🔗 Share this article

The eyewitness

An eyewitness who witnessed the aftermath of a large-scale security raid in Rio de Janeiro has recounted how community members returned with badly injured victims of those who had died.

The bodies "kept piling up: the numbers kept rising", the eyewitness reported. They included security forces.

A particular victim had been decapitated - additional victims were "severely damaged", he said. Many also had evidence of knife injuries.

In excess of 120 victims were fatally injured during Tuesday's raid against a criminal group - the deadliest such raid in the city.

The eyewitness explained that he was first alerted about the operation early on Tuesday by local people living in Alemão, who sent him messages telling him gunfire had erupted.

The reporter went to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the bodies were being brought.

The photographer stated that law enforcement stopped members of the press from going into the affected area, where the operation were occurring.

"Law enforcement personnel created a barrier and announced: 'The press cannot proceed beyond this point'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who spent his childhood in the area, explained he was able to gain access past the security perimeter, where he remained until the next morning.

He explained during the night, area inhabitants started looking the hillside that separates the Penha neighborhood from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for relatives who were unaccounted for following the security action.

Community members of the Penha neighbourhood arranged the recovered bodies in an open area - the documented evidence show the response of those present.

"The harsh reality of what occurred impacted me deeply: the pain of relatives, women collapsing, pregnant wives, sobbing, angry family members," the eyewitness remembered.

Bruno Itan

The governor of the state announced that the large-scale security action with approximately 2,500 security personnel was intended to halting a criminal group referred to as Comando Vermelho from expanding its territory.

Initially, state authorities claimed that sixty individuals and four police officers" had been killed in the raid.

Officials subsequently stated that early calculations indicates that 117 alleged criminals lost their lives.

Rio's public defender's office, that offers legal help to disadvantaged individuals, has estimated the total number of casualties as 132.

Per investigative findings, the gang represents the unique criminal entity which in recent years has managed to expand its territory across the region.

It is widely considered one of the two largest gangs nationally, together with First Capital Command, featuring a timeline spanning over five decades.

According to correspondent an expert, with extensive experience documenting criminal activity in the city over many years, the criminal organization "works as a system" with local criminal leaders joining the organization and acting as "commercial associates".

The organization concentrates largely on narcotics distribution, while also dealing in firearms, valuable minerals, energy resources, beverages and tobacco.

Per law enforcement statements, gang members possess significant weaponry and authorities stated that during the raid, they came under attack via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The official of the region, the government representative, characterized gang affiliates as "narcoterrorists" and referred to the law enforcement personnel killed in the raid as courageous individuals.

Nevertheless, the total of casualties in the operation has faced scrutiny with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressing they felt "shocked".

During a press briefing on Wednesday, the state leader defended the police force.

"There was no objective to kill anyone. We intended to arrest them all alive," he said.

He added that the circumstances intensified as the individuals fought back: "It was a consequence of the resistance they carried out and the disproportionate use of force from the gang members."

The state leader additionally stated that the bodies displayed by locals in the neighborhood had been "manipulated".

In a post on social media, he asserted that certain victims had been taken of tactical gear which he claimed they wore "in order to shift blame toward law enforcement".

Felipe Curi of Rio's civil police force further reported that "camouflage clothing, protective equipment, and arms" were taken away from the bodies and displayed evidence apparently demonstrating a person stripping military attire {off a corpse