Data update: Recategorization of gunshot reporting events in ACLED's Brazil dataset

On 16 March 2026, ACLED published corrections to its Brazil dataset affecting events sourced from Onde Tem Tiroteio (OTT), a citizen reporting platform where members of the public can report hearing gunshots, among other events. This change affects how we code reports from this source that mention only gunshots heard.

Previously, ACLED coded these reports under the “Battles” event type. Now, we code them as “Strategic developments" under the sub-event type “Other.” Following a methodology review, we made this change to reflect the fact that a civilian report of hearing gunshots does not in itself constitute a confirmed battle between armed groups. The update brings our Brazil coding in line with ACLED global methodology. We have corrected the full ACLED dataset for Brazil dating back to 1 January 2018 to reflect this change. Users who update their data will observe lower levels of political violence recorded for Brazil than our dataset reflected before 16 March 2026.

Implications for data analysis

• This update results in a nearly 20% decrease in the armed clash event counts for Brazil for the period 1 January 2018 to 16 March 2026.
• This decrease reflects the recategorization of these events rather than a change in conflict dynamics.
• Trends across ACLED’s entire period of coverage remain comparable to before we made these corrections.
• The corrections affect events primarily in Rio de Janeiro state, where over 6,600 events were updated. Nearly 1,000 events in São Paulo state were also updated, and around 45 events were updated for other states.
• Regional Updates and other ACLED analysis on Brazil published before April 2026 do not reflect this update.  

Key changes

Correction period: 1 January 2018 to present

Countries affected: Brazil

Source appears in dataset as: OTT-RJ; OTT-SP; OTT-ES; OTT-CE; OTT-MG

Corrections to existing events: 7,893