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Rio Police Raid on Comando Vermelho Leaves at Least 64 Dead as Brasília Convenes Emergency Response

Launched after a yearlong probe, the crackdown has prompted a federal meeting that offers transfers of detainees to maximum‑security prisons.

Overview

  • State authorities reported between 60 and 64 fatalities, including police officers, and about 81 arrests, with operations and accounting of victims still ongoing in the Alemão and Penha complexes.
  • Roughly 2,500 officers backed by helicopters, drones, and armored vehicles faced barricades and explosive‑dropping drones allegedly deployed by criminal groups.
  • Police announced the capture of Thiago do Nascimento Mendes, known as Belão do Quitungo, and Nicolas Fernandes Soares, identified as a financial operator for CV leader Edgar Alves de Andrade.
  • Security forces seized dozens of rifles and other weapons as intense gunfire shut schools and health posts, disrupted bus routes, and left civilians injured, including a woman struck by a stray round in a gym.
  • Governor Cláudio Castro decried a lack of federal backing, while the Lula administration held an emergency meeting, dispatched ministers to Rio, and offered federal maximum‑security prison slots as rights groups pressed for independent investigations.