The Brazilian leader celebrated Trump's offensive against the major criminal organizations in Brazil.
In this context, Eduardo Bolsonaro made one of his most forceful statements regarding the consequences of the measure. "Now they can be fought like Bin Laden was", he stated while celebrating the Trump administration's decision. With this comparison, he sought to emphasize that the United States will be able to employ much more aggressive mechanisms against both organizations, similar to those historically used against international terrorist groups.
Eduardo Bolsonaro celebrated this Thursday the decision of the Government of Donald Trump to declare the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and the Comando Vermelho (CV) as terrorist organizations, the two largest criminal structures in Brazil. The former Brazilian congressman asserted that the measure will allow for intensified international persecution against both factions and strike at their financing networks.
Through a video shared on social media, Bolsonaro especially thanked President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Vice President JD Vance for promoting the designation. He stated that the measure represents a historic step to confront groups responsible for thousands of homicides, drug trafficking activities, and attacks against Brazilian security forces.
The conservative leader emphasized that the classification as terrorist organizations enables new tools for international cooperation and increases pressure on the criminal structures operating inside and outside Brazil. Both the PCC and the Comando Vermelho were identified by Washington as organizations with regional presence and the capacity to extend their illicit activities beyond Brazilian borders.
The decision was announced just two days after the visit of Senator Flávio Bolsonaro to the White House. During that meeting, the Brazilian presidential candidate had revealed that he personally requested Trump to declare the PCC and the Comando Vermelho as terrorists, arguing that both factions operate as true narcoterrorist organizations.
Flávio Bolsonaro maintained that while the leftist president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva had expressed his rejection of that classification for "sovereignty issues and legal consequences," he promoted the opposite stance before the U.S. administration. The temporal coincidence between the request and the announcement was celebrated by conservative leaders as a sign of alignment between Washington and the Brazilian right-wing opposition.
Eduardo Bolsonaro also took the opportunity of the announcement to project a potential political change in Brazil. He stated that a future administration led by his brother Flávio Bolsonaro could deepen cooperation with the United States in the fight against drug trafficking, organized crime, and transnational criminal organizations operating throughout Latin America.
