Americas

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October 28, 2025

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

NARRATION

On the morning of October 28th, 2025, hundreds of police officers surrounded two low-income neighborhoods in Rio de Janeiro.

By nightfall, the operation would become the deadliest in Brazil's history.

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WARNING. This video contains graphic content, including blurred images of dead bodies. Viewer discretion advised.

NARRATION

122 people were killed, including two children and five police officers. According to the autopsy records, over eighty five percent of non-police victims were Black.

Police in Rio de Janeiro are required by Supreme Court order to wear body cameras. 

However, only twenty-three percent of officers wore body cameras that day, and in the footage reviewed by Human Rights Watch, not a single killing was captured on camera.

LOWER THIRD

Damir Khairat

Research Technologist

Digital Investigations Lab

NARRATION

Human Rights Watch was given access to the prosecutor's investigation into the operation, including 8,800 pages of records, 122 autopsies, and nearly 4,000 hours of body camera footage.

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Prosecutors have released the body camera footage shown in this video. Most footage is sealed as evidence and cannot be published.

NARRATION

Watching all the footage day and night without any breaks would have taken a single researcher almost six months. So, we trained several artificial intelligence models to help us identify the moments that mattered most.

First, we needed to organize everything.

The models, alongside software that Human Rights Watch developed, synchronized recordings from different officers, mapped their locations, and scanned footage for gunshots and signs of camera tampering.

From there we had a searchable platform that let us view the operation as one coordinated event, rather than thousands of separate recordings.

What we found was evidence of widespread tampering and obstruction of body cameras. And it consistently happened at the exact moment cameras should have been recording, during arrests, shootouts, or while officers entered homes.

Authorities said that the purpose of the raid was to arrest suspected drug traffickers. The evidence we found points to an operation that appeared lethal by design.

To explain how we came to this conclusion, let's look at some examples of the moments we trained our AI models to detect.

An officer's camera captured this video in an alleyway as a large group of his colleagues pass by, after which the officer quickly covers his camera.

He or another officer then flags that there's a camera recording.

SOUNDBITE [IN PORTUGUESE]

The team has a camera. The team has a camera. No, no I’m talking about the thing there.

NARRATION

It's unclear why he covered it, but prosecutors later charged him with camera tampering.

SOUNDBITE

So, this would be the kind of like overall operational view.

NARRATION

To find incidents like this across almost 4,000 hours of footage from nearly 500 officers, we trained a model to detect similar moments when a camera continued recording, but the lens was covered.

Here, an officer is seen struggling to pick the lock on the door of someone's home. Once it's open, he removes his camera and leaves it unattended for over an hour, presumably while he's inside the home.

Because the camera was still capturing an image, this recording wasn't initially flagged by our software.

So, we trained a second model to identify "stale scenes" where the recording stays the same for long periods of time.

As our models learned and improved, they uncovered lots of suspicious recording gaps.

In the end, we documented more than 250 camera obstructions. 

Moments like these are exactly the situations that body cameras are meant to document, helping ensure that any unlawful behavior is captured and that circumstances surrounding the 122 killings can be properly investigated.

Another method we used was an AI system that analyzes audio to detect gunshots.

After we trained it specifically for Rio police body cameras and local conditions, the model successfully detected most gunshots in a test set of videos.

We were also able to use AI to pull text directly from the videos, like the date, time, location and ID number of the officer wearing the camera.

But one of the most striking findings came from what we didn't see.

Despite the scale of the operation and the number of deaths, we found no footage showing the killings themselves.

NARRATION

To understand what was missing, we organized body camera recordings across the operation using extracted timestamps.

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Unusable footage

Usable footage

NARRATION

We found that more than half the officers’ recordings had either ended or had significant gaps by noon. From there, the usable footage continued to decline, just as the operation became most deadly.

The missing footage, combined with extensive evidence of camera tampering, suggests that body cameras were deliberately misused to prevent killings from being recorded.

Throughout our investigation, AI was one tool out of many.

Our team of researchers interviewed witnesses in Rio, visited the neighborhood where the killings took place, analyzed police records and autopsies, verified photographs and videos, and manually reviewed AI findings.

What AI provided was speed and scale. 

It helped us process thousands of hours of footage, connect pieces of evidence, and focus our attention where it mattered most.

In other words, AI helped us find needles in a very large haystack.

Now, it's up to Brazilian prosecutors to thoroughly investigate both the killings and the decisions that led to such a deadly operation.

