Behind the Operation
Armored vehicles pushed down narrow alleys. Rifle fire cracked amid heavy crossfire. Helicopters and armed drones strafed from above. Soldiers in full combat gear fought in the streets while bodies lay on blood‑slick pavements.
Those scenes—more like a battlefield than a Brazilian metropolis—unfolded on Oct. 28 on the slopes of Rio de Janeiro’s Complexo da Penha and Complexo do Alemão. The operation, called Operation Containment, mobilized roughly 2,500 police officers, soldiers and snipers to dislodge the Comando Vermelho (CV), or Red Command, a syndicate long entrenched in these hillside favelas, home to about 110,000 people.
Casualties, Arrests and Seizures
Authorities reported that at least 117 suspected gunmen and four police officers were killed and roughly 100 people arrested. Security forces said they seized 118 weapons (including 91 rifles and 14 explosive devices) and about one ton of drugs. Early tallies of the death toll varied, with some initial reports as high as 132 and other counts cited at 121; those discrepancies have driven criticism from human rights groups and independent monitors.
Competing Narratives
Officials characterized the raid as a necessary step to reassert state control after months of investigation into the Red Command’s expansion and a spike in violence. “It was a necessary operation,” said Luiz Lima, a congressman from Rio, noting Brazil’s high homicide rate as evidence of public support for tougher security measures.
“It’s not the first time we see blood being spilled for a ‘greater good,’” said Thainã de Medeiros, a long‑time resident and community organizer. “But this ‘good’ never comes.”
Human rights advocates criticized the operation’s scale and civilian impact. Daniela Fichino of Global Justice warned that the state’s approach can amount to treating entire communities as disposable and risks perpetuating a cycle of violence that strengthens, rather than dismantles, criminal networks.
How These Networks Grew
The debate over the raid highlights how prison‑born factions like the Red Command and the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) have evolved into sprawling criminal enterprises.
Origins of the Red Command
The Red Command traces its origins to 1979, formed under brutal conditions in the Cândido Mendes penitentiary—an island prison near Rio where common criminals shared space with political prisoners detained during the 1964–85 military dictatorship. Inmates organized for protection and later moved into the cocaine trade; by 1985 the group controlled roughly 70% of drug‑selling points in Rio.
The PCC and National Reach
The PCC emerged in 1993 from São Paulo’s Taubaté prison, shaped in part by the 1992 Carandiru massacre. The organization demonstrated its reach with a coordinated 2001 prison uprising involving thousands of inmates, signaling the group's ability to operate beyond prison walls. The PCC expanded into border states to secure higher‑quality cocaine supplies and established logistics routes to international markets.
Territorial Competition and Diversification
Once cooperative, the factions became rivals as each sought control of supply routes—Amazon river corridors, highways and prisons—sparking brutal clashes, prison riots and massacres. Both groups have diversified far beyond drugs: a 2025 study by the Brazilian Forum on Public Security estimated that factions like the Red Command and PCC generated about 146.8 billion reais (roughly $27 billion) in 2022 from illegal trades in gold, fuel, alcohol and cigarettes—nearly ten times the revenue attributed to cocaine alone.
They also launder money through legitimate businesses—construction firms, transport companies, fuel distributors and even cryptocurrency markets—and continue to issue orders from behind bars via coded messages, letters and encrypted apps.
Why the State Struggles
Investigators and experts warn that a primarily militarized response risks being short‑term. “Each operation kills dozens, but the leadership remains,” said Rafael Alcadipani of the Brazilian Forum on Public Security. “For every man who dies, another fills the gap. What we have now is reactive—a war without an endgame.”
Prisons remain paradoxically central to command and communication despite efforts to isolate high‑risk inmates. Officials say intelligence units coordinate with security forces and the judiciary to map faction hierarchies and attempt to segregate leaders, but clandestine channels persist.
Human and Community Costs
Beyond the casualty figures, residents describe long‑term damage to community life. Medeiros said local initiatives—including a planned partnership with UNICEF and a youth career fair scheduled the day after the raid—were canceled as the community dealt with the aftermath. “I thought I’d be finalizing details for that day,” he said. “Instead, we were cleaning bodies from the streets.”
Conclusion
The Oct. 28 raid exposed the urgent dilemmas facing Brazil: how to confront heavily armed, deeply embedded criminal networks without inflicting disproportionate harm on the communities they claim to control. The operation may have disrupted parts of the Red Command, but experts warn that without sustained social investment, reformed prison policy and targeted intelligence work, lethal raids alone are unlikely to produce lasting change.
