United States designates Brazil's PCC and Comando Vermelho as terrorist organizations

The United States has designated Brazil’s two largest criminal organizations, Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and Comando Vermelho (CV), as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT) and Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO).

Comando Vermelho, which originated in Rio de Janeiro prisons in the 1970s, has evolved from a prisoner self-protection group into a major transnational criminal network involved in cocaine trafficking and territorial control. The PCC is also identified as a significant threat to public security.

Critics argue that the use of the “terrorist” label for these groups is politically motivated rather than purely security-driven. While both organizations are responsible for massive violence and pose serious threats to stability in Brazil and neighboring regions, observers note that their primary objectives are criminal profit and power rather than the political or ideological transformation typically associated with terrorism.