Those who use disproportionate force or misuse body cameras should be held accountable.

To learn more about the events of October 28th and Human Rights Watch’s findings, visit HRW.org and read our investigation, A Strategy of Death.

Darien Gap Feature Video

Final Script - ENG

María:

It’s been the worst thing I’ve been through, I felt I wasn’t going to come out of there.

I cried, the first thing that crossed my mind were my children.

Voice Over:

Over the last year, more than half a million people have crossed the Darién Gap, a swampy jungle between Colombia and Panama,

on their journey north, often to the United States.

Migrants from all over the world risk their lives in this difficult terrain, where they are exposed to unchecked abuses by criminal groups and receive little protection.

Text Card:

Asylum seekers and migrants are entitled to basic safety and respect for their huma rights during their journey.

Chapter 1:

Fleeing human rights crises

María:

I left Venezuela, why? Because of the country’s situation.

I work so much and much and much...why... can’t I afford anything for my daughter? I decided to go to Ecuador.

I left with my brother, he was 17 and I was 21 years. We walked all the way from Cúcuta [Colombia] to Ecuador,12 days, just the two of us.

When we got to Ecuador, that same day I started working, but totally undocumented in Ecuador. I then brought my mom and my family.

Voice Over:

Many people crossing the Darién Gap often try to rebuild their lives in South America before risking everything at the crossing.

But their lack of legal documentation status and formal employment, as well as insecurity and discrimination, drives them out.

María:

Now Ecuador is different, there are a lot of hitmen, there is a lot of robbery and stuff.

I was also in a relationship that turned really bad. There was no respect. I would be working, and he would stalk me. After I filed a restraining order, he tried to kill me. Three days later I decided to come here [to the US].

My best friend had messaged me a few days earlier and said: “Maria, let’s go through the Darién”, I told him “No dude, I’m scared.” I knew that a lot of people died there.

Chapter 2:

The Jungle Corssing

2022

Voice Over:

Hundreds of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers are fleeing human rights crises in the Americas, while many are also escaping poverty or seeking safety.

The US has promoted restrictions on movement in the region, pushing more and more people into this dangerous route.

María:

I crossed in September 2022. Before we even got there, we had decided what route to take, through where. We got there and said: “We will cross through here because we don’t have enough money for Acandí, we’ll go through La Bandera." We paid the money and went in.

Seven days. You see dead people, you see animals like “wolves” [foxes], you hear them at night. You have to put cleaning fluid around the tent so that the snakes don’t get in. The rain is devastating.

You are wet, the tent is wet, your clothes are wet, you are freezing. Your boots are wet, but you can’t take them off or something might bite you. And as you move forward you start seeing, the smell of the dead is really strong. 

Voice Over:

During their days-long walk across the gap, migrants of all nationalities frequently experience robbery and serious abuses, including sexual assault.

María:

Well, we didn’t get robbed like other people, but they did take our money. At every stop you would have to pay, and if you don’t have it they will leave you there, and make your life miserable. It’s all a mafia.

We ran out of water for two days. We were almost at the last stop, and I fall on my knees, and I tell my best friend: “Man, I can’t go any further, if you get out of here please tell my mom and my children that I love them but I can’t anymore.”

Voice Over:

A lack of safe pathways is pushing more and more migrants to cross the Darién Gap.

Between January and September 2023, a record of 400,000 people, including more than 80,000 children, crossed.

Voice Over:

Even after successfully crossing the Darién Gap, the rest of the journey doesn’t come without risk. Especially in countries like Guatemala and Mexico. 

Chapter 3:

The rest of Marías Journey.

2022

María:

Mexico was the worst thing that has ever happen to me, other than the jungle.

We arrived to Tapachula like everyone else. Immigration detained us for like three four days, we couldn't call anyone. We were fine since it was the first time.

I stayed working in Mexico for a whole month. I worked in a taqueria restaurant. I started at 07:00 am and left at 02:00 am. 7:00 am until 02:00 am...

I mean, it was horrible, and they paid me 150 pesos and I paid 100 a night [for lodging]. There was nothing left.

Voice Over:

In 2022 the US established a humanitarian parole program that allows qualifying individuals from certain nationalities like Venezuelans, to enter the US. 

Maria eventually obtained it. But many who don’t qualify and are pushed into dangerous crossings.

Chapetr 4:

Reunifying the Family

2023

María:

Because of Ecuador’s situation. My mum’s neighbor got robbed at her place, they had raped the woman in that house.

