United States designates two Brazilian criminal gangs as terrorist organizations

The United States will add Comando Vermelho and Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) to its Foreign Terrorist Organizations list effective June 5 and also designate both groups as Specially Designated Global Terrorists. The designations place the gangs alongside Al Qaeda, Islamic State, and Hezbollah. The announcement comes four months before Brazil’s presidential election, potentially affecting an electoral contest between leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro. Lula’s government opposed the step, citing risks of U.S. military intervention and possible sanctions on banks that unknowingly do business with group members. The timing follows a private Oval Office meeting between Trump and Flavio Bolsonaro, during which Bolsonaro requested the additions and Trump said he would consider them.

"The United States will add two of Brazil's most powerful organized crime gangs, Comando Vermelho and Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), to its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations effective June 5, the State Department announced. In addition, Washington has designated both groups as Specially Designated Global Terrorists as of this Thursday, adding them to a list that includes Al Qaeda, Islamic State, and Hezbollah."

"The announcement comes four months before Brazil's presidential election and shakes up an electoral process likely to pit leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva against right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro. The move is a setback for Lula's administration, which opposed such a step because it could open the door to U.S. military intervention in the South American country or to sanctions on banks that, unknowingly, do business with members of those groups."

"The inclusion of the two gangs was announced just two days after U.S. President Donald Trump met privately with Flavio Bolsonaro in the Oval Office. According to the senator, during that conversation the presidential hopeful had asked the Republican to add the two groups to the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. The president replied that he would consider it."

"Less than three weeks earlier, Trump had also met in the Oval Office with Lula, with whom he spent three and a half hours and shared lunch. In that meeting, the former union leader explained to the Republican why, in his view, taking that step against the two criminal gangs would be a grave mistake: Brazil is willing to collaborate in the fight against criminal groups but opposes having those gangs included on U.S"

Read at english.elpais.com