Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday that the designations will target Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and Comando Vermelho, Brazil’s two largest criminal networks.
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The “foreign terrorist organization” label will come into effect from June 5.
Meanwhile, Rubio pointed out that they were already classified as “Specially Designated Global Terrorists”, a similar category that derives its authority from the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
Both designations prevent the groups’ access to U.S. assets, although the “foreign terrorist” label is considered more restrictive.
Rubio said the measures were necessary to ensure the safety of American citizens.
“The Trump Administration will continue to use all available tools to protect our country and our national security interests by keeping illegal drugs off our streets and disrupting the revenue sources that fund violent narco-terrorists,” Rubio said in a statement.
Since returning to the White House for a second term, Trump has sought “terrorist” designation for several Latin American criminal networks.
The efforts have been criticized as a pretext to expand U.S. military influence in the Western Hemisphere, as part of Trump’s “Monroe Doctrine”, which is based on the 19th century expansionist policy known as the Monroe Doctrine.
But Brazil’s decision to designate two criminal groups is likely to shock politics in the South American country, where presidential elections are in full swing.
Media reports indicate that leftist Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has repeatedly tried to block the Trump administration from imposing the “terrorist” designation.
The fear is that such a designation could be used to punish any group exposed to the so-called “terrorist” group, including financial institutions and victims facing extortion.
Lula has also expressed concern over the growing threat of foreign interference in Latin America, particularly after the January 3 military operation in which the US kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Lula is running for a fourth consecutive term in the presidential race in October. While Lula is critical of Trump, his main rival, right-wing senator Flavio Bolsonaro, has close ties to the US administration.
Thursday’s announcement comes after Trump met with Bolsonaro at the White House this week. The senator later told reporters that he had actively petitioned Trump to designate the PCC and Comando Vermelho as “terrorist” groups.
Trump has already intervened in Brazilian politics on behalf of the Bolsonaro family.
Last year, he raised tariffs against Brazil to nearly 50 percent in solidarity with Bolsonaro’s father, former President Jair Bolsonaro.
Like Trump, Jair Bolsonaro was blamed for attempting to destroy democracy after his 2022 election defeat. Despite Trump’s calls to drop the case against the elderly Bolsonaro, the former president was ultimately sentenced to 27 years in prison.
The former president’s younger son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, is currently facing trial for obstruction for seeking Trump’s intervention on his father’s behalf.
The question of public safety is likely to loom large in the race between Flavio Bolsonaro and Lula, who polls show are in a close race.
Recent clashes between law enforcement and criminal groups such as Comando Vermelho are also expected to have a huge impact on the presidential election.
For example, last October a police raid in Rio de Janeiro killed more than 120 people. Another operation in March killed eight people.
Critics of police raids have argued that decades of militarized confrontation have led to violence and rights abuses.
“Armed confrontation with young drug traffickers on the outskirts is ineffective and fails to deal with the complexity of money laundering and its links to financial crime,” Luis Flavio Sapori, a sociologist and public security expert at the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais, told the Associated Press news agency.
To address public security concerns, Lula launched a $2 billion initiative in March to attack the financial bases of criminal networks such as the PCC and Comando Vermelho.
The money is also to be used to disrupt arms trafficking, reform the prison system, and invest in homicide investigations.
Following Thursday’s “terrorist” designations, Lula’s foreign affairs adviser Celso Amorim warned that the US should not use the label to violate Brazil’s sovereignty.
“Organized crime is an evil that must be fought. International cooperation is welcome, especially in matters of money laundering and arms trade,” Amorim said.
But, he said, any “pretext for interference” would be “unacceptable”.
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