also issued a statement, criticizing the security model adopted in the state. “Rio needs a new public security policy that stops encouraging clashes that victimize residents and police officers,” the NGO affirmed.
Source: brasil247.com