US officially classifies the PCC and CV as terrorists: the timeline of the decision

Lula
Getty Images / BBC
The United States government made official this Friday (5) the classification of the Brazilian criminal factions Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and Comando Vermelho (CV) as terrorists.
The decision, which had already been announced on May 28, was published this Friday in the Federal Register, the Official American Gazette. The document is signed by Marco Rubio, US Secretary of State.
Another decision published in the Federal Register this Friday and also signed by Rubio allows people linked to the PCC and CV to have assets and assets that are under US jurisdiction frozen without prior notice.
It also prohibits financial transactions between American people or companies and these organizations and provides for sanctions against individuals or entities that provide material, financial or logistical support to these groups.
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The designation of CV and PCC as international terrorist entities by the US State Department marked the biggest defeat for the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) in its relationship with the government of President Donald Trump since the imposition of the tariff in 2025.
It was a battle that took more than a year, with back and forth from side to side and which, at this moment, appears to have been won by the political group now led by senator and pre-candidate for the Presidency of the Republic Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ).
The Brazilian government was against the measure. The main argument was that it could put national sovereignty at risk by opening space for US military actions under the pretext of combating terrorism.
The government also claimed that the measure would go against Brazilian legislation that makes a distinction between the activities carried out by criminal factions and terrorism.
On the other hand, the group led by Flávio Bolsonaro had been publicly defending the measure for more than a year, pointing out the Lula government's opposing position to the designation as an alleged demonstration of collusion by the PT administration with organized crime.
The decision announced at the end of May came, in fact, one day after Flávio Bolsonaro ended a trip to Washington, where he met with President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The Brazilian government had never considered the issue completely overcome within the Trump administration given what Lula's advisors classify as the US president's unpredictability.
Despite this, BBC News Brasil found that the US decision took even diplomats who followed part of the conversations between the two countries about the subject.
During his visit to the United States, Flávio said he defended, to the entire Trump team, that the country take action against Brazilian criminal organizations - contrary to the new 25% tariff proposed by the US for Brazilian products this week, which the senator says he asked Trump, Vance and Rubio not to apply.
Before Flávio's trip, President Lula's interlocutors stated, in a reserved manner, that the government would interpret an announcement from the Trump administration considered negative as a possible interference in Brazil's electoral process and that the government would respond as an example of what happened during the tariff in 2025.
After the US decision to classify PCC and CV as terrorists, Lula spoke out publicly on the issue.
"Do you want to fight organized crime? Hand over our people who are there in the USA. We don't accept being treated like kids. We don't accept being treated like a republic", said the president.
"I had three hours with President Trump. Three hours with him. I handed him four documents, one of them was the fight against organized crime. Mr. Rubio was not there, possibly because he had prepared to help the son of a Bolsonarista who is a candidate for election here in this country, who has no shame in betraying our homeland, of going to the USA to ask for American intervention in Brazil."
Brazilian law makes a distinction between common crime and terrorism
AFP via Getty Images
Brazilian response
BBC News Brasil found that the Brazilian government intends to modulate the response to the measure adopted by the USA to avoid even greater strain on the domestic public just a few months before the elections.
Following the decision, the government published a note on May 29 stating that the PCC and CV are treated by the State as criminal organizations responsible for spreading terror in communities dominated by drug trafficking, weapons and militia activities.
Without mentioning a name, the management called the Bolsonaro family's intervention in international issues "deplorable."
"The security of our population is too important to be politically manipulated by traitors who try to confuse these concepts. By false patriots, involved with organized crime, who ask foreign authorities to interfere in Brazilian affairs", says the statement.
A member of the government interviewed by BBC News Brasil in a reserved capacity stated that the government recognizes that the US decision was the result of the action of the Bolsonarist wing with access to the North American government. criminal factions.
He also said that one of the aspects that would be most worrying the government is the possible impacts of the measure on the Brazilian financial system. The government fears that Brazilian companies or banks could be sanctioned due to possible commercial ties, even if involuntary, with these factions.
