Brazil Resists U.S. Terrorist Designation of Major Gangs, Vows Sovereignty

Brazil will not be treated as a “tinpot country”, President Luiz Inácio da Silva declared on Friday, following the United States’ designation of the nation’s two largest criminal gangs, the First Capital Command (PCC) and the Red Command, as foreign terrorist organisations.

The announcement, made by Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday, is being viewed in Brazil as a setback for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who had strongly opposed the move, and as a boost for his main election challenger, far‑right Senator Flávio Bolsonaro.

Flávio Bolsonaro, who is running to replace his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro — who is currently under house arrest after being convicted of attempting a coup — traveled to the United States this week, where he met with Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Lula said he was “very saddened” by the news that “the United States secretary, from North America, a certain Marco Rubio, said that our criminals here are terrorists and that Americans can intervene”, remarks he made during a speech in the state of Sergipe.

He added, “We do not accept being treated like little boys. We do not accept being treated as if we were some tinpot country.”

In a statement, he also referred to the Bolsonaro family as “traitors” and “false patriots”.

He wrote, “It is deplorable that members of the Bolsonaro family once again travel to the United States to advocate foreign intervention in Brazil, as they did over the tariffs, which caused so much damage to our country.”

Flávio Bolsonaro’s standing in the campaign reached a low point after recordings revealed he had asked a corrupt banker for $26.8 million (£20 million) to fund a film about his father, causing a sharp decline in his poll numbers.

In announcing the designation, Rubio wrote that the groups were “two of the most violent criminal organizations in Brazil. Their reach extends throughout our region and into our country”.

Both organisations originated inside Brazilian prisons — originally as responses to torture and abuse — and have grown to become some of the largest criminal networks in Latin America, trafficking cocaine from neighbouring Colombia, Peru and Bolivia to the United States and Europe while expanding globally.

The Red Command, founded in the 1970s amid interactions between political prisoners and common criminals during Brazil’s military dictatorship, predates the PCC, which was established in the 1990s in São Paulo after a police crackdown that killed 111 inmates during a prison rebellion.

The two groups vie for control of drug distribution and trafficking routes, yet they operate differently: the Red Command features a more decentralized, overtly violent structure reminiscent of Mexican and Colombian cartels, whereas the PCC functions akin to a corporation, with well‑defined hierarchies and a low‑profile, business‑like approach.

Lula opposed the U.S. proposal to label these groups as terrorist organisations, describing the move as an affront to Brazilian sovereignty and insisting that Brazil already combats them effectively. Hours before the U.S. announcement, Brazilian federal police launched a new operation targeting PCC infiltration of the nation’s financial sector.

In his Friday statement, the president said, “Any international cooperation to combat criminal factions will be welcome … But we will not accept arbitrary measures imposed from abroad being used as a pretext to attack our sovereignty and our economy … National sovereignty is non‑negotiable.”

On Thursday, Flávio Bolsonaro immediately celebrated the designation, stating, “On a trip as a presidential candidate, we did more for Brazil and for the security of Brazilians than Lula,” and months earlier he expressed “jealousy” over U.S. actions against vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific that have killed 196 people, suggesting the United States could similarly intervene in Rio’s Guanabara Bay: “Wouldn’t you like to spend a few months here helping us combat these terrorist organisations?” He wrote to U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

The U.S. decision to classify these organisations as terrorist groups — following similar designations in Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela — had been widely anticipated for months, though it was not mentioned during former President Trump’s meeting with Lula at the White House three weeks prior.

Lula said on Friday that Rubio was absent from his three‑hour meeting with Trump, remarking, “Mr Marco Rubio was not there, possibly because he was busy helping the son of a Bolsonarista who is running for election in this country, someone who has no shame in betraying our homeland by going to the United States and asking for American intervention in Brazil,” the president said.

Flávio’s visit to the White House last Tuesday was omitted from the official schedule and, unlike Trump’s meeting with Lula — during which the U.S. president praised the Brazilian leftist — it was not referenced by Trump in any social media post.

The following day, Flávio posted a photograph of a meeting with Rubio and wrote, “We continue strengthening international relations, defending freedom, democracy and the values that unite millions of Brazilians and Americans.” The secretary of state is widely regarded as the Bolsonaro family’s primary connection to Trump.

There remains limited clarity regarding the practical implications of the designation; analysts warn it could have financial repercussions even for innocent Brazilians, while the move is already interpreted as another example of increasing U.S. pressure across the region under its “war on drugs” agenda. A recent report by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project found that U.S. pressure contributed to an 18 % rise in clashes between security forces and armed groups across Latin America and the Caribbean in 2025.

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