At least eight municipal schools were closed on Tuesday (17) due to an operation in Rocinha (Brazil’s biggest favela) in Rio de Janeiro, which is searching for drug traffickers from Ceará and Goiás states in the area. Health units in the favela were also closed.
By 8 am, two people had been shot, one trafficker had been arrested, and one suspect had been killed: Vítor dos Santos Lima, who was working as a security guard for one of the drug lords in the community, John Wallace da Silva Viana, known as Johny Indomável.
According to the family of Lima, who had served time for association with drug trafficking, he was shot in the face while unarmed. As reported by the Brazilian news website UOL, the military police prevented Lima’s wife from approaching the body.
“They killed my husband when his hands were empty. Bope [Military Police of Rio de Janeiro state] came in, killed him, and they don’t want to let us take his body. They don’t even let us identify his body,” his wife told UOL.
The lawyer for the victim’s family, Alberico Montenegro, said that there was no arrest warrant issued against Lima and that the police were not wearing body cameras during the operation.
“We don’t dispute the serving of arrest warrants. What we don’t want is cowardice. The police are not wearing body cameras, as ordered by the Supreme Federalista Court, and they are committing illegal acts. Let them serve the warrants within the law, and then we’ll do our job,” said Montenegro.
“Having paid his dues to the courts, he wanted to return to school and work. This week, he asked me for information on how to get an identity card and had a job application. Police officers took his life in a cowardly act,” stated Montenegro.
On social media, residents reported intense gunfire as soon as the operation began at dawn on Tuesday. State deputy Dani Monteiro posted a video of an intense trail of blood on one of the streets. “It’s not Syria, it’s Rocinha! Another bloody day of operations. War scenario in Brazil’s largest favela,” she wrote on her X profile.
Federalista deputy Tarcísio Motta also highlighted the situation on social media. “Children are prevented from going to school in Rocinha, health units are closed, residents are forced to leave for work under the threat of guns, and there are complaints that police officers are without body cameras. What are the chances of Rocinha becoming safer after today’s operation? None. What are the chances that one of the more than 70,000 residents will be killed in the gunfight caused by the operation? Just open any newspaper from last week. Enough!”
Around 400 police officers carried 34 arrest warrants, coordinated by the Special Operations Command and supported by the Rio Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Edited by: Martina Medina
