Brazil: At Least 45 Killed in Police Raids in Three States

Facts

• At least 45 people were killed between Friday and Wednesday in police raids carried out in the Brazilian states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and northeastern Bahia by local forces.¹
• The ongoing Operation Shield in the São Paulo's Baixada Santista region accounted for 16 of the deaths, with officers having reported the arrests of 58 people as well as the seizure of 400 kilos of narcotics and 18 weapons so far.²
• This statewide raid, which is expected to finish on August 28, was launched after the killing of elite squad officer Patrick Bastos Reis, who was reportedly on duty when he was shot dead on Thursday last week.³
• In Bahia, state authorities reported that 19 suspects had died in clashes with police; seven in the city of Camaçari on Friday, eight in a rural area outside Itatim on Sunday, and four in the state capital, Salvador, on Monday.⁴
• The remaining casualties stemmed from a law enforcement operation on Wednesday in the city of Rio de Janeiro, focused on targeting criminal gangs in the Complexo da Penha area.⁵
• Rio de Janeiro's state police reported that several rifles, as well as ammunition and grenades, were seized, adding that the leaders of the Juramento and Chatuba favelas, known as Fiel and Du Leme, are reportedly among the dead.⁶

Sources: ¹BBC News, ²The Guardian, ³ABC News, ⁴Le Monde.fr, ⁵Al Jazeera, and ⁶Evening Standard.

Narratives

• Left narrative, as provided by El País. Brazil is no stranger to extra-judicial police killings, having averaged a daily toll of 17 deaths last year. But these latest massacres are worrisome because they also suggest that moderate conservatives such as São Paulo's Governor Tarcísio De Freitas are turning a blind eye to police misconduct to enchant far-right, radical Bolsonaro supporters in the run up to the 2026 presidential elections.
• Right narrative, as provided by FOX News. While this tally may indeed cause alarm over police actions among those who do not habitually follow news on Brazil, it's crucial to stress that confrontations between criminals and police only take place when wrongdoers opt not to turn themselves in to law enforcement. Police officers must be commended for their efforts to tackle crime, especially as they put their lives at risk on a daily basis.