“The concrete fact is that the operation, from the point of view of the number of deaths, people can consider it a success, but from the point of view of the State’s action, I think it was disastrous”stressed the Brazilian head of state.
Lula da Silva reinforced: “Let’s see if we can carry out this investigation”especially because it is “It’s important to see under what conditions it happened” the operation.
Even so, the Brazilian head of state reinforced that commitment is needed from the Federal Government and the states to “combat the faction [criminosa] and the brutality that exists in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brazil”.
“We are working very hard so that we can try to ensure that society can live in peace, in great tranquility”he assured, recalling that last week he enacted an anti-faction law that increases prison sentences for members of these criminal organizations.
The Penha and Alemão favela complexes, located in a region where around 200,000 people live, were the scene last week of the most lethal police operation ever recorded in Brazil.
So far, the Government of the state of Rio de Janeiro has recognized 121 deaths, while the Public Defender’s Office points out that the number of fatalities has reached 132.
The governor of Rio de Janeiro, Cláudio Castro, and the state security forces publicly celebrated the “successful” operation which, according to them, had only four victims, these being the agents who died during the action.
The state Public Security Secretariat released a first report identifying the bodies, in which it states that the vast majority of the 121 dead had criminal records for serious crimes, such as drug trafficking and homicide.
In addition to the 121 dead, police reported that 133 people were detained and more than 90 automatic rifles seized.