Ignacio Cano, a professor at Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ) and member of the Violence Analysis Lab, says the massive police raid in Rio’s North Zone, which left more than 100 people dead, followed a “war logic” meant to “maximize the number of deaths” and reinforce a political project rooted in the idea that “a good criminal is a dead criminal.”

Operation Containment, carried out Tuesday (28) by Rio’s Civil and Military Police, has so far killed 121 people — 117 civilians and four police officers. At a press conference, right-wing Governor Cláudio Castro called the operation a “success,” acknowledging only the police officers as victims. “The governor not only believes these lives are worthless, he considers it a triumph to have killed, or as he says, ‘neutralized’ them,” Cano told BdF Radio.

According to Cano, the state government is presenting the record death toll as a “historic achievement” in a political environment where governors aligned with bolsonarismo compete for visibility through displays of force. He argues the operation was clearly political, carried out “in a pre-election year,” and now being used as right-wing and far-right forces “converge around this operation to position themselves for next year.”

Cano also says Castro’s rhetoric echoes that of US President Donald Trump and other far-right governments in Latin America. “His agenda fits perfectly with the US and with countries adopting the term ‘narcoterrorism.’ This is extremely concerning because it blurs the line between war and public security,” he warned.

Operation designed to ‘maximize deaths’

The professor called the raid “a gigantic tragedy” and “one of the largest police massacres in Latin America.” He described the official logic as treating the operation like a battlefield: “They want the highest possible number of casualties in the enemy army. The ‘score’ is around 120 to four, and they consider that favorable.”

He stressed that unlike past raids, this one was designed to prevent suspects from escaping. “Historically, police go in, kill two or three, and the rest flee. This time, the operation was planned so no one could get out,” he said. “More people were killed than arrested, which already signals the operation’s brutality.”

Given the scale of the killings, Cano says “it is inevitable that there were multiple summary executions.” He called for federal forensic experts to investigate. “Any federal involvement must include forensic pathologists to determine how many deaths came from actual confrontations versus summary executions,” he said.

Comparing the event to past massacres such as Carandiru and the ‘Crimes of May’ in São Paulo, Cano warned that this could become “the largest massacre in Brazil’s history.” “In one day, in a single operation, the death count keeps climbing. It will be remembered as a historic tragedy,” he said. “I wouldn’t even rule out some politician trying to campaign on the total number of deaths — it’s happened before in São Paulo.”

Lack of accountability

Cano says the chances of holding anyone accountable are slim. “Our track record is terrible. It is extremely difficult to convict a police officer for summary execution. Unfortunately, the Rio Public Prosecutor’s Office does not fulfill its constitutional duty to oversee police activity,” he said.

He argues that without an independent federal investigation, similar to the inquiry after the Pan Massacre in 2007, there will be no real accountability. “That is the kind of support we need now. It doesn’t require a GLO, but the state government would never accept it,” he said.

This article was adapted from an article written by Adele Robichez, Igor Carvalho, José Eduardo Bernardes and Larissa Bohrer originally published in Portuguese on Brasil de Fato.

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