CV arose in the Ilha Grande prison, off Rio de Janeiro, in the 1970s, while PCC was born in a prison near Sao Paulo in the 1990s. Despite the violence of these groups, which Brasilia acknowledges, the government does not equate them with terrorist organisations seeking to endanger the state. The Trump administration considers the massive inflow of drugs and criminals from Latin America and the Caribbean to be a threat to its national security, on par with the worst organisations the United States has
faced. That is the same theory underpinning the controversial airstrikes since September on alleged drug traffickers’ boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific. Nearly 200 have been killed in the strikes, which experts in international law and human rights argue likely amount to extrajudicial executions. Snub to Lula From a political standpoint, the terrorist designation is a clear snub to Lula, who emerged from an in-person Washington meeting with Trump earlier this month “very satisfied”. Trump, too, seemed happy after the meeting with his ideological
opposite. The United States and Brazil signed an agreement in April to combat arms and drug trafficking, and Lula had acknowledged that Trump had asked him for greater cooperation. Read moreBrazilian candidate Flavio Bolsonaro asks Trump to designate crime groups as terrorists But Lula, who is facing a tough re-election bid, told the press that they still disagreed with elevating the fight against crime to an anti-terrorism framework. Still, Brazilian security forces regularly conduct large operations against the groups, which often turn violent. In October,
a massive raid on CV resulted in at least 119 deaths – the country’s deadliest such operation. Smaller clashes happen regularly. The Brazilian presidential election will take place in October, with recent polling showing Lula ahead of Bolsonaro but not commanding a majority of the vote needed to avoid a run-off. Violence was the top concern among Brazilians ahead of the polls, according to a Council of the Americas polling tracker, citing May data from data firm Quaest. (FRANCE 24 with AFP)
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