MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Friday, May 29th 2026 - 23:32 UTC
Lula da Silva accused Flávio Bolsonaro, his most likely rival in October's presidential elections, of having “betrayed the homeland by going to the United States to ask for an intervention in Brazil”
Brazil's government on Friday issued an official note rejecting the decision adopted by the administration of US President Donald Trump to designate Brazil's two main organized crime groups, the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and the Comando Vermelho, as terrorist organizations. “We will not accept the use of arbitrary measures from abroad as a pretext to attack our sovereignty and our economy,” the statement warned, while avoiding explicit reference to the US administration. The measure, announced on Thursday, adds both organizations to a list that includes Al Qaeda, the Islamic State, the main Mexican cartels, and the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva accused Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, his most likely rival in October's presidential elections, of having “betrayed the homeland by going to the United States to ask for an intervention in Brazil.” Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro and aspirant to succeed him politically, met this week with Trump in the Oval Office of the White House and presented the gang designation as his main request. Lula on Friday stressed that ”the so-called Comando Vermelho, the so-called PCC, are terrorists for Brazilians, for the people who live in the urban periphery (...) and we are going to fight them here inside.“ The Brazilian administration had spent months attempting to persuade Trump's team not to advance with this categorization.
