Brazilian police say that raid in Rio de Janeiro focused a pacesetter of Pink Command, a robust felony group.
Printed On 19 Mar 2026
At the very least eight folks have been killed throughout a police raid on a neighbourhood within the centre of Rio de Janeiro, persevering with a development of deadly operations in poor favela communities.
Brazilian police authorities mentioned that Wednesday’s raid killed Claudio Augusto dos Santos, a commander of the highly effective felony group Comando Vermelho, or Pink Command.
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Army police chief Marcelo Menezes Nogueira mentioned that the raid resulted in a “main armed confrontation”. Dos Santos and 6 different suspected criminals have been killed, and a neighborhood resident was reportedly caught within the crossfire after being taken hostage.
Native witnesses described people affiliated with the Pink Command retaliating in opposition to the raid by blocking roads and setting a bus on hearth.
“They boarded, advised me to get the passengers off, and set the bus on hearth. All of it occurred very quick,” bus driver Marcio Souza advised the information service AFP.
Police mentioned that 5 folks have been arrested for alleged acts of vandalism. About 150 army law enforcement officials took half within the raid in areas reminiscent of Prazeres, Fallet, Fogueteiro, Coroa, Escondidinho and Paula Ramos.
Dos Santos was linked to drug trafficking within the Prazeres favela, and there have been 10 warrants for his arrest, in line with media reviews. Police have accused Dos Santos of involvement within the killing of an Italian vacationer, Roberto Bardella.
Wednesday’s operation comes a number of months after an October police raid killed greater than 130 people within the Rio favela of Complexo da Penha, elevating questions in regards to the strategies of state safety forces.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva slammed that raid as a bloodbath.
Some politicians in Brazil’s left wing slammed Wednesday’s raid as a continuation of the development in direction of reckless confrontations between police and organised crime.
“One other day of panic and worry in Rio de Janeiro,” Renata da Silva Souza, a state deputy for Rio de Janeiro, wrote online.
“It’s a testomony to the police’s lack of preparedness — having carried out an operation in Morro dos Prazeres with out planning for the inevitable response. The result was solely predictable: the native inhabitants caught within the crossfire, streets blocked off and a bus set ablaze.”
Souza added that she had filed a proper grievance to the general public prosecutor’s workplace to hunt accountability for the disruption to civilian life and the excessive demise toll.
Politicians on Brazil’s proper, in the meantime, have referred to as for larger power for use in opposition to criminals within the nation.
“What is really outrageous is what these criminals inflict upon those that have completely nothing to do with their actions,” Rio de Janeiro Governor Claudio Castro posted on social media.
“It’s exactly due to such barbaric acts that the State can’t afford to take a single step again. We stand firmly on the aspect of the police and of law-abiding residents.”
Media reviews have indicated that the Brazilian authorities is presently attempting to dissuade United States President Donald Trump from labelling teams reminiscent of Pink Command as “international terrorist organisations”, a designation previously used to establish teams that threaten US nationwide safety.
However more and more, the Trump administration has utilized the label to felony networks and drug cartels throughout Latin America, putting them in the identical class as organisations like al- Qaeda.
Critics warn that using the “international terrorist organisation” label has been used to advertise militarised motion in opposition to criminal groups throughout Latin America.
