Brazil: new massacre in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro
Featured image: military vehicle and agents of the Military Police (MP) during the mega-operation in Rio de Janeiro. Source: A Nova Democracia (AND).
The newspaper AND has reported on a new police mega-operation and a new massacre committed by the repressive forces in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. On this occasion, the old Brazilian State lead by the PT of Luiz Inácio da Silva has murdered 9 people. This occurred in the areas of Alemão and Penha, in the northern area of Rio.
The broadcast “A Propósito” from AND, has made a chapter entirely dedicated to this mega-operation, going in detail through this kind of operations in the favelas and interviewing a neighbor from the complex of Alemão.
The repressive mega-operations in the favelas of Rio are frequent, and some months ago, we already reported on a big operation and a massacre that occurred in the Complexo da Maré, also in the north of Rio.
Including this new massacre, the governor of Rio, Cláudio Castro, is responsible of three of the five biggest massacres committed in the history of Rio. As is usual, the old Brazilian State has mobilized a big number of troops, highly militarized, including armored military vehicles, military police and the infamous Special Operations Battalion (Bope), well-known for its uncountable crimes and massacres committed against the people. Also participating was the Actions with Dogs Battalion (BAC), which is also a special force belonging to the MP.
In addition to the murders carried out and the eviction of neighbors’ houses that have been used as military posts by the repressive forces, there have been many other bad consequences for the inhabitants of the favelas: many schools have been closed, leaving more than 20.000 students without classes; businesses of the favela have been closed; additionally many family medical services have been closed, leaving thousands of people without medical care; even public transport has been suspended, leaving at least 130.000 people without buses. AND reports that during the 27th even the power service has been cut off due to damage to the electrical infrastructure, and the large supplier company, Light, has left the neighbors without security of being able to have power.
Below we share a video provided by AND that shows how the repressive forces took the houses of neighbors and used them to shoot at the residents of the favelas.
This type of crimes against the people has been frequent during the history of the old Brazilian State. As AND denounces, for years there have been mega-operations in the favelas and many massacres, which on many occasions have resulted in many murders. Another consequence of these criminal actions has been the protests and revolts of the people. AND reports that motorcycle taxi drivers in the Alemão complex are planning a protest against the massacre, and also the climate of rebellion may spread to other favelas. So far this year there have also been protests previously in Maré and in Manguinhos.
These massacres have also been common in recent years and even the bourgeois press of the imperialist countries has reported on them, for example after one of the largest massacres in Rio de Janeiro in 2021, in which the attitude of the repressive forces unleashed the alarms, and that part of the bourgeois press took advantage of it to link this massacre with Bolsonaro to denounce it as something particular of his government. The reality is that with the new PT’s government, led by Luiz Inácio da Silva, this trend has not been different. As AND denounced in one of its weekly editorials, this is a true reactionary civil war and that in Brazil “with or without Bolsonarism, we live in a true dictatorship for the popular masses, while democracy prevails only in small palaces.”
