Operation Containment

Operation Containment (Portuguese: Operação Contenção) was a large-scale law-enforcement operation launched on 28 October 2025 by the Rio de Janeiro state government against the Comando Vermelho (CV) criminal organization. Approximately 2,500 police agents participated and executed hundreds of police warrants to arrest gang leaders in 26 communities in the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro, mainly in the Penha and Alemão neighborhoods. Launched just before dawn, intense confrontations occurred all day. Gangs set barricades ablaze and used drone-dropped bombs on special forces teams. The operation seized 93 rifles, killed 122 people, and resulted in 133 arrests, according to police. State governor Cláudio Castro stated the casualties were criminals and called the operation "a success". A survey by AtlasIntel with local residents indicated that 8 in 10 of them supported the operation. In the rest of the Rio population, approval drops to 55%. At a national level, approval among favela residents also exceeds 80%, indicating a consensus in these communities. The deaths were mourned by relatives, while being criticized by national and international human rights groups for the lethality of police conduct, aside from questions regarding official claims that all the dead were criminals. According to Reuters' Brazilian correspondents, only five of those arrested were on the wanted list of 69 criminals and none of them were killed. However, more than 95% of the bodies identified had some connection with the Comando Vermelho. Of the 115 dead identified by the police, 108 had proven links to Comando Vermelho, with 97 having a relevant criminal history and 59 with arrest warrants. The operation was the deadliest police action in the state's history in a favela, surpassing the 2021 Jacarezinho shootout that killed 28 people, and was also, overall, the deadliest in Brazilian history, exceeding the Carandiru massacre, where 111 inmates were killed...