The United States has designated Brazil's two largest criminal networks — the Comando Vermelho (CV, or Red Command) and the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC, or First Capital Command) — as foreign terrorist organisations, a move that takes full effect on 5 June and carries sweeping legal consequences. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the decision on Thursday, describing both groups as "two of the most violent criminal organisations in Brazil" whose influence "extends far beyond Brazil's borders, across our region and into our country."
The designations come in two stages. Both groups have already been labelled "Specially Designated Global Terrorists" under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, allowing the US Treasury to rapidly impose sanctions on their leaders and associates. From 5 June, they will also be classified as "Foreign Terrorist Organisations" — a more serious designation that places them in the same legal category as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, and criminalises any material support for the groups. US banks must freeze any funds linked to members, and individuals associated with either gang can be barred from entering or remaining in the United States.
The CV originated in the Ilha Grande prison off the coast of Rio de Janeiro in the 1970s, while the PCC emerged from a prison near São Paulo in the 1990s. Both have since expanded dramatically: the PCC now has a presence in at least 16 countries, while the CV maintains operations across at least eight Latin American nations. The announcement followed a White House meeting between Trump and Flávio Bolsonaro — a Brazilian senator, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, and a leading contender in Brazil's October presidential election. Bolsonaro had actively lobbied the Trump administration for the designation and celebrated the decision publicly, calling it "a great day."
The Brazilian government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva had worked actively to prevent the designation, warning that it could infringe on Brazilian sovereignty and be exploited for political purposes ahead of the election. Under Brazil's 2016 Anti-Terrorism Law, terrorism is defined narrowly as violence motivated by xenophobia or ideological and religious hatred — a definition that excludes drug-trafficking organisations. Lula's foreign affairs adviser, Celso Amorim, acknowledged the need to fight organised crime but warned that any "pretext for intervention" in Brazilian affairs would be "unacceptable." Lula had proposed a bilateral cooperation agreement as an alternative framework, but Washington rejected it as insufficient.
The decision is politically charged on multiple fronts. Brazil's presidential race is closely contested, with public security — a topic on which the designation directly touches — ranked as the top concern among Brazilian voters. Critics, including legal scholars and security experts, argue that decades of militarised confrontation with criminal groups have worsened violence rather than curbing it, and that the terrorist label risks penalising financial institutions and ordinary civilians who interact with the groups under duress. The designation also fits within the Trump administration's broader pattern of applying terrorist labels to Latin American criminal organisations, a policy that has drawn criticism from international law experts, particularly in light of US military strikes on suspected drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and Pacific that have killed nearly 200 people.