OFFICIAL NOTE
PCO: Rio de Janeiro massacre is fascism and a return to dictatorship
In a statement, the Workers' Cause Party denounced the massacre in Rio de Janeiro and demanded that Cláudio Castro leave the government
On Tuesday (4), the Workers’ Cause Party (PCO) published a note on its official website denouncing the massacre that resulted in the murder of more than 130 people in the Morros do Alemão and Penha last week. The Party classified the episode as “the biggest massacre in the country’s history since the end of the Military Dictatorship” and denounced the government of Cláudio Castro (PL) for promoting “a policy of war against the people”.
The organization claims that “the version that they killed dangerous criminals is a complete lie” and cites that “many surrendered and were executed”. According to the Secretary of Security, the massacre was premeditated: police forces pushed the residents into what they called the “BOPE wall”, where people were shot.
Governor Cláudio Castro called the attack a “success”. Other governors, such as Tarcísio de Freitas (SP), Romeu Zema (MG) and Ronaldo Caiado (GO), publicly defended the police action. For the PCO, this is “a macabre bloodbath” that shows the consolidation of a policy of extermination. “It is a merciless and cruel dictatorship against the poorest and most oppressed,” the text states.
‘State war against the people’
The PCO denounces that the justification of “combating drug trafficking” is a farce used to cover up a policy of repression and reorganization of control of the illegal market in favour of militias made up of police officers and former police officers. “In reality, it is a war by the state against the people – and a war that involves factions of the criminal apparatus itself within the state,” the document points out.
The Party also denounces the direct link between the Rio de Janeiro government and the United States. Rio de Janeiro allegedly sent reports to Washington asking for the Comando Vermelho to be classified as a “terrorist organization”, in search of support from Donald Trump’s war policy. For the PCO, the episode confirms that “Rio de Janeiro has become a laboratory for imperialist repression in Latin America”.
Police dictatorship and impunity
According to the PCO, the operation violates Brazilian law. “The law does not allow the police to act as a death squad. Police executions are a crime against the entire Brazilian population,” says the text. The note emphasizes that none of the people killed were included in the complaint on which the operation was based. Among the victims were teenagers, such as a 14-year-old boy, and residents with no police record.
The party denounces the massacre as “the return of the dictatorship, now dressed up as a public security policy”. The repression, says the PCO, “is not aimed at the rich and powerful, but at the poor and workers”. “The police don’t enter noble neighborhoods shooting everywhere,” says the statement. “The spectacle of dozens of bodies lying in a public square is reserved only for the poorest.”
Call for popular organization
The note ends with a call to mobilize against the advance of the police regime:
“The police do not defend the people – they are the enemy of the people, an instrument of the state of the rich and powerful against the workers.”
The Party proposes concrete measures: the end of the Military Police and the entire repressive apparatus, the investigation and arrest of those responsible for the massacre and the formation of workers’ self-defense committees. “To fight the police dictatorship, we must defend the complete and total arming of the people,” the note concludes, ending with a call for “a workers’ government”.
Read the full statement below:
135 dead in Alemão and Penha: it’s fascism and the return of the dictatorship!
The Rio de Janeiro government has carried out the biggest massacre in the country’s history since the end of the military dictatorship. More than 135 people were murdered, bodies dumped in the bush, women beaten, the elderly humiliated, children terrified, houses destroyed by bullets, people decapitated and the entire community terrified… They shot at everything that moved and not even the dogs got away with it.
Of those killed, only 15 have so far been identified as targets of the operation. The overwhelming majority of the dead were the result of the extreme violence of the police operation. Almost half of the victims had not even been to the police, and most had no history of violence. The version that they killed dangerous criminals is a complete lie. The alleged drug lords were not even arrested. As one right-wing congressman denounced, “they killed the piabinhas”. They say that’s heroism!
The Secretary of Security itself revealed that the massacre was premeditated, pushing people who were fleeing into the woods in search of refuge, into what they called the BOPE Paredão, where people were simply shot. Many surrendered and were executed.
The governor of Rio de Janeiro, Cláudio Castro, called the massacre a “success”. Other politicians, such as Eduardo Paes (PSD), Tarcísio de Freitas (SP), Romeu Zema (MG) and Ronaldo Caiado (GO), soon came out in defense of the macabre bloodbath.
A POLICY OF WAR AGAINST THE PEOPLE
The operation in the Alemão and Penha complexes was justified as a “fight against drug trafficking”. But this “fight against crime” is a farce: it serves to increase repression of the poor and – most likely – to reorganize control of the illegal market in favour of militias notoriously made up of police officers and ex-police officers, often accused of links with public authorities. In reality, it’s a war of the state against the people – and a war that involves factions of the criminal apparatus itself within the state.
WHO CARES ABOUT THE CARNAGE?
The Rio de Janeiro government has gone so far as to send reports to the United States, trying to classify the Comando Vermelho as a “terrorist organization” in order to get support for Donald Trump’s war policy. This cooperation with Washington is a confession: Rio de Janeiro has become a laboratory for imperialist repression in Latin America. Similarly, the US government has been bombing ships in the Caribbean under the pretext of “fighting drug trafficking”. And now it’s threatening to bomb Venezuela with the same excuse. They want to overthrow the government and put a Washington-controlled dictatorship in place. They say they’re shooting drug traffickers, but in reality they’re shooting workers. This same “anti-trafficking” policy is used by the US in Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico and throughout the region to control the political situation in these countries: militarizing, setting up dictatorships, killing and dominating entire populations.
THE POLICE AND THE GOVERNMENT OUTSIDE THE LAW
Brazilian law does not allow the police to act as a death squad. Police executions, whoever they are, are a crime against the entire Brazilian population. If we tolerate this brutal repressive policy in the name of fighting crime or whatever, we will all be victims of the criminal and murderous police dictatorship.
Under the pretext of fighting crime, the state commits the greatest crime of all, which is to throw the law it was supposedly employed to defend into the trash can.
This isn’t fighting crime, the police killed people they didn’t even know who they were. None of the dead people identified were in the complaint that served as the basis for the operation, most were not even mentioned in the warrants. One of the victims was 14 years old.
This is a merciless and cruel dictatorship against the poorest and most oppressed. Rich criminals, and there are many of them, don’t go to jail. The police don’t go into noble neighborhoods shooting everywhere. The spectacle of dozens of bodies lying in a public square is reserved only for the poorest.
The police are not above the law, the government is not above the law. The Penha and Alemão massacres must be thoroughly investigated and those responsible punished in accordance with the law.
AGAINST POLICE REPRESSION
The police do not defend the people – they are the enemy of the people, an instrument of the state of the rich and powerful against the workers. Created to protect the rich, they are the direct heirs of the dictatorship. As long as the police exist, there will be massacres. The police are completely oblivious to the communities and favelas they invade. They don’t care about the countless innocent people who will die, have their homes destroyed, their children murdered, their lives ruined, etc. To combat this, we must defend the complete and total arming of the people and that the police be elected in the neighborhoods, made up of residents of the neighborhoods themselves, with mandates that can be revoked at any time. The population has the right to control those responsible for their safety.
Cláudio Castro out!
A full investigation and punishment for those responsible for the massacre!
End the PM and the entire repressive apparatus!
Workers’ militias!
Arm the people!
For a workers’ government!
