New main points that have emerged within the aftermath of Brazil’s deadliest police operation are casting doubts over whether or not the raid truly struck on the middle of probably the most nation’s maximum robust prison gangs, as was once its mentioned purpose.

One hundred and twenty-one other folks, amongst them 4 cops, had been killed within the raid on 28 October in Rio de Janeiro.

The governor of Rio de Janeiro state, Claudio Castro, described the police operation as “a commercial space”, posting a photograph appearing the greater than 100 rifles seized by way of police.

But rights teams have sharply criticised the safety forces, pointing to the excessive demise toll and what they have got described because the “brutality” in their movements.

The operation was once the biggest ever performed by way of Rio’s safety forces and noticed 2,500 officials deployed to the Alemão and Penha neighbourhoods.

It centered the Comando Vermelho (Red Command) prison gang, which laws over the nine-million-square-metre space.

Rio’s public protection secretary, Victor dos Santos, informed Reuters that the objective of the operation have been to hold out rankings of arrest warrants issued by way of prosecutors.

But when BBC Brasil cross-checked the listing of the deceased printed by way of police towards the 68 names at the listing of suspects supplied by way of prosecutors, it discovered that none of them matched.

Local media have additionally identified that even supposing rankings of suspects had been arrested right through the raid, the person thought to be the crowd’s maximum robust chief, Edgar Alves de Andrade, sometimes called Doca, was once now not amongst them.

“Early stories mentioned that the objective of the operation was once to seize high-ranking leaders of the Comando Vermelho (CV),” Carlos Schmidt-Padilla, professor of public coverage on the University of California, Berkeley, informed BBC Brasil.

“By that metric, it’s honest to mention the operation failed.”

At a Senate listening to, the deputy intelligence secretary for Rio’s army police mentioned that the raid had had a “negligible” affect on dismantling Comando Vermelho.

Residents of the Alemão and Penha have additionally informed the BBC that it has completed little to loosen the tight grip the CV has on their favelas.

How Rio’s gangs rule via concern and keep an eye on

They mentioned that their day by day lives had slightly modified because the mega-operation, describing seeing armed males roaming the group the very subsequent day, even because the our bodies of the ones killed had been nonetheless being got rid of.

Comando Vermelho (CV) and teams find it irresistible put into effect strict laws within the spaces they keep an eye on.

These prison enterprises have moved past the sale of gear and now grasp the monopoly for the supply of fuel, cable tv, web and delivery.

Residents document being charged over the percentages for fuel cylinders, ceaselessly having to pay one 3rd greater than in zones now not underneath gang keep an eye on.

Rules imposed by way of gang participants have an effect on on a regular basis lifestyles.

As CV has banned vehicles running for ride-hailing apps from coming into the favelas, locals are limited to the usage of bike taxis and trucks, which were accepted by way of the gangs to perform there.

Even other folks’s clothes is policed by way of the crowd. In 2020, citizens of Penha had been informed to not put on Chelsea soccer shirts.

At the time, the jerseys had been subsidized by way of British telecoms firm Three, however CV participants didn’t just like the quantity being prominently displayed as it reminded them of a rival gang, which came about to have the quantity 3 in its identify: Terceiro Comando Puro (Pure Third Command).

Punishments for what are thought to be transgressions are extraordinarily harsh. Being stuck stealing can imply dropping a hand or being burned alive.

Gang participants “sit down in judgment” over home violence circumstances, and the ones discovered accountable are overwhelmed and even completed.

Residents are forbidden from enticing in relationships with participants of rival factions or with cops.

They additionally know to not {photograph} or movie drug dens or any of the armed males using via their group.

But with cell phone use ubiquitous, even gangs as robust as Comando Vermelho combat to keep an eye on what will get posted on-line.

In Rocinha, a favela underneath CV keep an eye on, gang participants vowed to kill those that leaked a 2020 video appearing a CV chief surrounded by way of rifles and gadget weapons.

When any person insists on “inflicting hassle”, the gang ceaselessly inns to attack and torture.

Police investigation recordsdata on Comando Vermelho, noticed by way of the BBC, comprise stressful pictures.

One displays a girl forcibly submerged in an ice tub, accompanied by way of a caption accusing her of being “competitive” and “inflicting hassle”.

Reports of rising violence and increasing territorial keep an eye on by way of Comando Vermelho shaped the root of the criticism filed by way of Rio’s Public Prosecutor’s Office, which ended in the huge police operation on 28 October.

And whilst rights teams labelled it a “bloodbath” and puzzled its effectiveness, Rio de Janeiro State Governor Claudio Castro has introduced that extra operations towards organised crime will apply.

A ballot carried out by way of AtlasIntel means that Castro’s approval ranking has risen because the raid, and at 47% now stands upper than that of the president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

President Lula, for his phase, has introduced that the government would release an investigation into the raid.

But in a publish on Instagram printed on 11 November, Governor Castro mentioned he would “now not backtrack”.

“Law-abiding voters can not take it anymore. Rio has fought again – and the entire of Brazil is preventing again with us.”

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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by way of Readers and Contributors in this platform don’t essentially constitute the perspectives or coverage of Multimedia Group Limited.