Flávio Bolsonaro defended the designation of the PCC and the CV as terrorist organizations in the meeting with Trump
Reproduction/Instagram/@flaviobolsonaro
Chronology of the defeat
The idea of adopting sanctions against Brazilian criminal organizations such as the PCC and the CV as terrorist entities was being studied by the North American government several years ago.
In 2021, for example, the Treasury Secretariat included the PCC as a designated entity, a classification that allows it to impose sanctions on its members or companies that did business with the faction.
But the plan to designate PCC and CV as terrorist entities gained strength, in fact, after the start of Donald Trump's second term, in 2025.
The plan had been discussed internally by the State Department's technical area, with the help of officials from the State Embassy United in Brasília.
Between the end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026, the State Department sent advisors to Brazil who met with Brazilian prosecutors specializing in combating organized crime to obtain more information on the subject.
May 2025
In May 2025, for example, the US government sent the then-interim head of the State Department's sanctions strategy to Brazil, David Gamble, and advisor Ricardo Pitta.
Pitta even met with the Bolsonaro family and, according to senator Flávio Bolsonaro, at that time, the family defended the designation of the PCC and the CV as terrorist organizations.
The movement was monitored by the Brazilian government which, even at that time, saw this possibility as a possible North American interference in the Brazilian policy to combat organized crime.
July 2025
In July 2025, when Trump imposed the tariffs on Brazilian products, the expectation in Brazilian diplomacy was that the measure on Brazilian factions could be adopted at that time, which ended up not happening.
The Lula government, in turn, tried to dismantle the pro-designation discourse by adopting a discourse that the classification of factions as terrorist organizations would not be effective in combating organized crime.
In September 2025, for example, Lula criticized the possible measure in his speech at the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN).
"The equation between crime and terrorism is worrying. The most effective way to combat drug trafficking is cooperation to suppress money laundering and limit the arms trade. Using lethal force in situations that do not constitute armed conflicts is equivalent to executing people without trial", said Lula in a reference to attacks that were being carried out by the United States on vessels off the coast of Latin American countries such as Venezuela and Colombia.
The news caused the Brazilian government to mount a kind of "emergency operation" to prevent the adoption of the measure.
That same day, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mauro Vieira, spoke by telephone with Marco Rubio about the matter.
Two days later, on March 10, a State Department spokesperson released a note reiterating that the North American government considered the two factions to be threats to the country.
"The United States considers the organizations to be criminal of Brazil - including the PCC and the CV - as significant threats to regional security, due to their involvement in drug trafficking, violence and transnational crime", said the text.
Lula then began to defend, in an even more blatant way, that the United States cooperate with Brazil in the fight against organized crime as an alternative to the designation.
At the same time, the governments of the two countries discussed proposals for cooperation in this area.
On March 13, the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo revealed that the US had sent a plan to Brazil in which they asked the country to adopt measures to extinguish the PCC and the CV.
In the weeks that followed, the efforts of Brazilian diplomacy seemed to have had an effect and the designation did not come.
May 2026
The matter, however, resurfaced on May 28, after Flávio Bolsonaro's visit to Washington.
He met with President Trump, his vice, J.D. Vance and with Marco Rubio.
In the meetings, said Flávio, he defended the designation of the PCC and the CV as terrorist organizations.
"We hit again on the same note that the United States should classify, yes, CV and PCC as terrorist organizations. We said that, God willing, from 2027 onwards, Brazil will be an ally in the fight against organized crime, unlike the current government, which seems to protect these criminals", said Flávio after the meeting with Marco Rubio. less than a month ago, the PT administration was convinced that several sectors of the North American government have a clear preference for Flávio Bolsonaro's candidacy over Lula's.
June 2026
The designation by the United States of the First Capital Command (PCC) and the Red Command (CV) as terrorist organizations officially came into force on June 5.
The official decision was published in the Federal Register, the Official Gazette of the United States, and is signed by Marco Rubio, US Secretary of State.
Another decision signed by Rubio allows people linked to the PCC and CV to have assets and assets that are under US jurisdiction frozen without prior notice, because advance notice would allow the rapid transfer of financial resources, making sanctions ineffective.
With Thais Carrança, from BBC News Brasil in São Paulo.

Source: G1