The Complexo do Alemão massacre was the result of an ongoing conflict between

drug dealers The illegal drug trade or drug trafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs through ...

and the police in the borough of the same name in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

, which consisted of a group of large ''

favelas Favela () is an umbrella name for several types of working-class neighborhoods in Brazil. The term was first used in the Providência neighborhood in the center of Rio de Janeiro in the late 19th century, which was built by soldiers who had ...

'' in the northern region of the city. The

massacre A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...

happened on June 27, 2007, when a large

Military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

and Civil Police operation killed 19 people and injured several others. The

Order of Attorneys of Brazil The Order of Attorneys of Brazil (National Bar Association of Brazil) (Portuguese: ''Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil'') is the Brazilian Bar Association, founded in 1930. It is an organization of lawyers and responsible for the regulation of the le ...

issued a report claiming that at least eleven of the people killed had no relations with drug trafficking whatsoever."OAB suspeita de execução em operação no Rio" ("OAB suspects of execution in police operation in Rio")
. Último Segundo. June 29, 2007. Retrieved November 2, 2007. Until the end of the XV Pan-American Games a large

siege A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characteriz ...

was formed by the police in the region—to secure the safety of the international event, some people claim."O Haiti é aqui, no Complexo do Alemão" ("Haiti is here, in the Complexo do Alemão")
. Luciana Candido.

United Socialist Workers' Party The United Socialist Workers' Party ( pt, Partido Socialista dos Trabalhadores Unificado, PSTU) is a Trotskyist party in Brazil. It is the largest section of the International Workers' League (Fourth International) (LIT), an international body ...

website. June 29, 2007. Retrieved November 2, 2007. While it eventually got attached the demotic sobriquet ''Gaza strip'', a report published by the federal government revealed that there were

executions Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

at the operation."Relatório da União acusa operação policial no Rio de "execução sumária" ("Federal government report accuses the operation in Rio of being an execution")
''

Folha de S.Paulo ''Folha de S.Paulo'' (sometimes spelled ''Folha de São Paulo''), also known as simply ''Folha'' (, ''Sheet''), is a Brazilian daily newspaper founded in 1921 under the name ''Folha da Noite'' and published in São Paulo by the Folha da Manhã c ...

''. November 1, 2007. Retrieved November 2, 2007.

Victims

Killed

According to official records as of late-June 2007, at least 44 people were killed by the police in Complexo do Alemão since May 2, 2007. Nineteen people were killed by the police at the June 27, 2007 operation.

Response

Federal government

The Special Secretariat for Human Rights, an office attached to the Office of the President of the Republic, issued a report claiming that there were executions at the operation, beside the fact that no exact number is given. Accordingly, the nineteen people killed received an average of 3.84 shots each. Fourteen were killed with a shot in the upper part of the body, six of them in the face.

Rio de Janeiro government

José Mariano Beltrame, the officer in charge of the Public Security Department in the state of Rio de Janeiro, responded to the federal government report by saying that "it was done in a hurry by those who misrepresent the fair cause of the human rights. This report reveal little about the facts, generating just a confusion". Also according to him, the federal government report is "disqualified" because the forensic doctors have not gone to Rio de Janeiro after the operation.

References