Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro visited the White House on Tuesday, meeting with US President Donald Trump and sharing a photo of the two men together in the Oval Office — a high-profile move aimed at shoring up his image as his presidential campaign faces mounting pressure back home. Bolsonaro said he requested that Trump designate two Brazilian organised crime groups, the Comando Vermelho (CV) and the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) — powerful prison and street gangs — as terrorist organisations, a step the Trump administration has been considering similar to designations already applied to Mexican and Colombian cartels. "I went specifically to ask him to designate the CV and PCC as terrorist organizations, because that's what they are," Bolsonaro told reporters in Washington after the meeting.
Flavio Bolsonaro, 45, is the eldest son of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence following his conviction for involvement in a coup attempt after losing the 2022 election to current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Flavio has stepped into his father's role as the leading figure of Brazil's political right and had been seen as the principal challenger to Lula in Brazil's upcoming October presidential election — until a damaging scandal emerged. Reports revealed that he had sought funds from a banker convicted of multi-million-dollar fraud to finance a documentary about his father. While Flavio has acknowledged approaching the banker, he has denied any wrongdoing. The fallout has been visible in the polls, with Lula reclaiming a lead after a period in which the two candidates were running neck and neck.
The Washington visit carried a pointed political dimension. Lula himself met Trump at the White House two weeks earlier, partly to argue against the terrorist designation for the CV and PCC, warning it could invite US military action on Brazilian soil. Bolsonaro cast his own visit as the opposite approach, saying: "Lula goes on his knees, crawling, to beg the US president. I do the opposite." He also said that if elected, Brazil would join a US-led security alliance for the Americas launched in March with 17 Latin American and Caribbean countries. Bolsonaro claimed the visit was made at Washington's invitation, though that account could not be independently confirmed, and media reports had indicated he travelled to Washington without a guaranteed appointment.
The meeting highlights the broader geopolitical undercurrents shaping Brazil's election. Trump has been openly critical of the prosecution of the elder Bolsonaro and previously imposed tariffs on Brazil in connection with the case, straining US–Brazil relations under Lula. Those ties have since grown more cordial. Flavio Bolsonaro said Trump showed interest in the Brazilian election campaign but stressed there was no formal endorsement. For Brazilian voters, the spectacle of rival candidates seeking Trump's ear in quick succession underscores how the US–Brazil relationship has become a live issue in a race that will define the direction of Latin America's largest country.