War in Rio: the inequality of visibility and legal protection among those killed in a police operation

"According to international human rights standards, to which Brazil is legally bound, every death occurring in security operations must be registered, investigated, and accompanied by complete identification of the victims."

On October 28th, 2025, at least 119 people were killed in Rio de Janeiro in the deadliest police operation in the state's history. The gang retaliated with drones, explosives, and barricades. The number of deaths, the environment of densely populated favelas, and the fact that many of the dead are still unidentified raise questions about how, who, and under what circumstances they died. The bodies of the deceased were denied the presence of family members and forensic examination, tied with nautical ropes and transported in pickup trucks to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, and from there to the Forensic Medical Institute.

The fact that only the police officers are named highlights an inequality of visibility and legal protection among those killed in the operation, influences the media narrative, and raises serious questions about human rights, justice, and journalistic ethics. By being officially named, the deceased police officers are immediately recognized as victims by the State, which guarantees their families quick access to pensions, compensation, and legal assistance — benefits that are denied to the families of the unidentified dead.

The ethical, legal, and political problems of calling unidentified deceased individuals 'thugs'

The presumption of guilt without trial

When a person is called a thug after an operation, it is an attribution of guilt without due process. But in a state of law, no one should be considered guilty until proven otherwise. In many of these operations, deaths occur without arrests, investigations, or trials — therefore, it is impossible to determine who the deceased actually were.

The erasure of the humanity of the dead

Reducing dozens of people to mere criminals is a form of dehumanization. The dead cease to be recognized as citizens, parents, children, siblings, or residents of communities, and become an abstract and disposable category. This facilitates the social acceptance of police violence and the silence surrounding summary executions.

The reinforcement of social and racial inequalities

In practice, the term "thug" (bandido) is usually applied to Black and poor people from the outskirts of cities. This generalization legitimizes the selective killing of certain social groups. In other words, the word is not neutral; it is part of a power structure that naturalizes state violence against specific territories.

Transparency and accountability are compromised

While authorities label the deceased as "criminals," independent investigations are rarely conducted. This obstructs the pursuit of police accountability, prevents the identification of victims, and violates international human rights laws.

Public opinion shaped

Language shapes social perception. When the press or the state uses the term "thugs" to describe only one side of those involved in urban violence, the public tends to accept massacres as legitimate operations, even without evidence or context. This creates a narrative of war, in which certain citizens are treated as enemies of the people.

According to international human rights standards, to which Brazil is legally bound, every death occurring in security operations must be registered, investigated, and accompanied by complete identification of the victims. This obligation is stipulated in the UN Minnesota Protocol (2016), the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force (1990), and the American Convention on Human Rights (OAS). These documents determine that, in any state operation, it is illegal to classify deceased persons as "unidentified" without a formal investigation and without notification to the families. Under international law, it is the State's responsibility to guarantee transparency.

As of the closing of this note, the operation in Rio does not comply with these requirements. There is no public list of victims by name, nor an official report on the circumstances of their deaths, which could qualify as a breach of signed treaties and possible instances of extrajudicial executions if there is no independent investigation.

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Bodies in the Square

October 29, 2025

Residents of the Penha Complex rescued at least 50 bodies from the Serra da Misericórdia (Compassion Mountain Range, ironically) in the early hours of October 29th and placed them in São Lucas Square. There, family members tried to identify their loved ones before the Forensic Medical Institute collected them.

When residents are forced to recover bodies on their own, pile them in a public square, and improvise a kind of collective identification before the arrival of the State, it is evident that the State produces death to maintain domination. It has no commitment to the lives of the population it considers marginal and enemy, acting with brutality to 'reconquer territory.'

The State seeks to 'reconquer territory' and deny rights to those who live on the margins not because these territories are a threat to society, but because they represent a threat to their model of power and control over society.

War as a Method of Social Discipline

Each operation fulfills a strategic function of:

– Preventing collective mobilization, repressing community leaders and criminalizing any autonomous organization;

– Fragmenting networks of solidarity, producing distrust and sabotaging collective initiatives;

– Instilling trauma and fear, using terror as a method to paralyze political action;

– And legitimizing permanent police occupation, transforming marginalized areas into zones of exception where rights are suspended and military presence is normalized.

This mechanism keeps poor and racialized territories under surveillance and subjugation, making social resistance impossible and ensuring the continuity of the economic and political interests that depend on this structure of oppression. Government institutions create conditions for the economic extraction and political control of these populations, by neutralizing class conflicts and protecting the circulation of capital.

What happened in the Penha Complex this morning goes beyond a humanitarian tragedy. It is a declaration of the true interest of government institutions, which act not to protect lives, but to manage death and profit by denying rights to those who live on the margins.

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Written by Mirna Wabi-Sabi

Photographed by Fabio Teixeira

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[Editorial note: Number of casualties updated.]