President sent a delegation to assess the situation after the mega operation that left at least 119 people dead
The federal government made vacancies in the high-security penitentiary system available to Rio de Janeiro for faction leaders and teams of criminal experts to identify victims of Operation Containment in the Alemão and Penha complexes. The offer was announced by the Minister of Justice and Public Security, Ricardo Lewandowski, after a meeting with the president (PT) this Wednesday (29.Oct.2025).
In addition to vacancies in federal prisons, the government made forensic doctors available from the National Force and the Federal Police. The PF also offered its DNA and ballistics banks “to elucidate crimes and identify the dead” in order to find out whether or not they were linked to organized crime, according to Lewandowski.
Planalto was taken by surprise by the operation and now wants to clarify the circumstances of the deaths recorded during the action. According to the minister, Lula was “astonished” with the high number of deaths: official figures from Rio de Janeiro estimate 119 victims. The president also said he was surprised that an operation of this magnitude had not been reported to the federal government.
Lewandowski said again that an operation of this size should have been reported “at the level of higher-ranking authorities“.According to him, the president, the vice-president, the Minister of Justice or the general director of the PF should be aware of the state action.
Federal management has already maintained the National Force in Rio since 2023, with 11 renewals at the request of the governor (PL). Lewandowski stated that the contingent can be expanded “if that’s the case“. The decree of GLO (Guarantee of Law and Order) in Rio was not discussed and is treated as a discarded hypothesis.
A ministerial delegation travels to Rio this Wednesday afternoon to meet with Castro. The Lewandowski group includes Gleisi Hoffmann (PT), minister of the Institutional Relations Secretariat, Macaé Maria Evaristo dos Santos (PT), minister of Human Rights, and the director general of the Federal Police, Andrei Rodrigues.
