Brazil: Cláudio Castro is responsible for the massacre in Rio! Cláudio Castro must go!
The state violence in Rio de Janeiro is a reflection of class struggle and the decline of capitalism.
By: Jerónimo Castro
The police operation that took place on October 28 in Rio de Janeiro is already considered the largest state-perpetrated massacre in the fight against drugs and the criminal factions that control their illegal market.
The operation was a disaster in terms of preparation and execution and must be understood in the context of a declining state and city. This decline is evident in the state’s deindustrialization, with fewer workers today than in 1985, and in the presence of militias within the state apparatus, including the security forces, state bureaucracy, the governor’s entourage, the Municipal Chamber, and the Legislative Assembly.
Additionally, powerful illegal armed groups control approximately 30% of the state’s territory and have a strong presence in the capital. These groups are an outlet for the lumpenization of all social classes.
The absence of a policy addressing the factors that have led to Rio’s decline and the growth of drug trafficking fuels the warmongering discourse that justifies mass murder. In the absence of a real policy to solve the problem, the far right presents its weapons, from the Bukele experience to Trump’s proposal to consider drug trafficking groups as terrorists.
A repugnant massacre
Early on October 29, the communities of Penha and Complejo del Alemán learned that the previous day’s massacre had been much worse than reported. Throughout the morning and into the afternoon, more than 60 bodies were found in the surrounding forests, and the number continued to rise.
Clearly, the police killed and hid more than fifty people in these woods. The victims are mostly the usual ones: young Black men. They are the preferred victims of the police apparatus.
The discovery of the bodies and the circumstances of their discovery indicate a lack of police control and a deliberate attempt to hide their crimes, suggesting an awareness of the crimes committed.
It is worth noting that this lack of control is also directional. The police do not break down doors, shoot randomly, or execute in secret when the criminals are from Faria Lima. In fact, crimes committed by the rich and powerful are rarely investigated or prosecuted and are almost never punished. When they are, the punishment is always mitigated.
Justice is only blind when its targets are white and wealthy. Then, it sees nothing. However, it has its eyes wide open when targeting poor Black people from the periphery.
The growth of the Comando Vermelho and Operation Containment
After experiencing a period of crisis and a decline in importance in the cocaine trade, the Comando Vermelho is currently growing and increasing its importance in the illegal drug trade.
The PCC pushed the CV into second place in the drug trade by controlling the caipira route and the border between Paraguay and Bolivia and by having a base for drug diversion in the port of Santos. Additionally, due to this weakening, the CV became the target of coordinated actions by the Rio state police, the Third Capital Command, and the militias that had seized territory and power from them in recent years.
The situation changed when the Comando Vermelho took control of the Solimões route. Based on alliances formed in federal prisons, the Comando Vermelho established a direct route to Colombia’s production areas through the north of the country.
With this new location and considerable resources, the CV strengthened its ties with local and regional groups in the north and northeast of the country. The CV incorporated some of these groups into its structure, established alliances with others, and brought some local leaders to Rio de Janeiro. This was either to better control them or to hide those who were being pursued by police in their states. They were also used in factional wars in the city and state.
This is the other extreme of the CV’s reorganization. In recent years, the Comando Vermelho has retaken territories from all rival factions in armed actions that terrorize the population and create a feeling of chaos and insecurity in the city.
A poorly prepared operation got out of control
It is in this context that Governor Cláudio Castro (PL) prepared Operation Containment. The legal basis for the operation was to execute over 100 arrest warrants against various CV members, both within and outside the state.
An operation of this magnitude would be daunting in any case: the Alemão and Penha complexes are densely populated, surrounded by forests, and heavily guarded by the CV.
Several operations had been carried out in recent weeks, with “minor” casualties in each one. On the morning of the 28th, when Operation Containment was launched, more than 2,500 troops were mobilized for the big day.
According to newspaper O Globo, the police officers who participated in the raid expected it to be a routine operation, albeit with a high degree of risk. As the police already had an ongoing investigation, there were mapped points and a script for entering and exiting the community until the early afternoon at most.” However, the reaction of the criminals, combined with the deaths of police officers in clashes—two civilian police officers in the morning and a couple of BOPE military police officers hours later—motivated the police to advance into jungle areas where the criminals tried to hide. The decision of the teams to continue the clashes was approved by their superiors.
In other words, a plan was made and executed poorly. When armed resistance was encountered and casualties were suffered, the plan was altered to a “general liberation” that led to the largest massacre in Rio de Janeiro’s history. During the afternoon of the 28th, the CV attacked several regions to “distract the police,” once again putting the general population and the working class, who were beginning to return home, in the middle of the crossfire.
