US 'terrorism' classification threatens sovereignty, experts say

Brazilian criminal factions have become yet another piece in the political chessboard of this year's presidential election. The United States decided this Thursday (28) to classify the PCC (Primeiro Comando da Capital) and CV (Comando Vermelho) as terrorist organizations following recent meetings between American President Donald Trump, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ).

Behind the scenes, opposition allies evaluate the measure as a political victory for Flávio Bolsonaro, under the argument that the senator managed to obtain a concrete result from the meeting with Trump, while the federal government acted to try to block the classification.

To date, Palácio do Planalto and Itamaraty have not officially commented on the decision. Government interlocutors recognize the difficulty of reacting publicly without appearing to be defending criminal factions.

Experts interviewed by CNN Brasil classify the United States' decision as worrying and assess that the issue could open the door for political disputes over national sovereignty.

"I think that, in the end, those who defend this position basically use an electoral bias. Most of them probably don't understand the negative impacts that this can generate", says Leonardo Paz Neves, researcher at FGV's International Intelligence Center, to CNN Brasil.

The issue of public security gained centrality in the presidential race. A Nexus/BTG survey released last month found that this area is the main concern of 27% of Brazilians. As a result, the main presidential candidates began to internationalize the debate on organized crime.

At the beginning of the month, Lula met with Trump and presented arguments against classifying the factions as terrorist organizations. The Brazilian government maintains that national legislation does not fit the groups into this type of definition, since their activities are linked to drug and weapons trafficking, and not to crimes motivated by religious or ideological reasons.

Weeks later, Flávio Bolsonaro defended the opposite position during a meeting with the North American president. The senator argued that Brazilian factions operate transnationally and that the new classification would strengthen the fight against organized crime.

For Leandro Consentino, political scientist and professor at Insper, the Trump government's measure "does not meet the wishes of the Brazilian population". "The US could use this status to interfere in Brazil's internal affairs. I find it quite worrying that this issue is manipulated in this way", he points out.

In the same vein, Paz Neves explains that the scenario requires caution, although he considers direct US intervention in Brazil unlikely.

"The problem is that, if the US decided to expand this understanding to Brazilian political or economic actors, this would open up a much greater capacity for political pressure on Brazil", stated the researcher.

The United States announced that it intends to formalize the designation of the PCC and the CV as Foreign Terrorist Organizations as of June 5.

Political impact
For experts, the topic should be explored politically during this year's presidential campaign.

The assessment is that Flávio Bolsonaro tends to use the episode to reinforce the discourse on combating organized crime and reduce the wear and tear caused by the crisis involving former banker Daniel Vorcaro. The Lula government must focus its reaction on the discourse of national sovereignty.

"Flávio manages to buy time in the face of the stress caused by the Vorcaro case and tries to transfer to the Lula government the narrative that the Executive failed in the fight against public security", says Eduardo Grin, political scientist and professor at FGV EAESP.

The expert also assesses that the measure could generate noise among sectors of the financial market linked to Flávio Bolsonaro's electorate.

"The classification can increase the level of attention to financial movements in Brazil and abroad. This could generate some discomfort in sectors of the market that were already following the Master case with caution", he concludes.

USA CLASSIFIES PCC AND CV AS TERRORISTS: Analysis and developments | H TIME

Source: CNN