Overview
- Conducted on October 28, the Operação Contenção targeted Comando Vermelho in the Alemão and Penha complexes with over a thousand agents and left 121 dead, including four police officers, in Brazil's most lethal police action on record.
- Governor Cláudio Castro filed a defense to the Supreme Court asserting police were met by about 500 heavily armed fighters using guerrilla tactics and that all those killed belonged to Comando Vermelho.
- President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced an independent federal inquiry with Federal Police forensic participation and highlighted a national strategy focused on criminal leaders, major asset seizures, and proposed anti-gang and public security legislation.
- The Supreme Court directed Rio authorities to preserve and document all material evidence for chain-of-custody integrity as prosecutors, the Public Defender and rights groups pursue lines of inquiry and dispute elements of the official figures.
- A media report described a seized arms cache that included rifles allegedly marked to foreign militaries, including one bearing Peruvian registration, with provenance under examination by authorities.