UPDATED
The United States Department of State announced this Thursday that it has classified the Red Command and the PCC (First Capital Command) as “Specially Designated Global Terrorists”. The US intends to designate the two criminal groups as “Foreign Terrorist Organizations” with effect from June 5th.
“The CV and the PCC are two of the most violent criminal organizations in Brazil. Together, they command thousands of members and orchestrated brutal attacks against police officers, public authorities and Brazilian civilians”, highlights the statement, cited by . “His influence and illicit networks extend far beyond the borders of Brazil, throughout our region and into our country”, adds the statement from Marco Rubio’s office.
Primeiro Comando da Capital and Comando Vermelho are two of the most violent criminal organizations in Brazil. Their reach extends throughout our region and into our country.
Today, I designated these organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated…
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio)
The announcement was made one day after Senator Flávio Bolsonaro met with Marco Rubio. According to the parliamentarian, who is a pre-candidate for the presidency of Brazil, Rubio had shown himself in favor of classifying Brazilian factions as terrorist organizations. According to , Flávio Bolsonaro had also spoken about this issue with the North American president, Donald Trump, with whom he had met at the White House the day before.
This was a scenario that the president of Brazil, Lula da Silva, was trying to avoid because he believes that the designation of these groups as “international terrorist organizations” could open the door to harsher US actions against Brazil and, ultimately, serve as justification for military intervention in the country.
Also according to the statement, the Trump administration will use all available tools to keep illicit drugs out of North American territory and stop the flow of resources that finance “violent narco-terrorists.” “The action taken today by the Department of State further demonstrates the Trump administration’s unwavering commitment to dismantling cartels and criminal organizations in our region and ensuring the safety of the American people,” the announcement concluded.
What are the Red Command and the PCC?
Comando Vermelho (CV) and Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) are two of the largest criminal organizations in Brazil.
Its origins date back to the 1970s, when Brazil was still under dictatorship. Inside prisons, prisoners who demanded better conditions – including an end to torture and ill-treatment – divided themselves into groups that guaranteed protection to their allies and created rules of coexistence while “professionalizing” themselves. In 1979, Falange Vermelha emerged, which would give rise to Comando Vermelho, in the former Cândido Mendes prison, on Ilha Grande. The group grew, fueled mainly by cocaine trafficking.
In 1993, the PCC was born at the Penitentiary Rehabilitation Center of the Casa de Custódia de Taubaté, in São Paulo – among other reasons, to avoid situations of violence such as that which occurred in the Carandiru massacre, which left 111 people dead in 1992.
But the speech about protecting prisoners’ rights quickly became a speech against the police. And these groups have become, in fact, criminal organizations.
Today the PCC has more than 40 thousand members and is the largest criminal organization in the country. It is mainly financed by drug trafficking, but cargo theft, bank robberies and kidnappings are also sources of revenue.
The Red Command and the First Capital Command spread across prisons throughout practically all of Brazil, extended their area of influence and operated abroad, mainly in Latin America, but also in Europe.
