Lula says Brazil will not be treated like ‘tinpot country’ after US designates gangs as terrorists
Marco Rubio made announcement after meeting president’s far-right challenger Flávio Bolsonaro
TL;DR
- Brazil's President Lula denounced the U.S. designation of the PCC and Red Command as foreign terrorist organizations, stating Brazil will not be treated as a "tinpot country."
- The designation by Secretary of State Marco Rubio is viewed by some in Brazil as politically beneficial to Flávio Bolsonaro, Lula's main challenger in the upcoming presidential election.
- Flávio Bolsonaro, who recently met with Donald Trump and Marco Rubio in the U.S., welcomed the designation and criticized Lula's administration.
- President Lula called the Bolsonaro family "traitors" and "false patriots" for allegedly advocating foreign intervention in Brazil.
- The U.S. designation of the gangs, which are major players in drug trafficking across Latin America, has potentially unclear practical consequences but is seen as part of the U.S. "war on drugs" in the region.
- Both the PCC and Red Command originated in Brazilian prisons and have grown into large criminal organizations with international reach.
- Lula maintained that Brazil actively combats these criminal factions and that international cooperation is welcome, but arbitrary measures imposed from abroad that attack sovereignty will not be accepted.