Rio de Janeiro woke up to grief, fury, and disbelief on Wednesday after one of Brazil&rsquo;s deadliest police operations left at least 132 people dead including four officers, in what residents, activists, and rights groups are calling nothing short of a massacre.
The sprawling city, known for its music and mountains, was instead filled with the sound of helicopters and gunfire as state police launched raids against the powerful Comando Vermelho, the Red Command gang that controls much of Rio&rsquo;s drug trade. The operation spiraled into chaos, turning crowded favelas into war zones. Schools were closed, roads were sealed, and terrified families fled their homes as clashes raged for hours.&nbsp;By nightfall, the death toll had soared. The state&rsquo;s head of security, Victor Santos, admitted that &ldquo;the elevated lethality of the operation was expected but not desired,&rdquo; adding that reports of police &ldquo;misconduct&rdquo; would be investigated. Yet for many in Rio, the damage was already beyond measure.
President Luiz In&aacute;cio Lula da Silva, visibly shaken, said he was &ldquo;appalled&rdquo; by the carnage. He instructed his justice minister and the federal police chief to fly to Rio and meet with the state governor. &ldquo;We cannot accept that organized crime continues to destroy families, oppress residents, and spread drugs and violence across cities,&rdquo; Lula wrote on X. &ldquo;We need coordinated work that strikes at the backbone of drug trafficking without putting police, children, and innocent families at risk.&rdquo;
The operation, launched by state forces without federal backing, was described by Rio&rsquo;s conservative governor as the beginning of a &ldquo;war.&rdquo; Brazil&rsquo;s justice minister, Ricardo Lewandowski, publicly rebuked the raid, calling it &ldquo;extremely bloody, extremely violent.&rdquo; He warned that &ldquo;physical force alone isn&rsquo;t enough. Confrontation must be carried out with intelligence, planning, and coordination.&rdquo;&nbsp;As dawn broke over the favelas, the aftermath was harrowing. Locals laid bloodied bodies along the narrow streets; sons, brothers, neighbors, victims of what they called indiscriminate violence. &ldquo;I just want to take my son out of here and bury him,&rdquo; a grieving mother said, clutching the body of her teenage boy.
The United Nations human rights office condemned the killings, urging Brazilian authorities to investigate swiftly. &ldquo;We remind authorities of their obligations under international human rights law, and urge prompt and effective investigations,&rdquo; the UN said in a statement.&nbsp;Local activist Raull Santiago described what he saw in chilling terms. &ldquo;We saw executed people: shot in the back, shots to the head, stab wounds, people tied up. This level of brutality, the hatred that is spread, there&rsquo;s no other way to describe it except as a massacre.&rdquo;
As the federal and state governments face mounting pressure, Brazil&rsquo;s latest police raid has once again raised an agonizing question, how far can a state go in the name of law and order before it becomes indistinguishable from the violence it seeks to stop?

Brazil’s Drug War Turns Into a Massacre

At least 130 killed in Rio’s deadliest police raid as outrage and UN condemnation mount

Brazil’s Drug War Turns Into a Massacre

At least 130 killed in Rio’s deadliest police raid as outrage and UN condemnation mount

October 30, 2025 | 21:33 IST