Rio Governor's 'Security' Leaves 28 Dead, Still No US Condemnation
ABC News reports on protesters in Rio calling for the governor's resignation after a police raid left 28 people dead in a favela, claiming it was a 'deadliest police raid.' What they don't exactly highlight is that these operations are often thinly veiled extrajudicial killings targeting impoverished, predominantly Black communities under the guise of an endless 'war on drugs.' This isn't an
anomaly; it's a pattern of state violence that mirrors historical colonial tactics, where marginalized groups are deemed disposable in the pursuit of 'order.' Critics might ask why these 'anti-drug operations' consistently result in disproportional civilian casualties while drug kingpins appear to operate with impunity. One might wonder if the 'war on drugs' is actually a war on the poor,
effectively granting security forces carte blanche to terrorize communities. How else to explain the continued funding and political support for officials overseeing such death tolls, unless the deaths themselves are, perhaps, the point?