RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) -At least 60 people died in Rio de Janeiro’s most deadly police operation ever on Tuesday, a state official told Reuters, which targeted a major gang days before the city hosts global events related to the United Nations climate summit known as COP30.
Police have often conducted large-scale operations against organized crime ahead of major events in Rio, which hosted matches of the 2014 World Cup, the 2016 Olympics, the 2024 G20 summit and the BRICS summit this year.
The casualties from those operations were far less than the roughly 60 dead on Tuesday, according to a Rio state official who spoke on condition of anonymity to share an estimate more than double the official figure of at least 22 deaths given earlier in the day.
“We stand firm confronting narcoterrorism,” Rio Governor Claudio Castro wrote on social media about the operation, which he said involved 2,500 security personnel and 32 armored vehicles across the Alemao and Penha favela complexes.
Rio’s favelas are poor, densely populated settlements woven throughout the city’s hilly oceanside terrain.
Next week, Rio hosts the C40 global summit of mayors tackling climate change and Prince William’s Earthshot Prize, which will feature celebrities including pop star Kylie Minogue and four-time Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel.
The programming is part of the run-up to COP30, the United Nations climate summit held in the Amazon city of Belem from Nov. 10 to Nov. 21.
Tuesday’s operation was described by the state government as the largest ever targeting the Comando Vermelho gang. At least 56 people have been arrested as authorities sought to serve 250 arrest and search warrants, the government added.
Around 50 health and education facilities had their routines disrupted by the clashes, and bus routes had to be changed to avoid the gunfire.
(Reporting by Rodrigo Viga Gaier in Rio de Janeiro; Additional reporting by Andre Romani in Sao Paulo; Writing by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Brad Haynes, Rod Nickel, Nia Williams and Nick Zieminski)
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