Traces of a Deadly Raid, 2025

Traces of a Deadly Raid, 2025

Francisco Proner

The story of the largest and deadliest police raid in Brazil’s recent history.

On October 28, 2025, Rio de Janeiro police carried out a joint operation against the criminal faction “Comando Vermelho” in the peripheral communities of Complexo da Penha and Complexo do Alemão.

After more than 15 hours of operation, the airspace and all entrances to the community were closed by the police forces and BOPE (Special Police Operations Battalion). Videos of intense gunfire took over Brazilian media screens.

In retaliation, criminals blocked the city’s main avenues and roads. The bullets stopped flying during the night and the Brazilian press began to release the numbers. At least 126 people died and 113 were arrested. The violence of the operation spread terror among the residents of the neighborhood, who speak of a real massacre.

On the morning of October 29, family members and residents of the communities found the dead bodies of their acquaintances in the forest. The bodies were taken to a square in Vila Cruzeiro, which served as a base for the identification of the corpses and for the forensic work of the Legal Medical Institute. Independent work by NGOs and public defenders accompanied residents who spent the day searching for missing persons in the Serra da Misericórdia (Mercy Mountain) forest.

The episode took on international proportions, appearing in reports of major newspapers around the world. The United Nations declared its repudiation of the operation led by Rio de Janeiro Governor Claudio Castro, supporter of former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said he was “horrified.”

Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, 29 October 2025 - A man passes through a barricade of burned cars set up by drug traffickers to prevent armored vehicles belonging to special forces from entering Vila Cruzeiro, Complexo da Penha. The turbulent day follows the deadliest police operation in Rio de Janeiro's history, in which at least 126 people were killed.

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Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, 29 October 2025 - Dozens of dead bodies are laid out in São Lucas Square in the Complexo da Penha neighborhood while family members and community residents shout in protest against police violence. The square has become a base of operations for the Forensic Medical Institute to recover the bodies for examination. This turbulent day follows the deadliest police operation in the history of Rio de Janeiro, in which at least 126 people were killed.

Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, 29 October 2025 - Residents and relatives of missing persons search for bodies in the forest separating the Penha Complex from the Alemão Complex after the deadliest police operation in the history of Rio de Janeiro, where at least 126 people were killed.

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Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, 29 October 2025 - Residents and relatives of missing persons recover bodies in the forest separating the Penha Complex from the Alemão Complex after the deadliest police operation in the history of Rio de Janeiro, where at least 126 people were killed.

Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, 29 October 2025 - View of precarious houses in the area known as Vacaria in the upper part of the Vila Cruzeiro community in forest separating the Penha Complex from the Alemão Complex after the deadliest police operation in the history of Rio de Janeiro, where at least 126 people were killed.

Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, 29 October 2025 - Traces of blood on the dirt floor in the middle of a forest that separates the Penha Complex from the Alemão Complex, after the deadliest police operation in the history of Rio de Janeiro, where at least 126 people were killed.

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