The Government of Brazil considers that the decision of the United States Department of State to include the criminal groups Comando Vermelho (CV) and Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) on its list of foreign terrorist organizations implies, in the words of the Executive itself, "significant repercussions both economically and on national sovereignty", including "the use of US military force on Brazilian territory".
This was detailed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mauro Vieira, in a written response to an inquiry from opposition deputy Evair Vieira de Melo, of the Republicanos party, in a document to which Europa Press has had access, where he warns of "concrete risks to national sovereignty".
The head of Brazilian diplomacy emphasizes that "this unilateral classification could be invoked as justification for extraterritorial actions against Brazilian institutions, particularly in the financial, migratory, and criminal spheres", and also warns that "there is a risk of the use of US military force against national territory".
The head of Foreign Affairs —whose ministry is known as Itamaraty after the palace where it is located— maintains that the Donald Trump administration could "apply unilateral and extraterritorial administrative and judicial measures against Brazilian individuals, companies, or organizations, including those without direct ties to the United States or whose connection with the designated groups is indirect or merely involuntary".
In the same vein, he warns that Washington would have room to impose these measures "with a wide margin of discretion, given the broad range of terms adopted in that country's anti-terrorism legislation, with serious potential implications for Brazilian citizens in financial, migratory, and criminal matters".
Vieira emphasizes that "the United States has not issued any formal communication to Brazil" regarding this decision, which he describes as "a unilateral act" against which the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Executive "has expressed its opposition".
According to him, "public security, intelligence, and justice agencies participated in the inter-institutional coordination process and agreed that classifying criminal organizations as terrorists is not only inadequate from a legal standpoint, but also does not bring benefits to international cooperation in the fight against transnational organized crime".
In the specific case of the bilateral relationship with Washington, the minister agrees that "the designation of criminal organizations as terrorists will not bring concrete benefits to international cooperation between the United States and Brazil in the fight against organized crime".
He further insists that "the treatment of these groups as transnational criminal organizations already allows, under U.S. legislation, the use of necessary cooperation mechanisms on issues such as information exchange, asset seizure and forfeiture, and the fight against money laundering, among others".
Vieira remarks that the Government shares this diagnosis and defends Itamaraty's work in "translating into diplomatic terms the priority that the Brazilian Government gives to public security and the fight against organized crime," an approach based "on the recognition of the transnational dimension of organized crime and the country's inability to effectively confront it without cooperation with other countries and international organizations."
In this context, the minister highlights some recent advances, such as the election of Federal Police Commissioner Valdecy Urquiza as Secretary General of Interpol in 2024; the signing in Brasilia, in 2023, of the constitutive treaty of Ameripol, and the agreement sealed with the European Union to strengthen cooperation between the Federal Police and Europol in 2025, among other milestones.
With this explanation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs responds to the Chamber of Deputies regarding its position on the decision announced on Thursday by the United States to include Comando Vermelho and Primeiro Comando da Capital, the country's two main criminal factions, in its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO).
When communicating the measure, the State Department stressed that "the Trump Administration will continue to use all available tools to protect our nation and our national security interests, keeping illicit drugs off our streets and disrupting the revenue streams that finance violent narcoterrorists."
The announcement was celebrated in Brazil by Senator and presidential pre-candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, who at the beginning of the month had requested that the US president, Donald Trump —historic ally of his father, former president Jair Bolsonaro—, include both factions in the list of terrorist groups of the North American country.
In contrast, the Special Advisor to the Presidency for International Affairs, Celso Amorim, rejected "any pretext for intervention" and warned that "equating organized crime with terrorism is not useful," as "understanding the motivations is essential for the effective fight against all forms of crime."