Rio de Janeiro streets a war zone

Brazilian police are accused of gruesome brutality as part of a bloody gang crackdown before dignitaries arrive in the country for the COP30 Climate Summit. The police crackdown left at least 119 people dead – highlighting the city’s war against drug gangs entrenched in its poorest neighbourhoods. The death toll includes 115 suspected criminals and four police. As many as 2,500 heavily armed cops, backed by armored vehicles, helicopters and drones took part in the operation targeting Brazil’s main drug-trafficking gang in two favelas, in Rio.

Men killed during a police raid targeting the Comando Vermelho gang at the Complexo da Penha favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, October 29, 2025. Comando Vermelho (Red Command or Red Commando), also known as CV, is engaged primarily in drug trafficking, arms trafficking, protection racketeering, kidnapping-for-ransom, hijacking of armored trucks, loansharking, irregular warfare, and narco-terrorism. Turf wars against rival criminal organizations, such as Primeiro Comando da Capital and Terceiro Comando Puro are common. The gang formed in the early 1970s out of a prison alliance between criminals and leftist guerrillas who were imprisoned together.

Cops have been accused of beheading a teenage gangster and hanging his head from a tree. Bombs are being dropped from drones on cops by gangsters.