Brazil rejects US charge that it has failed to curb major criminal groups

Brazil rejects US charge that it has failed to curb major criminal groups
Brazil’s Justice Ministry has rejected a US assertion that the country has failed to confront the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and Comando Vermelho, saying Washington overlooked both Brazil’s enforcement record and its offers of deeper cooperation.

The dispute stems from a US document sent to Congress on drug-producing and transit countries for fiscal year 2027. The document said Brazil had failed to confront the two groups, which the United States has designated as foreign terrorist organizations, and said they had turned the country into “a hub for global cocaine flows.”

Brasília’s response is that the criticism does not amount to a formal US finding against Brazil. The ministry noted that Brazil was not included on the list of 23 countries formally identified as major drug producers or transit routes, calling the reference a narrative passage rather than a legal determination of non-compliance.

Brazil also cited its Anti-Faction Law, enacted in March 2026, and tens of thousands of federal anti-crime operations that it says imposed billions of reais in losses on criminal organizations. It said the US statement failed to account for existing cooperation on transnational organized crime, as well as President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s proposal for joint action on money laundering, intelligence-sharing and arms trafficking, to which it says Washington has not responded.

The government’s position is that the campaign against organized crime is a continuing federal priority, pursued through intelligence, investigations, coordination among security forces and international legal cooperation.

Others have emphasized the US warning rather than Brazil’s legal distinction. Commentator Paulo Figueiredo urged journalists to pay close attention to the document, which he said states that Brazil “failed” to combat the PCC and Comando Vermelho and needs urgently to act. Allan Dos Santos similarly recirculated a report describing Trump’s accusation that Brazil had become a cocaine-trafficking hub.

The two accounts therefore agree that organized crime requires cross-border attention, but sharply differ over whether Brazil’s current measures demonstrate sustained action or reveal an inadequate response.

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