The United States is preparing a new round of sanctions against people, companies and institutions in Brazil with ties to the PCC (Primeiro Comando da Capital) and the Comando Vermelho (CV), Brazil's two leading criminal factions, and the measures could land within weeks, according to a report by Folha de S.Paulo published on Saturday (19). US investigations underpinning the action have been intense, according to officials who track the matter and spoke to the newspaper on condition of anonymity.
The work has run for months with support from the Treasury Department, the Justice Department and the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation). Investigators traced the money trail of the two factions inside the United States and then cross-referenced the data to identify relationships with residents in Brazil and their local connections. Sanctions could fall on individuals, companies or institutions, including ones active in politics, whose members have some connection to the groups.
What it means for Brazil
The threat arrives at a moment of open friction between the two governments. On Tuesday (15), the White House sent Congress a presidential determination on the world's major drug transit and production countries, released on Wednesday (16). In the document, the administration of Donald Trump says Brazil has "failed to confront" the two factions, which have "transformed Brazil into a hub for global cocaine flows," and demands "aggressive measures" to defeat them. Brazil's Ministry of Justice and Public Security answered with a statement saying Washington ignores Brazilian initiatives and the existing cooperation between the two countries, and said it will keep acting "in a sovereign and coordinated manner." Behind the scenes, according to Folha, officials read the US pressure as politically motivated in an election year.
The interests at play overlap and diverge. Washington frames the file within its regional strategy against organized crime: on May 29, the State Department designated the two factions as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT), presenting the step as part of a plan to "dismantle cartels and criminal organizations in our region" and protect the American people. According to Folha, the PCC and the CV were also designated in the first half of the year as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO). The document sent to Congress compares Brazil unfavorably with other governments in the region, which it credits with action against trafficking and narco-terrorism. The designation had domestic encouragement: Senator Flávio Bolsonaro asked Trump in person, at a May 26 meeting in Washington, to place the factions on the US list of terrorist organizations, as reported by CartaCapital.
If confirmed, the new round would extend the pressure to individuals, companies and institutions in Brazil connected to the factions, rather than the organizations alone. The White House document carries a caveat, though: Brazil does not appear on the main US list of major drug transit or production countries, and the text itself says inclusion does not necessarily amount to a negative assessment of a government's counter-narcotics efforts. The pressure lands in an election year: Brazilians choose a president, governors and Congress in October.