The militarization of the fight against drug trafficking and violence in general
The logic of militarizing the fight against violence, massacres, and mass incarceration is not new or unique to Rio. This approach has resulted in the growth of drug trafficking factions and the emergence of militias. Look no further than the governments of Bahia, led by Jerônimo Rodrigues of the PT, and São Paulo, led by Tarcísio, for examples of this “solution” to an extremely complex problem with deep-rooted causes.
However, in Rio, this policy has found deep resonance in governments and institutions. The current massacre, which has already surpassed 100 deaths and is still ongoing, marks the third perpetrated by the governor. In May 2021, 28 people were killed in a massacre in Jacarezinho, and 23 people were killed in a massacre in the Penha Complex in May 2022.
Recently, Mayor Eduardo Paes created an armed municipal guard whose inauguration involved evicting residents and attacking passersby and a group of parliamentarians who had gone to the site to observe the eviction.
The logic of combating violence with state violence is so powerful that the ALERJ recently approved a law providing bonuses of up to 150% of an agent’s salary for participating in operations to “neutralize criminals.”
The governor vetoed this bizarre law. However, he did not reject the underlying logic, which continues to be encouraged, as evidenced by the recent operation and massacre.
The far right, the Bukele option, and narco-terrorism
Faced with the chaos that the city has become and the reactions it has provoked, political forces have presented their solutions.
There are basically two proposals at stake. First, the current federal government formally condemns the massacre within the framework of militarizing the fight against crime and violence. On the other hand, far-right groups are exacerbating their positions.
For example, Nikolas Ferreira posted on social media that, if he came to power, he would imprison 1.7% of the Brazilian population, or 3.5 million people, just as Bukele did. However, to arrest that many people, it would be necessary to restrict the freedom of the entire population, effectively ending democracy. Not to mention the practical absurdity of this alternative: prisons are the main source of new recruits for criminal factions.
However, this was not the only initiative of the far right. The discussion immediately returned to Trump’s proposal to designate drug trafficking organizations as narco-terrorist groups, which would subject them to the actions of the US State Department.
Regardless of whether these projects move forward, they challenge the conscience of the working class, the poorest sectors, and the middle class, who are daily victims of violence.
Lula and his government are washing their hands and blaming Cláudio Castro
Lula and his government responded to the massacre by washing their hands of what happened. They blamed the governor for not relying on the government’s intelligence capabilities and claimed to have provided all the requested support, including renewing the National Guard’s presence in the state 11 times.
Lula obviously condemns the massacre, but he does not question the logic that led to it. He cannot question it, though, because doing so would require him to confront his own party first. In Bahia, his party does the same thing as Cláudio Castro in Rio and Tarcísio in São Paulo.
Workers need a way out of crime and violence
The workers are the ones who are most interested in combating and ending all violence in Rio de Janeiro. This is because workers are the main victims of violence.
It’s no coincidence that theft and petty crime peak between 6 and 8 a.m. and 7 and 8 p.m., when workers are going to or returning from work.
The worker whose cell phone or car is stolen while he is trying to earn a living is the same one who experiences police operations in his community where everyone is treated like a criminal, their homes are violated, and their belongings are stolen. It is also this same worker who is a victim of drug trafficking and the militia. The militia controls entire communities, imposes its rules, practices violence, and persecutes those who do not submit to its decisions.
For this reason, any public security plan must begin with this sector. Minimal but necessary measures would include democratic control by workers and the population over the functioning of the police, the election of delegates and commanders with revocable mandates, the demilitarization of the Military Police, and the punishment of all those involved in crimes against the population.
Conversely, legalizing drugs and controlling their production, distribution, and consumption (as is done with legal drugs such as tobacco and alcohol) would dismantle the police apparatus that attacks the poor and Black people in the name of the war on drugs and the illegal gangs that control this lucrative, unregulated business.
Workers must also organize to defend themselves. As long as only our enemies are organized and armed, we will be victims of violence.
Claudio Castro must go! No more massacres!
Castro is the governor of massacres and attacks on workers. But on the 28th, he crossed all boundaries.
The murder of 128 people is unjustifiable and can only be understood in the context of Rio’s profound social decline.
Normalizing what happened by covering up the problem with a supposed fight against violence and crime covers up the genocide taking place in the state’s outskirts and communities. It gives the police total freedom to execute whomever they want, however they want.
The worst thing, however, is that the governor not only justifies and defends the massacres; he organizes and promotes them. He will not punish the perpetrators of the massacres; he will promote and encourage them to continue down this path.
Cláudio Castro is responsible for the massacre. He must leave now. It is our duty to take to the streets and shout, “Cláudio Castro must go!”