That scared me. I have a 5-year-old daughter and a 2-year-old boy, I don’t want them to go through that.

I had the courage and the sacrifice to make the money for them to come here.

Voice Over:

María’s mother, along with her two children and her brother left Ecuador on August 30th, 2023, and started their journey to the US.

María:

They crossed [the Darién Gap] through Acandí, the short route.

I couldn’t sleep, I messaged her all the time.  “Where are you? What are you doing?” they didn’t answer, they had no reception.

They were robbed, their bag were stolen, with the money, the phones, my children’s birth certificates. Everything.

I sent them $3,000 and more than $1,000 was stolen from them in the jungle, when their bags were taken. It was total anguish.

María Nat pop:

Mommy, I already sent the guy the money and he made the deposit. I’m with the lady that sent me the contacts, remember? So, when you move, and make it to the border with Guatemala, call Mercedes. So they can save you a spot in that shelter.

Text Card:

Panamanian and Colombian authorities should protect migrants and local communities in the Darién Gap and increase assistance in the area.

Chapter 5:

United States of America

María:

Life here is not easy, you pay for everything, if you miss a month of rent, they kick you out. I didn't work one hour, two, four hours, no,

I work 12, 14 hours in one a day. To make the money, so that they [my family] could be with me.

I have asked for loans and stuff in the bank, all so they can move forward. Because my children for me are my life.

Nat pop:

- I love you mommy.

- I also love you.

Voice Over:

By November 1st, 2023, María’s family was still in Mexico waiting for an immigration appointment to apply for asylum at a US border crossing.

Text Card:

The United States should expand safe and legal pathways for migrants and asylum seekers, so that they can avoid dangerous crossings, like the Darién, as well as work with other governments to protect migrants along the way and ensure their right to seek asylum.

Voice Over:

Whether seeking international protection or economic opportunities, asylum seekers and migrants deserve a safe, orderly, and dignified path.

They are all entitled to basic safety and respect for their human rights during their journey.

