US to Designate 2 Major Brazilian Gangs as Terrorist Organizations, Rubio Says
The designation, which targets PCC and Comando Vermelho, allows the United States to freeze assets and bars Americans from providing support.

The United States on Thursday designated two of Brazil’s most powerful criminal organizations as terrorist groups.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the move in a statement posted to X.
“Primeiro Comando da Capital and Comando Vermelho are two of the most violent criminal organizations in Brazil,” Rubio wrote. “Their reach extends throughout our region and into our country. Today, I designated these organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists.”

The Trump administration plans to list the gangs formally as Foreign Terrorist Organizations effective June 5, while the State Department already labeled them Specially Designated Global Terrorists on Thursday. The move allows the United States to freeze any U.S.-linked assets, bars Americans from providing support, and opens the groups to broader counterterrorism tools.
“The Trump Administration will continue using every available tool to protect our national security interests and deny funding and resources to narco-terrorists,” Rubio wrote.

The announcement comes after Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, visited Washington earlier this week to meet with President Donald Trump. He said he had asked Washington to make the designations.

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The administration of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has blocked such designations domestically, with Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski arguing that the gangs “do not meet the legal definition of terrorism.” His administration has feared the terrorist label imposed by the United States could open the door to potential American military action inside Brazil or trigger sanctions on banks that do business with the gangs, even unknowingly.

The Trump administration views the gangs as central players in the flow of illicit drugs into the country. By designating them terrorists, Washington can choke off revenue streams that fuel violence across Latin America and inside American communities.

The action aligns with the Trump administration’s broader push against groups designated as narco-terrorists. It uses legal authorities to target finances, travel, and support networks linked to the organizations.

Officials said the designations will help keep illicit drugs out of American communities while disrupting the groups’ expanding international operations.

Primeiro Comando da Capital, known as PCC, and Comando Vermelho have operated for decades as Brazil’s dominant criminal organizations.

Their influence has grown far beyond Brazilian borders. Networks tied to the groups move drugs, weapons, and people throughout South America and into the United States, according to the U.S. State Department.

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