A TRAVEL blogger was fatally shot in the head while travelling in a taxi when a sudden gang shootout broke out in Brazil.
Barbara Elisa Yabeta Borges, 28, was riding in the back seat of the car when gunfire erupted in just days after the city’s favella bloodbath.
Barbara Elisa Yabeta Borges, 28, was fatally shot in the head while riding in a taxiCredit: Newsflash
Her death came just days after the city’s favela bloodbathCredit: Newsflash
According to the driver, the shots hurled towards them as they passed over the Fundao footbridge on Friday.
Barbara was struck in the head and rushed to the Hospital Geral de Bonsucesso.
But despite medics’ best efforts, the travel blogger tragically died from the gunshot wound.
Police said the shooting occurred during an between rival criminal gangs.
Officers from the 22nd Battalion responded to the scene and seized a rifle, magazines and ammunition, they said.
Hours before her death, Barbara had urged her followers to “care for those who love you” and warned “people cannot be replaced” in a heartbreakingly foreboding post.
Barbara, who was recently promoted at the bank where she worked in Rio’s South Zone, often shared photos of outdoor runs, hiking trips, and travel with her 18,000 Instagram followers.
Her mother, a teacher in the municipal education network, and her husband, who was in Sao Paulo at the time, have spoken of their devastation since her death.
The case is under investigation.
Jungle battle
Barbara’s death came just days after the mostin Rio’s history, which left at least 121 people dead, including four officers, during actions against the Comando Vermelho (Red Command) faction.
Police drone footage captured dozens of heavily armed traffickers fleeing through the Serra da Misericórdia forest as officers stormed the Penha and Alemão complexes.
The images obtained by Globo G1 show 23 armed men, some wearing camouflage like police, gathered at dawn at the top of before joining a larger group of 80 gunmen heading into the jungle.
According to investigators, the fugitives included senior leaders of the Comando Vermelho (Red Command) – Rio’s oldest and most powerful drug faction – and bosses from other Brazilian states.
The faction’s top target, a trafficker known as Doca, reportedly escaped through the forest, which police say doubles as a training ground for new recruits, including children.
Rio’s Secretary of Public Security, Victor Santos, said: “The woods used in the escape also serve as a training area for new members of the faction — including minors.”
The mega-operation, which mobilized 2,500 officers backed by helicopters, armoured vehicles and drones, turned the hillsides into warzones.
Officers said they deliberately pushed criminals into the forest to protect the population in a mission planned for months.
The raids in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas resulted in at least 119 deaths, including four officers
A suspect is escorted by police officers after being arrested during the Operacao Contencao (Operation Containment) at the Vila Cruzeiro favela, in the Penha complex
Some of the alleged criminals arrested during the Operacao Contencao (Operation Containment) sit while waiting to be transferred, at the Vila Cruzeiro favela
Military police secretary Marcelo de Menezes said: “Elite special forces had deliberately pushed criminals into the forest abutting the favela, where the majority of fighting took place.”
Governor Claudio Castro hailed the assault as a success, insisting the only victims were armed gang members.
“The only victims were the police officers who were killed,” Castro said, calling the mission a strike against “narcoterrorism.”
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called for a balanced approach to tackling organized crime.
“We cannot accept that organized crime continues to destroy families, oppress residents, and spread drugs and violence throughout the cities,” Lula wrote on X.
“We need coordinated work that strikes at the backbone of drug trafficking without putting innocent police officers, children, and families at risk.”
The president, who faces re-election in 2026, dispatched his justice minister Ricardo Lewandowski to Rio to offer federal help “to overcome this security crisis as quickly as possible.”
The de Janeiro – about six in ten of the state’s communities – and has expanded its empire nationwide, Globo reported.
The gang finances its operations by taxing residents for basic services such as gas, internet, and transport, and has spread its network into 24 states and the Federal District, according to government data.
Its dominance has turned swathes of Rio into lawless enclaves, areas now at the heart of Rio’s most lethal police operation on record.
Barbara had just been promoted at the bank where she workedCredit: Newsflash
The young woman was a keen travel blogger tooCredit: Newsflash 
