Rio de Janeiro. At least nine people died yesterday during a police operation in the Complexo da Penha, a group of favelas located in the north of this city, in the most recent of several anti-drug raids in three Brazilian states that have left 44 deaths since last Friday. , according to balances of the authorities.
On the other hand, the number of deaths in an operation that began over the weekend and is still active in Bajada Santista, a region near the capital of Sao Paulo, rose from 14 to 16, according to the state’s Secretary of Public Security. . Another 19 deaths were registered in similar actions between Friday and last Monday in Bahia.
The operation in Rio de Janeiro had the objective of “locating and detaining members of criminal groups” in the region, whose leaders would meet yesterday, according to intelligence information that guided the police action, it was indicated in a statement.
Law enforcement explained that the agents “were shot at,” which triggered the clashes. “11 suspects were taken to a hospital, but nine of them did not survive.”
Among the dead are two leaders of criminal gangs, police said. There were no detainees; a military agent was injured and is reported to be “stable.”
Police raids, common in the favelas, have multiplied in the last week, commanded by the military police, which depends on the state governments.
In Sao Paulo, the trigger was the shooting of police officer Patrick Bastos Reis, 30, during a patrol in the municipality of Guarujá, one of the nine in Bajada Santista, located about 60 kilometers from the capital of São Paulo. In response, the operation was deployed Shieldwhich caused, in addition to 16 deaths, 58 arrests.
A protest against police violence took place yesterday in the municipality of Guaruja, and another will take place in front of the Secretary of Public Security, in Sao Paulo.
