Brazil steps up fight against PCC and Comando Vermelho following US terrorist designation
The Lula government intensified its rhetoric against organised crime after the US designated the PCC and Comando Vermelho as terrorist organisations. Brasília contests the classification, but guarantees continued cooperation with Washington.
Lula government maintains offensive against factions and rejects US criteria
According to brasil247.com, the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) intensified its stance against organised crime after the United States classified the PCC and Comando Vermelho as "Especially Designated Global Terrorists" — a decision that Brasília considers a threat to national legal sovereignty.
The Ministry of Justice and Public Security has since sought to reaffirm that Brazil maintains operations to dismantle criminal groups without abandoning its own legislation. Minister Wellington César Lima e Silva called together his secretariat to demand the continuation of concentrated efforts in combating the factions operating in national territory.
The internal directive is to maintain a firm and coordinated discourse. The government assesses that the legal divergence with Washington should not be interpreted as a retreat in the confrontation of the PCC and Comando Vermelho, but rather as a defence of Brazilian legislative autonomy.
Last week, US State Department spokesperson Amanda Roberson told CNN that the new designation should not compromise the exchange of information between the Federal Police and the FBI. The statement signals that the channels of police cooperation between the two countries should be preserved, regardless of the measure adopted by Washington.
The US classification allows the United States government to expand financial sanctions, block assets under its jurisdiction, and restrict any form of material support to the two groups. The allegation is that the PCC and Comando Vermelho operate in criminal activities of a transnational character.
The Brazilian government, however, maintains that the factions do not fit the definition of terrorism provided for in national legislation. The official position is that both organisations have predominantly economic motivation, linked to organised crime, and not a political or ideological purpose — an element considered central to the characterisation of terrorism under Brazilian law.
The strategy adopted by the Lula government combines the reinforcement of international cooperation with a contestation of the legal framework applied by Washington. The stated objective is to maintain the fight against the factions, expand operations to dismantle them, and ensure that decisions concerning crimes committed in Brazilian territory continue to be governed by national legislation — and not by criteria defined externally.
Source: Google News BR — Crime