I came to do the opposite of Lula
US designated two major Brazilian criminal factions as terrorist organizations, enabling asset freezes, visa bans, and expanded law enforcement operations against them. The designation came after Flavio Bolsonaro's direct request to Trump at the White House, contrasting with President Lula's opposition to the move as foreign interference.
- US designated Comando Vermelho and PCC as terrorist organizations on May 28, 2026
- Flavio Bolsonaro requested the designation directly from Trump at the White House two days prior
- President Lula da Silva opposed the move as foreign interference in Brazilian politics
- Bolsonaro was under investigation for receiving $12 million from a banker accused of $2.3 billion in fraud
- A 2025 police operation against Comando Vermelho in Rio de Janeiro left over 130 dead
The US State Department designated Comando Vermelho and PCC as terrorist organizations two days after Flavio Bolsonaro requested the measure from President Trump, applying severe sanctions and expanding law enforcement tools.
Two days after walking into the Oval Office to make his pitch, Flavio Bolsonaro got what he came for. The Brazilian senator, running as a precandidato ahead of October elections, had asked President Trump directly to designate two of Brazil's most powerful criminal organizations as terrorist groups. By Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced it was done. Comando Vermelho and Primeiro Comando da Capital—the CV and PCC—were now classified as Specially Designated Global Terrorists, with formal designation as Foreign Terrorist Organizations set to take effect on June 5, 2026.
The move carried real teeth. A terrorist designation freezes financial assets, bars members from entering the United States, and exposes anyone providing material support to criminal prosecution. It also handed American intelligence agencies, law enforcement, and the military expanded legal authority to track, target, and dismantle the groups' operations across borders. The State Department's statement was blunt: these were "two of Brazil's most violent criminal organizations," commanding thousands of members and orchestrating brutal attacks against police, government officials, and civilians. Their networks, it said, extended far beyond Brazil's borders throughout the region and into the United States itself.
The timing and the messenger mattered enormously. Flavio Bolsonaro had arrived at the White House as a candidate under fire. Just two weeks earlier, The Intercept had published leaked messages from a federal police investigation showing he received approximately twelve million dollars from Daniel Vorcaro, the former owner of a shuttered bank. Vorcaro stands accused of defrauding hundreds of millions from bank customers through dubious investment schemes—the Brazilian Federal Police estimate the total fraud at twelve billion reais, roughly two point three billion dollars. Bolsonaro denied wrongdoing, claiming the money funded a film about his father's life. The investigation continued.
Yet there he was at Trump's residence, positioning himself as the antidote to the current Brazilian government. "While Lula came to the White House to lobby on his knees for drug traffickers, I came to do the opposite," Bolsonaro told reporters in Washington. "I am the opposite of Lula." The contrast was deliberate and pointed. President Lula da Silva, eighty years old and seeking a fourth term in the October elections, had met with Trump just three weeks earlier and opposed the terrorist designation, viewing it as foreign interference in Brazilian domestic affairs. Now Trump had sided with the opposition candidate instead.
The designation carried echoes of recent violence on the ground. In October, Rio de Janeiro's governor Cláudio Castro—a political ally of former president Jair Bolsonaro—had launched a sweeping and controversial police operation against Comando Vermelho in the favela complexes of Penha and Alemão in Rio's north zone. The operation left more than one hundred thirty people dead. That operation had been contentious; this designation seemed to validate the harder line.
The real question hanging over the announcement was what it meant for Brazilian politics. Flavio Bolsonaro's White House visit, the speed of Trump's response, and the public contrast with Lula's position all suggested something beyond routine counterterrorism cooperation. With elections four months away, the designation looked like a signal—one that could reshape how Brazilian voters understood their country's relationship with Washington and which political forces had the ear of the American president. The investigation into Bolsonaro's finances would continue. So would the campaign.
Citações Notáveis
While Lula came to the White House to lobby on his knees for drug traffickers, I came to do the opposite.— Flavio Bolsonaro, to reporters in Washington
Their influence and illicit networks extend far beyond Brazil's borders, throughout the region and into our country.— U.S. State Department announcement
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why did Trump move so quickly on this? Two days is remarkably fast for a major policy shift.
Because Bolsonaro asked him directly, face to face, and framed it as a contrast with Lula. Trump responds to that kind of personal appeal, especially when it positions him as choosing sides in another country's politics.
But doesn't designating criminal groups as terrorists usually require more vetting, more interagency process?
It does normally. But this wasn't really about the groups themselves—the U.S. already knew who they were. It was about the optics. Bolsonaro needed a win to counter the corruption allegations, and Trump got to look tough on crime while snubbing Lula.
So Lula opposed it. On what grounds?
He called it foreign interference. And he had a point—the U.S. was essentially endorsing one Brazilian political faction over another, right before an election. That's not subtle.
What does the designation actually do beyond the symbolism?
It freezes assets, bans visas, lets U.S. agencies pursue them more aggressively. But most of their operations are in Brazil anyway. The real power is political—it signals who Washington backs.
And Bolsonaro was under investigation for taking bribes when he made this request?
Yes. Twelve million dollars from a man accused of massive fraud. He denied it, said it was for a film. But the timing was terrible—he needed a distraction and a legitimacy boost, and Trump gave him both.