On Tuesday, a large-scale police operation was conducted in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro against the criminal group 'Comando Vermelho' in the Alemão and Penha housing complexes. After the state government initially reported 128 deaths, Rio de Janeiro's Civil Police Secretary, Felipe Curi, revised the official figures at a press conference. According to information provided on Wednesday, the death toll was reduced to 119, including 115 suspected criminals and four police officers. Local media reported that the bodies of all victims, men, were found in the Vacaria area in Serra da Misericórdia, where the most intense clashes between security forces and suspected drug traffickers took place on Tuesday. Rio de Janeiro Governor Cláudio Castro called the operation a 'success' and stated that only the four police officers who lost their lives can be considered the true victims of the major operation on Tuesday in the favelas. Castro reiterated that the official death toll is based only on bodies registered at the forensic institute. 'The Civil Police have the enormous responsibility of identifying who these people were. I cannot make a count before all the bodies are accounted for,' the governor added, referring to the police operation considered the deadliest in the history of Rio de Janeiro.