SCRIPT

1. SOUNDBITE: Student footage, Iguala, Mexico, September 2014 (SPANISH): Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot! Why are you shooting? Why are you shooting?
2. TEXT ON SCREEN: WARNING: This video contains distressing images of violence, including shooting. Viewer discretion is advised.
3. SOUNDBITE: Student footage, Iguala, Mexico, September 2014 (SPANISH) / OFF audio of Metodia Carrillo Lino, August 2023: Nine years. Waiting for our children. 
4. SOUNDBITE: Student footage, Iguala, Mexico, September 2014 (SPANISH): Let’s go dude.
5. SOUNDBITE: Student footage, Iguala, Mexico, September 2014 (SPANISH) / OFF audio of Metodia Carrillo Lino, August 2023: No answers at all... 
6. SOUNDBITE: Student footage, Iguala, Mexico, September 2014 (SPANISH): They are shooting at us, dude! You already killed someone, call an ambulance! Call an ambulance! 
7. SOUNDBITE: Metodia Carrillo Lino, Mexico City, Mexico, August 2023 (SPANISH): As mothers, we will never give up looking for our kids. Because I love my son very much. I will never forget him. As long as I am healthy, I will always look for my son. Always. Every single day. 
8. PHOTOS: Sequence of photos of the Ayotzinapa students. Ambient sound, August 2023 (SPANISH): Because they took them alive! And want them alive! 
9. TEXT ON SCREEN: On September 26, 2014, Mexican police, working with members of a criminal cartel, attacked and forcibly disappeared 43 students from Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers College. The students have not been seen since. 
10. TEXT ON SCREEN: For years later.
11. SOUNDBITE: Andrés Manuel López Obrador, President of Mexico, press conference, Mexico City, Mexico, September 2018 (SPANISH): Now I can say, with full confidence, that I will fulfill all the promises I made during the campaign. And one of my commitments was to solve the unfortunate case of the disappearance of the young men from Ayotzinapa.
12. SOUNDBITE: Epifanio Álvarez (Father of Jorge Álvarez Nava), press conference, Mexico City, Mexico, September 2018 (SPANISH): We are very hopeful that it will happen. Otherwise, as far as I am concerned, I prefer to die.
13. TEXT ON SCREEN: President López Obrador did not keep his promise. Nearly five years into President López Obrador’s term, what happened to the 43 students remains unclear. Their whereabouts are still unknown. 
14. SOUNDBITE: Metodia Carrillo Lino, Mexico City, Mexico, August 2023 (SPANISH): The president never gave us answers. We want the truth! We don’t want any more lies!” 
15. SOUNDBITE: María de Jesús Tlatempa Bello, Mexico City, Mexico, August 2023 (SPANISH): The information is there. The Army has it. But they said nothing. That’s why we’re very concerned. Because President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who is the commander of the Armed Forces, has not backed us up. Because if he had backed us up, they would already have investigated the army.
16. TEXT ON SCREEN: The army was closely monitoring the students on the night they were taken. But it has refused to give investigators access to key information, like photos, videos, and phone records from the night of the disappearance. 
17. SOUNDBITE: Clemente Rodríguez, Mexico City, Mexico, August 2023 (SPANISH): There is still a lot to investigate, so that we finally get truth and justice, and find out where our children are.
18. TEXT ON SCREEN: In July 2023, a group of international experts investigating what happened to the students stopped their work and left Mexico. They said they could not continue investigating because the army was hiding key evidence that could contain clues about what happened to the students. 
19. SOUNDBITE: Carlos Beristain (Member of the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts), press conference, Mexico City, Mexico, July 2023 (SPANISH): They continue to lie about the information held by the Armed Forces about what happened and about documents they hadregarding the possible whereabouts of the students.
20. SOUNDBITE: Ángela Buitrago (Member of the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts), press conference, Mexico City, Mexico, July 2023 (SPANISH): The refusal to provide information and the obstinacy of the denials, even in witness statements before prosecutors, by senior army and navy officials… only serve to deny the obvious.
21. SOUNDBITE: Carlos Beristain (Member of the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts), press conference, Mexico City, Mexico, July 2023 (SPANISH): The risk we have faced is that lies become an institutionalized response” 
22. TEXT ON SCREEN: The kidnapping and enforced disappearance of the 43 students shocked Mexico and the world. But it was not an isolated incident. 
23. TEXT ON SCREEN: Over 110,000 people are officially considered missing in Mexico. The true number is likely higher. Thousands continue to disappear every year. More than 36,000 have been reported missing since President López Obrador took office. 
24. SOUNDBITE: Clemente Rodríguez, Mexico City, Mexico, August 2023 (SPANISH): There are murders, there are disappearances, and the army knows it, and the government knows it. To put an end to the impunity, he [López Obrador] needs to somehow find the whereabouts of the 43 and of the thousands of others who are missing.
25. SOUNDBITE: María de Jesús Tlatempa Bello, Mexico City, Mexico, August 2023 (SPANISH):People should know what is actually going on here in Mexico, that the army is key to finding our disappeared children and to this day they have not been investigated.
26. TEXT ON SCREEN: President López Obrador should immediately call on the army to stop hiding information and ensure there is a serious investigation that leads to truth and justice.
27. SOUNDBITE: Clemente Rodríguez, Mexico City, Mexico, August 2023 (SPANISH): I would demand that he faces up to the commitments he made during his campaign, that he hasn’t kept. He should demand that the Army cooperate, because it has not contributed anything. He is protecting the military tooth and nail.” 
28. SOUNDBITE: Cristina Bautista (Mother of Benjamín Ascencio Bautista) , Mexico City, Mexico, August 2023 (SPANISH): We continue to fight, we continue to demand that the Mexican government finds our children alive, because that's how they took them, alive.
29. AMBIENT SOUND: We want them alive!
30. SOUNDBITE: Clemente Rodríguez, Mexico City, Mexico, August 2023 (SPANISH): The army had links with Guerreros Unidos, that is, with organized crime, they all [worked] hand in hand. So, the Mexican State should be held accountable for this.
31. SOUNDBITE: María de Jesús Tlatempa Bello, Mexico City, Mexico, August 2023 (SPANISH): They took them alive. We want them alive.
32. TEXT ON SCREEN: President López Obrador, which side are you on? Will you help the military cover up what happened to the students from Ayotzinapa? Or will you support the families seeking truth and justice? 
33. SOUNDBITE: Group of students from Atyozinapa Rural College, Mexico City, Mexico, August 2023 (SPANISH): [Count up from 1 to 43. When they arrive to 43, they shout:] “Justice!”.
34. END CREDITS: Producer/Editor – Andrés Brenner; Videographer – César Fuentes; Additional footage –Centro de Derechos Humanos Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez, Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco.