RIO DE JANEIRO — Political observers and analysts believe the United States’ recent classification of two Brazilian criminal organizations as terrorist groups represents a calculated political strategy designed to assist an ally of President Donald Trump, according to politicians and experts.
The criminal organizations now join eight additional Latin American organized crime syndicates that have received foreign terrorist organization status from the U.S. However, these Brazilian groups stand apart from the others because they don’t conduct operations on American soil.
The designation of First Capital Command, referred to as PCC, and Red Command, known as CV, came after presidential candidate Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro traveled to Washington last week. During his visit, he indicated he requested Trump administration officials to apply the terrorist designation to these groups.
Bolsonaro is seeking to defeat current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the upcoming October elections. The American decision strengthens the senator’s law-and-order platform while amplifying Bolsonaro’s attacks on Lula’s approach to public safety.
“The main driver of this decision was politics, to pressure Lula and help Flávio prior to the October election,” stated Latin America expert Brian Winter, who edits Americas Quarterly, a publication of the New York-based Council of Americas.
Carolina Grillo, a sociology professor at Fluminense Federal University in Rio de Janeiro and an expert on organized crime in Brazil, shared the view that the Trump administration’s action was designed to potentially influence the elections.
“The supply routes for cocaine entering the United States pass through Colombia, Mexico and Central American countries — not through Brazil,” Grillo explained, noting that over 90% of cocaine confiscated in Brazil is headed for European nations.
Lula has objected to the U.S. action, asserting that Brazil is handling its own problems, as demonstrated by recent arrests and an active investigation into PCC.
“I am very sad today, after the news that the secretary of state of the United States, a certain Marco Rubio, said that our criminals here are terrorists and that the Americans can intervene,” Lula stated on Friday. “We will not accept being treated like children. We will not accept being treated as if we were a banana republic.”
Lula’s approval ratings reached their highest point last year following Trump’s implementation of a 50% tariff increase on Brazilian goods.
However, Creomar de Souza, an analyst with political risk consultancy firm Dharma in Brasilia, suggested it won’t be as straightforward for Lula to connect this latest U.S. action with national sovereignty issues.
“First of all, there’s Flávio’s propaganda. He will be able to hit hard against Lula’s Achilles heel, public security,” de Souza explained. “And this also depends on how the administration explains this to the public. It is not as simple as antagonizing Trump on tariffs.”
Trump has publicly backed Latin American politicians who have expressed support for him, including José Antonio Kast in Chile, Javier Milei in Argentina and Daniel Noboa in Ecuador.
Flávio Bolsonaro, similar to his father, has promoted the idea of the U.S. under Trump displacing China as Brazil’s primary trading partner.
“The Trump administration dreamed of having a candidate here to give them leverage in the economy front,” explained Carlos Melo, a political science professor at the Insper university in Sao Paulo.
